By Melissa S. Monroe, San Antonio Express-News
Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News
April 11, 2002 - Brick by brick, workers at the old Maverick Building
at Houston and St. Mary's streets are carefully sanding off years of decay
as they create a historic look for the city's newest inn, the Hotel Valencia
Riverwalk San Antonio.
The
hotel, to open in late November, is part of the $200 million Houston Street
redevelopment project. The 12-story hotel will feature 214 rooms with rates
from $200 to $350.
And it has even more lavish digs: Its presidential suite, located on
the third floor, will cost as much as $1,800 a night.
But travelers paying top dollar for a hotel room at the $16.5 million
Valencia will get top-notch services.
The hotel will lead the Texas industry by introducing remote curbside
registration services so patrons can bypass the lobby on the hotel's second
floor.
The first floor is leased to Maryland-based Federal Realty Investment
Trust, the company coordinating the Houston Street redevelopment project.
High-end stores will be housed on the first floor along with the Bamboo
Club, an eatery featuring Pacific Rim and Asian cuisine.
Arizona is the only other state with Bamboo restaurants, which are
an offshoot of Main Street and Main Inc., the creator of the T.G.I. Friday's
brand.
The lobby will consist of a bar with a rust-colored leather floor and
a full-service restaurant offering terrace dining. Guests will have about
3,000 square feet of meeting space for conferences.
"This is going to be a little different," said Roy Kretschmer, Valencia's
general manager. "It's going to be of higher quality, hip, classical with
traditional styles and modernized to attract the next generation."
The prototype hotel is a product of Houston-based Valencia Hotels Corp.,
which has built and owned Hampton Inns and Homewood Suites hotels. The
company also built the first Sheraton Hotel in Houston in the 1960s.
Valencia Hotels also is simultaneously building another Hotel Valencia
in Federal Realty's Santana Row project in San Jose, Calif.
Dee Ellis, director of sales for the Valencia in San Antonio, said
enthusiasm for the new hotel is already here.
"We are getting so many calls (about the hotel)," Ellis said. "When
selling a startup brand, it's different and very exciting. You can hear
it in people's voices that they are happy about the new concept."
But Bruce H. Walker, president of hotel consulting firm Source Strategies
Inc., said there are only a few hotels in Texas that can command rates
above $150. He said the Hotel Valencia might have some luck, since out
of the 10,000 hotel rooms downtown, only about 1,000 cater to high-end
travelers.
According to Source Strategies' Hotel Brand Report, only six independent
hotels made the top 11 performing properties in Texas for 2001. Just three
of the private hotels had average daily rates more than $200.
"I don't see them getting $200 to $350, but they can get $150," Walker
said. "To get $180, you have to be pretty special."
Hotel Valencia officials are confident the property will have plenty
of upscale amenities to keep guests coming back. Guest rooms will include
items such as cordless, two-line speakerphones and bed and bath products
from chic companies such as California-based Lather and Italy-based Italian
Home Style.
Fancy linens and bath sundries are something the experienced traveler
wants, according to last year's Luxury Hotels Monitor, a survey by members
of Small Luxury Hotels of the World.
The Monitor said hotels are reporting women are becoming the biggest
tippers, and bedroom towels and sheets are increasingly popular take-home
gifts among guests.
Hotel Valencia's pursuit of the high-end traveler also is backed by
the fact that it's among only three Texas properties and is the only San
Antonio hotel to be accepted into the exclusive Small Luxury Hotels group.
To be a Small Luxury Hotels member, the property has to have 200 rooms
or less and be independently owned.
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(c) 2002, San Antonio Express-News. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune
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