With the recent opening of a new hotel in Sundre, booking a room may become easier in the traditionally low-vacancy town.
“Almost every person I've checked in has said – ‘oh it's about time Sundre got another hotel,'” said Cynthia Meikle, general manager of the Best Western Plus Mountainview Inn & Suites.
She said the main hotel guests in town work in the oil and gas industry and book rooms long-term, not just for one or two nights.
“The existing hotels obviously were capturing all the business and there was need for more rooms based on guests phoning that couldn't get a room,” she said.
“With 80 rooms we can definitely satisfy that demand.”
The new hotel opened May 1, joining seven other hotels in town, and is the largest one yet.
The Bulldog Inn has 23 rooms, Chinook Country Inn has 35, King's Motel has 38, Parkwood Motor Inn has 31, the Sundre Hotel has 16, the Sundre Motor Inn has 23, and the Sun Plaza Motel has 24.
Added to the previous inventory of 190 hotel and motel rooms in town, the Best Western's 80 new rooms bring the accommodation complement up to 270 rooms.
“We offer a level of service and a level of amenity package that I think is really going to please the folks that do have to travel to Sundre and stay in this area,” she said.
The hotel brings a recognized chain to Sundre along with more jobs and more local spending, she said.
“It brings money to the local merchants because we have been purchasing everything we can locally,” she said.
“We're hiring local. All of our staff is our local folks from the Sundre area.”
The Best Western Plus is one of the three versions of the chain's hotels, including the Best Western original version and the Best Western Premiere version, she said.
“Best Western Plus has more advanced amenities. They require more upscale furniture and furnishings,” she said.
“The requirements are more stringent to be a Plus property and we are one of the only pluses in rural Alberta.”
The hotel features an indoor heated swimming pool, a hot tub, and a fitness centre. Of the 80 rooms, 16 are suites.
“We've got high-speed wireless Internet and we're tapped right into the Alberta Supernet, so our Internet is probably the fastest that you get in Sundre,” she said.
She said she is looking forward to welcoming guests, showing off the property and “seeing the look of delight and the wows on customers' faces when they walk through the door.”
“I'm very pleased to be in Sundre personally, and I think the hotel and the community are going to have a very nice relationship and I look forward to that.”
