136rm hotel between Best Buy and Mathis Bros

[TheArtist]

We will see some new hotels in downtown Tulsa. Pretty soon actually. Its just that up until about now South Tulsa has been a better location.

Just like developers put in new businesses,retail and restaurants where the population and demographics are, Hotels go where the high traffic areas are.

Once downtown starts getting some traffic instead of being an area where you can walk down the middle of the main street in the evening, hear a cricket chirp, echo off 40 and 50 story buildings causing you jump at the sudden, unexpected, loud sound... Well you get the picture. There is nobody there! There are hardly any businesses there anymore. Even during the "peak busy hours" its hardly busy.

Once the arena gets going and the Baseball Stadium in. Then you will see a new hotel or two. Get some more people living down there, some more businesses and activity,,, then in time another hotel.  First things first. Hotels dont go in first then people and activity follow. Hotels follow the people and the activity.

[hoodlum]

I agree

in missouri the rennaisance was used as a place where companies had christmas parties and honey moons and weddings which was understandable, there was natural beauty, it was a destination, great location. Thats why I was and still am a bit shocked by the renaissances location here.

[nathanm]

quote:Originally posted by hoodlum

there doesn't have to be actual physical connections between the two. Conceptualy it is in the parking lot of a target in the middle of strip mall land.

After moving here from Missouri i was always intrigued as to why the renaissance hotel here was right off the on ramp at 71st in what amounts to the western parking lot of the super target when the Renaissance hotel in Missouir was lake front destination property. It was odd. It seemed and is to me no different than staying at a glorified Days Inn or Motel 8 becuase of its location alone.

thats pancakes I'm talking about.

just my observation

It's a relatively nice hotel with good highway access. Back when my SO worked at a company that had a lot of out of town employees for months at a time, most of them essentially lived in the Renaissance for one to six months at a stretch.

My problem with it isn't so much its location, which is actually pretty convenient to a lot of major businesses and to a crap ton of chain restaurants (not my bag, but many disagree with me), but that it's a John Q. Hammonds hotel, which means it looks almost exactly like every one of his hotels, including both the Holiday Inn and Embassy Suites in NW Arkansas, and a bunch of them in Missouri.

Well, that and the bartender once made me ill with some lemonadey concoction of theirs when I met some of the aforementioned workers there for a drink and some dinner. It was rather an odd experience just getting your entree and having to excuse myself to run to the bathroom and puke before returning to enjoy the steak.

[inteller]

quote:Originally posted by we vs us
 Looks like someone somewhere has decided that Tulsa is suddenly both "urban" and "upscale."

mmm...well sorta not really.  Someone has been digging into demographics numbers deep and discovered that there is a pocket of disposable income to be exploited.

it is interesting though, they think that a person with lots of disposable income is not only going to come to Tulsa, but is going to stay in the 71st st corridor and want an urban upscale feel.

going out on a limb there.

[TheArtist]

There are a lot of business people that stay in that part of town. Some companies, like Hilti, bring in people from all over to train, and they stay in south Tulsa near Hilti. There are a lot more businesses in the industrial areas by the highway and by the BA, just a lot more of everything in that whole area.

I have mentioned it before how Sam Walton of Wal-Mart fame, flew over that area when it was just fields, and Woodland was being built, and he said: "Some day this will be the center of Tulsa." Downtown will give it a good fight. Dont think ol Sam could have forseen something like The River District popping up though in Jenks.

I actually find it amazing that the area around the mall keeps renewing itself and is still growing. In many small and midsized cities when you see the main mall built around that same time period, they are run down and in run down areas. Like Eastland for instance. Will be interesting to see how the 71st corridor/Woodland Hills area does with the competition emerging in BA, Bixby and especially Jenks.

[TheArtist]

quote:Originally posted by inteller

quote:Originally posted by we vs us
 Looks like someone somewhere has decided that Tulsa is suddenly both "urban" and "upscale."

mmm...well sorta not really.  Someone has been digging into demographics numbers deep and discovered that there is a pocket of disposable income to be exploited.

it is interesting though, they think that a person with lots of disposable income is not only going to come to Tulsa, but is going to stay in the 71st st corridor and want an urban upscale feel.

going out on a limb there.

We may pick on it for not being upscale, but you have to admit it is the most dense, urban and busiest area of the city.

[mr.jaynes]

quote:Originally posted by we vs us

quote:Originally posted by inteller

the renaissance packs them in regularly.  the hold some big weddings there and they also hold a lot of low tier shows like wedding shows and what not.

As someone with a brand-spanking new degree in Tulsa Hospitality-ology, I can tell you that the Renaissance is probably the swankiest hotel in Tulsa right now.  It also has the most convention space of every major property except for the Convention Center itself. It prices itself above most everybody, and brings in the highest class business.  

That's according to my research and recent experience, anyway. Not sure what you meant by low tier, but they're certainly not low-rent.

They aren't the Dorchester, the Savoy, or the Ritz, either. And as far as chain hotels go, they are not the Wyndham, Peninsula or Fairmont. I stepped in there after I'd come back to T-town to see about possibly applying there, and there seemed to be this delusion that they were this unique, world-class property. It's a nice hotel, and I understand taking pride in your hotel if you're working there, but hey, the Hotel Monteleone in New Orleans made it look like a Motel 6.

[nathanm]

quote:Originally posted by TheArtist
We may pick on it for not being upscale, but you have to admit it is the most dense ... area of the city.

Or at least it would be dense were it not for the massive surface parking all along the corridor that eat up most of it.

[TUalum0982]

quote:Originally posted by joiei

quote:Originally posted by inteller

This is the Aloft that WAS going to be next to Hoodlum Hills Mall.  However at 136 rooms that is pretty small.  4 stories.  Must be some pretty big rooms at 4 stories.

However, it does show an interesting trend.  Hotels are popping up all around the 71st st corridor.  So is the theory, attend conferences in downtown, stay in south Tulsa?  It sorta reminds me of the "stay in the Galleria, do business downtown" concept in Houston.

according to the handy dandy calculator that comes on this computer, that would work out to 34 rooms per floor.  And that will change because the ground floor will not have that high a number.  And from reading this about the Aloft already open in Rogers , to have an Aloft open here will definitely help upgrade the level of hotel properties being built here.  A 42 inch plasma tv in the room, sure beats the ones in the motel 6.  An oversize shower spa sounds way better than the fiberglass tub in most of the ones around here.  

As for its location,  the builder has more interest in southern Tulsa than downtown.  It will definitley be an improvement over the ones next to I-44 on the west side.

I believe the new Hyatt Place (which used to be the old amerisuites) on the NE corner of 71st and yale has 42" plasma or LCD TV's in every room.  

Checking out your link to the one in Rogers, it looks like some of the more modern hotels in San Diego, specifically the Hyatt Regency in Ja Jolla.  Very modern looking decor especially at the bar called Michaels Lounge.

[joiei]

When did they rebrand the Amerisuites?  I noticed that this past weekend when I went down to southern Tulsa  for the first time in a while.

[TheArtist]

quote:Originally posted by nathanm

quote:Originally posted by TheArtist
We may pick on it for not being upscale, but you have to admit it is the most dense ... area of the city.

Or at least it would be dense were it not for the massive surface parking all along the corridor that eat up most of it.

Remember we are talking "Tulsa dense" here, not Hong Kong or even Dallas.

[we vs us]

quote:Originally posted by inteller

quote:Originally posted by we vs us
 Looks like someone somewhere has decided that Tulsa is suddenly both "urban" and "upscale."

mmm...well sorta not really.  Someone has been digging into demographics numbers deep and discovered that there is a pocket of disposable income to be exploited . . .

. . . and that pocket of disposable income likes things to feel "urban" and "upscale."  So yeah, just what I was saying.

quote:
it is interesting though, they think that a person with lots of disposable income is not only going to come to Tulsa, but is going to stay in the 71st st corridor and want an urban upscale feel.

going out on a limb there.

71st Street is like Downtown for south tulsa, for Jenks, Broken Arrow, etc. and a touch of Bixby. It's closer to a lot of the big local corporations than DT is.  

Seriously, why did Tulsa abandon Downtown in the first place?  I don't understand.  It's like the city decided it hated the old one and wanted a bunch of small downtowns instead.

[TheArtist]

You mean stay downtown with all that oooold stuff? Eeeew[xx(] Tear all that stuff down and build some neat looking modern stuff that looks pretty in pictures "but is horrible to live by or walk past". We can get in our big, fancy cars, hit the highways, "with the car came zoning that says you, live here, work here, shop over there, its all clean and tidy and not mixed up together in some old, out dated,  mess" have a little house with a picket fence.  Its the American dream. Downtown then became an office park "downtown is where you work, not where you live or shop". Then the businesses left and voila... no downtown.

[TUalum0982]

quote:Originally posted by joiei

When did they rebrand the Amerisuites?  I noticed that this past weekend when I went down to southern Tulsa  for the first time in a while.

I believe they changed over about 6-8 months ago actually.  It has been several months I know that.  I don't know if the Amerisuites names has gone away completely and has been changed to Hyatt Place or not, but amerisuites was a brand of Hyatt and their goldpass club I think is what they refer to it as.  I stayed there one night when our A/C went out at my old apt in bixby (don't get me started about that nightmare) and the bed was comfortable, breakfast was good, and staff very polite.  My parents office is close to there and they said some of their client's and co workers have stayed there since the remodeling and is "quite nice"

[inteller]

quote:Originally posted by we vs us

quote:Originally posted by inteller

quote:Originally posted by we vs us
 Looks like someone somewhere has decided that Tulsa is suddenly both "urban" and "upscale."

mmm...well sorta not really.  Someone has been digging into demographics numbers deep and discovered that there is a pocket of disposable income to be exploited . . .

. . . and that pocket of disposable income likes things to feel "urban" and "upscale."  So yeah, just what I was saying.

quote:
it is interesting though, they think that a person with lots of disposable income is not only going to come to Tulsa, but is going to stay in the 71st st corridor and want an urban upscale feel.

going out on a limb there.

71st Street is like Downtown for south tulsa, for Jenks, Broken Arrow, etc. and a touch of Bixby. It's closer to a lot of the big local corporations than DT is.  

Seriously, why did Tulsa abandon Downtown in the first place?  I don't understand.  It's like the city decided it hated the old one and wanted a bunch of small downtowns instead.

oh yes I forgot, people in bixby are going to come stay in a hotel on 71st st.[][}:)]