Washington, D.C., and New York City have recovered from their pandemic-era struggles based on the demand David Hill is seeing at his hotels in both markets.
In this edition of HNN's podcast series looking at summer demand at hotels across the U.S., Hill, area general manager for Crestline Hotels & Resorts, said business has been strong for the Phoenix Park Hotel in Washington as well as at the Dylan Hotel NYC in Midtown Manhattan. The Phoenix Park Hotel saw a record year in 2023, indicating the market has recovered. This year, it’s doing well, but it’s difficult to replicate a record year, and it’s been difficult to maintain occupancy and average daily rate.
“We’ve had to be more fluid and flexible to make the pace and keep things going,” Hill said. “We’re doing well. We’re not making budgets, but it isn’t 20 points off. It’s slightly off every month, but it’s steady demand and steady pace.”
The hotel’s guest mix is 80% transient and 20% group, he said. The hotel had about four months when it was without a sales manager, so its pipeline slowed temporarily.
“We’ve had to scramble to offset that with transient, which I’m glad to say that we have, so we’ve maintained the business and occupancy levels, but the mix is a little bit different than what we had envisioned going into the year,” he said.
A further challenge for the Washington-area hotel is the loss of two full weeks of business due to the Republican National Convention in mid-July in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and the upcoming Democratic National Convention in August in Chicago.
The New York market is back and strong, Hill said. There’s serious international travel in the city now, and it came back quicker than expected.
What’s causing some temporary pains is a renovation at the Dylan Hotel NYC that’s affecting about two-thirds of the building, he said.
“I have a reduced inventory, but we’re maximizing what we have available to sell, and we’ve managed to push rate as well,” he said.
The renovation should end this fall, and it will come with a name change for the hotel that Hill said he couldn’t share just yet. The project will reposition the hotel to a high-end deluxe hotel. That will result in the ramping up of the hotel’s guest profile, attracting senior-level executives. That, of course, comes with the expectation of delivering higher service.
To hear more from David Hill about his hotels in the Manhattan and Washington markets, listen to the podcast linked above.