Over the course of 2011, Westchester County witnessed major movement in the hospitality, meetings and conventions industries. New kids on the block. Relocations across county borders. Renovation upon renovation. Developers making inroads in consumer psychographics to predict behavior and subsequent business decisions. Here”™s a cheat sheet on hospitable happenings in the county this year.
Starwood Hotels and Resorts
Most notably, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. is completing a move from corporate headquarters on the Platinum Mile in White Plains to 300,000 square feet of space at Stamford, Conn.”™s Harbor Plaza, a relocation expected to be complete early next year.
Approximately 800 employees of the hotel and hospitality company will be relocated.
The lease transaction, four years in the making, was brokered by John Goodkind, Neal Golden and Ross Perlman of commercial real estate firm Newmark Knight Frank.
In other local Starwood news, its Sheraton brand reopened along with Davidson Hotels & Resorts and RockBridge Partners a fully renovated flagship Sheraton Stamford Hotel with 13,000 square feet of corporate meeting space.
Starwood celebrated some global milestones, too, embarking on a spree in emerging markets in Asia in countries like China, India, Thailand and Malaysia; the hotel company”™s Asia Pacific division marked its 200th opening in the region this year.
This spring, major Starwood players came out to the Hilton Rye Town for the New York Spa Alliance Symposium.
Mark Keiser, Starwood”™s vice president of luxury development, credited a 40 percent drop in spa business as cause for adjustment in spa operations.
Shrinking the size of indoor common areas cut down on square-footage costs, while creativity was used in outdoor space planning and furnishings. Hotel operators also looked to target external customers instead of the built-in hotel guest.
Meyer Jabara, Choice Hotels sign development deal
Maryland-based Choice Hotels International and Meyer Jabara Hotels in Danbury, Conn., have plans to open a $25 million, six-floor Cambria Suites hotel at the mixed-use Metropolitan Plaza project in downtown White Plains.
Meyer Jabara will manage the property through the joint venture agreement.
Brad LeBlanc, vice president of upscale franchise development, called the Westchester and White Plains area a “natural suburban market” of New York City with “a huge traveling base and a nice residential component to it.”
The overall Metropolitan Plaza development incorporates a fitness tenant, fast-casual eateries and the hospitality component, which is scheduled to open September 2013.
Making moves at the Ritz
There was plenty of movement this year at the pinnacle of downtown White Plains, The Ritz-Carlton, Westchester.
Jeffrey Dziak came onboard as general manager from The Ritz-Carlton Orlando, Grande Lakes, where he was GM since 2008.
Prior to that, he held leadership positions at Ritz-Carlton properties in Phoenix and Cleveland.
Rounding out the leadership circle at The Ritz-Carlton, Westchester was Misty Moore, director of sales and marketing.
Moore joined The Ritz-Carlton, Westchester in 2008, leading group and event sales.
In addition to refreshing its management team, The Ritz-Carlton, Westchester Spa renewed all spa “menu items,” and introduced package deals like “Out on the Town,” “The Executive Workout,” and “The Westchester Getaway,” targeting the needs and wants of varying demographics.
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Doubletree Hotel Tarrytown turns 50
The DoubleTree by Hilton-Tarrytown marked its 50th birthday this year.
The 246-room hotel with 24,000 square feet of meeting space had storied beginnings when it housed travelers attending New York City”™s World”™s Fair in 1964.
Over the years, the DoubleTree has undergone myriad upgrades with a full renovation in 2007.
The venue continues to serve as a major go-to for corporate and business clients and this year was no different.
“This year compared to last year is up,” Rich Friedman, general manager, told the Business Journal. “As far as holidays go, we may be a hair behind, but in the North everything is last minute, so I”™m pretty confident.”
Looking ahead: What to expect in 2012 in hotels, hospitality
More hotel sightings
Cross County Shopping Center in Yonkers has plans to replace an eight-story office building onsite with a 150-bed hotel incorporating meeting space and ground-floor retail. No further details were available at press time, but outgoing Mayor Philip Amicone called the potential signer a “major hotel brand.” In Greenburgh, LCOR Inc. has plans to develop a hotel combining big-box retail on 100 unused acres it owns at Biomed Realty Trust”™s Landmark at Eastview. “You have a built-in audience here,” Thomas Madden, commissioner of the Greenburgh Department of Community Development and Conservation, told the Business Journal. “They”™re looking to make it a destination area, not just workers, and pull in the surrounding communities so it becomes a seven-day-a-week thing.”
Cross-promotion
This was the year of the “package.” The major cross-marketing initiative came straight from county government. Spooky Spectacular Westchester sought to drive social traffic by offering a weekend getaway for four, for those who “liked” Westchester County Tourism on Facebook. Radio promotions gave listeners the opportunity to win a stay at The Tarrytown House Estate or The Ritz-Carlton, as well as tickets to the “Great Jack O”™Lantern Blaze.” Natasha Caputo joined Westchester County as director of tourism and film this year, working behind the scenes on the Spooky Spectacular promotion and driving traffic to Westchester”™s many historic sites.
It’s interesting to see how well hotels have been doing despite the economy. Perhaps the advantages of technology have finally caught up to allow hotel groups to save money during operations and from lead generation. Has anybody heard of Hotelogix and their PMS system that uses cloud technology? http://bit.ly/cloudforhotel. I thought they, among a very few others are doing a good job in this space advancing performance driven technology.