theman, on 25 April 2011 - 12:48 AM, said:
I agree. He said that it was going to be in the family of one of the big 2 brands, so most likely a Hilton or Marriott branded hotel. The last thing I want to see across from the Hampton Inn and a couple blocks from the Courtyard Marriott is a Hilton Garden Inn or similar hotel.
A Westin or Reniaissance would be great. Even an Sheraton or Marriott would be excellent but I doubt that it's going to be a full service hotel. Hopefully we will hear something soon.
Intercontinental is far larger than Hilton or Marriott by room or location count, so I'd keep them as a potential contender too, but the biggest players money wise are certainly those two companies. There are some issues with it being either Hilton or IHG though, which I'll mention below. Choice Hotels is massive by location count, but they are more budget focused and tend not to be considered as one of the biggest players.
jcmcclure77, on 25 April 2011 - 10:13 AM, said:
Aloft is a neat concept, but it has struggled to find its footing and people either love it or hate it, seems to be no in between. There are markets where it does really well and some it doesn't and that is the hard thing, not knowing how it will be received in the market by travelers. Regardless, it is not happening, only bad part of it is that there still won't be a Starwood brand in Little Rock.
The hotel that will be built is not going to be full-service either, cost to run a full-service is high and if hotel is located in the River Market, guest does not want to stay in hotel and eat dinner with numerous dining/nighlife options out the front door. Hope to hear news on groundbreaking plans in the next couple of months with start late this year or early next...
Aloft may be a little too "hip" for it's own good. The building design and rooms are quite nice and the common areas are well decorated and comfortable, but the weird naming of things ("Arf"), random use of lower case words that don't exactly tell you what things are, etc. can be a bit over the top for a business traveler who is just ready to sleep and maybe use the hotel bar. I like the decor pretty well, but I can see how some people would find it too bright or a bit over the top. At any rate, the only reason I was happy about the possibility of an Aloft in Little Rock was because it would be something
new for this region's market, and the type of customer it draws would be more likely to explore and enjoy the River Market (in my opinion) than those of more mainstream brands.
Whatever we're getting sounds like it isn't going to change the regional hotel scene at all, and I doubt whatever they build will be as interesting/different as an Aloft would have been, which is disappointing. Since it's not going to be full service, I hope it's not another Hilton property too- the Garden Inn is the only non-full service chain we don't already have right there (even though there's one up by McCain) and I view it as a watered down hotel chain that has little to offer a traveler they can't get (and get better) from another chain, and I don't see them being an ideal downtown hotel, but they do have some downtown locations. I'm guessing we'll get a select or limited service hotel, of which we already have two recent additions downtown, so my "wish" for the new property would be:
Crowne Plaza: Not likely since it's sometimes considered "full service" (I'd consider it more of a nice select service chain) and we already have a small one in west Little Rock,
but they do like to have downtown locations and they build handsome hotels that are often designed to fit in with the local architecture. I don't think this will happen since if they build downtown locations (or takeover downtown locations- I'd let them have the Doubletree in a heart beat) they tend to do larger scale buildings than we're expecting with this project and I just don't think the demand is there to justify that yet. The Crowne Plaza also might eat into some of the market for the Holiday Inn Presidential near downtown, but having spent a lot of time in both, I feel they draw a different type of traveler and that wouldn't be a significant issue (I went to WLR to stay in the Crowne Plaza when here for work in the past year, never even considered the Holiday Inn although I needed to be downtown quite a bit). It could eat into the west Little Rock location's business though. A similar sized IHG property that appeals to a different demographic not currently served in Little Rock would be
Hotel Indigo, but I don't think Little Rock is large enough to be on their radar for a niche hotel like Indigo yet.
Hyatt Place: I'm pretty sure it won't be this based off the earlier comments of a "big 2 chain" (although that's a poorly defined term, Hyatt certainly isn't one of the two/three biggest chains), but it'd be a good fit for a limited service downtown hotel. They build nice (although very bland in suburban environments) hotels with comfortable rooms and contemporary decor, but I'd want it to be less like one of their bland suburban blocks and more like the one they recently built in downtown Birmingham:
http://visitsouth.co...Hyatt_Place.jpg . I think that'd look right at home in the downtown area.
If it has to be a Marriott or Hilton property (as seems likely), my pick would be:
Embassy Suites: They build bland but nice hotels and also like to have locations near downtowns.... but I don't think it's likely due to the Doubletree being so close, and the same reasons I don't think a Crowne Plaza is likely (see above). I'd love to be wrong, though.
Springhill Suites: This one might actually be possible. It's a fast growing chain that competes with the likes of Comfort Suites, Ramada Limited, etc. without being in quite the same market as Embassy or Crowne Plaza Suites. They've been showing more interest in downtown locations recently. It's a little higher end competitor to Hampton/Holiday Inn Express/etc. type hotels that we don't really have a lot of competition in the downtown area for right now (just Comfort Suites). It'd be a decent mid-level suite hotel for downtown, and I wouldn't be opposed to this, although it's certainly not going to be an addition to the market that will excite many people. There is one in west Little Rock, but otherwise they don't have much of a market presence here yet.
What I actually wouldn't mind:
Holiday Inn Express: Hear me out. The newer Holiday Inn Express properties are actually pretty nice hotels, and they're a direct competitor to Hampton Inn in the limited service/hot-breakfast more affordable class of hotels. They, like Hampton, are popular with business (or government) travelers on a budget/per-diem and families taking advantage of larger than average rooms and free hot breakfasts. I've stayed at very nice Holiday Inn Express locations in Dallas when the Crowne Plaza Suites I normally preferred was booked, and I was impressed with both properties. The newest one I stayed at is in a dense area by the Galleria, and the hotel itself was actually very modern inside- contemporary carpet, decor, nice amenities, and the lobby was far nicer than I expect from a limited service hotel like those. I think having both a Hampton Inn and a Holiday Inn Express downtown would continue to increase the "affordable, yet reputable" hotel pool in the downtown area and encourage more families and budget business travelers to stay in the area. Some of their designs are very bland (which one of these chains isn't guilty of that though), but if they built more similar to the newer one in Dallas:
http://www.ichotelsg...CM_EXTR_3_E.jpg , I'd be happy with that being downtown too.
What I don't want:
Hilton Garden Inn: In my opinion, one of the most overrated hotel chains out there. Offers less than most competitors at a higher price, and builds very generic looking properties. I'm afraid it could be the most likely addition since it competes head to head with Courtyard (another of my least favorite chains) and it's the only other limited service Marriott or Hilton chain than Springhill Suites not currently represented downtown,, but I hope it's not.
Choice Hotels: Anything from them. They're not a bad chain, and their Comfort Suites on the edge of downtown is actually quite nice, but I don't think a budget hotel is a good addition to a dense part of downtown, and I don't see it being financially feasible for them to build downtown (especially with a relatively large, recently renovated Comfort Inn & Suites next to downtown).
What it won't (or probably won't) be:
Won't: Anything already existing downtown or near downtown (Courtyard, Hampton, Comfort Suites, Holiday Inn, Wyndham, Marriott ExecuStay, LaQuinta).
Probably won't: Extended Stay Hotels (TownePlace Suites, Homewood Suites, Residence Inn, Staybridge Suites, Candlewood Suites, etc.). Although I wouldn't mind seeing a nice extended stay hotel near downtown (TownePlace, Homewood, or Staybridge are all nice properties, with Staybridge and Homewood as my favorites), it's normally not cost effective to build those in downtown locations and they tend to be smaller properties overall. If an extended stay type property from one of the large chains were to take a shot at downtown, I have a feeling it'd most likely be Hilton's new Home2 Suites which is about to open a new downtown Baltimore location, or Staybridge Suites, which has a couple downtown properties and is also growing. I wouldn't mind either property, but Home2 is so new I don't know if we'd be on the radar for a franchisee yet and Staybridge is a different overall atmosphere than you normally see in downtown locations (the Chattanooga downtown location is the only non-lodge styled one I've ever seen). I also don't see any budget hotel taking on a downtown location- too much cost to build new there for too little likely pay off. I also don't think Moses Tucker would be very interested in bringing a budget hotel to downtown.
My guess would be a Garden Inn or a Springhill Suites, with Garden Inn being the most probable. I really hope I'm wrong though and it's either an IHG property to compete with Hampton/Courtyard, a Hyatt Place, or a Springhill Suites.
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, Residence Inn was on my "probably not" list... Since it is a Residence Inn though I hope they'll build a decent downtown location. I would go out on a limb (not much of a limb) and say it won't be 7 stories like the Aloft was supposed to be, but 4-5 stores seems more likely. I just hope they do a decent design for the building...They're really hit and miss on those. The newest one I've seen in a downtown location is in Saint Louis, and it has to be one of the blandest/bordering on ugly new hotels I've ever seen:
