New Hotels Hit Market

In the last month, two new hotels have opened in Bentonville, adding 224 rooms to a 5,801-room market. If things go as planned, 1,142 more hotel rooms could open by the end of 2007.

The 121-room Value Place off Phyliss Street offers customers just that — a no-frills utilitarian approach to extended-stay.

Dean Archer, property manager for Value Place, said his hotel only offers weekly rates and most customers stay for two weeks or more.

Archer said since they opened June 28, they’ve experienced an 85 to 95 percent occupancy rate.

For $159, or roughly $24 per day, Value Place offers a rate that is about 50 percent less than any other daily rate around, by his estimate, Archer said.

Each room is equipped with a table and chairs, full-size refrigerator, two-burner stove, microwave and big screen TV.

But the rooms aren’t cleaned daily; customers are responsible for bringing their own linens down to exchange them for new ones and toiletries are a one-time deal.

He said about half of his clientele consists of construction workers. Other clients are there for sports tournaments, and, of course, others are staying longer to service Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

The Wingate Inn Airport off Southwest Regional Airport Boulevard is targeting the convenience business traveler, said Paula Terry, general manager for the Wingate.

She said she’s seen business travelers from Eureka Springs, Joplin and Bella Vista stay at the hotel to catch early flights the next morning. Airlines will send passengers to the hotel when flights cancel, and she has a flight crew booked for the hotel in August.

She said the occupancy rate has hovered around 50 percent since opening July 1.

Terry said the hotel has an indoor pool, hot tub and fitness center, in addition to wireless and high-speed Internet throughout the building and a complimentary continental breakfast.

Terry wouldn’t disclose a rate.

At the end of September, the La Quinta Inn & Suites will open off South Walton Boulevard in Bentonville.

General manager Matt Disheroon said the facility will be like no other La Quinta. With a starting rate of $119 per night, like the Wingate, customers will get a queen or king bed, a microwave and refrigerator in each room.

Disheroon said he thinks La Quinta will win over other properties because he knows customer service.

He managed the Tulsa La Quinta Inn for five years, which won the regional customer satisfaction award for those years, consecutively.