Although guests will not be able to stay at the Inn during this period, the hotel will maintain its administration, marketing and catering operations, according to Anderson. Staff training will also continue during the interim, which will allow employees to efficiently serve guests once the hotel reopens, he said.
"It's going to be clear that there's constructing going," he said. "I don't think it's going to disrupt traffic. It may pose some minor inconvenience for foot traffic, but we hope any disruption that occurs will be minimal."
The ongoing renovations began this summer and have already made construction visible in the area surrounding the Inn. The construction's presences will likely increase in the upcoming months, Anderson said.
The renovations will allow the Inn to remodel its current restaurant offerings and add 16 additional guest rooms, a 240-seat event space and new meeting rooms, according to Anderson. "State-of-the-art" meeting facilities are one of the Inn's primary focuses, he said.
"We don't want a high-level meeting not to happen at Dartmouth just because there was a better meeting space in New Haven or Cambridge," Anderson said.
The renovations also aim to modernize the hotel for College visitors, according to Anderson.
"The Inn is really the public face of the College, and we feel that it's a lovely historic important building, but it's also in need of improvements consistent with the level of excellence that Dartmouth expects in everything," he said.
The College does not expect the Inn's renovations to deter important visitors or guests from traveling to Hanover this winter and spring, according to Anderson.
"We think there's abundant opportunity for them to stay elsewhere," he said.
Other local hotels such as Six South Street, located two blocks south of the Inn, will help accommodate those who had originally planned to stay at the Inn, Six South Street general manager Don Bruce said in an interview with The Dartmouth.
Representatives from the Inn contacted Bruce to inform him of the exact dates the Inn would be closed and to arrange the transfer of some previously-booked reservations, Bruce said.
"I think the fact that another hotel came into the market that's brand new maybe made them focus on remaining competitive and up to date," Bruce said.
Bruce said he hopes the Inn's temporary closure will help his hotel's business, especially since the Inn's renovations are slated to take place during the typically slowest business months of the year.
"We're going to see more business than we probably would since the Inn is closed, which is good for us," Bruce said.
Bruce also expressed enthusiasm regarding the increased exposure Six South Street will receive during the renovation period.
"There are those out there in the Dartmouth community that still don't know we're here, and they're going to find out if they travel in that four or five-month period and they want to stay in Hanover," Bruce said. "That doesn't necessarily mean they're going to be loyal to us in the future, but it will put us in a position where they'll tell other people in the Dartmouth community, which from what I understand is a pretty tight-knit close community."
Anderson said he is optimistic that the renovations will increase the Inn's future business and profits.
"I think ultimately it's going to improve its reputation," Anderson said. "We think the renovations will be worth it."
Hanover Inn manager Joseph Mellia did not respond to requests for comment by press time.
