THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, October 26, 1996 TAG: 9610260263
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MYLENE MANGALINDAN, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 67 lines
Norfolk's growing convention and tourism business has prompted the city to hire a consultant to determine whether downtown needs another hotel.
PKF Consulting, an arm of Pannell Kerr Forster International, an Alexandria-based firm that specializes in the hospitality and hotel industry, has been studying for the past month and a half whether the demand for lodging can support a moderately priced hotel.
``The focus of the study would be to help us determine the viability of a hotel facility in the downtown,'' said Charlie Bauman, marketing manager of the city's economic development department.
The study will include an inventory of hotels throughout the city, and recommendations about possible sites and types of hotels, said Sam Rogers, Norfolk director of marketing. PKF will look at city-owned and city-controlled property as sites for hotel development, he said.
Norfolk is paying $39,000 for the two-month study, said Dr. Mason Andrews, a city councilman. The report is due out in about two weeks.
Some people in the lodging industry, however, are wondering why the city would worry about building another hotel downtown when the citywide hotel occupancy rate reaches only 63.9 percent through September, according to the latest Norfolk Hotel/Motel Association report. There are 5,341 guest rooms in the city, including 1,486 downtown.
``Sixty-three percent is not at a point we need to be developing a new hotel,'' said Terry Lavey, general manager of the Norfolk Airport Hilton. Still, the convention and tourism business might warrant a new hotel in the downtown area, he said.
Developers had expressed an interest to city officials before the city commissioned its study on the prospects for another hotel began, Rogers said.
Officials with the Omni Waterside Hotel and the Norfolk Waterside Marriott Hotel alerted city officials about the need for more affordable downtown rooms to accommodate budget-conscious travelers.
``What we've been telling the city is that we're missing the moderately priced hotel segment,'' said Dan Marone, general manager of the Waterside Marriott. Mid-priced hotels charge from $70 to $80 a night, whereas the Omni and Marriott charge more than $100 a night, said Marone.
The Marriott has 405 rooms and the Omni has 442.
Occupancy in the city's two first-class downtown hotels has ranged around 80 percent, Rogers said.
For the eight months through August, hotel occupancy rates averaged 61.5 percent citywide, up 5 percent from a similar period last year, according to a recent study by Horwath Hospitality Consulting/-Smith Travel Research. The average rate for a night's stay is $55.09, according to the same report. That's also up 5 percent over the same period in 1995.
``We're at a point now where we need to know what the hotel needs are for the future,'' Andrews said. ``The mid-range is an obvious need to round out our convention attractiveness, to get another level and give the customers more choice. It's our understanding that there's an unmet need for mid-range hotel service.''
Officials in other cities have also talked about developing new hotels. Virginia Beach city officials have been meeting with representatives of four- and five-star hotel representatives, according to Donald Maxwell, economic development director for Virginia Beach. ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photos]
The Marriott Waterside Hotel, above, and Omni Waterside Hotel,
below, alerted the city about the need for more-affordable downtown
rooms. Both charge more than $100 a night: A mid-priced hotel would
charge $70 to $80. by CNB