WhyaCT hotel owner is offering chauffeured rides in his own rare, classic cars

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"What you want to do is share it, make it a learning and sharing experience," he said of his collection on a sunny Thursday afternoon. "If someone has a great experience staying in this hotel and enjoying any one of these things, they'll come back."

The hotel is offering new packages for visitors — called Delaluxe and Gold Coast — which both feature chauffeur service in one of Mallory's classic cars as well as a yacht outing on similarly rare vessels.

These packages are available at all three Delamar locations in Connecticut. There are two more Delamar locations under construction now in Mystic and Westport, which are slated to open next year. All of these locations will have luxury car services and yacht offerings at waterfront properties.

A few of Mallory's rides were at the Delamar Greenwich Harbor last week, including a 1941 Cadillac Series 60 Special Fleetwood, a 1957 Mercedes Benz 300SL and 1962 Imperial Crown convertible, which is one of about 500 ever built.

Mallory has other cars available for guests — like a modern Rolls-Royce Phantom 7 Drophead Coupé and a one-of-a-kind 1937 Packard 12 Limousine Berline — which will rotate between the Connecticut locations.

Local hotel staff will pick up guests from their homes in one of these cars (within a certain radius) and will drop them back home after their stay. At Delamar Greenwich Harbor, these new packages also feature options for a five-course tasting dinner at the hotel's restaurant, spa treatments and more.

The hotel has also brought in new yachts to woo visitors, including a Duffy Herreshoff Special named Whisper (one of 11 ever made, according to the hotel) and an Italian-made Fratelli Aprea named Sorrento. Fratelli Aprea does not have standard production models, each vessel is unique and made by hand.

These new packages went on sale in late June and the Greenwich location had secured two package bookings and 32 yacht charters as of July 6.

The Gold Coast packages start at $1,500 a night while the Delaluxe packages starts at $2,500 a night. Prices may vary and both packages come with optional additions as well.

These packages are available now through October, when the yachts are put away for the season.

Ginny Kozlowski, executive director of the Connecticut Lodging Association, said a few new luxury hotels opened in the state recently — like Hotel Marcel in New Haven and new Cambria hotels in South Windsor and New Haven — but there is room for more.

"It probably is an underserved market in the state of Connecticut," she said. "We do not have as much luxury product as I think the market can sustain."

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Kozlowski also said Connecticut's Office of Tourism is pushing the industry to come up with packages and experiences (or "itineraries") like the ones Delamar is offering so visitors are enticed to spend more time in the state.

Mallory said in the future, they are also thinking about coupling the cars and boats with activities, like a tour of local lighthouses on one of the yachts.

Mallory has hired a new team just to handle these experiences, including Fernando J. Alvas Miras as Delamar Greenwich Harbor's first chief experiences officer.

Alvas Miras, himself a car enthusiastic and experienced sailor, said there is high potential for these experiences.

"We really believe in it," he said from behind the wheel of the 1962 Imperial.

The hope is that these cars bring some new life to the hotel, even passively; a parked yellow Citroen 2CV and a green Fiat Topolino near the hotel entrance drew in several onlookers and selfie snappers on July 6.

These car and yacht experiences are also customizable. For example, upcoming visitors to Greenwich want to shop on Greenwich Avenue, but don't want to walk there, so the hotel staff will take them in one of the cars.

Greenwich locals can also utilize the car service if they want to get picked up and driven to a special dinner at L'escale, for instance.

Delamar Greenwich Harbor has been in business for just over 20 years now and the hope is that this new chapter will help the hotel brand stand out in Connecticut as well as in New York and across New England.

"This is a very unique experience for our guests that really isn't offered anywhere else in the boutique hotel space," Director of PR & Communications Erin Kenning Spiegel said.

Builders are also on site now, working to redesign the hotel rooms. The renovations are expected to begin in January.

"We've been in sort of a growth mode," Mallory said. "Delamar is really where my heart is and where I think the opportunity is for these sorts of things."

Mallory also said they plan to one day build a Delamar near the Lime Rock Park race track in Litchfield County. Mallory owns a stake in this race track, which is on the National Register of Historic Places.

Mallory called these luxury packages a pilot program and said that they will adjust and expand it once the staff gathers guest feedback during this first season.

Mallory said his taste in cars has evolved over time, from the rattling rides of World War I-era vehicles to the smoother, more comfortable rides he prefers today.

He has enough vehicles to rotate, so customers stay engaged and ready to come back, but Mallory would not say exactly how many cars he owns: "Quite a few. I'd rather not say how many. You know, my wife doesn't even know how many."