Wyndham O'Hare hosts last party, then lights out
About 1,500 revelers rang in the New Year Thursday night at a party at the Wyndham O'Hare in Rosemont and about 400 of them will be the last guests who check out today before the hotel closes.
The Wyndham O'Hare, which suddenly announced its closure last week, has no buyer waiting in the wings and couldn't float a business on serving mostly stranded travelers from O'Hare International Airport, said the hotel's General Manager Larry West.
"At most, we were about 50 percent full this year and got most of our guests from O'Hare," said West.
No remodeling was done or new furniture purchased due to budget constraints. "All we could do was just repair projects, nothing that guests would see," West said.
The Wyndham joins two other major hotels in the suburbs to close in recent months. The Sheraton Chicago Northwest in Arlington Heights closed last Monday and the Wyndham Drake Hotel in Oak Brook closed in October.
About 210 workers at the Wyndham O'Hare will be out of a job beginning today.
"We're trying to find people jobs and have been asking them for resumes," said West. "But they have to be available to relocate. We're finding many of them want to stay in the Chicago area."
West himself, who began managing the property about a year ago, will be unemployed as well as homeless starting today. He had lived in the hotel as well.
"I'm not sure what I'll do," West said. "I may head back to Dallas." West was a manager with hotel investor RLJ Development LLC in Dallas and Washington, D.C. before coming to Rosemont.
The hotel industry has suffered greatly this year, losing as much as 40 percent in revenue, due to the recession, fewer convention and meeting business, and tighter-fisted travelers, experts said.
"It's been a lot tougher and a lot more difficult and stressful this year," said West.
Eulalia Rivera of Melrose Park has been a cook for banquets at the hotel for 23 years and finds herself without a job and without insurance.
"I'm upset," Rivera said. "I know things are really hard now."