ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, November 7, 1996 TAG: 9611070009
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JEFF STURGEON STAFF WRITER
AT LEAST 5 NEW lodges are being built in the Roanoke area, for a room increase of 10 percent.
A New York company is building a hotel just 100 feet from the existing Best Western Inn at Valley View.
You might expect the Best Western's operators to see the new facility as an encroachment on their turf in northeast Roanoke. But that's not the case.
"I welcome them," said Best Western co-owner Craig Andersen. "We'll feed off each other."
Say goodbye to the area hotel industry doldrums of 1995. The front desk bell is ringing again and it's accompanied by a boom of hotel development.
At another locale, one new hotel appears close enough to cast a shadow on another. That's in Salem, where a Hampton Inn and a Comfort Suites are going up across the street from each other.
In all, five hotels are under construction in the Roanoke Valley, which already has about 40 commercial hotels and motels operating. The 431 new rooms will mean a 10 percent increase in the number available. In addition, at least two projects are on the drawing board and three more are planned in the New River Valley.
"Things seem to be on the mend," said Chuck Ross, a vice president at Smith Travel Research, a Hendersonville, Tenn., consultant keeping national hotel industry statistics.
The Roanoke Valley's hotels had their worse year of the decade during last year, said Smith Travel. The number of rooms grew by 3 percent, but lodging business dropped nearly 6 percent. The percentage of rooms occupied dropped more than 8 percent.
Now, traveler traffic is headed back up. Hotel builders feel good enough about the direction of the economy to plan new projects in the area.
Industry analysts have urged caution, however, saying there's a risk too many rooms could be built nationally, leading to lower occupancy rates and profits. Coopers & Lybrand, a New York consulting firm, recently predicted national hotel occupancy rates will fall next year through 1999.
First to open among the new local hotels will be a 43-room Country Inn and Suites by Carlson. It opens Tuesday on Plantation Road near Interstate 81 in Roanoke County, adjacent to an existing Country Kitchen restaurant.
"In our market, the $65 to $90 [room rate] range, there's plenty of demand," said Mike Bond, an investor in the project.
The New York hotel developer, Prime Hospitality, plans to open a 128-room AmeriSuites near Valley View Mall in February. Guests will find each room containing a small living room in addition to a bedroom. The hotel will have a pool but no restaurant.
Its owners expect to draw much of their business from travelers using the Roanoke airport. The hotel sees itself on par with the Roanoke Airport Marriott and Sheraton Inn Roanoke Airport, which on Jan. 1 changes its name to Clarion Hotel Roanoke.
The existing hotel next door, an 85-room Best Western, already does about two-thirds of its business from corporate travelers and people attending conventions.
Anderson's company, Dominion Lodging Inc. of Daleville, is building a new hotel in Salem. The 78-room Comfort Suites at Ridgewood Farm opens in December. It, too, will offer larger than usual rooms.
Across Virginia 419 beside Lewis-Gale Medical Center, Roanoke developer Granger Macfarlane hopes to open a 114-room Hampton Inn by April 7. Macfarlane, president of Eastern Motor Inns Inc. of Roanoke, expects to draw business from hospital patients and their families as well as from business travelers.
A fifth new hotel belongs to the Sunstone Corp., a new corporation headed by Bob Patel, operator of the Sunset Inn and Holiday Lodge hotels in Roanoke. The 68-room BudgeTel Inn will be on Sheraton Drive.
Meanwhile, Jay Patel has plans for a Hampton Inn with about 65 rooms at Plantation Road and Friendship Lane and Dirk Ratliff has zoning approval for Smith Mountain Lake's first waterfront motel. The motel will have 26 rooms and will be built on a 1.7-acre site on Virginia 616 next to Indian Point Marina.
LENGTH: Medium: 78 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: DON PETERSEN\Staff. The Hampton Inn is underby CNBconstruction near Lewis-Gale Medical Center in Salem. color.