Hotels in Downtown Detroit

[gthomas]

I've notice some hotel brands that never settle in Downtown, yet. But are currently building in the suburbs, with expansions in near future in further suburbs.

With so many boutique hotels opening, is that all we need to expect downtown? National brands are not jumping on the band wagon.

Would love to see a Hyatt Place, W Hotel, Ritz Carlton etc. Not the sister of the brand, but the actual hotel. I know the market determines that, but come on. It's cities smaller than Detroit who has these national brands in their downtown.

What's Detroit's issue?

[313WX]

Detroit is not a tourist destination and it simply doesn't have the corporate presence or volume of conventions that other cities have to justify a ton of hotel rooms.

Nashville, for comparison, has 15-20 high rise hotels that have been recently completed, under construction or in the works.

Amazon HQ2 coming to town, of course, would change that overnight.

[48202]

W, Ritz Carleton, and Westin are all owned by Marriott. It really doesn’t matter a whole lot which sign is on the door.

[313WX]

W, Ritz Carleton, and Westin are all owned by Marriott. It really doesn’t matter a whole lot which sign is on the door.

It does matter more than you're implying.

Each of those "signs on the door" offer varying levels of services and amenities to their guests.

[gthomas]

W, Ritz Carleton, and Westin are all owned by Marriott. It really doesn’t matter a whole lot which sign is on the door.

I think it's more about variety, one of my friends always go to a W hotel specifically when visiting cities. This could be reason why he doesn't visit Detroit often. He probably has to settle with other Marriott brands.

Each brands has its style, which makes me believe the reason with having so many under one hotel brand.

[gthomas]

It does matter more than you're implying.

Each of those "signs on the door" offer varying levels of services and amenities to their guests.

My thoughts exactly, different strokes for different folks.

[401don]

I think it's more about variety, one of my friends always go to a W hotel specifically when visiting cities. This could be reason why he doesn't visit Detroit often. He probably has to settle with other Marriott brands.

Each brands has its style, which makes me believe the reason with having so many under one hotel brand.

It's one thing to be loyal to a brand when you're in town, but to choose not to visit that city because your brand of hotel isn't there would be pretty lame.

[gthomas]

Still waiting to see what hotel brand the LCA goes with. An Hyatt Recency will be perfect. Also, the Book Tower Building..easily a W hotel.

[gthomas]

It's one thing to be loyal to a brand when you're in town, but to choose not to visit that city because your brand of hotel isn't there would be pretty lame.

He still comes, but still brings up the topic of "Have y'all gotten a W yet"? He really be disappointed, and settle for whatever. I told him about ALoft, he said ok I guess. That's just his thing.

[SpartanDawg]

I think hotels are going to boom downtown soon. You're already seeing a new hotel district being built currently with Shinola, Wurlizter, and metropolitan hotels all going up. Although those are all boutique they signal a growing need for hospitality downtown. LCA is going to further drive that up with more events downtown, and all the pistons games coming here.

The Book tower will have a hotel in it, we already know that. I would expect an announcement within the next 6 months or so on that considering it's going to ramp up with construction soon.

LCA hotel i would imagine would be mentioned soon too. That land is ready for groundbreaking.

[iheartthed]

I've notice some hotel brands that never settle in Downtown, yet. But are currently building in the suburbs, with expansions in near future in further suburbs.

With so many boutique hotels opening, is that all we need to expect downtown? National brands are not jumping on the band wagon.

Would love to see a Hyatt Place, W Hotel, Ritz Carlton etc. Not the sister of the brand, but the actual hotel. I know the market determines that, but come on. It's cities smaller than Detroit who has these national brands in their downtown.

What's Detroit's issue?

There are no Ritz Carltons or W Hotels anywhere in metro Detroit. But W Hotels are a subsidiary of Starwood [[which is now owned by Marriott). Starwood's marquee brand is Westin, and there is obviously one of those in downtown Detroit [[and a couple in suburban Detroit). I doubt there will ever be a W Hotel in suburban Detroit, since those are almost exclusively located in the central city. I would not be surprised to see a W hotel in Detroit within the next five years.

Also, I think you're confusing Hyatt Place with the more upscale marquee Hyatt brand. Hyatt Place is the budget brand for the Hyatt chain, which there are several in suburban Detroit [[these were previously branded as AmeriSuites). There is no Hyatt Regency or other upmarket Hyatt brand in metro Detroit.

[iheartthed]

I think it's more about variety, one of my friends always go to a W hotel specifically when visiting cities. This could be reason why he doesn't visit Detroit often. He probably has to settle with other Marriott brands.

Each brands has its style, which makes me believe the reason with having so many under one hotel brand.

I've stayed in quite a few Ws. The accommodations kind of suck, especially at the U.S. locations, but the bars are usually pretty good. The Aloft at the David Whitney has a vibe that is very close to the W experience. It's closer to the W than any other Aloft I've been to, so I have a feeling that Starwood/Marriott will eventually convert it to a W.

[gthomas]

What does it take to land an Hyatt Recency, Ritz Carlton, and a W Hotel to Downtown Detroit? How do they determine that, it has to be something in works. How can you ignore what's happening downtown and not want to join?

Build it and they will come, should be the motto. Being that none of those brands are in the region is very upsetting and disappointing. I just don't understand it, that's all.

[gthomas]

Another thing comes in mind, why doesn't our convention center has an hotel like most cities does. We, as a city just seem to do stuff differently. Or is just decades of bad city planning? Just weird.

[mtburb]

Another thing comes in mind, why doesn't our convention center has an hotel like most cities does. We, as a city just seem to do stuff differently. Or is just decades of bad city planning? Just weird.

You obviously haven't paid too much attention lately. Cobo has a hotel literally across the street and the Suburban Collection Showplace has an on-site hotel as well.

[dtowncitylover]

Detroit is not a tourist destination and it simply doesn't have the corporate presence or volume of conventions that other cities have to justify a ton of hotel rooms.

That is untrue. And I hear over and over again if we want to land better/bigger sports and convention events, we need more hotel space in both the city and suburbs.

[hybridy]

Another thing comes in mind, why doesn't our convention center has an hotel like most cities does. We, as a city just seem to do stuff differently. Or is just decades of bad city planning? Just weird.

For cobo the stand in is the ren cen Marriott. When the jla replacement studies were done the site could not support a hotel due to ren cen 1000+ room. It’s a drag on entire cbd daily room avg. the Westin keeps rooms empty so as to not drag down rates. Frankly there are too many of the wrong type of rooms not spread across enough properties downtown.

This keeps new work from coming online.

Now the boutiques are being built, but the last new build with a major flag was the Hilton garden inn for the super bowl...over a decade ago. Cleveland, Milwaukee, and Indianapolis all have added several properties [[new and reuse) in their downtowns and suburbs over the same period.

[401don]

What does it take to land an Hyatt Recency, Ritz Carlton, and a W Hotel to Downtown Detroit? How do they determine that, it has to be something in works. How can you ignore what's happening downtown and not want to join?

Build it and they will come, should be the motto. Being that none of those brands are in the region is very upsetting and disappointing. I just don't understand it, that's all.

I think the "build a better mousetrap" theory of marketing went out of favor about 60 years ago. You build a hotel, open a store, make a product or service based on unfulfilled need and downtown Detroit does not currently have nearly enough corporate business to support the upper tier of business hotels you are suggesting.

[night-timer]

Still waiting to see what hotel brand the LCA goes with. An Hyatt Recency will be perfect. Also, the Book Tower Building..easily a W hotel.

For sure, Book Tower with its downtown location on Washington Boulevard would make an ideal location. Has anyone figured out what Matty is doing [[or planning to do) with Michigan Central Station? I once heard he paid $80k for the site.

[313WX]

That is untrue. And I hear over and over again if we want to land better/bigger sports and convention events, we need more hotel space in both the city and suburbs.

It's definitely true.

Detroit is simply not a place people come to in droves for vacation, and most of the automotive-related companies and facilities in the region are in the suburbs [[I should mention, the travel budgets for automotive companies aren't nearly as lavish as the budgets tech and oil companies have). Also, aside from the Auto Show, Detroit really isn't a destination for large conventions.

If the Auto Industry wasn't humming along, we'd probably lose more hotel rooms and name brands, such as when the Ritz Carlton and Hyatt Regency left during Autopocalypse.

The idea that we don't get convention events and a ton of tourism because of the lack of hotel rooms defies logic. If the demand was there in the first place, the hotel chains would be trampling over themselves to ensure there was supply to meet it [[again, see Nashville for example).

[MikeyinBrooklyn]

I am pretty psyched about Detroit's hospitality business. Our supply of rooms has gone up and up and up, while both occupancy and average room rates have steadily climbed. People visiting metro Detroit now prefer to stay downtown, with so many things to do. Even people visiting the city used to stay in the suburbs. We also have a very nice selection of types of rooms, styles of service, old vs new construction, and prices. You can stay basic and cheap, or go old school comfort, modern chic, etc.

I think we will still see a number of large hotel projects come to the city, some of which might well be major upscale brands. High-end hotels such as Ritz-Carlton make decisions based on average room rates; while on an upward trend, downtown Detroit hotel rooms are not yet averaging $275/night. When they do, we will be very appealing to chains like that.

One other thing to keep in mind is that most major hotels built in any city nowadays are part of a larger project. So, you can't correctly analyze the market by just saying, "Oh, we don't have a Ritz-Carlton." Getting a Ritz-Carlton will occur when the right project comes along for them, with the right development partners at the right location at the right time.

[dtowncitylover]

It's definitely true.

Detroit is simply not a place people come to in droves for vacation, and most of the automotive-related companies and facilities in the region are in the suburbs [[I should mention, the travel budgets for automotive companies aren't nearly as lavish as the budgets tech and oil companies have). Also, aside from the Auto Show, Detroit really isn't a destination for large conventions.

If the Auto Industry wasn't humming along, we'd probably lose more hotel rooms and name brands, such as when the Ritz Carlton and Hyatt Regency left during Autopocalypse.

The idea that we don't get convention events and a ton of tourism because of the lack of hotel rooms defies logic. If the demand was there in the first place, the hotel chains would be trampling over themselves to ensure there was supply to meet it [[again, see Nashville for example).

But we do have tourists and those tourists need places to stay. Not every tourist is carrying a fanny pack taking pictures. They're rural Michiganders coming in to see a sports game, Ontarians coming to see a show, Europeans drawn to the "Detroit" buzzword, or to my amazement an Arizona couple who, yes, decided to come to Detroit for vacation. And they need places to say.

Why are we not a destination? Because we're not Miami or San Diego? Ok, that's probably based on weather. We're lacking in hotel space and that's a problem when the Visitors and Convention Bureau is pitching Detroit.

[313WX]

But we do have tourists and those tourists need places to stay. Not every tourist is carrying a fanny pack taking pictures. They're rural Michiganders coming in to see a sports game, Ontarians coming to see a show, Europeans drawn to the "Detroit" buzzword, or to my amazement an Arizona couple who, yes, decided to come to Detroit for vacation. And they need places to say.

The tourism you describe is obviously not high volume nor profitable enough for the hotel chains.

Why are we not a destination? Because we're not Miami or San Diego? Ok, that's probably based on weather.

Chicago, DC and NYC are some of the top tourist destinations in the country in spite of the weather. In Canada, Vancouver and Toronto are also huge tourist destinations. So no, you got it wrong there.

[dtowncitylover]

The tourism you describe is obviously not high volume nor profitable enough for the hotel chains.



Chicago, DC and NYC are some of the top tourist destinations in the country in spite of the weather. In Canada, Vancouver and Toronto are also huge tourist destinations. So no, you got it wrong there.

And they all have great hotel space for big conventions!

Of course we don't have hordes of Asians and Euros coming to Detroit. But we still need hotel space.

[313WX]

But we still need hotel space.

We do have hotel space, and it's what the market feels is enough.