‘We’re on the map’
The Stamford hotel gains new following, shows potential of state’s hospitality sector
STAMFORD — A year ago, 700 E. Main St. stood empty after the shutdown of its longtime occupant.
Today, the 10-floor building in downtown Stamford is starting to bustle with visitors to the establishment that recently opened there.
The launch earlier this year of The Stamford hotel, a few months after the closing of the Stamford Sheraton, shows that Connecticut’s leisure and hospitality sector has the potential to rebound after a 2020 wrecked by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The industry still faces a protracted recovery, but the management of the approximately 380-room hotel hopes that demand will continue to pick up while union officials want to see a comeback that also ushers in improved working conditions across the state.
“We wanted to open and let people know we’re here and operating,” Gerard Folly, acting general manager of The Stamford, said in an interview last week at the hotel. “We’re on the map.”
The Stamford succeeds a Sheraton
After about nine years in business, the Sheraton closed in late October 2020. It had struggled for months, as bookings for rooms and events were decimated by the pandemic.
In April 2020, the hotel informed the state Department of Labor it was temporarily laying off approximately 100 employees.
Several other hotels in the state have also closed since the beginning of the pandemic.
At the same time, establishments that survived still saw their returns dwindle. After generating more than $1 billion in revenues in 2019, Connecticut hotels recorded only $532 million in 2020, according to survey responses from a large percentage of venues across
the state.
Around the start of this year, 700 E. Main was sold for $6.4 million to 700 East Main Street Stamford LLC, which has a business address in Manhattan, according to city property records.
In February, The Stamford opened. Unlike the former Sheraton, it is not operated as part of a chain. It is managed by Celebration, Fla.based Access Hotels & Resorts.
The new ownership has not yet embarked on any major renovations, but The Stamford intends to make improvements such as putting in new room carpeting, according to Folly. All the rooms have 37-inch flatscreen TVs, large work desks and coffeemakers, according to the hotel’s website.
Amid the second winter of the pandemic, business at The Stamford started out slowly. But activity has picked up in the past few months — boosted by guests such as corporate executives and film crews and events such as church services, baby showers and weddings.
On some recent weekends, the room occupancy has peaked at about 310, according to Folly.
“In the beginning, we were ramping up. We wanted to make sure we could present a nice and safe environment,” Folly said. “As we built up, a lot more people came in and we got noticed. A lot of people still do remember the Sheraton Stamford. In those (past) nine months, people have been coming back to get a feel for who we are, what we are and what we are doing.”
Among the recent guests was Stamford resident Laura Lacy-Thompson. She stayed at the hotel for about three weeks, ahead of her relocation to London. She was joined by her Labrador mix, Rosie — a sign of the hotel’s “dogfriendly” policy.
“I felt very comfortable here,” Lacy-Thompson said in an interview last week at the hotel. “The service is great. The people who work here go out of their way to make you feel welcome and to make sure you have everything you need. It’s very friendly.”
The Stamford has joined a hotel roster in Stamford that also includes Courtyard Marriott, Crowne Plaza, Hampton Inn & Suites, Holiday Inn Express & Suites, Hilton, La Quinta Inn & Suites, The Lloyd, Marriott and Residence Inn by Marriott.
Before The Stamford’s launch, The Lloyd and Residence Inn had been the two most recent hotel openings in the city, having respectively debuted in August 2020 and November 2018.
“The tourism and hospitality sector was hit hard during the pandemic, and anytime a business closes in our city it is detrimental to jobs and our community,” Stamford Mayor-elect Caroline Simmons said in a statement. “But we are grateful that The Stamford is occupying the building now. And as mayor, I'll work hard to support business and job growth in our city, with a focus on helping those industries that were hit hardest by the pandemic.”
Statewide, in the past few months, “we’ve had more activities that brought people in, and we were able to have more gatherings,” said Ginny Kozlowski, executive director of the Connecticut Lodging Association. “It helped, but we are definitely not back to pre-pandemic numbers.”
Aiming for a recovery
The Stamford employs about 40, including at least 15 who worked at the Stamford Sheraton, according to Folly.
“As we get busier, we’ll always reach out to former employees (of the Sheraton) first, if they’re still interested in coming back,” Folly said.
Unite Here Local 217, the union that represented more than 100 of the Stamford Sheraton’s employees, said it represents 36 of The Stamford’s workers. Those members work in engineering, housekeeping, front desk, kitchen, and restaurant and bar positions.
In addition, Local 217 represents workers at the Hilton Stamford, Hyatt Greenwich, Hilton Hartford and Omni New Haven.
“We have achieved a high union standard at the other hotels we represent in New Haven, Stamford and Hartford, with good benefits, including excellent health care and retirement benefits,” Josh Stanley, Local 217’s secretarytreasurer, said in an email. “As this hotel (The Stamford) opened on a provisional basis in the middle of the pandemic, we have not yet been able to achieve the same standard for our members there, but hope to do so soon.”
Statewide, about 135,000 people were employed in October in the leisure and hospitality sector, which includes hotels, according to the state Department of Labor. The total was up 11 percent from the same point last year, but still down nearly 15 percent from the approximately 158,000 who worked in the industry in February 2020.
“We see guests paying similar prices to those they paid before the pandemic, but the service is reduced, fewer workers work, and those who do work harder for the same pay,” Stanley said, in reference to “many parts of the hotel industry.” He did not mention The Stamford as part of that assessment.
“There should be no recovery for the hotel industry without a real recovery for the workers as well,” Stanley added.
As the pandemic persists, guests can help hotels and their workers by remaining committed to health and safety measures, according to Kozlowski.
“We’re hopeful. But we’re definitely cautious as we see a slight uptick in those (COVID) numbers, Kozlowski said. “We ecnourage people to get vaccinated, get your booster (shots) and follow all the safety guidelines. The more we do that, the sooner we will work toward recovery.”