Stemmon Corridor:Anatole hotel renovation

[antoinekhuu]

Hilton to run Anatole
Management change expected to help boost convention business

http://www.wfaa.com/s/dws/bus/stories/DN-hilton_12bus.ART.State.Edition1.8fbbbad.html

06:42 AM CST on Monday, December 12, 2005
By SUZANNE MARTA / The Dallas Morning News


Hilton Hotels Corp. is expected to announce today that it will take over management of the Wyndham Anatole hotel, a change that may boost Dallas' ability to attract convention business.

"This gives us access to a whole group of customers we haven't had before," said Tom Faust, the hotel's vice president of sales and marketing.

With more than 2,300 hotels under various brands, Hilton's sales reach is significantly broader than Wyndham's, which now operates about 100 properties.

"The resources we'll have with Hilton, particularly on the group side, are extraordinarily better," Mr. Faust said.

Phillip Jones, chief executive of the Dallas Convention &Visitors Bureau, said Hilton's national sales force would help raise awareness for Dallas.

"We'll have the biggest Hilton in Texas," Mr. Jones said. "That's an important selling point."

Dallas is one of only a handful of large cities that don't have all four of the industry's largest hotel brands operating – and selling – downtown properties.

Hyatt operates a large convention-style property downtown, but Hilton and Marriott have been absent from the downtown convention market.

Starwood, another major industry player, operates the Westin City Center, which focuses more business travel and smaller group meetings. Its 33-story W Dallas in Hillwood's Victory is expected to open next summer.

Having major brands in the downtown area is critical because more companies are selling multi-year contracts that rotate among cities, but under the same hotel company.

"In the past, Hilton's national office could sell Houston and Austin, but not Dallas," Mr. Jones said. "Now, Dallas, can be in a rotation with other cities."

Under the deal with Hilton, the Anatole will undergo $30 million in renovations to its meeting space and tower rooms over the next two years. The property's staff and management are expected to remain in place.

For Hilton, the management contract extends the company's reach in Texas, where it already has major convention properties in Houston and Austin.

"This really fills a void for us," said Ken Smith, a senior vice president of operations for Hilton, which is based in Beverly Hills, Calif. "We'll be able to sell to more national groups now."

Hilton hasn't had a presence in the downtown convention market since the mid-1980s, with the Hilton Statler hotel on Commerce Street. The company operates about 20 hotels in the area under several brands, and 2,300 worldwide.

Dallas-based Crow Holdings, which owns the Anatole, considered proposals from four major hotel brands before settling on Hilton. Wyndham has managed the hotel since 1995.

Chief executive Harlan Crow said Hilton's management proved a better fit for the 1,606-room hotel and meetings complex.

"The Wyndham brand has recently shifted away from large convention properties," Mr. Crow said Sunday.

A change in hotel management is not uncommon after a brand has been sold.

Dallas-based Wyndham International Inc. was sold to private equity firm the Blackstone Group in August in a deal worth $3.24 billion. Immediately after the deal closed, the firm carved 14 of the brand's trophy properties and resorts and combined them with other resort holdings to create the LXR Luxury Resorts brand.

The Wyndham brand and franchise system were sold to Cendant Corp. for $100 million in September, and it is now known as Wyndham Worldwide.

[antoinekhuu]

Dallas is one of only a handful of large cities that don't have all four of the industry's largest hotel brands operating – and selling – downtown properties.

Having major brands in the downtown area is critical because more companies are selling multi-year contracts that rotate among cities, but under the same hotel company.



I wonder How can a hotel in Market CEnter is considered a Downtown Property?

[Urban Interest]

^I don't know, but I think this is a good thing. Those meeting spaces could use a facelift.

[Tnekster]

Globest article

Crow Primes 1,606-Room Anatole for $30M Renovation, New Flag
By Connie Gore
Last updated: December 13, 2005 10:37am

DALLAS-In a 30-day spin, Hilton Hotels Corp. has bested three other top-tier management companies to raise its flag for the first time since the early 1980s on a convention-style hotel in Downtown Dallas. The contract for the 1,606-room Anatole includes a $30-million renovation.


The Beverly Hills, CA-based hotel company will replace the Wyndham flag by mid-January on the 2201 N. Stemmons Freeway landmark, Sandi Denton, Hilton's area vice president tells GlobeSt.com. The renovation, primarily aimed at redoing guest rooms and ballroom and event space, could get under way before the first quarter ends and will take two years to complete, she says. What won't be changing is the staff, she says, adding "it's a great team."


According to Denton, Hilton was up against Host Marriott Corp. of Bethesda, MD, the White Plains-based Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. and locally based Omni Hotels Corp. for the contract courted by Anatole owner, Crow Holdings of Dallas. "It happened quickly," she says. "The first I heard about it was 30 days ago."


In recent months, the Wyndham brand was sold first to the New York City-headquartered Blackstone Group and then to Cendant Corp. Denton says those moves most likely played a significant role in Crow's decision to change management companies.


For Hilton, the stakes were higher than just securing its first convention-type hotel in roughly two decades in Dallas. With similar properties in Houston and Austin, Hilton plans to cross-package conventions for organizations that prefer to rotate among the top three Texas cities, Denton points out. Plus, she says the hotelier expects to gain from being in the same city as the operations hub for Hilton Direct and Hilton Reservations Worldwide.


"It's good for the City of Dallas and it's good for the Anatole," Denton says. The upcoming work has been gamed out, but no contracts awarded to date, she adds.


The Anatole was built in 1978 on 45 acres, with its tower going up in 1984. Denton says to her knowledge that the upcoming work doesn't include any addition to the hotel complex nor room conversions into condo space. Some rooms and the atrium were renovated in recent years so Hilton's plan focuses on the balance of the 1,606 rooms and 340,000 sf of meeting space. The facility also includes eight restaurants and bars, 10 boutique shops, 80,000-sf health club and business center.

[BigD5349]

Man, the dirt is really flyin' around town. impressive.