With a host of COVID-19 safeguards, Loews hotel finally opens in downtown Kansas City
It’s not the grand opening anyone expected for Kansas City’s new downtown convention hotel.
After years of wrangling and an unveiling delayed almost two months because of the coronavirus, the 800-room Loews Kansas City Hotel is set to open Monday — without the fanfare, or guest book, officials had anticipated.
Loews is the first convention hotel completed in downtown since the Marriott more than 30 years ago. The 24-story tower, at 1515 Wyandotte St., cost more than $320 million and was originally set to have its grand opening April 2.
Monday’s opening comes after convention business in Kansas City and around the world screeched to a halt to limit outbreaks of COVID-19. Several Loews hotels are reopening the same day across the country.
“Here we are on Monday opening the doors and welcoming our guests and welcoming the citizens of Kansas City to a property that we are incredibly proud of,” said Jonathan Tisch, CEO and chairman of Loews Hotels & Co., “and we think that they will feel the same way.”
Tisch said the hotel’s guests could still enjoy some amenities even as staff members implement strident safety protocols to limit the spread of COVID-19.
“You’ll even be able to sit in our lobby bar and have incredible views of downtown Kansas City, albeit while socially distanced,” he said.
With dozens of conventions — some that booked Kansas City because of the new hotel — canceled, Tisch said more families and individual business travelers would occupy the rooms at first.
“This is summer. … Business will come from the drive markets: people who will get in their cars who want an experience and they will drive,” Tisch said.
The hotel’s managing director, Brian Johnson, said the company expects people will begin traveling once again.
“We know that it may be a bit of time but we’re excited and we knew it was important to open this hotel,” Johnson said. “We know it was important to be open as Kansas City starts to reopen.”
The opulent new hotel benefited from substantial tax incentives and subsidies, including tax-increment financing, a portion of the city’s convention and tourism sales tax, and a community improvement district — an additional sales tax levied in the area that’s earmarked for costs.
The hotel’s developers submitted two budgets to the city’s Tax-Increment Financing Commission last year — one reflecting a price tag that had ballooned to $367 million. The company has said the hotel cost $325 million.
Kansas City had to dip into its general fund this year to support the hotel, in part, because convention and tourism sales taxes were declining even before the pandemic. Those fell off a cliff in March, according to city budget officials.
After years of fits and starts, city officials in 2015 announced what was then expected to be a downtown Hyatt convention hotel. Former City Council members approved the substantial incentives for the project that summer, weeks before new council members, many of whom were less congenial with then-Mayor Sly James than their predecessors, took office. At that time, the hotel was expected to open in 2018.
Two years later, Hyatt was no longer part of the deal, and Loews took over.
The company has issued a host of safety guidelines across its hotel properties and is following those issued by the Kansas City Health Department.
Here are some of those precautions:
▪ Guests will be asked to wear masks in public spaces of the hotel.
▪ Staff members will have their temperatures taken before shifts begin and will be required to wear masks.
▪ Lobby and bar seating will be limited. Elevator capacity will also be limited.
At the check-in counter, Plexiglas barriers will separate staff from visitors. Receipts will be emailed by default, and paper copies will be available only by request.
Guests can request that housekeepers not service their rooms during their stays. Guests will be asked to leave the room while staff cleans. And after a guest checks out, that room will be kept vacant for 24 to 72 hours.
While Kansas City restaurants and bars can operate at 50% of their normal capacity — and with tables spaced six feet apart — starting Sunday, the company is planning a phased opening of the hotel’s eateries.
Two of them, the grab-and-go Red Wheat Baking Co. and the lobby bar, will be open first. On Thursday, workers could be seen stacking liquor bottles at the bar.
In February, Johnson told The Star the hotel expected to hire 450 staff members. Now, the hotel is beginning to phase in calling back those employees to have just under 400. Johnson said staffing is now in the 70s.
As for the first day, Johnson said he expects it to be a quiet experience.
This story was originally published June 1, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
