HOW THE HOTELS DID IT.

• Author: BRONIKOWSKI, LYNN

Faced with Stapleton's closure, the corridor's accommodations industry rose to the occasion. Today, bookings and prospects are up.

When Stapleton International Airport closed five years ago, hotels along the Stapleton Corridor braced for turbulence and a downward spiral in bookings.

"But it didn't happen, "said John Montgomery, a hospitality industry consultant with Horwath & Horizon Hospitality Advisers, Montgomery & Associates. "There were no hotels at Denver International Airport, so the airport hotels at Stapleton were still operating as airport hotels, even running shuttles to DIA."

Occupancy rates along the 3,000room Stapleton Corridor averaged a respectable 75% in the three years after Stapleton closed, and outsiders took notice, said Montgomery Hotels changed hands as investors saw good value in the properties and pumped millions of dollars into improvements.

"Most of us bought these older properties at much less than it would cost to build new ones. We bought hotels at one-third of the replacement costs and then put in substantial renovations," said Peter Friend, who heads Friend Hotel Investments, which owns the Sheraton Four Points Hotel at Stapleton. "We bought four years ago, put in $2 million in renovations and it's held pretty steady."

Investors pumped $12 million in renovations into the 25-year-old Radisson Hotel after watching occupancy slide to 50%, said Dermot Connolly, Radisson managing director. Today, he said, the hotel enjoys occupancy rates as high as 90%.

By 1998, hotels housing a total of 3,000 rooms had sprung up near DIA, giving Stapleton hotels stiff competition. Stapleton Corridor occupancy rates fell to 69% that year and 59% in 1999, according to Montgomery.

"Even though there was more demand than before, the demand was split aver two areas, and the Stapleton hotels were no longer airport hotels," said Montgomery, noting many stopped offering shuttle service to DIA.

The Stapleton hotels went to work, shifting strategy to rebuild their market share and putting faith in the redevelopment of the 4,700-acre Stapleton site into a diverse urban neighborhood of homes, shops, offices and parks, covering 7.5 square miles.

"They're doing everything they can to keep their heads above water until Stapleton is developed," said Ilene Kamsler, executive vice president of the Colorado Hotel and Lodging Association. "And they're doing fine as long as they can tread water until then."

Among other things, the hotels' sales and...