CHARLOTTE, NC-Chicago-based Portfolio Hotels & Resorts has added the Hilton Greenville to the portfolio of hotels it manages. The 256-room hotel is a few minutes from downtown Greenville and on I-385 North.

The hotel market in the area "has faced challenges like every other market today, but things are starting to turn around and there is an increase in demand,” for hotel rooms, says Judy Bronowski, vice president of marketing and franchise relations at Portfolio Hotels & Resorts. “By Labor Day when people are finished with vacations, the midweek business and group business will increase,” she says.

Greenville, with a population of about 62,000, is part of the Greenville-Spartanburg-Anderson combined statistical area which has roughly 1.2 million people. It is a tertiary market, says Bronowski. But the city has recently been revitalized and has lots of upscale restaurants and boutiques, she says. “It has become a strong tourist attraction regionally,” says Bronowski.

The contract to run the Hilton Greenville started July 7, 2010, says Bronowski. Because Portfolio Hotels & Resorts is still evaluating the property, she doesn’t know what kind of changes will be made, although she says that her company will upgrade the hotel.

Located just 10 miles from the Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport at 45 West Orchard Park Drive, the Hilton Greenville, which is a franchise hotel, is convenient to surrounding corporations including BMW, the Fluor Corporation, GE, IBM, Lockheed Martin and Michelin.

The Hilton Greenville is Portfolio Hotels & Resorts’ first managed property in South Carolina, but the company is looking for additional deals in the Southeast including Florida, says Bronowski. “We have had a presence in the past in the area and we will grow again there,” she says.

“We have a strong background in independent boutique hotel management,” says Bronowski. “We also operate properties in significant, urban destinations such as Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco,” she says. “Our expertise runs the gamut from the Sheraton at LAX with 800 rooms to the Harvest Inn in St. Helena in the Napa Valley, an upscale boutique with 74 rooms.” About half of Portfolio Hotels & Resorts’ properties are in California, including Monterey and San Francisco as well as the Napa Valley.