Sky Talk

Hotels selling out all around D/FW Airport

Hotels were already pretty full today for normal day in the work week, but add in passengers for 185 cancelled flights, and you're going to have a hard time finding space.

That's especially true the closer you get to the airport.

The Grand Hyatt D/FW, which sits atop Terminal D, had 65 rooms left to sell for tonight, and all got snapped up, mostly by stranded travelers, said Vince Vito, the hotel's director of sales and marketing, in a prepared statement.

The nearby Hyatt Regency DFW, with its 811 rooms near Terminal C, also had about a dozen rooms available tonight, but quickly sold them to travelers, said Priscilla Hagstrom, the hotel's spokeswoman.

Looking further out, even the Courtyard in south Irving sold a couple rooms to stranded travelers, said Armando Navarro, the hotel's assistant general manager. But it too was already close to capacity with regular business travelers staying the night.

--David

Sheraton going completely smoke free

Sheraton and sister brand Four Points by Sheraton are converting all of their hotels to be completely smoke free.

The chain will go from 70 hotels that prohibit smoking to more than 300 in the U.S., Caribbean and Canada, the company announced this week. About 8,000 smoking rooms will undergo extensive cleaning. That includes deep-cleaning all soft goods such as chairs, bed sheets and drapes.

The switch should be done by the end of the year, said Starwood Hotels & Resorts, which owns the two hotel brands. Starwood's other upscale brand, Westin, claims to be the first hotel chain to go completely smoke-free in January 2006.

-David

Doral Tesoro changing hands ... again

The Doral Tesoro Hotel & Golf Club has been sold to a Connecticut investor that plans to pump in $7 million and change the name to a Marriott.

The hotel has not exactly been blowing the doors out, according to Source Strategies. The hotel had an average revenue per available room of $65.67 for the 12 months ending Sept. 30. That's down 4 percent from the previous year, when it was 68.13 in revpar. Lately the hotel has been at 56 percent occupancy with an average daily rate of $117.90.

But the new Marriott brand should help boost revenues by at least 15 percent, said Todd Walker, a vice president at Source Strategies.

The hotel has passed through several different owners since it debuted in October 2001. Soon after opening, the hotel was foreclosed upon, the Westin brand name was taken off the building.

The $7 million in renovations to the 286-room hotel will wrap up by March 2009, said the new owner, HEI Hotels & Resorts.

But come Feb. 18, the new name will be the Dallas/Fort Worth Marriott Hotel & Golf Club at Alliance Park.

That's a mouthful.

-David

Sprucing up - to the tune of $87 million

Texas' largest hotel is set for an $87 million rejuvenation and a name change. The Adam's Mark Dallas will change its name to the Sheraton Dallas Hotel this spring.

The 1,840-room Adam's Mark Hotel in downtown Dallas was recently sold as part of a package deal, its new owners announced today. As a result, the largest renovation project of the 5-hotel portfolio will go down in Dallas, according to an announcement from The Chartres Lodging Group, which bought the 4,867-room package of hotels from St. Louis-based HBE Group.

A spokesman for San Francisco-based Chartres Lodging could not immediately say whether this would result in an expansion of the Adam's Mark, which has 230,000 square feet of meeting space.

If the Adam's Mark does not add to its room count, then its title as the king of Texas hotels -- by room count -- is slated to fall by February 2011, when the Gaylord Texan Resort & Convention Center on Lake Grapevine wraps up its expansion with another 500 rooms and 200,000 square feet of meeting space. At that time, the Gaylord Texan will be 2,011 rooms and 600,000 square feet of meeting space.

-David

Gaylord Texan remains a powerhouse

The Gaylord Texan once again led the way, helping pull its corporate parent Gaylord Entertainment out of the red from a year earlier to report a $3.8 million 4th quarter profit.

The company lost $93.7 million in the 4th quarter 2006. And the 1,511-room Grapevine hotel led all three of the company’s super hotels with the highest amount of total revenue per available room or revpar, which is a key industry measurement.

The Gaylord Texan had revpar of $375.60 for the quarter. Occupancy in the hotel was essentially flat at 72 percent and rooms sold for an average of $176.79 a night, a $5.29 increase from the previous year, the company said.

-David

Balancing on the road

Embassy Suites rolled out a new website called BusinessBalance.com that's designed to help business travelers with advice on nutrition, excercise and sleep while they're on the road.

Gary Chisholm, business travel expert for About.com, will serve as essentially the site's editor by offering commentary of current trends in business travel. His wife, Charlyn, who is a hotel expert for About.com, will also contribute.

The site offers tip sheets and Q&As on various aspects of staying healthy.

But of course, the site is not completely humanitarian in mission. Once you've become more relaxed, you'll find a link to the Embassy Suites main website, where you can book a room.

-David

HIlton wipes out blackout dates

Hilton Hotels Corp. announced this morning that it's doing away with blackout dates for its frequent-guest program, Hilton HHonors.

Starting Feb. 1, as long as a standard room is available, HHonors members will be able to guarantee a room using their rewards points at more than 2,900 Hilton family hotels.

-David

H-town hotels

Exactly how many convention hotels does Houston need?

Business is apparently going so good with the Space City's new convention-center hotel, Hilton Americas, that the city council is looking at selling the 1,200-room complex so it can use the money to build a second one nearby, as the Houston Chronicle is reporting. No word on how large the second convention hotel would be.

Here's something interesting the Chronicle said:

City officials contend another hotel would make Houston more competitive for big conventions.

They said Houston loses out because of a lack of hotel rooms close to the convention center.

But just a few miles down the road, the developers Astrodome Redevelopment Co., is weeks away from signing a deal to buy the 8th Wonder of the World and turn that into another 1,200-room convention center hotel, the Chronicle reported in a separate story.

-David

Wanna be a TV star?

Here's your chance to star in a national ad campaign alongside the PGA's Phil Mickelson for Crowne Plaza, which sponsors the annual Colonial golf tournament in Fort Worth.

The hotel chain will hold casting calls in New York, San Diego or Los Angeles, hosted by golf commentator/funny man David Feherty. They range from Jan. 22 to Jan. 29. But of course, many of our SkyTalk readers don't live in those cities. So, you have until Feb. 2 send in a story or video showing why you should be chosen.

Here are examples that Crowne Plaza's PR folks gave for who they're looking for:

• Fans who have advice for Phil's game
• People whose left hand has also taken them to greatness
• Spectators who have been hit by one of Phil's golf balls
• People who happen to look like Phil
• Kids who might just be the next Phil Mickelson
• Admirers who consider themselves Phil's biggest fans

To submit your entries, go to AMeetingWithPhil.com

By the way, funny how Phil Mickelson has won the Colonial in 2000, Crowne Plaza is a Colonial sponsor, and David Feherty lives in North Texas, but they couldn't find a reason to hold a casting call here. Oh well. good luck.

(photo: Phil Mickelson, by Star-Telegram's Ralph Lauer)

-David

Grand opening tomorrow

Shhh, the Great Wolf Lodge is still in the midst of its soft opening.

But by 9:30 a.m. on Thursday, the unique new Grapevine hotel with a giant indoor water park will officially open up in grand style.

Here's some of the festivities and dignitaries slated for tomorrow:

• 10 a.m.: Drake Bell, a Universal recording artist and star of the Nickelodeon show "Drake and Josh" will perform
• 5 to 7 p.m.: Cast members from Disney's Wizards of Waverly Place and Cody Linley from the show "Hannah Montana" are expected to appear
• The Grapevine mayor, along with officials from the state's tourism department, the Grapevine tourism bureau and Great Wolf Lodge will be in attendance Thursday

-David