Upgrade! Downtown Hotel Transformed

Carrie Stambaugh, Managing Editor


    The complete transformation of Ashland’s only downtown hotel is complete. It will officially open July 3 and the property now includes a new upscale restaurant and bourbon bar, a guitar-shaped bar and a coffee shop in addition to 152-guest rooms and suites, conference and banquet space and an outdoor patio that owners expect will become a gathering place for visitors and locals alike.
    The new four-star full-service Delta Hotels by Marriott Ashland Downtown underwent a $17 million upgrade, performed by the WB Hospitality and WB Ventures, LLC. with help from City of Ashland tax credits. The property, formerly the Ashland Plaza Hotel, has been closed for nearly two years to undergo room by room alterations.  
    Andy Spiros, a principal of WB Hospitality, said he is sure the community will be impressed by what they see when the hotel finally reopens its doors. “This is not a standard, average Marriott. This is more of an elite level Marriott. The finishes are finer than I’ve seen at any hotel in the region. On the two first floors, which are the public areas, you will notice the time and expense put into the finishes,” he said.
    Part of why renovations spilled over by more than six months are those “finishes,” Spiros explained, adding he believes these have the potential to become award-winning elements. For example, the woodwork on the first and second floors including the lobby, The Winchester, The Guitar Bar and The Bourbon Bar were conceived by C+TC Design Studio and then created at a specialty mill in Georgia. The hotel's atrium was also refigured – the old staircase leading from the first-floor to the second-floor was removed and the second floor glassed in.
    The sunken outdoor patio on Winchester Avenue has also gotten a full make-over. It will feature an outdoor fireplace, custom tile work and a “big beautiful seating area.” “It will be a focal point of the town,” predicted Spiros.
    A new enterance was created off 15th Street and the façade of the building will be lit at night. “It will really make the Ashland skyline unique,” said Spiros, adding the color of the LED lights can be changed via computer screen for special occasions like University of Kentucky games and Christmas.
    Spiros said he believes the hotel will become a gathering place for Ashlanders and out-of-town visitors alike. “Starbucks is going to be great, and the Winchester Avenue patio seating area. What a great place to have a cup of coffee and meet with someone in the morning. I can see people wanting to have their business lunches there, special dinners. I think we will be able to provide a high level of cuisine unlike many of the other places in the region. I know that the 3J’s are putting a lot of time in to make sure we have the right menu and the price points for a lot of different people,” said Spiros, “The Guitar Bar is unique. I’ve never seen a bar like it.”
“The old piano in the hotel is being restored in town now. When they close Winchester Avenue for events I can see some entertainers on our balcony singing down to the crowd on Winchester," said Spiros. He said he expects the hotel will utilize performers from the abundant pool of local talent.
    "I think this project will revitalize downtown Ashland. You will see anywhere from six to a dozen new businesses popping up in downtown. That’s what happens when you have something of this size being completed," he said.  
    He remains hopeful that the city’s plans to demolish the G.B. Johnson Building (also known as the Morehead building) and replace it with a new convention center and parking garage will come to fruition.  Both will bring in a lot of revenue for the hotel and other downtown businesses, he said. He believes even the caliber of entertainer the Paramount Arts Center can attract will improve with the availability of upscale accommodations.
    “You have to create a revenue flow. You do that by bringing outside money in. We have a great staff at the hotel, the assistant manager, the sales manager and (Jackie Hymel) the general manager. They can bring in a lot of outside revenue for conventions and meetings. This brings a lot of money in. The sooner the convention center gets under way the better,” Spiros said.
    The banquet and conference spaces in the hotel have also been transformed. There is now 4,500-square-feet of total meeting space in three separate meeting and event rooms. The Twin Bridges ballroom is capable of seating up to 350 guests for a reception and 300 for banquets.
    Guests of the hotel will also enjoy accommodations with extra attention to details. The ten-story hotel will offer 147 guest rooms and five suites. (The Plaza’s infamous balcony hot tub suites are long gone but the hotel corner rooms with balconies are available in their place). Every guest room was updated with new showers, bathroom vanities, carpeting and wall-coverings along with new bedding and curtains. Every room features large artwork inspired by the nearby blue and green Ashland bridges and is equipped with an iron and ironing board, coffee maker, desk, and toiletries by SoapBox, which are environmentally and socially conscious.
    A new state-of-the-art exercise room has been installed on the ground floor just off the main entrance lobby, which in addition to a variety of machines offers free weights and space to practice yoga or complete a Crossfit workout.
    There will be free, high-speed internet, and guests will have access to an on-sight business center offering a range of AV equipment and other services including printing, copying, faxing, TV production services and more.
    In addition to around-the-clock room service, grab-and-go breakfast, and filtered water hydration stations, guests will also have access to on-site laundry, valet dry cleaning, car rentals, and a foreign money exchange. A big perk for Marriott Bonvoy Platinum Elite and higher members is the Elite Pantry. Guests can access the lounge 24/7, which is stocked with soft drinks, coffee, bottled water, fresh fruits, candies, chips, cereals, yogurt, hard-boiled eggs, pastries, and a variety of other foods. It is also equipped with an expensive espresso machine.
    There is some onsite parking and the hotel will utilize other public lots in addition to a valet service while it awaits the completion of the parking garage.



Dining On Winchester:  New Restaurant & Guitar Bar    

    Steak, seafood and bourbon may be on the sign outside The Winchester restaurant but inside the new upscale eatery guests will find a diverse menu of dishes and price points. When it finally opens inside the new Delta Hotels by Marriott Ashland Downtown later this summer, its creators believe it will instantly become one of Ashland’s premiere dining destinations.
    The Winchester is an enterprise of the 3J Group, comprised of Jason Camp, John Vorndran and Jimmy Blanke, who also own Smokin’ J’s Rib and Brewhouse, and will provide all the food service inside the hotel including catering and room service. The business expects to hire about 150 staff members to work in food service at the hotel.
    The menu at The Winchester, which will serve three meals a day, 365 days a year, is the result of a year of collaboration between the 3J Group’s partners, The Winchester General Manager Chris Mackey and Executive Chef Jeff Spencer, and will offer choices to fit a range of wallets and appetites. Steak and seafood will be the centerpieces of the new restaurant.  
    “The menu is built by passion. It is passion and giving the guests the values they expect in this time and era,” said Mackey.
“We are excited that we can cover every demographic. We will have sandwiches from $8-9 up to a $65 steak. Everyone can have a good experience at The Winchester,” said Vorndran.
    All five men relocated from Florida where seafood was their bread and butter business. Each had extensive relationships and experience to leverage in creating the new business and menu. “We know steak and we know seafood.  We have put one of the best restaurants the area has ever seen together,” said Camp.
    The Winchester “will serve the freshest seafood in the Tri-State,” via a wholesale distributor the partners have been working with for the last 15 years. It will also allow them to put stone crab, a Florida delicacy, on the menu seasonally.
“I don’t think any place in Kentucky has served that before. That will be new and interesting. Anything that is available in Florida we can serve here,” said Vorndran.
    Shrimp scampi along with fish and chips are also expected to become local seafood favorites, said Vorndran.
Locally sourced beef will also be a star on the menu: items include a 20-ounce bone-in dry-aged ribeye and the W burger; a one-pound double patty burger topped with bacon, ham and onion straws.  “That steak right there, (the rib eye) will have so much flavor when you put it in your mouth it will literally melt,” said Mackey.
    Kentucky’s native spirit bourbon will also be front and center at The Bourbon Bar as well as the country music themed Guitar Bar. In addition to a menu of fine and rare bourbons, the spirit will be featured in an array of desserts too. Chef Spencer’s recommendations: the bourbon milkshake or the Big Apple crisp topped with ice cream and bourbon glaze.
    An “out-of-this world” Sunday brunch will also be offered, according to Camp. “Our goal is to make that a staple,” said Vorndran, noting there will be special stations for waffles, omelets and meats along with offerings of mimosas and Bloody Mary’s after 1 p.m.
    The Guitar Bar, which Camp described as “one of the best lobby bars Delta has ever made” will offer food in addition to its full bar and catalogue of rare bourbons. Flights will be available for those interested in doing tastings and in addition to a limited menu of entrees from The Winchester, it will serve sushi.




SoapBox & Marriott

    A partnership between Marriott and Soapbox will allow guests to give back to communities in need around the world while reducing their global waste footprint.
    The natural toiletries in a kit supplied to each guest room will include shampoo, conditioner, body wash, lotion, liquid hand soap and bar soap. With each kit supplied to a guest, one bar of soap will be given to someone around the globe in need. A unique “Hope Code” will be included in the amenity kit so guests can go online to see where their contribution will be allocated.  The donated bars are created from bars of used soaps that are collected, shaved down, sanitized and them formed into new bars by SoapBox.
    The partnership, rolled out at 50 Delta properties in 2018, was expected to garner a donation of 1.4 million bars of soap and will continue to grow with the expansion of Delta Hotels in the U.S. (There are now 63 properties worldwide with an additional 39 in the works.)  It is a part of Marriott’s new sustainability and social impact platform Serve 360, which is “dedicated to identifying opportunities to sustain responsible operations while nurturing the world.”