S.F. Hotel Closes For Renovation, Rebranding To Take Advantage Of Strong 2019 Hotel Market
Viceroy Hotel Group plans to open a new boutique hotel in San Francisco in early 2019 with the renovation and rebranding of Hotel Rex.
The hospitality company has closed down the hotel at 562 Sutter St. and plans to reopen it as the 96-room Hotel Emblem.
DiamondRock Hospitality Co. bought Hotel Rex — at the junction of Union Square and Nob Hill — for $29.5M in 2012. At the time, the hotel was managed by Joie de Vivre Hospitality.
Built in 1907, the hotel opened as Hotel Rex in 1996. Its theme at the time was based on San Francisco's art and literary salons from the 1920s and 1930s.
The hotel joined the Viceroy Collection this year, along with three other hotels DiamondRock owns in San Francisco, the San Francisco Business Times reports.
DiamondRock plans to close the hotel for about four months for the renovation, timed to take advantage of an anticipated strong lodging market in 2019, the company reported. Part of that strong market will be driven by the completed expansion of the Moscone Center and the additional traffic that is anticipated to bring to the city.
Citywide bookings were down this year because of the Moscone Center renovation and expansion, but occupancy is expected to return to prior peak levels in 2019, according to HVS. Revenue per available room is expected to rise by 7.6% for the area in 2019.
Hotel Emblem will be able to command rates starting in the low $300s, up from the low $200s charged as Hotel Rex, according to the San Francisco Business Times.
The hotel renovations will be inspired by the Beat Generation and its influence on San Francisco. It will have a cocktail-focused lounge, a lobby with a book-filled writer's alcove, a poetry projection wall and eclectic guest rooms, Viceroy reports.
Following the trend of making hotels a greater part of the surrounding community, the hotel will have an on-site coffee shop and café and a robust bar program to draw in guests and neighbors alike.
