ALLENTOWN, Pa. — There may be room for even more rooms at Lehigh Valley International Airport.
The long-proposed four-story, 125-room Courtyard by Marriott hotel could open late in 2025, Airport Executive Director Thomas R. Stoudt said after an authority meeting Tuesday.
- The proposed Courtyard by Marriott at Lehigh Valley International Airport has a tentative opening in late 2025
- Airport executives are not opposed to additional hotels and commercial development
- A $3 Hotel Privilege Fee per hotel room sold was approved at Tuesday's meeting
Stoudt said that while there have been no discussions with other hotel chain owners beyond Marriott setting up shop at the airport, he left open the possibility.
“I think there’s demand for more hotel space here. I think there’s certainly potential. But at this point, there hasn’t been.”Thomas R. Stoudt, executive director, Lehigh Valley International Airport Authority
“I think there’s demand for more hotel space here,” Stoudt said. “I think there’s certainly potential. But at this point, you know, there hasn’t been.”
The authority on Tuesday approved a $3 Hotel Privilege Fee that will be added to the price of a hotel room at the airport. The fee will apply to the proposed Marriott hotel rooms, which will cost $118 per night, as well as any hotels there in the future.
High occupancy rates
In 2018, the airport hired JLL Inc., an international real estate firm with expertise in hotel development, to study the hotel market in the Lehigh Valley.
The study found that occupancy rates for hotels around Airport and Schoenersville roads are about 80% — considered high in the industry.
Stoudt said part of the discussions about future commercial development at the airport revolve around the frontage along Airport Road in the terminal area.
“A hotel product like the Marriott hotel probably makes sense, in that 125-room range, somewhere in that range. And that size hotel is typical of what we see at other airport hotels our size.”Airport Authority Executive Director Thomas R. Stoudt
Stoudt added that any hotels that may someday open at the airport likely would reflect the size of the Courtyard by Marriott.
“A hotel product like the Marriott hotel probably makes sense, in that 125-room range, somewhere in that range," he said. "And that size hotel is typical of what we see at other airport hotels our size.”
Regarding the Marriott hotel project, the airport Board of Governors are expected to approve the development agreement at a meeting in November.
“But when construction begins will depend on the winter we have,” Stoudt said. “But we may have to wait till spring.”
To comply with regulations from the Federal Aviation Administration, the airport authority is employing a complicated system whereby a nonprofit developer, Provident Resources Group, will own the hotel and lease from the Airport the ground on which it sits.
Once the project is paid off — current projections cited by members of the board say it will take about 40 years — ownership of the hotel reverts to the airport authority.
According to a slide presentation by Darren J. Betters, Lehigh-Northampton Airport Authority director of business and development, the Hotel Privilege Fee would begin the first day a hotel opens.
The Hotel Privilege Fee would increase at least 75 cents every five years thereafter.
Further, every 10 years, the fee would be benchmarked against the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers, or CPI-U, if the current fee is below that adjusted rate.
In that case, the fee would be increased to bring it in line with current dollars.
CPI-U is a price index for goods and services.
New concessions company
The authority also approved an agreement with Tailwind Hospitality Inc., an airport concessions company from North Carolina, to become its master concessionaire.
Included among the six food and drink businesses will be three with local ties: Which Wich Superior Sandwiches, of Allentown; Zekraft Curators of Tastes restaurant, with locations throughout the Lehigh Valley; and The Drafthouse at ABE, which will feature locally brewed craft beers.
Tailwind currently serves 39 airports nationwide with more than 130 concessions.
Tailwind said it hopes to retain all current employees of the airport’s current concession operations, according to Darren J. Betters, LNAA director of business and development.
In other business, the airport approved a nearly $2.5 million bid for reconstruction of a runway.
The low bid was by James D. Morrissey, Inc., of Philadelphia, which operates an office in Hellertown.
Ninety-five percent of the runway project will be funded by an FAA grant, which is expected to be received no later than September. Construction is scheduled to begin this fall.
