April 17, 2012 – A Texas company experienced with boutique hotels has taken over management of Marina City’s Hotel Sax. Access Hotels & Resorts announced on Tuesday that Sax has joined its portfolio of properties in the U.S. and Dominican Republic.

“We plan to harness Hotel Sax’s momentum and take it a step further,” said Access CEO Tom Baker in a news release. “Our plan centers on a renewed focus on all that makes the hotel one-of-a-kind.”

Based in the Dallas suburb of Irving, Texas, Access manages ten other hotels, including Distrikt Hotel (left) in New York.

April 16 was the last day for Thompson Hotel Associates, which had been managing the 353-room hotel since November 30, 2009. There was no official word on why the change was made, other than “philosophical differences” and Sax “not up to brand standards,” according to two published reports.

HotelChatter reported on March 22 that Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants, which manages about ten hotels for LaSalle Hotel Properties, the owner of Hotel Sax, was taking over but on April 4 the web magazine said Kimpton would not be taking over.

LaSalle, meanwhile, is reporting improvement in the first quarter of 2012. During the first three months of the year, the real estate investment trust took in $172.3 million in revenue, a 24 percent increase over the same period last year. They still had a net loss to shareholders of $16.1 million but that is 16 percent better than the $19.3 million loss a year ago.

Compared with the same period last year, room revenue per available room was up 6.2 percent to $127.06, average daily rate was up 3.9 percent to $176.78, and occupancy increased 2.3 percent to 71.9 percent. CEO Michael Barnello called the results, released on Wednesday, “stronger than we expected.”

 Related story: Thompson checking out at Hotel Sax