By Bob Sanders, NH Business Review 

​A group of 23 hotels – including four in New Hampshire – is suing their insurance companies, claiming that they were refused coverage for their pandemic losses even though they were not excluded by their coverage.
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The group, led by New Hampshire-based Schleicher and Stebbins Hotels (S&S), a hotel management company, filed the suit in June in Merrimack County Superior Court. The first hearing was held on the matter last Thursday in what promises to be lengthy litigation.

By: Tom Eastman, Conway Daily Sun

The owner of the North Conway Grand Hotel is planning a three-story addition at the property adjacent to Settlers Green in North Conway.
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Bellevue Properties of Middletown, R.I., is expected to appear before the Conway Planning Board on Jan. 24 to begin site-plan review for a 8,335-square-foot, 33-room, three-story addition as well as a 10,260-square foot enclosed pool, according to Conway Town Hall.

The project also would involve a new, 2,560-square-foot lobby and porte-cochere.

Plans were filed with the planning board Dec. 31, 2018, by David Fenstermacher of VHB Engineers of Bedford.

“I plan to be there on the 24th along with one of the owners,” Fenstermacher said Monday.

“We have received an application, but the deadline for the agenda for the Jan. 24 planning board meeting is not set until Friday, so that could be subject to change,” said Town Planning Assistant Holly Meserve.

By: Caitlin Andrews, Concord Monitor 

Here's a riddle for you: My word play has entertained motorists for years. Now, my days are numbered, but fear not, I’ll be born again. What am I?

Answer: The Days Inn motel on South Main Street.

Steve Duprey, developer of the Smile building and various other properties, including four other hotels in Concord, is planning to tear down the 1960s-era motel and rebuild it into a Tru Hilton hotel.

The project is meant to be more attractive to younger people and families traveling on a budget, Duprey said, with features that are trending in the hospitality market, like a big communal space and a place to get a bite to eat.

But whether the location’s prominent sign visible on Interstate 93 will still display the riddles that have entertained – or aggravated, depending on who you are – is still up in the air.

By: Hotel News Resource
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Following a multimillion-dollar revitalization project, Manchester's iconic venue for business travelers, presidential candidates, weddings, conventions and business events opens today as DoubleTree by Hilton Manchester Downtown.

​The DoubleTree by Hilton Manchester Downtown team, Manchester Mayor Joyce Craig and representatives from the Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce took part in a ceremony today to unveil the new DoubleTree by Hilton sign and introduce the hotel to the community.Along with renovated guest rooms, a reconfigured lobby and a Hilton Honors Executive Lounge, the new DoubleTree by Hilton Manchester Downtown features an entirely reinvented dining destination – The Current Kitchen & Bar. The new restaurant boasts a casual dining experience with upscale creative dishes, including an array of small plates, local craft beer and signature cocktails, all with an emphasis on local products. The revitalization project also entailed expansion of the business center, renovated meeting spaces and a new market featuring beverages and snacks.

"This is a tremendous moment as we formally begin a new era as DoubleTree by Hilton Manchester Downtown," said Kim Roy, general manager, DoubleTree by Hilton Manchester Downtown. "DoubleTree by Hilton prides itself on paying attention to details, large and small, that make a positive impact and impression on our guests, all starting with our signature, warm DoubleTree Cookie at check-in. Our revitalized hotel features across-the-board modernizations and enhancements, along with a fresh and delicious new restaurant concept. We are excited to begin our next chapter in the Queen City and our DoubleTree by Hilton team members are looking forward to continuing our longstanding tradition of community commitment and involvement."

By: Ryan Lessard, Union Leader Correspondent

Tuscan Brands CEO Joe Faro says he made changes to the Tuscan Village development to expand outdoor entertainment after visiting new developments across the country.

The recently updated plans took a single structure that would have housed a cinema and bowling alley and split it into two buildings. The gap between them will be a courtyard used for outdoor shows such as music concerts, festivals and other forms of family-friendly entertainment. It can also be used as a skating rink with a Christmas tree in the winter.

“The Tuscan Village will program that entertainment as a service to the development,” Faro said.

He said the buildings bordering the courtyard will have restaurants in the upper floors with terraces on which people can eat, drink and watch the show below.

Faro said he thinks it would give people more reason to visit the new downtown space. He got the idea after visiting a number of “aspirational” developments in states including Texas, Ohio and California. 

“There’s some interesting things happening,” Faro said.

At the Legacy West development in Dallas, Texas, Faro was particularly awed by a country music concert in an outdoor stage area made of shipping containers with a gravel floor; diners in second- or third-floor restaurants could watch the show.

By: NHBR Staff

Construction has finally begun on a long-awaited Keene hotel project, with expectations that the new facility will open for business in May 2019.

The 100-room, 58-000-square-foot Hampton Inn & Suites is being built on a 2.25 acre site on Key Road. The four-story hotel will include an indoor swimming pool, with stucco and brick design elements.

Russell and Dawson, an architecture, engineering and construction firm based in Hartford, Conn., is heading up construction. Jamsan Hotel Management of Lexington, Mass., will manage the Keene Hampton Inn & Suites. The property owner is Jazzlyn Hospitality II LLC, which is also based in Lexington, and bought the property three years ago.

A similar hotel had been planned at the site going back to 2006, but by 2008 the project failed after the then-owner’s president was convicted of employing undocumented workers at another of his properties. But it wasn’t before part of the structure had already been built. In 2010, another owner tried to resurrect the project and also failed before Jazzlyn picked up the property in 2015.

Read this article on NHBR.com.

By: NHBR Staff

Bay Point, one of the premier inns of the Mill Falls at the Lake in Meredith, NH, has undergone an extensive renovation.

The 24-room hotel on the shore of Lake Winnipesaukee boasts a crisp, modern ambiance with a nautical theme and many updated features. 

Situated at the tip of Meredith Bay, with long, direct views of Lake Winnipesaukee and the Belknap and White Mountain ranges gracing the horizon, Bay Point at Mill Falls has unparalleled vistas.

During the 1950s and early 1960s, the spot was home to a restaurant, but, in 1968, the property was redeveloped into a three-story office building that became the home of Meredith Bank and Trust. When it came up for sale in 1993, the owners of the nearby Mill Falls Inn and Marketplace were able to work out an agreement to purchase the site.

“When I went over to look at the building to understand what it was like ... I realized it was set up to be very easily converted into a hotel,” said Rusty McLear, owner of Mill Falls at the Lake and longtime resident of Meredith. “It was flat-roofed and concrete. It looked like anything you’d see in New Jersey. But I realized we could put a peaked roof on it, and we could really make it look like something. It was a pretty easy renovation and restoration.”

By: Leah Willingham, Concord Monitor

Main Street was bustling at lunch hour, as people walked in and out of the Concord Co-op, Live Juice and The Works. Decorated church steeples and the golden dome of the State House rose above.

From the curtainless windows of the Hotel Concord, Sue O’Donnell looked out at a perspective even Concord natives rarely see: a bird’s-eye view of downtown.

“This hotel is going to be different than any other hotel,” said O’Donnell, the manager.

The Hotel Concord, located in the Capital Commons building on Main Street, is an independent; high-end hotel hoping to attract tourists; corporate travelers; St. Paul’s School parents; and individuals working with organizations like Concord Hospital, UNH School of Law and Lincoln Financial, O’Donnell said.

It has 38 rooms that overlook downtown from the fourth and sixth floors of the Capital Commons, a large fitness facility, and three meeting rooms.

The hotel has been under construction since October, and on Aug. 24, the fourth floor’s executive lounge and 21 rooms – including two suites – will be open for business.

“We’re excited to get people in here,” Construction Manager Dan Demers said as he walked along one of the hotel’s unfinished hallways Wednesday.

By: John Koziol, Union Leader

The Omni Mount Washington Resort has broken ground on what will be the state’s only eight-person gondola and recently received approval to significantly expand the iconic, red-roofed grand hotel.

The four-story addition to the Omni Mount Washington Hotel will increase the number of rooms from 200 to 268. No firm date has been set for construction, resort officials said.

It will be built off the existing spa and include a courtyard. The gondola is scheduled to open for the 2018 ski season, while the a restaurant, which will effectively double the size of the existing Latitude 44° eatery, is expected to open in summer 2019.

Resort officials have said the aim of the gondola is to make Bretton Woods, which is comprised of three peaks in the Rosebrook Range and offers expansive views of the White Mountains, a premier wedding/gathering venue.

Three resort executives sat down for an interview last Wednesday at the Bretton Woods Base Lodge, outside of which site work had started for the gondola. They included Joshua DeBottis, named general manager earlier this year; Craig Clemmer, director of sales and marketing; and Chris Ellms, director of ski operations.

By: Jeff McMenemy, Seacoast Online

Construction is under way on what will be a five-story AC Hotel on Vaughan Street, yet another new hotel in Portsmouth’s ever more popular and widening downtown.

Jeff Johnston, developer of the project and principal of Cathartes Private Investments, also built the Portwalk Place mixed-use project at the intersection of Maplewood Avenue and Deer Street, which is home to the Hampton Inn and Suites.

The new AC Hotel is being built next to 3S Artspace, and will feature a rooftop lounge.

Paul Young, a spokesperson for Johnston, said the developer is hoping to open his new hotel there in the summer of 2019.

But while work on the AC Hotel is underway, it’s unclear exactly when construction will begin on the often delayed North End Portsmouth development.

North End Portsmouth will be built on Deer Street between Maplewood Avenue and Russell Street and will include a parking garage with more than 500 spaces, conference center, boutique hotel, condos, the North End Plaza community space and a rooftop garden open to the public.