Lloydminster – An official “Hamptonality moment” will take place in Lloydminster during the grand opening of the new Hampton Inn by Hilton in Lloydminster on March 12.
Come prepared for handshakes, smiles and good cheer hosted by Clare Janitz, the general manager and her management team and staff. The experience
promises to be just like on those Hamptonality commercials the hotel chain runs to show how it celebrates the moments that matter to their guests.
“For the grand opening we’ll be doing tours of the hotel and of course, we will have some nice h’ordeurves and cocktails for visitors,” said Janitz who can’t wait for the big
day. “It’s my first hotel opening. It’s nice to open a hotel that’s really so beautiful. The finishes and the quality are really a high standard, so I’m very proud to be
part of it.”
A ribbon cutting with Lloydminster Mayor Rob Saunders is expected to be part of opening ceremonies that should be well attended as word travels.
“We’re expecting a good turnout. We’re going to have a large invite list. We’ll be going out and inviting people in person as well as emails,” said Janitz. The guest list will
include representatives from the APX Hotels Group that operates the five storey, 112 room hotel and property.
The franchise is owned by a group of investors that also owns the Holiday Inn & Suites in Lloydminster. The Hampton franchise was built by Aspen Developments
Corp in Red Deer for approximately $16 million. APX Hotels operates a growing chain of hotels in Alberta including the local APX Holiday Inn that Janitz managed briefly while construction of the Hampton wrapped up.
The doors opened at the new hotel on Dec. 22 with Santa Clause being one of the first visitors to feel the
Hamptonality. “It was a very soft opening three days before Christmas, but we still had guests coming in,” said Janitz.
“It was a nice surprise and good for the staff to get used to their roles and for us to get our service down pat.” “For the guests coming in, they are very impressed. It’s
been said it’s one of the nicest Hamptons. Our company went beyond the standards to create a more upscale beautiful atmosphere.”
The oil and gas business traveler is their main target market along with weekend wedding parties and a leisure groups who love the free self serve breakfast concept.
The breakfast bar is next to a huge common area on the ground floor with lots of tables and chairs for breakfast gatherings and socializing.
“The families just love it,” said Janitz. The Hampton Inn is only Hilton brand in Lloydminster that interested APX Hotels. “I think it was APX contacting Hilton when
they were deciding what way they wanted to go and what hotel brand to bring to Lloyd,” said Janitz.
“Lloyd doesn’t have any Hilton properties so it’s a great opportunity to bring a new brand into the area.” Janitz noted that a lot of guests are Hilton “Hhonors” reward
points members who prefer to stay overnight at other Hilton branded hotels.
“This is a great opportunity for them, so now people who come to Lloyd for business who are Hilton Hhonors members can use it at the Hampton,” she said.
“It’s a different concept having the breakfast whereas the Holiday Inn has a restaurant but they are both great hotels.” Most of the rooms come with a standard king or two queen beds with a few Jacuzzi suites for special occasions. Some of the rooms are specially made for wheelchair guests with mobility features such as entry or passage doors with 32 inches of clear width. Included with every stay at the Hampton is the free hot breakfast, free Wi-Fi in every room and use of the pool and the fitness room.
“With having the breakfast bar, people don’t really need a kitchenette, but every room has a microwave and a fridge,” said Janitz. For business functions there are two
boardrooms with builtin audio visual equipment and use of a free 24-hour business centre with printer, fax and photo copying services.
There is also a 24-hour convenience mart for snacks, drinks and travel essentials and it’s just short hop from the Hampton to other nearby shops and restaurants.
The Hampton Inn is part the Hampton Square retail and commercial development that APX started in 2012 at the west side of the city just off Highway
16.
“It’s a great location. It’s the first thing you see coming into town from Edmonton,” said Janitz. “The location is very good for travelers and business people. It’s not
hard to find.” Construction is underway in front of the Hampton on a Cop-op gas bar and two restaurants namely a Browns Socialhouse and a Rock Creek diner.
There is also a new Meridian Inn & Suites hotel under construction at the busy Hampton Square project site. “Any other business brings in more business. It will create more of a destination at this end of the city,” said Janitz. “More people will come because there’s businesses and restaurants and hotels.
“Being on the main throughfare with lots of businesses popping up around us and lots of restaurants and shopping and things like
that, there will be lots of choices for the people who stay here.”
It is too early to tell yet if the current low price of oil will lower their expected average occupancy rate of 80 per cent by the end of the year.
“As of yet it’s hard to tell because over Christmas everything is slow, but this week things are already ramped up quite a bit in the local hotels,” said
Janitz referring a major crossfit sports competition in town Jan. 15-17.
She said the Hampton will get busier too as their sales and management team rolls out their advertising and marketing campaign “We have been buying a lot of advertising through newspapers and the media with signage and things like that. We’re blitzing the local businesses to let them know we’re here,” said Janitz. “So our sales team is out and actually physically going and greetingpeople and talking with people.”
The city of Lloydminster’s strategy to host major events also works in favour of the local hospitality industry. “They refer events to us and then we try
to allocate inventory of rooms for them so that they can bring those events in like the oil show or large tournaments,” said Janitz. “They won’t bring events like that to the
city unless they know there is accommodation. We have also been hosting events from outside in places like Vermilion.”
Janitz previously worked in Ontario where she said the pace of the hotel industry is a lot slower than it is in Lloydminster even in this downturn. “Things are quite
different there – slower and more challenging whereas Lloyd is just a booming place, so it’s very exciting. Everything’s growing,” she said.
“I recently attended the Lloydminster Chamber of Commerce where they talked about being the number one city in Canada for doing business so it’s a very
exciting place to be. “It’s really nice to open a new hotel in such a vibrant market.”
