Reader comments
Marriott Downtown completes renovation

Why didn't the downtown Marriott think of adding another tower to bring its total room count to, say, 1200-1300 rooms?

That said, they need to do something about the property across the street where the old Club DV8 used to be and build a new office tower or hotel.

I am sure the Marriott did think about it... overall city-wide occupancy is not rising at a rate that it would justify adding that amount of additional rooms to the downtown area, it would benefit only a few conventions during any calendar year (Outdoor Retailers) and with the economy sliding downward, companies cutting travel expenses, and airlines cutting flights it would not be smart for DRHC to make the kind of capital investment required so that hundreds of their rooms can sit empty with no additional revenue. The amount of rooms you are talking about are already available at Grand/ Little America that is a short/free Trax ride away.

I applaud Marriott International/ Diamond Rock Hosp. for upgrading their aging property to enhance downtown as a destination, I hope the rest of the downtown hotels follow their lead.

Arrow Press Square is its own little pandoras box of property ownership and I believe several attempt have been made to improve that area but there is nobody it their right mind that is willing to pay what the owner(s) are asking to purchase enough land to develop anything.

To the above poster: Do you ever wonder why Salt Lake seems to be a funk these days? That's because we have this "I like things just the way they are, and we aren't gonna do anything different and make any changes for the better" mentality.

Have you seen what they put up in downtown Denver recently? A great big 36 story, 1300 room Hyatt Regency right next door the massive Colorado Convention Center off 17th Street. And construction is underway for a brand new Four Seasons luxury highrise right down the street.

It's no wonder downtown Salt Lake has never taken off - I suppose Utah's abusrd liquor laws has something to do with it, and the fact that Salt Lake has a virtually nonexistent skyline, and nobody, and I mean nobody wants to live here.

The unfortunate side of the Marriott remodel is that the exterior is extremely aged and the style of the building is a short-lived and likely never to again be popular one.

There has been no shortage of projects that involved refacing in Salt Lake and such a project would certainly have raised interest for visitors.

Having worked for corporate Marriott I can say without a doubt that curb appeal often plays a heavy part in deciding whether or not to stay at a property, as people know that room pictures are often deceiving.