Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, July 10, 1994 TAG: 9407120015
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: F-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By SANDRA BROWN KELLY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
"You never know when you go into this if you're going to find qualified sources," said Siekert, purchasing manager for the Phoenix-based company. "I have found two, possibly more, solid vendors that I plan to use."
Siekert is responsible for buying interior furnishings for Roanoke's historic downtown hotel, which is scheduled to reopen in April.
In recent weeks, she has toured the Lee's Carpet Co. mill at Glasgow; Sam Moore Furniture Industries in Bedford; Mario Industries, a lamp maker in Roanoke; and Furniture Crafters of Virginia in Collinsville.
Siekert will not say which of the companies she expects to use, but she said that after seeing their products, she is no longer apprehensive as to whether she can find the quality items at the right price in this area.
The Roanoke project is slightly different from others for Doubletree because the company agreed to use as many Western Virginia suppliers as possible.
"Usually, we just do it," she said. "Generally, we're pretty much free to select vendors."
Siekert said the interest from area companies has been high, but the number of bids received has been considerably fewer than the number of companies that initially asked for bidding packages. It has been a lower ratio than normal, she said.
Doubletree usually buys directly from manufacturers and gets prices that reflect the direct purchasing, she said.
"A few bids I received were quite high. We're working to get everything within our budget," she said, indicating that she might ask some companies to rethink their bids.
Siekert will tour more companies toward the end of this month and plans to make her purchases in August for installation in November.
Some of the interior design is being revised, so specifications aren't yet available to vendors, she said. After Virginia Tech officials viewed a model hotel room a few weeks ago, they asked that it be given a more traditional look, in keeping with the way rooms would have looked in the old hotel.
Even the sample lamps provided by Roanoke's Mario Industries have had to be redone, Siekert said.
Hotel Roanoke is one of five major projects Siekert is overseeing. Among the others is the renovation of the Doubletree Hotel and Conference Center in Monterey, Calif. It was one of the facilities city officials visited to get ideas for the local project.
Most of Doubletree's projects are renovations, she said, although the company has a hotel under construction in Atlantic City.
Doubletree itself has undergone changes, too, since it affiliated with the Hotel Roanoke & Conference Center.
In December, it completed a merger with Guest Quarters Hotels Partnership of Boston. The combined companies operate as Doubletree Hotels; they own and manage the Doubletree Hotels and Guest Quarters Suites by Doubletree brands, as well as other hotels, for a total of 98 properties.
The merged companies are privately held by national investors Richard Ferris and Peter Ueberroth as co-chairmen of Doubletree Partners, which in turn is owned by Canadian Pacific Limited, Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. and General Electric Investments in partnership with Ueberroth and Ferris.
The company is on a growth track. While it was adding Hotel Roanoke to its family of upscale conference center facilities, it also was negotiating for The Carolina Inn, owned by the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. That property also is being renovated.
On June 30, Doubletree took over management of the 750-room former Westin hotel at Los Angeles Airport. The LAX property, with 40,000 square feet of meeting space, is the company's largest.
In May, Doubletree signed a contract to manage and convert three former Crown Sterling Suites hotels in Texas and Florida to Guest Quarters Suites by Doubletree.
Doubletree's Roanoke offices are down the hall from the Hotel Roanoke & Conference Center Commission office in Franklin Plaza. Gary Walton, who recently arrived as Hotel Roanoke's new manager, said he hopes to move the offices to the hotel by year's end.
The staff consists of Walton; Gary Crizer, director of sales; three salespeople; and office help. Plans are to add two more sales positions this summer.
Walton also is accepting resumes for other senior management staff.
The hotel-conference center will employ some 335 to 350 people, Walton said. The bulk of these will be hired in February and March.
A Roanoke public relations firm, John Lambert Associates, has been hired on a year's contract to help with the opening of the facilities.
Walton said he reviewed proposals from several firms before selecting Lambert, which also handled the closing of the hotel several years ago.
by CNB