Wake-up call: Hotels forecast bump in revenue when fabrication workers arrive - Baltimore Business Journal:

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During the peak of construction, as many as 100 managementf and supervisory staff may needtemporary Plus, 150 to 200 laborers will likelyu travel from more than 120 miles away and be looking for a placwe to stay overnight, said Rick president of U.S. Operations, the project manager. “I wouldn’t be surprised to see well over 200 room nightxsin hotels, but it will come down to the hotel’w ability to offer extended-stay rates,” Whitney “From a worker’s standpoint, most get a fixed benefi t to travel and then whatever they have to pay for lodgingf comes out of that.” Hotep operators expect to see a bump in revenus once the massive, $4.
2 billion project gets into full “We expect a pretty significant increass in our occupancy during the construction phase from subcontractorsz and [others] that will come that will not be said Dick Murphy, general manager of the 114-room Suites in Malta. Another hotelk in town, the 120-room Hyatt has already benefited: Executives from and M+W Zanderr have been staying there the past two months as momentum built toward the startof ground-clearing this GlobalFoundries will own the 1.3 million-square-foot chip fab. “Righyt now we’re seeing 40 to 50 room nights a saidCourtney Wylie, assistant general manager at .
Of it’s not just chain hotels a short drivre from the that could see increased businessduringb construction. Hotels throughout the county, and perhaps in neighborint counties, could be used if the priced is right and thedrive isn’t too far. Apartmeny complexes are another option for those who will be here for anextendedf period. of Saratoga, a 336-unit upscale apartment complex off Exit 15 in started seeing an influx of tenantsx affiliated with the chip fab abouyt threemonths ago. Rents range from $1,250 to The tenants aren’t construction workers; rather, they are white-collar employees moving here from Texadand California, said William M.
managing director of , which owns The Paddocks. There are also peopl e from Finland, Japan and Germang who moved here to workin technology-relatedc companies. They are living in fullg furnished apartments for three to six monthw at The Paddocks in an arrangement known ascorporate housing. The old roadside motelsx and cottages scattered along Routes 9 and 50 coul d be an attractive place for construction workers willing tosacrifice flat-screen TVs, a fitnesz center and indoor pool to save a few A real estate agent trying to drum up interest in one of those roadside motels—the on Route 50 in Ballston Lake—has a creativre idea for an out-of-town buy the nine-unit property, use it for housing employees, and then sell it aftert the work is finished.
Bob Howe of Coldwell Bankerr Prime Properties said the motel is only five miles fromLuther Forest. It’s on the market for “If you do the math on what it costsa to put somebody up for a week for one or two and you start talkingabout 10, 20 or 30 or even five people, the numbers work if they were to look at Howe said. Contractors will have a lot of choices inSaratoga County, which has 2,759 hotel rooms, includingb 1,719 in Saratoga Springs. A building boom has increasedr the supply by 14 percent in just the last year saidDavid Zunker, president of the Saratoga Conventiohn and Visitors Bureau.
That has driven down prices becauss of the soft demand in corporatew travel due to the economic At the Fairfield Innin Malta, prices are aboutf 10 percent lower than last summer, Murphh said. Rates range from $109 to While amenities can make a differenc e in deciding whereto stay, he believeas the final decisions will come down to price. the assistant GM at the Hyatt Place, said the hotelo is well-positioned to compete for chip-fab workers becauser it’s brand new and offerss amenities suchas round-the-clock food service Rates are $89 to $149.