Daily housekeeping was once a given. Since the onset of the pandemic, hotels of all sizes and price points have been scaling back this service to every few nights and allowing guests to determine the frequency of attention.
Plans for a new hotel across from Shapiro’s Delicatessen in downtown Indianapolis are moving forward after a year-long delay caused by the pandemic—now with a new name and a more experienced development team.
City Council President Sue Finkam issued a report analyzing the hotel’s $18.5 million in overruns and recommending changes in the way the council and Carmel Redevelopment Commission communicate.
Host Mason King chats with IBJ real estate reporter Mickey Shuey about the state of the hotel industry in Indy and which projects are completed, underway and on hold.
None of the projects in Indy’s central business district has definitively been canceled since the pandemic began, IBJ research has found. In fact, three new downtown properties have opened since last December, with another three scheduled to debut later this year.
The Hulman restaurant is the result of a partnership with the IMS Museum, which holds rights to Tony Hulman’s name and likeness.
The town of Speedway is considering legal action against the developer of the long-delayed Wilshaw hotel project, after the company declined its requests to provide a public update Monday night on the development’s status.
The operator of the city’s convention facilities reported its best monthly financial performance since the pandemic led the Indiana Convention Center to temporarily close down in March 2020.
One thing that hotels across the board are considering is whether many of their customers are willing to accept fewer services than before, such as daily room cleanings and sizable breakfast spreads, analysts say, and that might mean a smaller hotel workforce.
The incident occurred under the entrance canopy at the Fairfield Inn & Suites, across from the Indiana State Museum and near White River State Park.
Indianapolis-based KennMar LLC acquired the former Caribbean Cove water resort property on the city’s north side and another Drury hotel site at Interstate 465 and West 71st Street.
The Indiana Hospitality & Entertainment Grant program is intended to help those businesses “largely excluded from other government assistance programs,” the state said.
The overhaul follows the hotel’s acquisition by an Atlanta-based firm for $118.3 million in August 2019.
Hospitality leaders say no, although it will be some time before occupancy rates are back to normal.
With thousands of visitors in town for the NCAA basketball tournament and other athletic events, occupancy rates at downtown Indianapolis hotels were the highest in the nation for the past two weekends, breaking the pandemic tourism setback that settled in a year ago.
The move will allow fans and other visitors to use the Hyatt Regency, Westin and JW Marriott hotels for the first time in 10 days, after the three properties were fully booked by the NCAA for tournament needs.
Teams must undergo a quarantine and testing period when they arrive in Indianapolis—and no one from the schools was allowed to make the trip without seven consecutive days of negative tests.
Former JW Marriott employee Lisette Woloszyk watched things go from bad to worse in March, as cancellations for the city’s hotels racked up alongside COVID-19 cases.
The tradition started in 2012, when what was essentially a giant decal of the Lombardi Trophy—the prize for winning the Super Bowl—went up on the front or eastern face of the 33-story hotel.
Town officials have grown “frustrated by a lack of transparency and communication from Loftus Robinson despite our multiple requests,” as well as the firm’s effort to continue batting away responsibility for the project.
