NEW YORK— After re-opening two weeks ago, the Marriott Financial Center, located only steps from Ground Zero, has already started to see business return. With fewer than 100 guests checking in on its re-opening night, Jan. 7, the property is now seeing significant rebounds and on Jan. 23 was expected to fill about 80% of its rooms. During an interview with HOTEL BUSINESS® at the hotel’s nearly packed restaurant, Roy’s New York, on Jan. 22, Roger Borsink, vp/Marriott New York Region, said he feels “a great sense of accomplishment” for being the first hotel to re-open in the Lower Manhattan since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Though there is still work to be done to the property— namely renovations to its front entrance, lobby, and the 85 West restaurant— all of the hotel’s 504-guestrooms are open for business with newly upgraded looks. The attacks on World Trade Center hit during the midst of an on-going renovation project at the Marriott Financial Center, which was intended to re-brand the property as a JW Marriott. “Right now we don’t need to re-brand. We had wanted to differentiate between the two hotels,” said Borsink, referring the close proximity of the Marriott Financial Center to the former Marriott World Trade Center, which collapsed during the terrorist attacks. “Now, we want to keep a Marriott-branded hotel here,” he explained. The downtown Marriott is re-opening amidst several challenges. For instance, the hotel sits on the edge of the ‘frozen zone,’ the protected construction area around ground zero, and in fact, the street housing the hotel— the Westside Highway— is still closed to local traffic. “In the short term, when they confine the construction site to just the acres that make up Ground Zero, that will be a milestone,” said Borsink, noting that increased transportation would significantly boost the hotel’s business. He’s hopeful that a couple lanes of traffic will re-open next month to a limited capacity of vehicles. Borsink also looks forward to when “they decide what they’re going to do with the site and execute it.” He added that if businesses are permitted to build on the site, Marriott International would welcome the opportunity to re-build its lost downtown property. “We still believe in downtown [New York]. It’s a great market,” he stated. Despite existing challenges, the Marriott Financial Center has overcome great obstacles in a short period of time. The property suffered damage from falling debris, lost approximately 80 windows, and was covered with dust— which was later professional cleaned under environmental guidelines. In addition, a neighboring building, 90 West Street, caught fire during the attacks, forcing firemen to drag hoses and chop down locked guestroom doors at the Marriott hotel in order to contain the flames at the near-by building. The hotel suffered significant water damage from the fire hoses and had to replace carpeting, doors, and locks. Borsink added that the final tally spent on the hotel’s recovery has yet to be totaled, due to the confusion from the money spent on re-branding upgrades versus post-9/11 refurbishments.
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