Will the Dallas hotel industry reach a full recovery by 2013? The signs are good. According to STR, the Dallas hotel market in 2011 experienced an impressive double-digit jump in revPAR. The first 11 months of 2011 showed positive indicators of improvement with occupancy up 8.3 percent from the same period in 2010. The Dallas-Ft. Worth-Arlington area accounts for 29.3 percent of the state's hotel market share.
The new Omni Dallas Hotel, complementing the 2.1 million square-foot Dallas Convention Center, may help revitalize the city’s convention business. The hotel—which includes more than 1,000 rooms;110,000 square feet of meeting and event space; and 7,000 original pieces of art from 150 local artists — opened in November. Two years in the making, the hotel actually opened early and under-budget. It has already contracted nearly 300,000 room nights. Since its plans were announced in 2009, the hotel has booked 73 citywide meetings. Several prominent Dallas companies have scheduled conventions for 2012.
With the opening of the Omni Dallas Hotel, other hotels are sprucing up.
The Sheraton Dallas Hotel—the market’s largest, with 1,840 guestrooms—will upgrade more than 500 rooms in 2012. Beginning March 1, the $12 million renovation will include new furniture, wall vinyl, artwork, and carpets with the intent of attracting meeting planners looking for high quality at a reasonable price.
At the same time, The Joule will begin a $78 million renovation that will expand the hotel to nearly an entire city block. Among many highlights is the addition of 31 guest rooms (21 rooms, eight suites, one single-story penthouse, and two three-story penthouses); the restyling of the hotel’s lounge into an "adult playground" featuring a 600-square foot screening room; an 8,000 square-foot subterranean spa; and expanded event spaces. The project—combining the talents of hospitality designers and architects—should be completed by fall 2012 (prnewswire.com).
In February, Dallas/Fort Worth Airport (DFW) began a seven-year, $1.9 billion terminal renovation project, a sign of the heavy demand on the facilities. But will the bankruptcy of a particular airline affect the work? According to airport officials (as cited in the Dallas Business Journal) the answer is “no” at least not immediately. In other news, Emirates Airline started service to DFW.