Marriott takes over Hilton

AIRPORT DISTRICT — With the snip of a ribbon, the Hilton Burbank Airport and Convention Center was no more.

Now anyone calling for room or meeting-space reservations will get a different hotel on the other end of the line. That’s because the Marriott Burbank Airport Hotel and Convention Center took over the 488-room former Hilton on Tuesday.

Mayor Todd Campbell, Vice Mayor Marsha Ramos, Burbank Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Gary Olson and other city business leaders and dignitaries were at a ribbon-cutting ceremony that marked the re-branding of what has been a Burbank fixture since the mid-1980s.

“The property has been the crown jewel of our hospitality in Burbank for years,” Olson said. “Now with the Marriott affiliation and name, it enhances the image of the property and the convention center.”

With its location near the airport and close proximity to Hollywood attractions, the facility is ideal for business and leisure travelers as well as for large groups, said George McGann, vice president, managing director and partner of the Burbank Marriott. The hotel’s convention center has 50,000 square feet of meeting space.

The hotel chain also has a property on Empire Avenue in Burbank, the Courtyard Los Angeles Burbank Airport.

“We are absolutely thrilled to bring another Marriott hotel to the Burbank area,” McGann said.

The hotel is undergoing a $24 million interior and exterior renovation that will revamp all guest rooms, the outside of the hotel, the pool areas and other common spaces.

Room renovations will bring thicker mattresses, more pillows and 300-thread-count cotton sheets, company officials said. Rooms are equipped with two-line telephones with a data port and voice mail, both hard-wired and wireless Internet access and cable television with pay-per-view movies.

Two heated, outdoor swimming pools and a fitness center are on the grounds and the hotel offers complementary shuttle rides to the Bob Hope Airport.

In August, Strategic Hotels and Resorts, which owned the Hilton Burbank Airport and Convention Center, sold the property for $125 million to the Boston-based Pyramid Hotel Group, which will manage the new Marriott.

Pyramid also manages the Fisherman’s Wharf Hilton and the Sheridan Hotel in San Diego.