(Above) The new front desks at Hotel Chicago, part of a five-month, $10 million renovation. (Click on image to view larger version.)

April 24, 2015 – Chicago was its “weakest market” in 2014 but the owner of 47 hotels nationwide, including two in River North, says Chicago is now its “strongest market.”

LaSalle Hotel Properties says that is mainly due to Hotel Chicago.

The 354-room hotel at Marina City is part of Marriott International’s Autograph Collection brand. It is managed locally by HEI Hotels & Resorts, hired in December 2013 when the hotel was still named Hotel Sax.

“Chicago was our strongest market during the first quarter,” said Max Leinweber (left), LaSalle’s director of finance, during a conference call with investors on Thursday, “mainly due to the Autograph Collection ramp-up at Hotel Chicago.”

Michael Barnello, president and CEO, says the 354-room Hotel Chicago is “phasing up” in 2015 but still had a “great first quarter.”

“Last year was ok, this year is off to a great start,” he said, responding to a question from Deutsche Bank.

He says as a Marriott, Hotel Chicago has landed “a lot of corporate accounts.”

In March 2014, Barnello said a high supply of hotel rooms had made Chicago its “weakest market” and LaSalle was “not expecting a big performance in Chicago in 2014.”

In the first three months of 2015, counting all of its hotels, revenue per available room for LaSalle was up 5.4 percent from the same period last year. Average daily rate was up 4.6 percent and occupancy improved 0.8 percent. LaSalle made an average of $159.96 on each room, its average room cost $216.30 per night, and occupancy was 74 percent.

Total revenue for the quarter this year was $250.8 million, up 14.6 percent from the first quarter of 2014. Expenses were up 11 percent but net income went from a loss of $4.8 million a year ago to a profit this year of $2.7 million.

On March 26, Hotel Chicago unveiled a $10 million gut rehab of its ground floor that included a much larger lobby, utilizing space that had previously been Crimson Lounge.

LaSalle also renovated its 752-room Westin Michigan Avenue.