Hotels Lure Briefcase Traffic to Suitcase Rooms

Residence Inn by Marriott in Springdale markets to extended-stay business travelers who plan to be in Northwest Arkansas for at least four nights.

General Manager June Kraft said the Residence Inn, which opened Aug. 10, was designed to attract people who are relocating to Northwest Arkansas or attending professional training sessions here.

All 72 of the one and two-bedroom guest rooms in the hotel feature full kitchens. Each is equipped with a microwave, dishwasher, cooking range, full-size refrigerator and garbage disposal. The two-bedroom suites offer fireplaces and separate living rooms, too.

In addition to living-room lodging, the hotel offers a weekly social hour, half-court for basketball, putting green, spa and fitness center. Kraft hosts a Wednesday-night cookout for the guests.

Opening rates for the rooms range between $99-$129, but Kraft said they’ll likely increase. The hotel, which is owned by W.B. Hotels LLC, has a staff of 20.

Gary Brandon of Springdale and Dewey Weaver Jr. of West Monroe, La., own W.B. Hotels. Brandon’s general contracting business, Gary Brandon Enterprises in Springdale, built the three-floor hotel.

Another multiple-night-stay hotel, Extended Stay America, will open next door to the Residence Inn soon. Brandon said the two facilities will target separate clients, because “[Extended Stay America] is more of the budget end of extended stay hotels.”

Jim Rickards, general manager of John Q. Hammons’ Hampton Inn & Suites in Springdale, offers a little something extra for the constant business traveler.

“Road warriors” deserve a little extra pampering, Rickards said, and the 102-room Hampton Inn offers personalized notes and goody bags to its frequent guests. Rooms in the inn also offer stove tops, microwaves and dishwashers. The hotel has a business center equipped with a computer, laser jet printer, scanner and selection of software.

Built in 1989, the 206-room Holiday Inn Northwest Arkansas in Springdale offers corporate visitors comfortable arrangements and plenty of room for meetings. The hotel has 50,000 SF for conferences, the most available in any single Northwest Arkansas location.

The Holiday Inn also offers a shuttle to and from the Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport.

General Manager Kevin Smith said about 40 percent of the hotel’s reservations are group-related, including those for corporate conventions.

The Holiday Inn and the Hampton Inn use each other for overflow reservations about once a week, Smith said.

The Sleep Inn, a Choice Hotels International lodge on Millsap Road in Fayetteville, targets business travelers on a budget, said General Manager Anthony Pusey.

“Sleep Inn is marketed to business clientele that are here for one or two nights, and then they’re gone,” Pusey said. “They don’t want to pay that $75 or $80 per night to sleep in a fancy room.”

Simple rooms without “fancy thrills” appeal to short-term travelers, he said.

However, the Sleep Inn does offer guests access to two health clubs less than two miles from the hotel. Summerhill Racquet Club and Northwest Athletic Club let Sleep Inn guests use almost all of the clubs’ features for free. Northwest Athletic Club charges Sleep Inn guests $3 for using a tanning bed, and Summerhill requires a small fee for guests to use its racquetball courts.