The Trenton Times published the following article on February 20, 2013. To read the full article, click here.

Re-branded Trenton Wyndham still requires major changes to become profitable

By Erin Duffy/The Times of Trenton 
on February 20, 2013 at 7:30 AM

TRENTON — The heavy lifting needed to turn around the city’s downtown hotel isn’t over just because a new hotel brand and management company have been picked, city business administrator Sam Hutchinson told the public board in charge of the hotel yesterday.

During the morning meeting of the Lafayette Yard Community Development Corp., Hutchinson congratulated the board on choosing to re-brand the Trenton Marriott as a Wyndham and selecting a new management company, Marshall Hotels, but said the hotel still requires major changes if it is ever to become profitable.

“I think it’s going to be very important for Wyndham and Marshall to indicate what specifically they can do and how we as a city can measure those accomplishments,” he said. “We, too, as a city and we, too, as a board are going to have to make some very serious changes if in fact the hotel is going to be self-sustaining. Otherwise, it’s going to be a hard, hard sell to council and residents to pump any more money into the hotel industry here.”

Hutchinson said he wanted to see the board and hotel staff reach out more to the state and county government, for both financial help and to persuade them to steer conventions and customers to the hotel. He also said the hotel has to improve its bar atmosphere and alcohol sales numbers, saying most hotels receive a good chunk of their revenue and profits from beverage service.

“In light of where we’re going with transition, redesign and improvements, we should focus on improvements on the beverage side,” he said. “There’s a lot of wasted space down there, a lot of space.”

The board also continues to study a plan to rent or buy a shuttle van for its guests, members said yesterday.

The hotel was built in 2002 for $60 million, and the city continues to pay more than $1.4 million in debt service per year and has occasionally been called on to provide more money for operations when the hotel falls short. Council agreed to an extra $500,000 payout last year in return for some refinancing of hotel debt and Lafayette Yard members have said hotel officials may appear before council again this year for a cash call. Representatives from the board, Wyndham and Marshall Hotels are scheduled to appear before council to update them on the latest changes on March 5, board chairman Cleve Christie said.

Contact Erin Duffy at eduffy@njtimes.com or (609) 989-5723.