On-Site Resort Hotel for Busch Gardens Williamsburg?
- Thread starter mc14
- Start date
Why put a resort in a park that's closed more than it's open? Business wise the boneyard makes sense
Unless they plan an having WC open full year, a resort is a no go. At least BGW can attempt to do full year operations, WCUSA can't even think about it.
The Water Country land would make a lot of sense as a Resort location because A) There is a lot of land to grow and put a large resort on the WCUSA site B) There isn't much room for a resort on BGW property . Also resort guests could take a shuttle to BGW. Another wild hypothesis of mine would be for Busch to follow the Disney model and build a 2nd Busch park on the remainder of the land on WCUSA property and tie that into a resort there. A 2nd Busch park could start small, add more lands and rides later and absolve Water Country as part of the park under a new Busch park name. I know, wild idea. But the land is there I just don't know if the development money is.
Permits have already been filed for the resort to be built on BGW property. It is highly unlikely that the resort will be built at WCUSA.
They haven't acted on those permits yet though. Something has been changed or delayed. I just wish I knew what.
B.Mac said:
I would assume this. Seeing as its a huge investment, the money from the IPO could be used to fund the resort/expansion, which is why they want to do the IPO in the first place. I can see them turning around after the IPO and announcing some of their expansion plans (if all goes according to their plan).
We were talking about this a few days ago. Just opinions here, but I think the resorts out because of the IPO and depending on whether or not the company goes public or gets bought out will determine if the Hotel gets built at all.
David said:
The IPO is mostly for them to pay off Blackstone debt from the initial acquisition and also to pay off a Blackstone affiliate for "Advisory services" which is basically Blackstone continuing to cash out to get some of their investment back. IPOs are typical tools for private-equity firms to do what they do, which is buy something, invest in it/fix it and then sell it for a higher price. I really don't think they plan to use most of this this money for any major hotel expansions, but I could be wrong.
I still did not see anything in their IPO filing that even mentioned a hotel or hotels as part of their strategy in any of their markets. And they were pretty expansive in what they were willing to talk about in that filing regarding their strategy, which is one of the first times they have had to disclose some of this information, not having previously been public. They are also in a market here that is most likely quite saturated from a hotel perspective and has excellent facilities that sit almost empty in certain periods of the year, like January through early March (Williamsburg Lodge, for one). They may be doing something quietly here, but I am skeptical. I suspect they will continue the trend they have followed where they package up tickets and other products with existing local hotel options and Colonial Williamsburg tickets (like with the Christmastown packages). Just my opinion.
if this hotel ever happens it'd be nice if they gave complimentary quick queue unlimited like Universal does with guests that stay on site