NORFOLK VA

The door to each room is sealed shut with a sticker, not as some sort of movie-style trap to detect a burglar, but to guarantee to those staying the night that no one else has dared enter since it was cleaned.

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It’s just one of the steps the new Tru by Hilton Norfolk Airport hotel is taking since it opened six months into a global health pandemic that still keeps many people closer to home and on the ground, eschewing air travel for road trip

VIRGINIA BEACH VA

The Princess Anne area will get its first hotel, filling a critical need for the area, according to city officials. The Virginia Beach City Council voted on Tuesday to sell nearly 4 acres of city land for $2.3 million to make way for a hotel and standalone restaurant near Tidewater Community College.

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Harmony Hospitality Inc., which owns about a dozen hotels in Hampton Roads, will develop the 116-room hotel for $10 million on the corner of Princess Anne Road and Community College Place.

VIRGINIA BEACH VA

The city is moving forward with a planned hotel development on city-owned land adjacent to Tidewater Community College’s Virginia Beach Campus, after walking away from negotiations with the prospective developer, Harmony Hospitality, in August 2018.

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Brooks Johnson, director of development for Harmony, credited an Aug. 20, 2018 article by Southside Daily for restarting the development negotiations between the city and Harmony. Economic Development Director Taylor Adams briefed City Council Tuesday on the proposed two-phase development at the corner of Princess Anne Road and Community College Place.

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NORFOLK VA

The area near the Norfolk Premium Outlets could be getting a new hotel concept.

Harmony Companies, which owns land adjacent to the shopping mall – including an existing Quality Suites and Sleep Inn property – wants to build a 98-room Tru by Hilton hotel, according to an application submitted with Norfolk's Architectural Review Board.

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It would be the first Tru hotel in the region. Hilton describes the brand as "vibrant, affordable and young-at-heart."

WILMINGTON NC

Mayor Bill Saffo likened the development of the Embassy Suites hotel near the Wilmington Convention Center to a championship boxing match. It seemed like every time we thought we were doing well, someone would come along and hit us. We’d get knocked down, but I was ... sure we were going to keep fighting and get this done,” Saffo said during Thursday’s grand opening ceremony for the 186-room hotel.

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The hotel began accepting customers Dec. 31, when it hosted a New Year’s party. Thursday’s ceremony was intended to officially open the hotel and its rooftop bar, but high winds Thursday prevented the bar’s opening. Hotel spokeswoman Melissa Fallis said the bar would open at 4 p.m. Friday.

WILMINGTON NC

The Embassy Suites hotel, long viewed by city officials as the linchpin to make the Wilmington Convention Center a success, has officially opened....

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The nine-story, 186-room hotel, connected to the convention center, hosted a New Year’s party to welcome its first guests, hotel spokeswoman Melissa Fallis said. During a tour of Wilmington’s newest hotel last week, she walked past a pool that still wasn’t open and showed off the rooftop bar, No. 9, which was still under construction.

“We’re still putting a few finishing touches on the place,” Fallis said.

WILLIAMSBURG VA

Emerging from a two-million-dollar renovation, the Best Western Williamsburg Historic District Hotel is now open and welcoming guests. At 351 York Street, the hotel is centrally located to the attractions in America’s Historic Triangle. Whether visiting the colonial capitol for sightseeing, golfing, or shopping, the Williamsburg Historic District hotel is the perfect choice for your accommodations

Download a media release and photographs of the Best Western Williamsburg Historic Hotel.

WILMINGTON, NC

The Wilmington Convention Center hotel is on track to open by October, an official with the hotel's development company said Wednesday.

The $40 million, 186-room Embassy Suites is under construction by hotel owner and operator Harmony Hospitality. Its full name is Embassy Suites by Hilton Wilmington Riverfront, located at 9 Estell Lee Place....

The pace of construction on the Embassy Suites, which is connected to the convention center at 515 Nutt St., has picked up after some delays, said Brooks Johnson, director of development for Harmony Hospitality.

NORFOLK VA

A Virginia Beach commercial real estate firm with several hotel properties has bought the struggling Quality Suites and Sleep Inn beside the Norfolk outlet mall construction site.

The new owners have no immediate plans to renovate the hotel. But its proximity to the forthcoming outlets – and an Ikea scheduled to open in 2018 – make the site an attractive one.

Harmony Investments Inc., which also has the Wyndham Hotel at the Oceanfront and the Doubletree Hotel and Hampton Inn at Norfolk Airport in its portfolio, purchased the dual-branded property last week, confirmed Brooks Johnson, Harmony's director of development.

WILMINGTON NC

With the groundbreaking of a Wilmington Convention Center-adjacent hotel, officials say the five-year-old center can meet more of its revenue-generating potential.

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What’s been a missing piece of the convention center’s attraction puzzle, the coming $36 million Embassy Suites Hotel, is expected to help bring additional visitors to the city. The hotel is expected to attract more – and larger sized group – conventions to the area

WILMINGTON NC

Several dozen people braved cold temperatures and freezing rain Friday morning to attend the groundbreaking of the long-anticipated hotel adjacent to the Wilmington Convention Center.

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After years of delays, including a legal battle regarding the sale of the land where the hotel will be built, construction will finally begin on the 162,866 square-foot Embassy Suites Hotel.

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“How sweet it is!” Wilmington Mayor Bill Saffo said to start off his speech. “We are finally here.”

WILMINGTON NC

Today, the City of Wilmington finalized the land sale for a $33.6 million Embassy Suites Hotel next to the Wilmington Convention Center. Wilmington Mayor Bill Saffo and other city officials joined representatives from Harmony Hospitality, Inc. in signing documents for the final closing at City Hall

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WILMINGTON NC

The state Court of Appeals unanimously ruled in the city of Wilmington's favor in a legal dispute involving the planned convention center hotel, city officials announced Tuesday.

At issue was a 2006 legal agreement that outlined how the privately-owned hotel could be built.... The sale was upheld in Superior Court, but then appealed to the N.C. Court of Appeals.

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NORFOLK VA

The Hilton Norfolk Airport has a new name: the DoubleTree by Hilton Norfolk Airport.

The brand change comes after $2.2 million in renovations were recently completed at the hotel, a 250-room site that sits at 1500 N. Military Hwy. Among other things, the rooms have been redesigned to brand standards, and the entrance and lobby were completely revamped.

Wilmington, NC

By Rob Kaiser

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Below is an open letter to Andrew Sims, CEO of Sotherly Hotels, which owns the Hilton Wilmington Riverside:

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​Years after Wilmington began seeking a developer to build an upscale hotel next to the downtown convention center, the city council on Tuesday unanimously approved a deal for a $33.6 million Embassy Suites on the riverfront.

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The deal is significant because convention center officials have long said an attached hotel is paramount to the success of the center as it attempts to draw events and conventions.