Texas Border Business –
The cookie is coming!
Phoenix Hospitality Group announced today that the popular Embassy Suites Hotel McAllen will change to the ‘DoubleTree Suites by Hilton® McAllen’ this May 2015, after undergoing approximately $10 million in renovations and upgrades.
“The McAllen Embassy Suites has done an incredible job of serving McAllen for the last 30 years, but Embassy’s standard operating restrictions motivated us to ‘reinvent’ this hotel and create a new lifecycle for it,” says Ed McClure, CEO and owner of Phoenix Hospitality Group (PHG) that was hired in July 2013 to oversee the management and redevelopment of the hotel. “Over the past year we analyzed many alternative strategies and they all pointed to the DoubleTree brand because Hilton allows and encourages its DoubleTree owners to respond to local demands and create a true full-service hotel, restaurant, and banquet facilities that ideally suit its locale and market.”
“As an Embassy Suites Hotel, we highly value our relationship with Hilton Hotels, so moving up to another Hilton brand—DoubleTree Suites—makes perfect sense,” says Edward Lopez, general manager of the property since 1993. “With the same exemplary management team and support staff in place that has guided the Embassy Suites the past 20 years, the $10 million renovation will convert this property into a contemporary, full-service hotel which enables us to add amenities that will offer the best guest experience ever, at the premier hotel in the Valley.”
Andrea Rodriguez, director of Sales and Marketing—who has been at this hotel since 1997—will continue to lead the management team with Lopez.
Renovations began in November 2014, as the hotel continues to operate as an Embassy Suites. The renovation will upgrade and enhance guest rooms, porte cochere, lobby, and atrium. The change to the DoubleTree Suites brand allows the owners to add first-class food and beverage including a new atrium restaurant with exhibition kitchen showcasing a brick pizza oven, a Starbucks, a 24-hour “grab and go” gourmet market, and new, expanded banquet and event facilities for weddings, quinceañeras, and corporate meetings.
Elisa McClure, vice president and co-owner of Phoenix Hospitality Group, and architect Frank Valadez, AIA, president of SA Partnership, are creating and overseeing the new décor and furnishings that are contemporary, but comfortable, while maintaining the Valley’s cultural influences. Local companies working on the project include general contractor Alamo System Industries, LLC; Metro Electric; Exclusive Coverings; Wight Painting; and Hamlin Pools.
Presently, guests at this hotel will continue to enjoy the hotel’s great amenities throughout the renovation schedule, including spacious two-room guest suites with separate living area; 24-hour business center; free cooked-to-order breakfast; complimentary evening drinks and snacks; restaurant and lounge; pool; fitness center, and whirlpool.
Once the hotel is transformed into a DoubleTree Suites, guests will experience a full complement of services and amenities, including 262 two-room suites; more than 13,000 square feet of flexible event and meeting space; indoor pool; complimentary airport shuttle; valet and laundry services; gift shop; spa services; Starbuck’s; full-service restaurant and lounge; 24-hour gourmet market; 24-hour self-service coffee station that serves everything from a regular cup of Joe to espresso, lattes, cappuccinos, mochas, hot chocolate, iced drinks and more—up to 250 drink combinations—at the push of a button; 24-hour business center; and complimentary Wi-Fi throughout the hotel. Additionally, guests can enjoy state-of the-art, premium turbo-speed Wi-Fi in their suite that will support seven streaming devices at one time and an entertainment center with 66 HD channels, and current release movies and games, on demand. Exercise enthusiasts will enjoy a 24-hour Fitness Center.
Among the DoubleTree by Hilton brand exclusives that guests will enjoy is the brand’s iconic chocolate chip cookie welcome. Known for its service culture built around the idea of CARE (Create a Rewarding Experience), guests will also enjoy its Wake Up DoubleTree Breakfast™; an assortment of gourmet in-room tea and coffee offerings by The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf; a refreshing array of Citron body care products by Crabtree & Evelyn; and as many warm DoubleTree chocolate chip cookies as the guest desires.
Located at 1800 South 2nd Street in the business district near the McAllen Medical Hospital and Rio Grande Regional Hospital; the hotel is within close proximity of the McAllen Miller International Airport, La Plaza Mall, and Quinta Mazatlan Nature and Birding Center.
Phoenix Hospitality Group is a Texas firm that specializes in bringing new ideas, marketing, and operating expertise to redevelop existing assets, in addition to building and managing new properties. In the near future, PHG will announce two new hotel projects that will break ground in 2015, including another hotel in the Rio Grande Valley area.
The redevelopment of the Embassy Suites into a Doubletree Suites property will be PHG’s fifth collaboration with the owners of this property, and seven successful alliances with Hilton Hotels, including the opening of the Homewood Suites by Hilton on 1604 at Stone Oak in 2008; the grand opening of the Doubletree Hotel San Antonio Downtown in 2010; the building of a five-story, 138-room Hilton Garden Inn® and 12,000 sq. ft. Live Oak Conference Center in San Antonio, the building of an Embassy Suites Hotel in Brooks City Base in San Antonio, and now this DoubleTree Suites by Hilton in McAllen. More can be found on Phoenix at www.Phoenixhospitalitygroup.com.
Reservations and group inquiries are being accepted now at the hotel by calling 956-686-3000. TBB
