ORLANDO, FL—From the Great White North to the sunny, sunny South, Marriott International has transplanted the first property for Delta Hotels and Resorts in the U.S. here in one of America’s top travel destinations.
The Canadian brand, acquired by the mega-chain earlier this year for approximately $135 million, will make its debut via owner/operator JHM Hotels, which is renovating a former shuttered hotel at 12490 South Apopka Vineland Rd. at a cost of some $15 million.
The property was sold online in July by Auction.com, working in tandem with HREC Investment Advisors, for $27.8 million as part of a court-ordered sale of five properties acquired by Alena Hospitality, led by CEO Nikesh “Nik” Patel.
The 241-room property, to be known as the Delta Orlando Lake Buena Vista, will have its soft opening on Dec. 15, with a grand opening slated for some time
in February.
According to Marriott veteran Gregory Durrer, who was recently tapped to be senior director/global brand management for Delta Hotels, “It’s a really exciting time for Delta Hotels and for Marriott just with the addition of the Delta brand to the Marriott family. Right now, we’re in the process of establishing our global positioning for the brand and then, we’ll move into the additional phases of that work.”
The portfolio deal, which closed in the spring, gave the Bethesda, MD-based hotel chain the brand, management and franchise business, which were sold by Delta Hotels, LP, a subsidiary of British Columbia Investment Management Corp. (bcIMC). Marriott now has 37 Delta hotels representing some 10,000 rooms in more than two-dozen Canadian cities.
The upscale properties are located in urban and resort locations, including Canada’s capital city, Ottawa; Montreal; Quebec; Calgary; and the newest hotel, the flagship Delta Toronto, a 46-story, 567-room property that, upon its debut this month last year, became the first stand-alone hotel to open in the city in more than 20 years.
While a revamp of an existing property, Durrer said the Orlando Delta will “essentially open as a brand-new hotel.”
Each of the guestrooms and suites is smoking-free and includes a 42-in., LCD/HD, flat-screen television; individual climate control; mini-fridge; free in-room coffee; iron and ironing board; and hairdryer
The hotel features free WiFi; an outdoor swimming pool; a splash zone that includes a climbable pirate ship with water cannons; a kids’ game room; a fitness center; and parking. An F&B outlet, D Flats, features craft beers and flatbreads. Available for small meetings or events is 1,035 sq. ft. of space. Additional services include poolside dining options, in-room dining, soda and ice machines, laundry and dry cleaning, ATM and a concierge.
“It really is going to strike a nice balance in terms of what the brand is trying to accomplish in making sure business travelers feel very, very welcome. We’re elevating the essentials of business travel—as well as providing a great environment for a family to feel comfortable and really enjoy what the local area has to offer,” said Durrer.
The Orlando property is serving as the forerunner of greater domestic expansion for the brand. “Our focus is making sure this launch is extremely successful, but we do have two additional Delta deals that are approved with definitive agreements; they’re still pending signature. And, there are several others in the pipeline, so we hope to be in a position to sign and announce some additional deals in the coming weeks,” said Durrer.
He declined to say where the approved deals are located other than “on the Eastern Seaboard as well as in the South” and not with JHM Hotels, which did not return calls for comment on the Orlando opening.
The executive indicated growth plans would not be confined to North America. “We definitely see the Delta Hotels brand as a global brand. It has a rich history in Canada that started over 40 years ago. We see there’s great opportunity and interest from many, many different partners to grow the Delta brand, so we are looking and actively considering opportunities not only in Canada and, of course, here in the U.S., but there’s also a great deal of interest globally as well. We’re looking at Asia-Pacific, Europe and even the Middle East,” he said.
Established in 1962 by William Pattison in British Columbia, the Delta brand grew from the original 62-room Delport Inn into a chain of 40 full-service hotels and resorts across all 10 of Canada’s provinces. Durrer acknowledged Delta’s brand awareness is “very, very high and strong” in that country, and the brand “has a tremendous legacy of service and providing outstanding experiences for the guests up in Canada,” something Marriott will look to replicate in other countries where Deltas ultimately will open.
“We feel JHM, being the first operator of this hotel in a fabulous destination market like Orlando, will really provide a great platform for us to build brand awareness in a strong way and a quick way, as well, just with the volume of customers that come to the Orlando market,” he said.
Delta will be a conversion brand primarily, said Durrer, although opportunistic projects, such as Orlando, would be embraced.
“On the whole, positioning the brand to really capture the business market will be a priority, but we absolutely will have fantastic opportunities to have hotels like the one in Orlando,” said Durrer, adding a mix of business and leisure in urban and resort destinations would be similar to what exists currently in Canada. HB