The Hotel Viking is going back in time with the help of an $8 million restoration and renovation project.
The hotel, named for those venturesome Scandinavians who are believed to have been the first travelers to the island centuries ago, has been a part of the local landscape since the early 1900s. Located at 1 Bellevue Avenue, the hotel’s 182 guest rooms were built to accommodate the friends of Newport’s elite. Now almost a century later the new owners, Lasalle Hotel Properties, want to restore the hotel to its former glory.
“This renovation is actually meant to restore the historical character of the hotel” said Scott Alemany, general manager. “We have been renovating for the past five years, but this is the most intensive one-year renovation that we have done.”
Alemany said the project is divided into three phases, with the first one, the addition of 36 guest rooms, set to begin in November.
“Our first project is to add two more floors to an existing wing of the hotel,” Alemany said. “The facade of the new portion will be done in brick to continue the look of the building.”
Phase two of the project, a complete restoration of the lobby, pub, and ballroom is slated to begin in January, followed closely by a renovation of existing rooms.
“We want to maintain the architectural integrity in all that we do,” Alemany said.
The hotel is expected to remain open during construction, Alemany said, and officials plan to have all of the work completed by the beginning of tourist season next May.
Alemany said the renovation work is in response to “an increase in demand” for hotel accommodations in Newport. According to the Newport County Chamber of Commerce, by the end of this tourist season it’s estimated that between 3.6 and 3.8 million people will visit the island, an increase of more than 200,000 people over last year.
Keith Stokes, executive director of the Newport County Chamber of Commerce said that with that increase has also come a demand for higher quality.
“There has been a real demand in the service and hospitality industry for quality hospitality,” he said. ” At the chamber we see a large amount of requests for high end quality and I think this expansion will service that.”
The Hotel Viking is not the only hotel in Newport expanding to better suit the needs of its customers. According to William F. Dougherty, vice president of the Newport County Convention and Visitors Bureau, a number of hotels in the area are expanding.
“Newport has seen a serious shift over the past decade,” he said. “Ten years ago, almost 70 percent of business was transient, or individual travelers, and 30 percent was group travelers. Now, 60 to 65 percent of the business is group and the balance is transient.”
Dougherty said the shift in clientele is good for local hotels, that, like airlines, charge on a yield management basis where the higher the vacancy the lower the cost.
“Hotel companies like this type of business because it allows for forecasting,” he said.
The Marriott Hotel, at 25 Americas Cup Avenue, recently renovated a portion of its building to add more conference rooms.
“They removed the night club portion of the hotel,” Dougherty said. “Instead of servicing the night club crowd, hotel officials thought a suite of meeting rooms might better suit the clientele.”
The Doubletree Islander Hotel on Goat Island also added another 8,000 square foot ballroom and deck facing Jamestown. Dougherty said still other hotel companies are looking to expand into the area by conducting feasibility studies on the property formerly owned by the Kaiser Company in Portsmouth, the former Weyerhauser property.
Dougherty said any individual hotel improvements are good for the entire industry in Newport which, including bed and breakfasts, has a sleeping volume of more than 3,500.
“Whenever any of the hotels do any improvements it’s great for everybody,” Dougherty said. “We collectively work together for a quality product that will attract people to Newport.”
