DoubleTree enters Los Angeles market

Brand’s leader Palleschi details rebranding and development efforts

The DoubleTree brand is looking to add more center-city hotels in its portfolio to join the DoubleTree by Hilton Cleveland Downtown, shown here.

In the midst of a global rebranding effort, DoubleTree by Hilton is continuing its expansion into city-center locations in major U.S. markets. The brand signed a franchise license agreement with 120 South Los Angeles Street Hotel Operator LLC to convert the Kyoto Grand Hotel and Gardens in L.A. into a DoubleTree by Hilton by spring 2012 after a thorough renovation.

“We’d been working on it off and on for quite a while with the previous owners,” said Rob Palleschi, global head of DoubleTree by Hilton. Rim Hospitality will manage the 430-room property that will become the largest Hilton hotel in downtown L.A. “When the current owner UBS acquired the property, we introduced ourselves and provided them with some guidance of where we are and where we’re going as a brand. Fortunately, it was good enough for us to secure the deal. Rim Hospitality was a lot of assistance as well, an equity partner that behind the scenes really helped push for DoubleTree.”

Overall, Palleschi said DoubleTree’s planned expansion around the world has continued despite economic uncertainty.

“We’re on track to open 43 hotels around the world this year, with 21 of those in the U.S,” he said. “The Kyoto Grand will really fit in our sweet spot, which is conversional properties from competing or sister brands. It’s really the owners that want the flexibility that DoubleTree provides from both an ownership standpoint as well as the flexibility we provide for every guest. We’re not trying to regiment every hotel. We try to capture the local sensibilities and look and feel to resonate with guests.

“You’re going to continue to see us moving into more city-center locations; we’re getting pretty good at getting our hotels in great locations,” Palleschi said. “We already have some great locations from Times Square in New York to SoHo in London. There are some areas where we’ve been noticeably absent, like downtown Los Angeles, San Francisco and Vancouver, so we’re spending a lot of time and energy focusing on those areas.”

DoubleTree also is on track to complete external rebranding in the U.S. by early 2012.

“The new branding is working really well; all the hotels in the U.S. have all the new collateral and printed materials,” Palleschi said. “From the exterior front, about half the brand is complete with exterior signage. We’re confident we’re on track to complete the exterior details by November. We’ll launch in international hotels beginning in January, although all the new hotels we’ve been opening outside the U.S. have been opening with the new signage.”

Overall, the brand’s numbers are trending upward.

“I was talking to some of our GMs a couple days ago, and for all the negative news out there in the econom, it hasn’t been impacting our brand,” Palleschi said. “We’re strong from a [revenue per available room] perspective and have seen occupancy and rate growth. We’re on track to open at least the same number of hotels next year as this year. Booking rates in terms of our group sales and shorter term transient is positive, so we’re very optimistic.”