Hotel Murano reopens downtown after 13 shuttered months

Downtown Tacoma got a boost late last month when Hotel Murano welcomed guests back to rooms and its restaurants following a 13-month pandemic hiatus.

The boutique hotel, owned by Portland-based Provenance Hotels, reopened April 29, confirmed communications manager Shannan Overholser. Its two restaurants also have reopened: Bite is currently offering only grab-and-go breakfast, while Bar960 is open for walk-in dinner and cocktails for guests and the general public. Capacity will follow Phase 2’s guidance until next Tuesday, when Phase 3 returns to Pierce County.

In addition to daily wellness checks, staff will clean high-use areas more frequently, according to the hotel’s health and safety guidelines page. Guests are expected to wear masks and maintain social distance in public spaces.

All protocols follow safety and sanitization practices as advised by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the American Hotel and Lodging Association, and state and local authorities, the hotel says.

New procedures focus on a limited-contact experience, including a virtual check-in and sanitized key card. Minibars have been removed from all rooms, but room service is available. Other reusable items like concierge pamphlets have been nixed.

While virtual check-in has become more common in hotel reservations even pre-pandemic, one notable difference of a visit today is in the elevator: only members of the same party can ride together. Otherwise, it will be limited to one person at a time.

Hotel Murano won’t sell every room every night, either, and any occupied room will remain vacant for at least 24 hours between guests. Daily housekeeping must be requested.

The hotel laid off 133 workers when it closed last spring, as reported by the state Employment Security Department in June. More than 100 of those employees are represented by Unite Here Local 8, a chapter of a national hospitality union; their contract expired in September when they weren’t working. A city ordinance proposed but stalled last fall would have required hotels with more than 60 rooms to provide recall notices to those workers.

Asked if the hotel had rehired previous staff, Overholser said, “We are rehiring at the same cadence as we see demand returning.”

Provenance’s 13 hotels were all in a similar holding pattern in 2020, she said, and each is considering local realities and travel demand unique to their locations.

The return of Hotel Murano is integral to Tacoma’s tourism rebound, said Matt Wakefield, marketing and communications director for Travel Tacoma-Pierce County.

“With the Murano reopening, Tacoma is back at full hotel strength, which is not something most cities our size can say right now,” he told The News Tribune this week, just as Gov. Jay Inslee was announcing a June 30 return to normal business activities.

The boutique hotel “has been a major part of what makes Tacoma a top destination for leisure travelers, meetings and events, and their reopening is a much-welcome moment for the city,” he said.

Wakefield also noted that The Marriott Tacoma Downtown opened its new hotel late last year near the University of Washington Tacoma campus, and soon the Silver Cloud Inn will unveil its Point Ruston venue with a view. All told, the city now offers more rooms than it did pre-pandemic, according to the tourism bureau.

HOTEL MURANO RESTAURANTS OPEN, TOO

The grab-and-go menu at Bite includes Macrina Bakery pastries, a bacon-egg-and-cheese on ciabatta with breakfast potatoes, cold-pressed juice, coffee and even a takeaway Bloody Mary.

At Bar360, a tight menu features crab and corn chowder, fish tacos, a house Caesar salad, truffle mac and cheese, and a half-pound Kobe beef burger with garlic-herb fries. The drink menu sticks with three cocktails, a few wines and beer with two locals on draft.

“We’re excited to be back up and running at Bite and Bar960 as a part of the reopening of Hotel Murano,” said Overholser in an email Thursday. Chef Matt Stickle has returned to lead the kitchens at both restaurants.

This story was originally published May 14, 2021 at 5:00 AM.