Marriott heir hopes Renaissance Dallas hotel’s expansion widens appeal

Marriott heir hopes Renaissance Dallas hotel’s expansion widens appeal By KAREN ROBINSON-JACOBS STAFF WRITER Published: March 11, 2013 9:37 PM Updated: March 12, 2013 12:23 AM

Lara Solt / Staff Photographer A tent set up for the groundbreaking is dwarfed by Renaissance Dallas, recognizable for its lipstick shape. 2 / 2 John Willard Marriott III, grandson of the storied hotelier, is spending $20 million to turn the Renaissance Dallas Hotel into more of a gathering place for groups. Today, the hotel on Stemmons Freeway that resembles a giant lipstick misses out on business from some trade groups and weddings that need more meeting or ballroom space, said Marriott, whose JWM Family Enterprises owns the hotel. He hopes a 30,000-square-foot addition, with two ballrooms and a rooftop terrace, will draw a crowd. “We knew that if we could add additional meeting space, we could bring in more business at higher rates,” said Marriott, 51, who was in town recently for the groundbreaking. “It’s a great building, great location, but strategically there’s a big opportunity, which we clearly saw, in group business,” he said. Marriott is vice chairman of Marriott International, the ubiquitous hotel operator, which counts his dad, John Willard “Bill” Marriott II, as chairman and former chief executive. Marriott International operates more than 3,700 properties, including the Renaissance Dallas. John Marriott III also is chief executive of JWM Family Enterprises, which owns 16 hotels in four states. Two are in Texas — the Renaissance Dallas and a Residence Inn in San Antonio. All 16 are operated by Marriott International. J.W. III, who goes by John, said he’s excited about the addition, which will displace a parking lot and a neatly planted row of live oaks. Mark Woelffer, the hotel’s general manager, estimates the expansion, which is set to open in June 2014, will add $10 million in revenue the first year. Hotels measure business, in part, by counting room nights. One room sold for 10 nights counts as 10 room nights. And the Renaissance Dallas loses about 200,000 room nights a year because of insufficient accommodations for groups, Woelffer said. He’s aiming for groups such as pharmaceutical sales and medical equipment brokers (the hotel is near the medical district) and trade groups of under 500 people. “There’s larger hotels that won’t want to take the size group that we’re looking at,” Woelffer said. Those groups “will then look at us as an option whereas they wouldn’t before.” A slow rebound During the economic downturn, the travel industry overall took a beating. But group travel fell off a cliff as employers conserved cash and sought to avoid the harsh headlines that followed AIG’s post-bailout visit to a California luxury resort. Group travel occupancy rates dropped steeply through most of 2009, according to STR, a travel research firm. Hotel owners felt the pain. From 2008 to 2009, “our partnership went from $6 million of profit to $2 million of losses in one year,” John Marriott said. Group business has begun to rebound, but its recovery “greatly lags” behind sales to the individual traveler, said Jeff Higley, a vice president with STR. “Group business accounted for 3 million fewer rooms sold in 2012 than it did at the peak in 2007,” he said. “I would call the recovery for group business ‘muted.’” Cynthia D’Aoust, interim chief executive of Meeting Professionals International, a trade group, said she’s seeing a nascent rebound in the meetings business. “Our own Business Barometer report, which monitors the industry’s most immediate needs in relation to economic concerns and opportunities, shows increases in meeting budgets and attendance, with unexpected strength being seen in regional meetings,” she said. She sees the Renaissance addition as a “market advantage for them.” Skyline views The addition will include a 16,000-square-foot Grand Ballroom that can host up to 1,500 people for a seated dinner. Directly above that ballroom will be the City View Ballroom and City View Rooftop Terrace, including an additional 10,900 square feet of indoor and outdoor space. The City View Ballroom will feature floor-to-ceiling windows and offer sweeping views of the Dallas skyline. The architect and contractor is HC Beck. Today, the 514-room hotel has 17 meeting rooms with 19,000 square feet of meeting space. JWM Family Enterprises bought Renaissance Dallas from Marriott corporate in 2006 and has since invested more than $15 million in upgrades. In the past two years, the hotel spent $3.5 million to revamp the lobby and the first-floor restaurant, Asador, where, after the groundbreaking, guests sampled flatiron steak with cassava fritas, along with scallops and blood orange ceviche. In 2008, guest rooms and corridors were renovated to the tune of $13 million. An upgrade to the penthouse-level fitness center is expected this year. John Marriott predicts he’ll see a return on his $20 million investment within four years, in part based on Dallas’ economic might. “Dallas is a stronger market than a lot of the other markets,” said Marriott. “Economically, there’s good growth here. You see a lot of cranes when you look around, which is always a key indicator and a very good sign of things to come, and of financial and economic stability. That’s one of the first things I notice, how many cranes are on the ground.” Early in 2006, John Marriott stepped down as executive vice president of lodging at Marriott International to head up JWM Family Enterprises, which at the time owned 10 hotels. As he left corporate, Marriott became vice chairman of Marriott International’s board of directors, where he serves alongside Republican presidential contender Willard “Mitt” Romney, who was named after J.W. Marriott I. Recession As he joined JWM Family Enterprises, John Marriott said he would focus on aggressively growing the company. The recession changed things. “We’re not adding hotels right now; we’re investing in the hotels we currently own,” he said. “We’re paying down debt and making sure we’re healthy for the long term. “It’s nice to see things improving, which they are,” he added. “Our business is coming back, quite a bit. We’re back to where we were before the downturn as far as profitability — $6 million for 2012.” So for now, the corporate focus is on hotel upgrades. Marriott’s personal focus is on ably serving as father of the bride in two months. One of his daughters, a Southern Methodist University grad, is marrying a man she met at SMU. That’s the kind of event Marriott hopes to attract to his revamped hotel. But this affair won’t be at any Marriott property. “She had 16 to choose from,” he joked. And she probably would have gotten a discount. Follow Karen Robinson-Jacobs on Twitter at @krobijake.