Hospitality management company is among largest hotel managers and developers
BUFFALO, N.Y. (Oct. 1, 2010) – Less than 20 years after entering the world of hotel management and only nine years after purchasing its first hotel, Delaware North Companies Parks & Resorts, a division of the $2 billion-plus global hospitality and food service leader Delaware North Companies, is again included in Hotel & Motel Management’s annual ranking of top hotel managers.
For the first time, the company also can be found on Hotel Business’ list of top 100 owners and developers.
Both publications base their rankings on the number of guest rooms a company has in its portfolio. With 2,900 guest rooms (owned and managed) in the United States, Delaware North is number 82 on Hotel & Motel Management’s list of top hotel companies. Worldwide data is also included, although it is not a factor in the ranking.
Delaware North has 4,000 hotel rooms worldwide, including Harrison Hot Springs Resort & Spa in British Columbia, Canada, and five destination resorts in Australia: Lizard Island, Heron Island and Wilson Island on the Great Barrier Reef, King’s Canyon in the Red Centre of Australia between Uluru/Ayer’s Rook and Alice Springs, and El Questro in the East Kimberley region.
Hotel Business has Delaware North at number 69 in its poll of top owners and developers. At the close of 2009, Delaware North had nine owned properties and 1,650 rooms, more than twice the number of guest rooms it had the previous year. The growth trend is continuing. Delaware North is projecting an increase of two hotels and 168 rooms in 2010 due to the acquisition in May of Gray Wolf Inn & Suites and Yellowstone Park Hotel, its second and third hotels in West Yellowstone, Mont.
Kevin Kelly, president of Delaware North Companies Parks & Resorts, underscored his company’s strategy of honing in on Special PlacesSM. That is, Delaware North specializes in properties that are picturesque and have distinctive and compelling stories to tell.
“Guests come to Delaware North properties to experience one-of-a-kind destinations and the stories that live in and around them,” he said. It has been our operating strategy from the beginning. We believe in it and think it makes good business sense. It’s rewarding to be reminded from time to time that we’re on track,” Kelly said.
The company made the news several months ago when it reported outpacing a hospitality industry hard hit by the global recession, a fact Kelly also attributed to the types of hotels in Delaware North’s portfolio and the strength of its systems and processes.