CICERO — SUN Development and Hospitality Management (SUNdhm) knew it had a major project on its hands when it purchased the Days Inn Brewerton/Syracuse/Airport hotel late last year. “It was run down pretty badly,” says Kayur Patel, vice president, COO, and co-owner of Cicero–based SUNdhm. “We couldn’t just throw wallpaper up and walk away.” The […]
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“It was run down pretty badly,” says Kayur Patel, vice president, COO, and co-owner of Cicero–based SUNdhm. “We couldn’t just throw wallpaper up and walk away.”
The hotel’s new owner closed on the Days Inn, which is located at 5552 Bartel Road in the town of Cicero, last December. It put plans into motion to perform $650,000 in renovations right away, starting work on the 40,000-square-foot building’s second floor immediately after New Year’s Day, according to Patel.
Two phases of renovations have been completed. The first overhauled the hotel’s interior and the living spaces in its 64 guest rooms. The second phase refreshed its exterior.
Patel expects that by the end of the summer, workers will finish the renovation project’s third and final phase: refurbishing the guest rooms’ bathrooms.
Interior work was extensive, Patel says. The entire hotel received new wallpaper and carpeting, and guest rooms were outfitted with new furniture, televisions, lighting, and drapery. Additionally, crews attacked problems behind the walls.
“There was barely any insulation in the attic, they kept having floods every couple of years, and the sprinklers would pop,” Patel says. “We fixed all of that. We put in another two inches of insulation.”
Crews also repainted the building’s exterior and redid its landscaping. And they gave its parking lot a new layout to accommodate boaters who stay at the hotel on the way to nearby Oneida Lake.
“We found out the hard way that there were usually 20 to 30 boats here on a weekend,” Patel says. “They were parking in all of the parking spots, and when we sold out we had 30 guests without parking.”
Employees of SUNdhm performed some of the work, which it financed using a loan from Empower Federal Credit Union, according to Patel. The company also hired a Utica–based contractor specializing in hotel renovations, RJ National.
SUN Development and Hospitality Management acquired the Days Inn Brewerton/Syracuse/Airport hotel from U M A Hotels Inc. for $2.5 million, Patel says. No brokers were involved in the deal, which SUNdhm financed using loans from the U.S. Small Business Administration and Empower Federal Credit Union.
Patel has few details on U M A Hotels Inc.’s owners. They do not live in the Syracuse area — one lives in Texas, and the other resides in New Jersey, he says.
U M A Hotels Inc.’s owners managed the Days Inn remotely, he adds. They decided to sell the hotel because it was facing health violations and U M A Hotels was nearing bankruptcy, he says.
“We started negotiating with them in August,” Patel says. “They originally wanted us to manage the property for them.”
After taking ownership of the Days Inn, SUNdhm cleaned the hotel and started hiring new staff members. The hotel now has 22 employees, up from seven when SUNdhm took over.
SUNdhm is in the process of changing the hotel’s name from the Days Inn Brewerton/Syracuse/Airport to the Days Inn Syracuse/Brewerton/Oneida Lake, Patel says.
The lake brings in many of the people who stay at the Days Inn, according to Beth Funk, SUNdhm’s director of sales and marketing.
“We have a great relationship with Oneida Shores Park,” she says. “They do a lot of letting people know about us when they ask about accommodations.”
Kayur Patel owns SUNdhm along with his parents, Sam Patel and Deena Patel. Sam Patel is the company’s president and CEO, while Deena Patel is its CFO.
SUNdhm is headquartered at 5875 Carmenica Drive in the town of Cicero, where it owns a Comfort Suites hotel. It also owns a Super 8 at 7360 Oswego Road in the town of Clay, a Best Western Plus at 136 Transistor Parkway in the town of Salina, and a Comfort Inn near Buffalo.
SUNdhm employs a total of 82 workers, including those at its hotels. The firm also offers development services like construction management and interior design, as well as hotel-management services.
Kayur Patel declined to share SUNdhm’s revenue totals. The company typically targets growth between 5 percent and 10 percent each year, he says. He also declined to share the occupancy rate of the Day’s Inn at 5552 Bartel Road.
He did say that the business would like its recently renovated Days Inn to generate $1 million in revenue in 2012. But he concedes the goal may be more realistic for 2013.
“Overall guest satisfaction is what our main target was this year,” he says. “We just wanted to fix the reputation of the hotel. The revenue will come after the reputation.”
The travel website TripAdvisor lists the Days Inn Brewerton/Syracuse/Airport hotel with an “average” rating among area hotels. Several recent user reviews mention friendly front-desk workers, but some complain about the construction in the building.