When George Liaskos and his family opened Cortlandt Colonial Restaurant and Ballroom in Cortlandt Manor in 1978, little did they dream Internet and Web advertising would be part of the marketing strategy. And while the Liaskoses have averaged 50 to 60 weddings a year, winter weddings have become increasingly popular since the owner”™s son and current manager, Evan Liaskos, introduced wedding insurance to the list of pre-nuptial perks for the bride and groom.
And a new hotel under construction shows their work is paying off.
“Offering insurance to protect the couple in case of bad weather (like a major nor”™easter) or other events (like your significant other being deployed overseas) has helped boost our wedding bookings by 15 (percent) to 20 percent,” said Evan Liaskos, who offers the coverage to couples as part of their package at no charge to them. “It gives them peace of mind,” he says. “And with all the fuss and frenzy that goes on before a wedding, worrying about having your event canceled due to winter weather is one thing they won”™t have to worry about.”
Winter weddings may not have the springtime “bloom” that many brides and grooms demand, but they have their own special ambience, says Evan Liaskos. “People love the holiday season ”¦ and reduced rates during the off-season appeal to many. We also have couples in the area who serve in the military and they have to plan around their deployments. Others have businesses where their peak demand is in the summer months and downtime is during the winter, so it works out well for them.”
Evan Liaskos has taken the reins of the family business since he graduated from the Culinary Institute of America in 2000, just around the same time they started planning to enhance Colonial”™s curb appeal by building a hotel adjacent to the establishment.
“We”™re in the final stages of negotiations with Holiday Inn Express and we are aiming to go LEED-certified for this 100- room hotel,” he says, referring to the leadership in energy and environmental design designation. “We are looking at the project long term and know ”˜going green”™ is the way of the future, not just in doing our part to be ecologically friendly, but in the cost savings to us in terms of heating, air conditioning and electric usage for years to come.”
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A conference center that will accommodate up to 120 people is planned as part of the family”™s new hotel package. Evan Liaskos has been in the planning and approval process with the town of Cortlandt since 2001, currently in the last phases. “We”™ve done extensive excavation of rock and stone on the site, and now we are down to fine tuning the final details of our new hotel with the town planners. We actually broke ground in mid-October and hope to have the hotel opened by mid-2008 if all goes well.”
The new hotel, says Evan Liaskos, “will be a first for the town of Cortlandt Manor and offer the amenities business and tourists look for in a quality hotel. Right now, there is nothing of this caliber available in Cortlandt Manor.”
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