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Crime-Plagued UWS Hotel to Get Added Security and Renovations, Owner Says

By Emily Frost | April 26, 2016 1:19pm
 The Rodeway Inn is getting an interior makeover and added security, according to Robert Trammell, a senior vice president with Twin Tier Hospitality, which owns the hotel.
The Rodeway Inn is getting an interior makeover and added security, according to Robert Trammell, a senior vice president with Twin Tier Hospitality, which owns the hotel.
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DNAinfo/Emily Frost; Twin Tier Hospitality

UPPER WEST SIDE — The owners of a West 72nd Street hotel that's been dubbed a "hellhole" are fighting back against the characterization that it's overrun with criminal activity by undertaking a renovation and rebranding, they said. 

The Rodeway Inn at 31 W. 72nd St. became the target of locals who've pushed police and elected officials to shut it down after a series of crimes, including a homicide, rape and an armed robbery, within the past year. 

In early April, the hotel lost its franchise arrangement with Choice Hotels, after the company dropped it from its roster and severed all ties. 

However, an affiliation with the hotel chain La Quinta is in the works through a "handshake deal" that hasn't been fully finalized yet, representatives from The Rodeway Inn said. 

La Quinta did not respond to a request for comment. 

Robert Trammell, a senior vice president with Twin Tier Hospitality, which owns the hotel, attended a meeting at the 20th Precinct Monday night to reassure residents that changes at the hotel are in the works. 

"One of the things we want to be is good neighbors," he said.

A March armed robbery, in which three masked men tied employees up in the basement, beat them and stole their property, "was very much related to a personal issue and not to the hotel business at large," Trammell said at the meeting. 

The hotel has hired a new general manager and a new assistant manager, and this new oversight will make a difference, he explained.

"I don’t think we did a very good job of in the past," Trammell admitted. 

Additionally, the 92-room hotel will undergo an interior renovation with nightly rates slated to rise by $50 to $100 per night, which should help the hotel break into the business-traveler market, he said.

"Every wall, every floor, every ceiling, all the furniture is being redone," Trammell said. 

The hotel also added a 24-hour security guard at the front door, according to Trammell and other company representatives.

Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal has urged the 20th Precinct to step up its patrols of the hotel, a pledge Capt. Levon Holley made to residents last month. 

"While improving the aesthetic of the building is a welcome step, unless the hotel is proactive in prohibiting criminal activity, this does not even come close to solving the problem," she said in a recent email to constituents. 

A resident who attended the meeting asked "for a strong security presence," at the hotel, while others said they'd wait and see how the changes played out, wishing Trammell "good luck."

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