Rochester Plaza will transform into Holiday Inn franchise

Goodbye, Rochester Plaza Hotel.

Hello, Holiday Inn Downtown Rochester.

The Rochester Plaza Hotel will get a new name and facelift this spring and summer as it transitions into a Holiday Inn property, the final step in a license agreement signed last year with InterContinental Hotels Group, the multinational hotels giant that owns such hotel brands as Holiday Inn, Staybridge Suites and Candlewood Suites.

For hotel owners New Horizon Hospitality Inc. and its CEO, Wei Tzong-Jer, going under the Holiday Inn brand and umbrella is a route to trying to attract more reservations and overnight stays than the hotel does as an independent, said General Manager Paul Kremp. Holiday Inn programs like the IHG Rewards Club for frequent guests "are valuable in the industry," Kremp said.

The hotel is a key location of the annual Xerox Rochester International Jazz Festival, as its State Street Bar and Grill traditionally hosts the nightly after-party jam session that often attracts some of the artists who performed earlier that day in the festival itself.

The Holiday Inn move comes as the downtown Rochester and near-downtown hotel market is seeing a flurry of increased competition. A downtown Hilton Garden Inn on East Main Street is scheduled to open April 8, while another Hilton Garden Inn is scheduled to open Aug. 15 at the University of Rochester-adjacent College Town development on Mount Hope Avenue.

"You've got to stay competitive," Kremp said. Pointing to various downtown redevelopment projects, he said, "I think people are looking at that, saying 'Let's position ourselves to take advantage of that.' "

The State Street hotel has gone through a number of name and ownership changes since American Airlines opened it in 1969 as the Flagship Rochester. It was renamed the Americana Rochester in 1975. After an aborted attempt by Stouffer Corp. to buy the hotel, it became the management company for what was then called Stouffer's Rochester Plaza, and then Radisson's Rochester Plaza.

The exterior work and new signage will be part of what's become a several-year, $5 million property improvement plan for the Rochester Plaza Hotel that involves extensive guest room and lobby renovations. The hotel also is reducing its room inventory, from 362 to 217, as the third and seventh floor will be largely unused. If the Holiday Inn conversion brings in additional traffic, Kremp said, the hotel might add back some of that unused room inventory or convert it to additional meeting space or rentable office space.

The exterior work is expected to start in about three weeks, with Holiday Inn signage, painting and new crown molding along the roof line, Kremp said.

"This will be a completely different hotel when we're done," he said. "It'll have a different feel, different look."

MDANEMAN@DemocratandChronicle.com

Twitter.com/mdaneman

State Street shuffle

The Rochester Plaza Hotel on State Street has gone through a number of name and ownership changes since American Airlines opened it in 1969 as the Flagship Rochester. It was renamed the Americana Rochester in 1975. After an aborted attempt by Stouffer Corp. to buy the hotel, it became the management company for what was then called Stouffer's Rochester Plaza, and then Radisson's Rochester Plaza.