I think it will likely stay Tower Hotel for sometime. The new marquee at the entry drive on Northwest Expressway has a permanent sign up with The Tower Hotel on it. It's likely still in receivership until someone else buys it. I don't see that happening anytime soon because you can probably build a new hotel for the price it will cost to buy it and upgrade it. I think we will more likely see it renovated into Apartments before another hotel chain buys it.

I hadn't seen anything posted previously about the hotel being in "receivership". I've only seen that it lost it's Marriott affiliation. What new information do you have about that?

MWC - Can you clarify a couple of things for me? Is the owner and/or operator of both hotels (The Tower and the Waterford Marriott) the same entity? If the same entity for both properties, how did they lose The Tower but not the Waterford Marriott to the lender?

No, the hotels are not under the same ownership but, they have shared a informal partnership for many years. When one fills up they refer guests to the other until recently when the Marriott name was lost by OKC Marriott. Rumor has it TPG has the hotel up for sale. According to my source they have lost their management team to competing hotels and other companies. From what I understand the General Manager left because he went to corporate in Rhode Island and fought for upgrades. He noted the many hotels opening and planned to be built in OKC that would take customers away from Waterford. They refused to listen to his proposal to upgrade and explained if he just provided the best service the customers would keep coming. Shortly after taking that trip he left and took a GM post with one of the Downtown Hotels.



I hadn't seen anything posted previously about the hotel being in "receivership". I've only seen that it lost its Marriott affiliation. What new information do you have about that?

My source worked at the Waterford until just recently. They took many of OKC Marriott's employees. The employees left OKC Marriott because they didn't know if they were going to be paid from one week to the next due to the fact the hotel was foreclosed on and placed in receivership. Marriott apparently came through for an inspection (as they do most of their hotels) they were not happy with the conditions to say the least therefore the flag was pulled. They maybe owned by someone now but, last my source heard they were still in receivership until the bank finds a new owner.

The employees left OKC Marriott because they didn't know if they were going to be paid from one week to the next due to the fact the hotel was foreclosed on and placed in receivership. Marriott apparently came through for an inspection (as they do most of their hotels) they were not happy with the conditions to say the least therefore the flag was pulled. They maybe owned by someone now but, last my source heard they were still in receivership until the bank finds a new owner.

I've neither heard nor read anything about this hotel going into receivership. Can you post a link or more specific information? Thanks.

The company I work for has had a large meeting (two days, 300+ attendees) and banquet (550-600) at the OKC Marriott for the last 20+ years but last year our meeting was right after all these changes took place. No one we had worked with for years was still there. We had so many complaints from our attendees that we moved our meeting for this year. Never once did anyone from the hotel call me to ask about us book for 2014. It was just very sad.

My source worked at the Waterford until just recently. They took many of OKC Marriott's employees. The employees left OKC Marriott because they didn't know if they were going to be paid from one week to the next due to the fact the hotel was foreclosed on and placed in receivership. Marriott apparently came through for an inspection (as they do most of their hotels) they were not happy with the conditions to say the least therefore the flag was pulled. They maybe owned by someone now but, last my source heard they were still in receivership until the bank finds a new owner.

If that is the case, there should be court records from somewhere to back that up.

Had a meeting with someone in their sales department today who was fairly confident they would have a new owner and flag/brand to announce by the end of the first quarter and MAJOR renovations would start during the second quarter. I hope that pans out.

Wasn't this a John Q. Hammonds property or did that change recently too?

No. Never a JQH property to my knowledge.

Any updates on this?

Any updates on this?

I haven't heard anything new. It will really surprise me if any major brand other than (Best Western or Radisson) picks it up. It's cheaper to build a new hotel instead of investing into someone else's aging monster. I predict it will probably go apartment or extended stay route.

I haven't heard anything new. It will really surprise me if any major brand other than (Best Western or Radisson) picks it up. It's cheaper to build a new hotel instead of investing into someone else's aging monster. I predict it will probably go apartment or extended stay route.

I was there a couple weeks ago at an event in their ballroom, a little surprising they do not seem to be doing anything on signage (even something just temporary). Maybe they are looking at options of using one of these or another brand but it looks bad how it is. If it was temporary I understand not wanting to spend a lot, but either painting a name or adding a wrap like they do downtown for the playoffs would be a major improvement on the vibe the building was giving.

I agree. The entire thing is an eyesore as it is now. If they aren't going to get a new flag soon, they should simply take down the Marriott signage rather than trying to cover it up.

They have an awful website showcasing the old pre-Devon OKC skyline but not the hotel itself.

Tower Hotel Oklahoma City | TowerHotel Oklahoma City (http://www.towerhoteloklahomacity.com/)

I am going to have lunch (as part of a group) tomorrow with the GM, I will see if I can get any updates. I understand they have invested more than a million dollars recently in improvement out of sight to guests...mostly plumbing. Speaking with a salesperson in Feb., as I posted above, they expected to be able to announce a new flag in April. I will see what I can get tomorrow.

I agree. The entire thing is an eyesore as it is now. If they aren't going to get a new flag soon, they should simply take down the Marriott signage rather than trying to cover it up.

Removing the signage is not going to be cheap. They usually bring in a crane and there is really no place to put a crane to remove the sign. They will likely have to scale the side of the building to remove the letters one by one and lower them by crane on the back side of the hotel. I am willing to bet it will cost tens if not hundreds of thousands of dollars to complete.

GM told me there was NO chance this place would go residential, so toss that idea out. It makes too much money as a hotel and conversion to condo would never let them make their money back on the investment to go condo. He thought in another market (time and place) this might be possible, but not here and not now.

He said that the hotel has been visited by franchise development teams from Hilton, Westin, and Wyndham (I think he said) and that even Marriott has reached back out and shown some interest again (one of the reasons the signage has not come down yet).

So they have gotten some looks and are just now waiting to hear from ownership if a new deal will been signed. He said once there is an agreement, it would be 90 days for the re-branding to happen. So, if the deal happened very soon, you are still looking at late summer for a noticeable change to take place.

But, wouldn't those franchises mentioned all require some substantial upgrades before re-branding? It would be at least a year before it's really up-to-stuff...

Cafeboeuf poses a great question. If I were considering putting this property under my flag, I'd like to know more about what led to Marriott to lower theirs.

For the record, there has been no change in ownership of this property. It's still owned by Columbia Properties, who bought the hotel in 2003 for $18 million.

Conspiracy theory alert! - Anyone wonder if Marriott had an inside thought process on this in regards to a convention center hotel? I'm betting in the 90th percentile that the CC hotel will be Marriott like it is in every other town with an attached CC. Heck, some Marriotts in places like Anaheim are a CC in themselves. They really handle that market niche better than any other carrier. So I wonder. The NW Marriott was operated with a significant amount of meeting space...enough that they employed full time employees just to coordinate the activities and enough wait staff to run them weekly. Heck, I even had my wedding reception there and they did a fantastic job of it.

So just putting on some paranoia hat here, what are the chances that the Marriott Corporation didn't give the new management any wiggle room (or chances to correct/oust) before pulling the flag? Perhaps because they could rid themselves of the contractual agreement without cost (due to low performance/ratings) and thus remove a capital liability and competitor to a similarly sized structure that will be built in the next 5 years. That's not really that long to go without the revenue of the hotel. And as a hotel, I don't know that I ever saw it full...mostly used for local meeting events.

I have absolutely no information to make this statement...just a little something fun to discuss as a possibility.....

^^Omni Hotels does an excellent job in the CC space as well. See Nashville, Fort Worth, Dallas, Atlanta (CNN). I greatly prefer them over Marriott in terms of my business travel experiences.

^^Omni Hotels does an excellent job in the CC space as well. See Nashville, Fort Worth, Dallas, Atlanta (CNN). I greatly prefer them over Marriott in terms of my business travel experiences.

Agree completely.

I can't say im a big fan of marriott myself, but it's just hard to ignore their market presence in the meeting space world.

I like what Indianapolis did and I can see it fitting in OKC very well. It's called Marriott Place and it includes a JW, Marriott, Courtyard, Fairfield, and Springhill. All 5 hotels are connected (2200+ rooms) and have easy access to 145,000 feet of meeting space. Marriott Place Indianapolis | Indiana Convention Center Hotels | JW Indy (http://www.jwindy.com/marriottplace)

To put multiple brands of the same company in the same location is a fairly new trend in the conference world. Los Angeles now has a JW Marriott, Ritz Carlton (Marriott family), Courtyard, and Residence Inn all in LA Live.

I like that idea in that it gives you a wide array of options in terms of pricing so you're not sucked into the "meeting hotel" model. They still get their money for the event, but at least you can chose to have a less fancy hotel. The lower the cost of the room, the less you spend, the less of a funding burden the meeting is, the more likely you are able to convince accounting that you can/should go to another (in which case you'll actually spend more since it's two trips instead of one). How is that not a win/win? LOL.

Now if the city goes with that type of proposal, I can see the other hoteliers in the area getting their panties in a twist though. With the CC it was sold to everyone with the hotel being DIRECTLY attached (none of that tunnel/skybridge crap). The site plan wouldn't allow something like this on the same block as the actual CC. There would have to be a connector from one block to the next for this to work (without taking out a road). And if the city is willing to make that type of concession on an already controversial project, which will increase room count downtown, the problem of sustaining the others can be problematic. And something like that would be a pretty big increase in room count!

Back on the topic....any word on a new affiliation with this hotel?

Not that I know of, but as I was watching the news the other day, I believe it was KFOR, their NW Expressway tower cam was pointing NE and you can clearly see the "Tower Hotel", Would be great free advertising if they had a sign up on their building.

Liam Thorpe, who is the sales director for the Tower Hotel, was just in my office to give me an update on what is happening. They are looking to affiliate with another hotel chain, possibly as soon as October, and have the changeover complete by early 2015. His preferences were Westin, Hilton, or Doubletree. He said even going back to a Marriott is possible. They will do millions of dollars in renovations whichever way it goes.

Liam Thorpe, who is the sales director for the Tower Hotel, was just in my office to give me an update on what is happening. They are looking to affiliate with another hotel chain, possibly as soon as October, and have the changeover complete by early 2015. His preferences were Westin, Hilton, or Doubletree. He said even going back to a Marriott is possible. They will do millions of dollars in renovations whichever way it goes.

Thanks for the update! Good to know about the renovations and possible affiliations.

That is good news.

Thanks so much for the information.

Did they magically change management again or something? I mean you dont lose your flag for doing a good job after all.

Did they magically change management again or something? I mean you dont lose your flag for doing a good job after all.

You know, I didn't think that was an appropriate question to ask the hotel sales director who was nice enough to come to my office. He did mention that he came here from California but I didn't ask how long ago.

You know, I didn't think that was an appropriate question to ask the hotel sales director who was nice enough to come to my office. He did mention that he came here from California but I didn't ask how long ago.
How dare you, you considerate, ethical, moral person!!!! ;)

The Little Rock Marriott recently did a 16 million dollar renovation so they wouldn't lose their Marriott flag and the difference is night and day.

8983 8982 8984

wow.... that is really nice!

The Little Rock Marriott recently did a 16 million dollar renovation so they wouldn't lose their Marriott flag and the difference is night and day.

8983 8982 8984

The current Little Rock Marriott used to be the Peabody, another mid-high level hotel chain based out of Memphis. They lost that flag, did the remodel, and got picked up by Marriott. It looks like they did an awesome job with it.

Welcome back, bchris.

I received an email yesterday from the hotel's corporate sales manager and she invited me to visit for a tour so I went there this afternoon. I was very surprised by how nice it looks based on all of the speculation about going down hill. The public areas were shiny and spotless and the rooms looked just fine. The renovations that they have done so far are mostly on infrastructure and mechanical aspects. The rooms won't be completely renovated until they decide on a new branding because the different brands have different requirements about the rooms. She is thinking that will be by January and agreed with what I heard previously about the top candidates for that. She has been with the hotel for about 3 months and moved here from out of state. I found it interesting that she said she was surprised about how green OKC is and how many trees we have. I explained that we can be very green when we get rain. :)

I hope she'll find time to get out some and discover all the various aspects of our extremely diverse zones in Oklahoma. The hills, dunes and rolling prairies of the northwest as every bit as interesting as the hills and lake of our eastern regions.

I stayed at the Little Rock Hilton when it was The Excelsior Hotel. Back in the day, it was the place...especially if you were governor and needed locations for "secret" meetings. :cool:

Any updates on this?

Any updates on this?

Please see my post number 98.

I received an email yesterday from the hotel's corporate sales manager and she invited me to visit for a tour so I went there this afternoon. I was very surprised by how nice it looks based on all of the speculation about going down hill. The public areas were shiny and spotless and the rooms looked just fine. The renovations that they have done so far are mostly on infrastructure and mechanical aspects. The rooms won't be completely renovated until they decide on a new branding because the different brands have different requirements about the rooms. She is thinking that will be by January and agreed with what I heard previously about the top candidates for that. She has been with the hotel for about 3 months and moved here from out of state. I found it interesting that she said she was surprised about how green OKC is and how many trees we have. I explained that we can be very green when we get rain. :)bump for this post

I hope they can get their Marriott flag back.

A couple of notes, first, the main entrance revolving door is affixed with an "out of order" sign.

The indoor pool is open, however the jacuzzi/hot tub has been boarded over.

Its not a bad place overall though. I don't understand the wrapping of the sign up top though, the "marriott" is still visible...

First time on the premises, but it appears this place is just limping along.

If they don't get a brand soon, I bet the place closes...it's been long enough that it's problematic.

Similarly, the Holiday Inn in Norman actually got renovated from top, down. I believe the lobby was going to be the last thing that was done, and it could be finished by now. We had an employee stay there a couple of months ago and he said it was actually nicer now than it was as a Holiday Inn (save the lobby which hadn't been touched yet....they said they wanted to focus on the rooms first, which is nice). That place has I-35 frontage in Norman, so it's going to do well. The marriot on the other hand, isn't visible from the highway, and the highway it's near isn't a through road for travelers...you have to be going there to go that way. There are more options on the NWX than there used to be too, so if they can't get their crap together, it's sayonara.

If they can't get their act together in this hotel market, they need to sell.

Biggest boom in hotels in the history of OKC, and not just downtown.

This was a very nice hotel when it opened; just needs a cosmetic makeover and it could be a real gem again. The views towards downtown are pretty spectacular.

I'm not saying there aren't concerns but some people obviously didn't read my posts about my tour of the hotel and information I was given about its future. One possible reason for not removing the Marriott sign completely is because it could actually be returned to the Marriot brand.

I'm not saying there aren't concerns but some people obviously didn't read my posts about my tour of the hotel and information I was given about its future. One possible reason for not removing the Marriott sign completely is because it could actually be returned to the Marriot brand.I read it. Come January if this isn't completely remodeled and a Marriott I'm blaming you ;)

I'm not saying there aren't concerns but some people obviously didn't read my posts about my tour of the hotel and information I was given about its future. One possible reason for not removing the Marriott sign completely is because it could actually be returned to the Marriot brand.

Yup doesn't surprise me that Marriott might have pulled the name just to force their hand. I've attended events at this hotel through the years and it's always been underwhelming. Not great, not terrible, but it's just kind of the hotel you settle for. Glad to see they're making moves. It would be a shame to see this place run out of business.

Somebody call Hotel Impossible.

I read it. Come January if this isn't completely remodeled and a Marriott I'm blaming you ;)

Why not? I'm always to blame for everything that goes wrong in town.:hammer:

They're getting desperate, methinks. A friend of mine from out of state stayed here by using Priceline bidding and he only paid $33 for the night. He said it was listed as a 3.5 star but was more of a 2 star.

They're getting desperate, methinks. A friend of mine from out of state stayed here by using Priceline bidding and he only paid $33 for the night. He said it was listed as a 3.5 star but was more of a 2 star.

No offense to your friend but I inspect hotels quite often both in this area and many other places. I know what constitutes a 2 star hotel and. even without being renovated yet, this hotel is nowhere near a 2 star. Please note, as I said previously, much of the renovation won't happen until after they get the new branding because the different brands have different standards to meet.

The City reports hotel tax collections every quarter and just released the numbers for all of 2014.

It mentions that this hotel's revenues were down 67% over the previous year, with the drop attributed to no longer carrying the Marriott (or any) flag.

That's a massive drop-off. Don't know how they are managing to stay in business.

Do you know if there has been any movement on a new flag?

Do you know if there has been any movement on a new flag?

I'll try to remember to check with my contacts there about that.

From what I have heard lately, I am guessing this will once again be a Marriott. Not sure about the timing, but colleagues who just met with the new GM and Sales Manager got that feeling...and they left their meeting with a positive feel for the future of this property. For what that's worth.

From what I have heard lately, I am guessing this will once again be a Marriott. Not sure about the timing, but colleagues who just met with the new GM and Sales Manager got that feeling...and they left their meeting with a positive feel for the future of this property. For what that's worth.

Great news, thanks for the intel! Its so sad seeing the Marriot sign being covered up and they rooms mostly dark. This hotel is a staple of the NW Expressway, looking forward to its return to glory.

An organization that I do business with has scheduled a conference there for late-2015, so I sure hope they get their act together by then.