The Delamar Greenwich Harbor at 500 Steamboat Road in Greenwich, now 12 years old, is one of the world”™s finer hotels.
Businesses, too, utilize the Greenwich waterfront property and its 500 feet of dockage for gatherings catered by L”™escale, the on-site restaurant that has a sister restaurant, Artisan, at the Delamar Southport.
“We see personal stays that become business stays,” said Daniel Coggins, regional director of operations for Delamar Greenwich Harbor (82 rooms) and Delamar Southport (44 rooms).
“And the other way around, as well,” said Brandon Smith, sales coordinator at Delamar Greenwich Harbor, which is parent company Greenwich Hospitality Group”™s flagship property.
In addition to the Delamars in Greenwich and Southport, Greenwich Hospitality Group properties include a pair of Hotel Zero Degrees hotels in Stamford and Norwalk and a pair of historic hotels in Alpine, Texas: The Maverick Inn and the Holland Hotel.
With the Greenwich Hospitality Group”™s flagship Delamar Greenwich Harbor as a template, the company”™s business model is either top-tier or, if the request is offbeat, top-tier coming right up.
Attention to detail might mean discreetly hosting placard-free events, if requested, while an entire floor in Greenwich ”” the fourth ”” is accessed by designated elevator for those already at the top. (The service there includes concierge service 24/7/365, without interruption.)
The town of West Hartford, too, is slated to gain a Greenwich Hospitality Group property: an approved luxury boutique hotel, along with residences, on two acres of a four-acre site at the intersection of Raymond and Memorial roads. As planned, “Delamar West Hartford will present a thoughtful combination of sophisticated standards of luxury and highly personalized attention to each guest”™s experience.”
As for the businessperson, said Coggins, “Because of the overall look and feel of the buildings, it does not feel as if they are here for a business trip. They get more done in the open environment. We often see a meeting that”™s scheduled for 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. still going strong at 6:30 p.m. because the juices are flowing that well.”
And, “We”™re very discreet,” Coggins said. “No signs or labeling about who”™s here today. Or on request we are glad to put up a sign. We welcome packages, too, and hold them to assist in the setup of a meeting. Sometimes things arrive a week early and we set them aside. We don”™t shy away from any requests that our guests might have.”
Among amenities are suites that partition off the bedroom, effectively creating a ready-made road office for the out-of-towner that is central to downtown Greenwich and Stamford with their noteworthy economies.
Stays at the Delamar Greenwich Harbor last a single day to several months. Rates vary, but web reviews indicate the service and setting are worth the cost. The popular TripAdvisor website offers an 88 percent favorable rating.
The Spa at Delamar, which dates to 2007 and which was renovated in 2013, recently added products from high-end skin care companies Valmont and Biologique Recherche. “They”™re very well known in the industry,” said Dana Jevarjian, communications brand manager for Greenwich Hospitality Group, based at Delamar Greenwich Harbor.
From the moment of check-in to the moment guests leave, Jevarjian and company immerse them in what she termed “the Greenwich Hospitality Group experience,” which perennially ups the ante for service.
Curiously in this old-fashioned New England winter, the Delamar Greenwich Harbor is a timeless relative to far-humbler hotels as a port in a storm.
A couple of repeat examples of winter business have surfaced: the hedge fund manager who must be at work in Greenwich and who dares not head home through the blizzard; and the more quotidian businessperson who has found him- or herself spending the night at the Delamar Greenwich Harbor on the company dime, equal parts reward and weather-eye on safety.
During a sun-splashed meeting beside a gratis gourmet coffee nook and vases of fresh flowers, Jevarjian, Coggins and Smith ticked off a list of amenities that span secure conference rooms to complimentary continental breakfasts. The Delamar was among the first hotels to offer free Internet service, now a staple of hotels everywhere.
“What differentiates us besides the luxurious property and our beautiful location on the water is the service we deliver,” Smith said. “With any hotel, it”™s about the service and here it”™s deep-rooted in the staff so that every guest who walks through that door has a great experience.”
“Most of our clients are extremely well-traveled,” Coggins said. “When they come to stay with us it”™s not just about luxury, but an extension of their lifestyles. If we know they like pink lemonade and cookies, when they return it”™s pink lemonade and cookies as a ”˜welcome back.”™ It might be a cup of coffee by the fire at 3 a.m. and they can turn up the fire; it”™s like a cottage, an extension of home. Anything we can do.
“We”™re not a hotel per se, because that indicates there is a line at which service stops,” he said. “We don”™t stop at that line.”
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