Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Hilton acquires hotel near Malvern
Independent hotel in eastern Chester County working on upgrades, sees benefits to joining a large organization with an active sales office
A large independent hotel in the Malvern area is taking on a familiar hotel nametag Hilton.
EAST WHITELAND » In the end, it was the points.
Changing consumer habits have led The Desmond Hotel and Conference Center to discard its independent status and join with one of the world’s most prominent hotel chains.
The facility near Malvern is in the process of changing over to a Hilton property – The Desmond Hotel Malvern, a DoubleTree by Hilton, to be exact.
“We have so much ID in the area that eliminating (the Desmond name) probably wouldn’t have been a good idea,” said Michael Chain, the hotel’s general manager. “We needed to improve our mid-week traveler business.”
The 194-room Desmond in the busy Great Valley Route 29 corridor agreed in August to become a Hilton. The conversion should be complete by next February, Chain said.
When fully converted, all of the hotel’s common areas will be redone. The changes – including new carpeting, wall covering, artwork and seating – will add to the upgrades in rooms the hotel has been doing for the last two years. In all, about $5 million is being spent on the upgrades.
Chain called the changes, “a modern take on traditional de-
cor, almost presidential,” adding, “everything but the lobby floor goes.”
The hotel’s HVAC, technical systems and conference center also are being improved.
Within the small area between the Sheraton Great Valley to the Embassy Suites Valley Forge, there are 2,000 rooms a night to fill, Chain explained.
“When the recession hit, and when the economy returned, the business (traveler) did not,” he said. “We’re the independent.”
In addition to travelers looking for points to use for future free stays, there’s the issue of how they shop for rooms today. They typically search on their computers and cell phones where the first results that pop up are usually from the chains.
“We’ve decided to level the playing field a little bit,” Chain said. On Tuesday night, for instance, The Desmond’s was 60 percent occupied.
“Every other hotel in the area is booked,” Chain said. “People are traveling, companies are paying, and the traveler is getting the points.”
By joining Hilton, The Desmond is getting the backing of a multimilliondollar hotelier with a strong reputation – and a national sales office that will direct travelers to its doors, Chain noted.
“We’ve already booked rooms by having the exposure,” the GM said.
Employees will not be affected by the change, except to be trained in the Hilton way and to have opportunities at other Hilton properties, Chain said.
The investment group that owns The Desmond looked at two other chains but decided it best aligned with Hilton, which has properties in Wilmington, Del., and King of Prussia.
One of the investment group’s members, Michael Chain Sr., said the work being done to make the conversion is the third major renovation project the hotel has done since the 1990s. He agreed with his son the change is necessary due to the emerging trends.
“Unless you’re a high profile city location or a resort, you need the affiliation,” Chain Sr. said. “We’re spending the money because we should and we’re affiliating with Hilton because they’re an extremely competent organization. I think it’s a great partnership.”
In a way, the move takes the hotel back to its roots, the younger Chain noted.
“This opened as a Hilton and we switched it to an independent (in 1994),” he said. “We thought we could do better on our own, and for a lot of years we were right. And I think we’re right now” by affiliating with Hilton.