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Linking with Hilton

SARANAC LAKE – The Hotel Saranac is linking up with Hilton Worldwide, joining a gigantic international network without having to give up its own brand.

Fred Roedel III, whose family business owns the six-story hotel under renovation in the heart of downtown, seemed to be bursting with pride on the phone as he said the Hotel Saranac has signed into Hilton’s select Curio collection of independent, boutique hotels. Roedel Companies announced the news in a press release Thursday.

The Curio branding will barely be visible to Hotel Saranac visitors – perhaps no more than a plaque on an inside wall, Roedel said – but the Hotel Saranac will be put on Hilton Worldwide’s website, which can arrange bookings to travelers and give discounts and other rewards to the 52 million members of Hilton’s HHonors club.

There are 25 Curio hotels currently on Hilton Worldwide’s website, located throughout the U.S. as well as in Jamaica, Spain, Germany and Argentina. Some look modern while others are vintage, like the 89-year-old Hotel Saranac. Most are in cities, big and small. As of now, Saranac Lake would be the smallest town on the list by far.

“If you would have gone down Main Street Saturday night, I would bet money that no one would think Hilton would come to Saranac Lake,” Roedel said Thursday.

It’s “a tremendous boost” for marketing the Hotel Saranac, he said. It’s also something of a validation.

“The final design and final product that we’ve worked so hard on met their criteria,” Roedel said.

A brief description of Curio on the Hilton Worldwide website is “a collection of unique hotels appealing to travelers seeking local discovery.” It’s one of the corporation’s 13 hospitality brands, including Hilton, Hampton, Doubletree, Embassy Suites and Waldorf Astoria.

The Curio page of the website says, “There is extraordinary. And then there is Curio. Some are well known. Some are local legends. But each hotel in the Curio Collection is a masterpiece that reflects the best of its surroundings.”

Roedel said his family has done business with Hilton Worldwide for years. Among the six hotels they own and operate are Hilton Garden Inns in Fishkill, New York, and Manchester, New Hampshire. They also run another company’s Hampton outside Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, and are about to start construction on a Homewood Suites in Marlborough, Massachusetts. That relationship led to this pairing, according to Roedel.

“It was as much Hilton coming to us as us going to them,” he said.

“Their passion for the local community and the property is what attracted us to this opportunity,” Matt Wehling, Hilton Worldwide’s senior vice president for development in North America, said in the press release. “Its rich history and unique character are exactly what Curio looks for in its properties.”

That release from Roedel Companies also pushes back the Hotel Saranac’s expected opening to “winter 2017.” In May, Roedel said he expected it to open in December of this year, but on Wednesday he said January would be a safer bet.

The Roedels are based in Wilton, New Hampshire, but are seasonal residents of Saranac Lake, having owned property on Lower Saranac Lake for generations. They bought the Hotel Saranac in late 2013 from the Arora family, which had bought it from Paul Smith’s College in 2007 and gradually ran it out of business. Roedel says he and his father saw a bad situation in a community they loved, and since “this is what we do,” they looked into whether they could successfully take over the hotel. He said they wouldn’t have done it if it didn’t make sense financially.

From the beginning, their plan was to completely overhaul it and restore “its former glory.” They initially anticipated an $18 million renovation. In December 2014, New York state pledged a $5 million economic development grant to the project, if completed.

While work has stalled several times, construction crews are in full swing now, mostly laying groundwork for a two-level parking garage in what used to be the hotel’s parking lot. Inside, most of it has been gutted, wiring and plumbing have been installed. Later this summer, Main Street may need to be temporarily closed so cranes can be used to hoist heating units onto the roof, along with big letters to spell out the hotel’s name, as before.

The finished product will include 80 guest rooms, a separate building with suites, a spa-salon-fitness center, a restaurant, a bar, a gift shop and event space in the Ballroom and Florentine-style Grand Hall. It will also include two second-floor terraces: an existing one over Main Street and a new one on the back incorporating a giant brick smokestack, which is no longer functionally needed but will remain for aesthetic purposes.

Roedel Companies’ press release boasts that the hotel is in the middle of “Saranac Lake’s picturesque downtown and local culture, including a booming arts scene, locally grown food and beverages, and vibrant Pendragon Theatre. The property’s location will allow for easy access to hiking, biking, boating, fishing and golfing, as well as great skiing, snowshoeing, snowmobiling and ice fishing in the winter. Winter will also bring the popular Saranac Lake Winter Carnival, which began in 1897 and today features 10 days of sports, performances, parades, fireworks and ice sculptures.”

“Hotel Saranac has a reputation as a beloved cornerstone in the community,” the global head of Curio, Hilton Worldwide Senior Vice President Dianna Vaughan, said in the release. “The hotel’s design will remind guests of the ruggedness of the Adirondacks while also providing the comfort and luxury our guests want while traveling.”

Hilton Worldwide will collect franchise fees from the Hotel Saranac, Roedel said. Unlike other franchise deals, however, it won’t require its brand to be displayed prominently.

“This is not a Curio hotel; this is the Hotel Saranac,” Roedel said, expressing worry that local residents would “freak out” about a corporate brand overshadowing the landmark at 100 Main St. “These are independent, boutique hotels. The requirement of Hilton is that somewhere in the building – it doesn’t have to be a conspicuous place – there will be a plaque that says this is part of the Hilton Curio collection.”

Hilton Worldwide claims “4,660 hotels, resorts and timeshare properties comprising more than 765,000 rooms in 102 countries and territories.” At present, if one looks on Hilton’s website for hotels to book in Saranac Lake or Lake Placid, they only one that comes up is the Hampton Inn in Lake Placid, which the Lussi family opened in 2013.

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