Is the New Champion of Velcro Hotels in Kansas City?
You know what a “Velcro” hotel is, right? It’s a property that continually changes brand affiliations. Historically, the champion of Velcro properties has been in New York, where the Hotel Pennsylvania has been a Statler, a Hilton, a Ramada and a Penta and is again called the Hotel Pennsylvania. Now there’s a new challenger: the 28-story hotel at 1301 Wyandotte Street in Kansas City. Opened in 1970 as a Holiday Inn, the hotel then became an Americana and later an Omni. It has recently been running as a Doubletree. The 388-room property becomes the Radisson Kansas City next month. Speaking of brand shifts, the aging Sheraton City Centre in downtown Cleveland has become a Crowne Plaza Cleveland City Centre. The 1,300-room behemoth is undergoing a $2 million renovation. The Kona Surf Hotel on the Big Island of Hawaii was closed for more than four years, but it reopened earlier this month as the Sheraton Keauhou Resort. The 521-room property has undergone a two-year, $70 million restoratio
