Sonesta International Hotels Corporation’s minority owner/capital partner, Service Property Trust (SVC), has committed more than $600 million in the renovation of its owned Sonesta-branded properties over the next three years.
“We’re catching up from COVID pauses and the acquisitions made at the end of 2020 and 2021,” said Bridget Rooks, Sonesta’s VP, architecture, design & construction, who is overseeing all of the renovations. “And since Sonesta has expanded into franchising, we need our hotels to be tied to great guest experiences. This is just the beginning of the process and of our targets for the next three to five years.”
Rooks and her team are already at work on the renovations, which cover Sonesta’s focused-service and full-service properties.
Bridget Rooks Sonesta International Hotels Corporation
“We have about $316 million in flight right now,” she said. “We have 12 focused-service renovations under construction and another 24 in the planning stage. On the full-service side, we have one renovation and one new development under construction, and another six in planning.”
One of the full-service properties currently under construction is The Royal Sonesta Kaua’i Resort Lihue in Hawaii, which received an extensive room renovation last year, and “right now, we’re working on a resort-wide public space renovation,” said Rooks. The other is The Royal Sonesta Washington, DC Capitol Hill, a new development that will be opening later this year.
Rooks added, “The Benjamin Royal Sonesta will undergo renovations beginning in January next year. We recently had model reviews on that property. Also, The Stephen F Austin Royal Sonesta Hotel in Texas will also be renovated, starting in the second quarter of next year.”
Another full-service brand, Sonesta Hotels & Resorts, will soon see some of its properties undergoing renovations.
“Sonesta Resort Hilton Head Island is the first of our Sonesta Hotels & Resorts to advance toward renovation, and construction should start in November,” noted Rooks. “Sonesta White Plains Downtown [in Westchester New York]is targeting December, and those will be followed next year by Sonesta Los Angeles Airport LAX and Sonesta Miami Airport. That is everything we have ready to kick off, and we’re working on the next phase of projects to launch and get started.”
The VP noted that the full-service renovations are all “fairly comprehensive” and the scope varies by hotel.
“For the Royal Sonesta in Austin—a fantastic property with a really prime location downtown—we’re doing a comprehensive rooms, bathrooms and public area renovation, but there are elements that are historical or unique to the building, or even just very expensive to address,” she said. “So we’re working the design with those elements to strategically embrace them while still lifting the overall aesthetic in a way that’s going to be attractive and modern to the current guests of the Royal Sonesta brand. The Sonesta in White Plains is an example of looking at opportunities that are specific to its local market. While the guestrooms and the public areas were due for renovations just based on cycle and condition, we realized we had an opportunity to also bolster the hotel’s performance with group business. So we’re taking advantage of that renovation to shift the bar, relocate the restaurant and create a new meeting space to address some of the hotel’s competitive disadvantages in the market.”
She pointed out that smaller undertakings are also underway, such as the renovation of the restaurant at The Royal Sonesta New Orleans and the construction of a new restaurant at The Royal Sonesta Boston in Cambridge, MA.
There are 12 focused-service hotels under construction, with five Sonesta ES Suites, four Sonesta Select Suites and three Sonesta Simply Suites properties.
“We have approved scopes and are just starting the process of planning 12 additional Sonesta ES Suites and 12 additional Sonesta Simply Suites,” said Rooks. “Then, we’re working on the next batch to release for summer and Q4 of 2024. We’re starting to strategize that planning right now.”
One focus-service property, The Sonesta ES Suites Orlando – International Drive, has just wrapped up construction, she noted, adding, “It has a custom F&B offering within its lobby, as well as a grab ‘n go offering and pool bar.”
Sonesta Select San Francisco Airport Oyster Point Waterfront (top) and Sonesta Select Philadelphia Airport are both turning their pools into public spaces.
Rooks said that other projects on the focus-service side include the Sonesta Select Philadelphia Airport, which “targets a lot of airline crew business, so we’re working to convert a defunct pool into an expanded fitness offering and a new crew lounge to accommodate some of the target guests,” and Sonesta Select San Francisco Airport Oyster Point Waterfront, “which is taking its pool and converting it to a large fitness center and a large meeting space due to the meetings traffic at the property.”
While it may seem unusual to eliminate a pool from these hotels’ offerings, she pointed out that pools are optional with the Sonesta Select and Sonesta ES Suites brands.
“In some markets they make a lot of sense,” Rooks said. “The Sonesta ES Suites Andover Boston is in the process of finishing its renovation, and we’re certainly keeping the pool there as it’s a big hit with the guests. But, in some locations, the pool isn’t necessarily used or it’s too costly to address all the necessary repairs, and it’s very expensive to maintain. So we look for opportunities where the space can be better purposed.”
Almost all of the hotels that are being renovated have remained open during the entire process. “We deal with that,” said Rooks. “We relocate front desks and figure out staging plans with our operating partners.”
Over the last few years, supply-chain issues have hampered or, in many cases, stalled construction. Sonesta is finding ways to overcome those obstacles.
“There’s certainly still some [supply-chain issues] around,” said Rooks. “From a category perspective, seating, lighting and construction materials continue to be challenges. We work through those. We review alternates and are constantly out there sourcing different opportunities for last-minute solutions. You just have to get ahead of planning earlier now than you did a few years ago, and as we look to next year, we’re really trying to launch some of those efforts now to get ahead of some of those concerns.”
With these projects and the ones to come, the company expects to have renovated more than 100 hotels within the next three to five years, noted Rooks.
“The first 12 focused-service renovations underway right now will be finished by Q3 of this year,” she said. “The typical construction process for a focused-service hotel is about three to four months; for full-service, it’s five to six months on average, depending on the scope and the number of keys.”
With more money on the table for further hotel renovations, Rooks said that she is “in regular discussions with SVC, and other executives at Sonetsa from our operations, strategy, commercial and brand teams. We’ve already started the conversation for the next batches of properties.”
