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Hartford Hotel Shortage


grock

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A buzz among the tourism/convention circle: shortage of hotel rooms in downtown Hartford. The downtown Marriott is booked on a regular basis as is the Goodwin and Hilton. There are complaints from the business community and visitors that they have to stay at the Marriotts in Windsor and Rocky Hill, away from their meetings. The city needs at least another hotel on par with the new Marriott, maybe a Hyatt, who knows.

Homewood Hilton opens in the Bond Hotel next month. Ann Howard's, which runs the ballroom on the top floor will open a restaurant on the ground floor.

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A buzz among the tourism/convention circle: shortage of hotel rooms in downtown Hartford. The downtown Marriott is booked on a regular basis as is the Goodwin and Hilton. There are complaints from the business community and visitors that they have to stay at the Marriotts in Windsor and Rocky Hill, away from their meetings. The city needs at least another hotel on par with the new Marriott, maybe a Hyatt, who knows.

Homewood Hilton opens in the Bond Hotel next month. Ann Howard's, which runs the ballroom on the top floor will open a restaurant on the ground floor.

Now this is some refreshing news! How about that Westin at Main and Pratt?

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Hey another hotel for downtown wouldnt hurt....it would be great if we could get a developer to open an independant hotel that was not part of a chain and was a botique hotel that also catered to business travelers. If not and it had to be a chain I hope they could have this hotel in a nice looking not chain hotel looking building.

Providence has the Hotel Providence which opened not to long ago, in Boston theres hotel like The Lenox, Copley Square Hotel, the Fairmont, XV Beacon and the Eliot so why not bring another hotel somewhat like those to Hartford.

Most of the hotels in the city have seen improvements or are not that old which is a good sign....the Marriott just opened last year, the Holiday Inn Express Downtown opened not to long ago, the Hilton had a renovation, the Residence Inn opened a few years ago, Homewood Suites by Hilton will be opening soon, Goodwin may be getting a renovation by Northland and Crowne Plaza had some small renovations and may be in line for bigger ones.

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Providence has the Hotel Providence which opened not to long ago, in Boston theres hotel like The Lenox, Copley Square Hotel, the Fairmont, XV Beacon and the Eliot so why not bring another hotel somewhat like those to Hartford.

Northlands' plan is to make the Goodwin that boutique 5 star hotel. Which it definitely seems like it has the potential... With front street news coming soon, I wouldn't be surprised to see a new hotel pop up somewhere...

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THE !@$^&$%#$%^ CLARION/SONESTA/HOTEL AMERICA NEEDS TO BE REDONE AND REOPENED!!!! Also, a small boutique hotel or New England Inn should be put in Front St.

I totally agree. They say the rooms are too small, but all that means is that it will be a cheap hotel in a great location that will probably stay packed due to simple economics. Also, it won't be all that cheap since it has a great location, just cheap for downtown.

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Tycoon:

Hartford needs a LaQuinta there. I don't think LaQuinta Inns are there yet!!

JimS

Hey, I agree again. LaQuinta would be a decent no frill brand to put in there, along with some others. That's the sort of Hotel that should be though. Absolutely. Everyone can't afford luxory and this would be a good alternative. I stayed in the LaQuinta in Houston recently and have no complaints.

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Hey, I agree again. LaQuinta would be a decent no frill brand to put in there, along with some others. That's the sort of Hotel that should be though. Absolutely. Everyone can't afford luxory and this would be a good alternative. I stayed in the LaQuinta in Houston recently and have no complaints.

The westin downtown should be brought back. Hartford needs a nice starwood property downtown.

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The Goodwin Hotel Renovation will break ground by the end of the year. This boutique hotel will be the nicest in Hartford.

At this point, the old Clarion is useless. It has been empty and not maintined for over a decade. It has decayed beyond repair. The owner is just sitting on it hoping to flip the property at a ridiculous price. This is why Hartford needs to tax abandoned properties and empty lots at a higher rate than properties in use.

Hartford has had a hotel shortage for quite some time. We will lose conventions and other events because of it. We need more unique boutique hotels... I'm not a fan of cookie-cutter chain hotels.

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The Goodwin Hotel Renovation will break ground by the end of the year. This boutique hotel will be the nicest in Hartford.

At this point, the old Clarion is useless. It has been empty and not maintined for over a decade. It has decayed beyond repair. The owner is just sitting on it hoping to flip the property at a ridiculous price. This is why Hartford needs to tax abandoned properties and empty lots at a higher rate than properties in use.

Hartford has had a hotel shortage for quite some time. We will lose conventions and other events because of it. We need more unique boutique hotels... I'm not a fan of cookie-cutter chain hotels.

No one is really a fan, however affordability is the bottom line with a lot of people and not really by choice. With that said, we already have the Holiday Inn Express, Residence Inn, and soon to be Homewood Suites. So I personally think if the structure can be re-used for our more than likely final economy hotel Downtown, I'm all for it. If the building is useless, then obviously it needs to go. I'm not an expert on that stuff, so I can't really call it. However, formerly vacant buildings are being re-used all over the city for new projects.

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While I agree a good mix is needed, there are many boutique hotels in other cities whose selling point is style at an affordable price.

The old Clarion now has structural problems and I believe asbestos. Its too bad, because the Clarion with its small rooms would be a perfect candidate for an affordable boutique-style hotel.

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The Goodwin Hotel Renovation will break ground by the end of the year. This boutique hotel will be the nicest in Hartford.

At this point, the old Clarion is useless. It has been empty and not maintined for over a decade. It has decayed beyond repair. The owner is just sitting on it hoping to flip the property at a ridiculous price. This is why Hartford needs to tax abandoned properties and empty lots at a higher rate than properties in use.

Hartford has had a hotel shortage for quite some time. We will lose conventions and other events because of it. We need more unique boutique hotels... I'm not a fan of cookie-cutter chain hotels.

Then we will have a parking lot shortage. :rofl::yahoo:

On the hotel shortage front, Maybe convert some stately older homes to B & B?

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Hartford definitely needs more hotel rooms. I happen to know of a huge event that was hoping to come to Hartford that probably won't happen because they realized people were going to have to be driving from Bristol, Rocky Hill and Cromwell in order to meet the hotel requirements. Hopefully there aren't too many events that Hartford is losing due to the shortage.

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when they built the marriot at the convention center, weren't the plans originally for twice the rooms that were built, however market studies indicated a hotel of that size was not needed? has the market changed that much? also, with the casino building a huge new cc, which will undoubtedly siphon conventions away from hartford, won't that aleviate any shortage? I am all for another brand new high rise hotel, toss one in with the elusive front street plans - maybe they will and it'll delay the proposal for another 90 days :P . as far as affordability, most of the people who travel to hartford are on business and expense accounts, so let's shoot for a high caliber establishment, which would bring more $$$ into the area. i don't know of many people who travel to the CBD for leisure/vacation...

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