Hotels in Downtown Detroit

[iheartthed]

The Waldorf isn't being renovated because it wasn't doing well. It was purchased by a Chinese outfit for $2 billion, and they want to carve out some condos in the property, but it will remain a hotel.

With fewer hotel rooms because it wasn't performing well financially.

[Onthe405]

With fewer hotel rooms because it wasn't performing well financially.

Hotels are no different than retailers or automobiles in that collective consumer tastes & trends change--and the cycle seems to move ever faster with increased technology. Smaller, more intimate hotels, Airbnb, and minimal service, transient oriented apartment-like offerings are making substantial inroads into the traditional, full service hotel business model.


The Waldorf [[certainly before the refurbishment, at least) was on its way to becoming a dinosaur: garishly ornate, not particularly well-maintained, and appealing to an aging, shrinking market. Granted, in Manhattan, sheer demand will fill just about any hotel--but at a profitable rate? The name of the game in the hotel business [[especially with high-end properties) is Average Daily Rate and word-of-mouth reputation as much as it is occupancy. Unless a hotel is marketing toward stripped-down basics for a budget price, that raises the more complex question as to what amenities, decor, and location customers are willing to pay a premuim for.


The Waldorf's Park Avenue address is prime, but I'm not sure exactly how many young, wealthy tech-savvy customers are all that interested in gold-gilt, overstuffed purple couches and filet mignon. Historical & vintage properties have a niche, but given the wear & tear a hotel bears on a daily basis, it's difficult [[and mighty expensive) to maintain a property true to its original vibe.

[iheartthed]

Hotels are no different than retailers or automobiles in that collective consumer tastes & trends change--and the cycle seems to move ever faster with increased technology. Smaller, more intimate hotels, Airbnb, and minimal service, transient oriented apartment-like offerings are making substantial inroads into the traditional, full service hotel business model.


The Waldorf [[certainly before the refurbishment, at least) was on its way to becoming a dinosaur: garishly ornate, not particularly well-maintained, and appealing to an aging, shrinking market. Granted, in Manhattan, sheer demand will fill just about any hotel--but at a profitable rate? The name of the game in the hotel business [[particualrly with high-end properties) is Average Daily Rate and word-of-mouth reputation as much as it is occupancy. Unless a hotel is marketing toward stripped-down basics for a budget price, that raises the more complex question as to what amenities, decor, and location customers are willing to pay a premuim for.


The Waldorf's Park Avenue address is prime, but I'm not sure exactly how many young, wealthy tech-savvy customers are all that interested in gold-gilt, overstuffed purple couches and filet mignon. Historical & vintage properties have a niche, but given the wear & tear a hotel bears on a daily basis, it's difficult [[and mighty expensive) to maintain a property true to its original vibe.

TBH, I don't even think the address is really "prime" anymore. I would say "iconic" is the better way to describe it. New York's wealthy elite aren't concentrated in Midtown East/Upper East Side the way they used to be. The establishment and billionaires still prefer that area but the new-money millionaire tech scene is more of a downtown thing.


Before it closed, my colleagues would often stay there when traveling to NYC because it is close to our office and the room rates were comparable to mid-market brands in Manhattan. I have never seen a place like the Mandarin Oriental in range of our company's per diem. They must've been struggling...

[Zads07]

Boutique hotel in the Standard Accident Insurance Co. Building next to the Masonic in Cass Park. I'm seriously not trying to make this about Ilitch, but what I am saying is he doesn't own it and it was recently bought. Plans already in motion.


http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article...elopment-plans