What’s old is new again at a couple of downtown Hot Springs hotels.
The Park Street neighbors — the Majestic Hotel Resort-Spa and the Velda Rose Resort Hotel — have both been renovated and essentially restored to the elegance of past years.
“In excess of $1 million” has been spent restoring the century-old, 250-room Majestic. That’s as close as Monty Scott, president of Southwest Hotel Inc., would come to revealing the cost. Southwest owns and operates the Majestic and The Arlington Hotel and also owns the Hot Springs Country Club, which is operated by its members.
Scott said the renovation of the Majestic’s bath house spa by the end of the year would finish off the four-year effort. The renowned Hot Springs water is piped directly into the hotel.
Scott said his goal was to turn the hotel into something akin to the California-type spas that focus on relaxing whirlpools, massages, facial and skin treatments, heatpacks, mudpacks, manicures and pedicures.
Scott is hoping all the spa amenities, combined with the natural thermal waters of Hot Springs, will bring in a younger group of travelers — young couples from Little Rock, for instance, searching for a relaxing getaway.
While some say the waters are beneficial for sufferers of arthritis, neuritis and circulatory problems, there’s little doubt they’ll help with tired, aching muscles and stress and fatigue.
When workers pulled away the carpet in the lobby, there was a linoleum floor covering. When that was pulled away, there was the beautiful original marble floor that gives the hotel an Old World appearance. The marble has been refinished.
The red gum paneling throughout the lobby has been rehabilitated, along with the front desk. The original ceiling has been restored, and extensive work has been done in Grady’s Grill, the hotel restaurant. All hallways were refinished last year. All the rooms now have poster beds.
The hotel has 16,000 SF of meeting space in its Majestic Center that can be divided into smaller rooms. The hotel can accommodate up to 500 for conventions and conferences.
For the business traveler, the hotel has a new telephone system and a new computer system that can accommodate the latest electronic gadgets.
The Velda Rose
The Velda Rose Resort Hotel has not only undergone a renovation, it has also readopted its historic name.
For the past several years, the hotel operated as the Ramada Inn Tower Inn Resort Hotel, but owner Kenny Edmondson recently decided to return the 10-story hotel to its original name after making significant improvements.
General manager Carl Duncan said the new look is really a 1940s look, with alabaster wall sconces, leather furniture and other period pieces. All the meeting rooms have been remodeled, he said, and the bedding in the rooms has been replaced.
Duncan, who would not disclose the cost of the renovations, is also expecting a great future from the hotel’s new, European-style Rose Garden Spa. It will offer massages, facials, body wraps, aromatherapy and yoga classes.
“The Velda Rose was originally built in 1960 to be a luxury hotel offering all the amenities visitors expect from a downtown resort in a world-class city,” Edmondson said.
The hotel was built by Arkansas timberman Garland Anthony and named for his daughter Velda Rose. (Another Hot Springs hotel that was owned by the Anthony family was named for his other daughter, Avanelle.)
The Velda Rose has 191 large guest rooms and suites with conveniences such as dataports, extra telephones, voice mail, hair dryers, ironing boards and in-room coffee.
For conventions, tour groups and reunions, the Velda Rose has meeting rooms for groups from 20-1,000 with banquet service for up to 500. The Grand Ballroom, with more than 4,000 SF and a dance floor, can host class or family reunions, church groups and business conventions.
The hotel also offers complimentary covered parking, a covered and heated swimming pool adjacent to lush roof gardens, Trumpets Restaurant and Dad’s Place lounge, which features live entertainment.
Despite the sprawl toward the lakes on the western side of Hot Springs, the effort to maintain a healthy downtown has paid off. Visitors still stroll down Central Avenue with its Bath House Row and numerous art galleries, trendy shops and restaurants.
The reopening of the Magic Springs theme park last year gave area hotels a boost, Scott said. There are 2,000 hotel rooms in downtown Hot Springs and about 4,000 rooms in the city.
But Duncan said he had seen an increase in business, particularly from the convention and tour group side. Guests are starting to go back to the full-service hotels, he said, adding, “They want to be catered to.”
Duncan expects another boost with the grand reopening of Garvan Woodlands Gardens on Sept 9. The 210-acre botanical gardens on Lake Hamilton are the result of a $20 million gift by Verna Cook Garvan to the University of Arkansas. Fay Jones and the School of Architecture designed some of the pavilions at the gardens and are working on a master plan for the gardens. The gardens are undergoing a $4 million capital improvement.
Garden tours will be by reservation only until the reopening, although there will be public tours April 21, May 12 and June 9.
But to really bring life back to the resort town, Scott said, Hot Springs needs to have casino gambling. Although no gambler himself, he said a lot of business is lost to all the surrounding states where gambling is offered.
Today’s tourists want a total package, like Las Vegas, with name entertainment, first-class accommodations, family activities, good restaurants and recreational activities in addition to the casino gambling, Scott said. Without casinos, Hot Springs hotels can’t compete with the neighboring states.
Both hotels advertise in industry publications and are using the Internet to attract guests by offering special packages that include spa massages, golf and tours.
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