Friday, February 12, 2021 | Many guests are now enjoying newly-updated, first-class hotel rooms at the Soaring Eagle Casino & Resort in Mount Pleasant after completion of the first phase of a three-phase, $75 million hotel guestroom renovation project.
The project includes renovating all 516 rooms in the resort over a two-and-half-year span, providing the first major upgrade since opening in 1998. Guests will experience an enhanced level of luxurious designs, contemporary furnishings and modern technology including mobile check-in and keyless entry into their guestrooms. Work also includes infrastructure upgrades like plumbing, heating, ventilation and air conditioning.
“Over the course of the past twenty-two years, Soaring Eagle Casino & Resort has been committed to providing its guests with a great experience, from gaming to dining to entertainment to its hotel resort amenities,” said Soaring Eagle Casino & Resort Chief Executive Officer Mike Bean. “This project represents that continued commitment. We strive to be the first choice for people when deciding where to go for a resort casino experience. We look forward to the completion of this project and providing our guests with a greatly enhanced experience.”
Phase 1, completed in late December 2020, involved demolition and reconstruction of 189 rooms on floors two through seven in the center area of the hotel. The new MEP infrastructure to support the guestroom renovations was completed on the first floor, directly in the center of the client’s active and secure operations, within the Back of House area of the Hotel. The project team is implementing lessons learned from work completed in Phase 1 to improve flow, sequencing and quality for the remainder of the project, and is expected to deliver the Phase 2 guestrooms ahead of the initial schedule of early May 2021.
Phase 2, now underway, includes renovating 121 guestrooms on floors two through five, as well as the renovation of conference and fitness rooms. The third and final phase, which began on January 6, includes renovating the spa and pool along with the final 206 guestrooms, and is projected to be complete by the end of the year, almost three months ahead of the original project schedule.
“The ability to reduce the overall schedule while continuing to deliver the level of quality expected from a world-class hotel is of utmost importance and focus for the project team,” said Mike O’Rourke, Granger’s project manager.
This complex project is taking place in the middle of an active luxury hotel, which poses a variety of challenges for the team. However, the entire project team has been committed to providing a lean mindset and continuously improving on a daily basis, not only to complete the work but also to help maintain a world-class reputation for the hotel. Granger has significantly pulled ahead of the initial project schedule by three months, despite nearly 11 months of delays related to unanticipated conditions being addressed and the COVID-19 pandemic. The team’s lean mindset and desire to continuously improve are providing immense value for the client. When you consider that 516 rooms are down at any time, with rooms averaging about $200 a night, the owner stands to lose approximately $100,000 of revenue every day that rooms are down.
