Hotels being renovated
Here's just an update on some of the hotels being renovated around town.
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"Three metro hotels undergo millions in renovations
by Brian Brus
The Journal Record
2/17/2005
New ownership or branding at three Oklahoma City hotels has prompted millions of dollars in renovations.
Embassy Suites on S. Meridian Avenue near Will Rogers Airport has just finished a $4.5 million project to upgrade furnishings in all 236 guest suites as well as add an exercise facility, 2,000 square feet of meeting space and high-speed wireless Internet service throughout the hotel, spokeswoman Debi Neumann said. The hotel is topping off the project now with new carpet in its meeting space. A new restaurant, the Landing Bar and Grill, is now open as well.
"It's a huge difference, the biggest renovation the hotel has had since it opened 20 years ago," Neumann said.
Westmont Hospitality Group in Houston bought the hotel in 2003, which was the primary reason for renovations now.
"The new company wanted to put a lot of money into the hotel that they purchased," Neumann said
At Crowne Plaza Hotel, 2945 Northwest Expressway, General Manager Kevin Goebel said a similar change is under way because Driftwood Hospitality Management in Florida took over the hotel from the Hilton line in October.
"Now's the time to do it - when you're new, right after you take over the property," Goebel said. "We're just getting ready now. The major stuff will start in April."
The $2.5 million project will take four to six months to finish this year, he said, at the end of which the hotel's 215 rooms will be upgraded for the company's new Sleep Advantage amenities program, involving lavender scent spray, improved bedding, earplugs and night-lights.
The hotel has already added high-speed wireless Internet access free to guests. The front lobby desk will be moved to help traffic flow and the pool area will be redone.
And the Westin Oklahoma City in downtown became a Sheraton hotel at the end of 2004, leading to renovations there as well, General Manager Dale Gannon said. The Westin and Sheraton brands are both members of the Starwood family of hotels.
The Sheraton is about halfway through its $9.5 million project, with half the guest rooms finished. The second phase will complete another 112 rooms and the hotel's meeting spaces.
"We're actually gutting the bathrooms, taking tile up and putting new bathtubs in; taking it down to the bare bones and making it brand new," Gannon said.
The changes will help the hotel market its new Sheraton image.
"Everything is going so well with the downtown market and Oklahoma City in general, it's just a good time for expansion," Gannon said.
None of the company representatives said the upgrades had anything to do with new hotel development in downtown.
"They're competition, of course; every hotel in Oklahoma City is in competition," Neumann said. "But downtown kind of has its own little niche, and people who want to stay downtown aren't the same people who want to stay out by the airport to visit other areas.
"The hotel has always done extremely well, and now it's only going to get better," she said. "There's just so many neat things happening in Oklahoma City now."
Originally Posted by Patrick
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