After a year, the Skirvin is doing just fine

By Steve Lackmeyer

Published: March 4, 2008

The naysayers argued the deal would never work.

They were wrong.

One year after opening, the Skirvin Hilton Hotel is doing just fine — and general manager John Williams thanks you for asking.

Enjoying a cup of coffee Monday in the hotel's Park Avenue Grill, Williams gives no hint at the scare that hit the night before. With tornado sirens blaring, Williams dashed out of his Heritage Hills home, raced down Broadway and oversaw the evacuation of the hotel's guests into the employees' cafeteria in the basement.

Fresh in Williams' mind is the tornado that ripped off the front of the Renaissance Hotel in Nashville, Tenn., a few years back. But no such calamity hit downtown Oklahoma City, though the storm that triggered Sunday night's tornado warning passed right over the city's central business district.

The hotel, originally opened in 1911, surely has had similar nights in its long and storied history. And certainly there were other scares — vandals who trashed the grand lobby and tried to set fires inside the landmark during its 19-year slumber.

The city, partnering with Williams' employer, Marcus Hotels and Resorts, took a gamble by spending $54 million renovating a hotel that hadn't been profitable in decades. Critics were correct when they argued that even when the hotel was open in the 1960s and 1970s, it rarely — if ever — made much money.

How, critics asked, could the city ever expect to recoup the $22 million in financing provided through federal loans and grants? Previous owners thought they could renovate the hotel and make it profitable and had failed, so why, these critics asked, did Marcus Hotels and city leaders think they could reverse history?

Williams is happy to announce that a year after opening, the hotel is profitable and making a contribution to the bottom line for Milwaukee-based Marcus Hotels and Resorts (Williams would not, however, provide any figures). And the company is current with all payments due to the city.

Williams also reports that the hotel has exceeded room occupancy and rate targets. In its first year, the hotel hosted 78,000 guests, 500 meetings and 56 weddings, and served up 77,000 meals.

The hotel also has been racking up awards and honors this year. The statewide chapter of the American Institute of Architects recognized the renovation with a merit award, while AAA gave the hotel its Four Diamond rating for 2008. Hilton Hotels, meanwhile, just ranked the Skirvin 13th out of 273 full-service Hilton Properties in North and South America in the company's Voice of the Customer rankings.

The final measure of the Skirvin Hilton's first year of operation may be the continued presence of Williams himself. In the past year, Williams has seen managers come and go at four of five competing downtown hotels.

Williams, meanwhile, is expanding his involvement with the community that includes serving on the board of the downtown Business Improvement District and he's about to also get a seat on the commission for the Convention and Visitors Bureau.

The Skirvin is back — and by all appearances, the landmark's darkest days are now history.

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