New hotels from Hyatt, Starwood, InterContinental and Hilton

By Joe Brancatelli

The hotel world is awash in excess capacity–more than four in ten rooms are empty on an average night and daily rates have plunged–but new lodgings continue to open in mad bursts. Here’s what’s new:

Hilton Hotels

• Hilton has opened a 171-room Doubletree in Sterling, Virginia, near Dulles Airport. It has also put the Doubletree name on the former Radisson in Monroeville, near Pittsburgh, and the former Willow Valley Resort in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.

• From Hyatt, new Hyatt Place properties in Madison, Wisconsin; Santa Fe, New Mexico; and Austin, near the University of Texas campus. It has also opened a Hyatt Summerfield Suites property near Denver Airport.

• Starwood has opened the doors on Aloft properties in Glendale, Arizona; Chapel Hill, North Carolina; and Winchester, Virginia. There’s also a new Four Points by Sheraton in Oklahoma City. And a former Marriott has become the 290-room Sheraton Orlando Downtown.

Starwood Hotels

• InterContinental Hotels has opened an 81-room Candlewood Suites on the outskirts of San Antonio. It has also added a four-story Staybridge Suites two miles from Oklahoma City Airport. And the company’s Crowne Plaza brand has taken over the former Renaissance Hotel in Syracuse, New York.

Joe Brancatelli is editor and publisher of JoeSentMe.com, a non-commercial Web site for business travelers. Copyright 2009 by Joe Brancatelli. Licensed by contract for Orbitz use.

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