Category Archives: Hotels

You don’t say

May 1, 20134:52 p.m.

“No, I did not rob the cradle.”

– Hotelier Jim Korroch explaining that his young “date” was his teenage daughter as he gave the keynote speech Wednesday for the Chamber’s Small Business Awards

By Carrie Rengers | Tags: Filed under Chamber, Hotels, You don't say | Comments

Funday replacing Sunday at Ambassador Hotel for gathering of executive chefs

April 19, 20135:16 p.m.

WICHITA — A Kansas City tradition is coming to Wichita – literally.

Marshall Roth, executive chef at the Siena Tuscan Steakhouse at the Ambassador Hotel, used to work in Kansas City where Sunday occasionally was Funday when chefs from restaurants around the city would get together and cook for each other.

Roth says the rule was each chef had to bring something from his freezer and then “leave your ego at the door.”

After touring Creekstone Farms in Arkansas City, Roth says he wanted his chef friends from Kansas City to see it, too.

“Well, it kind of just blew up into this chef Funday again,” he says.

About a dozen chefs are meeting at the Ambassador Hotel in Kansas City on Sunday and taking “a booze cruise down to my property.”

There will be a reception in the rock star suite. Creekstone is donating some prime bone-in rib eyes that have been aged for 55 days.

“It’s, like, crazy,” Roth says.

The extensive menu also will include sea urchins that Seattle Fish is donating.

The chefs will tour Creekstone Monday and have lunch before heading home.

Roth is inviting some Wichita chefs as well and hopes Funday might become a tradition here.

“It’s going to be a blast,” he says. “Should be a good, fun, wild evening.”

By Carrie Rengers | Tags: , , , , , Filed under Hotels, Restaurants | Comments

You don’t say

March 26, 20135:03 p.m.

“I think they keep coming back now because of our TripAdvisor        rating … .”

– Consolidated Holdings’ Steve Butcher in an e-mail about two ducks who have returned every spring and fall to the pool at the Hotel at WaterWalk, which TripAdvisor.com recently ranked No. 11 nationwide for best service

By Carrie Rengers | Tags: , , , Filed under Hotels, You don't say | Comments

AmericInn on South Laura converts to Super 8; remodeling planned

March 25, 20134:09 p.m.

WICHITA — Hotelier Naina Patel has purchased the AmericInn at 4848 S. Laura and is rebranding it.

“We are going to convert it to a Super 8,” says Patel, who owns the Days Inn & Suites across the street.

“It’s close by, it’s … easy for us to manage,” she says of the new hotel.

The Days Inn has 43 rooms. The AmericInn had 52 rooms but will drop to 50 as a Super 8. Patel plans to convert one room into storage and the other into either an expanded breakfast space or an exercise room.

She plans to start remodeling in a month or so.

“Obviously, it needs a little bit of TLC, so we’re going to redo the whole thing.”

By Carrie Rengers | Tags: , , , Filed under Hotels, New business, South side | Comments

SpringHill Suites by Marriott to open on West Kellogg by Texas Roadhouse

March 25, 20133:00 p.m.

WICHITA — A new SpringHill Suites by Marriott is coming to West Kellogg.

Wichita-based Mitesh Construction is building the 121-room hotel at 6633 W. Kellogg, which is on the east side of Texas Roadhouse.

“There was no Marriott brand on the west side of the town,” Mitesh Patel says.

He says he’d hope to bring a Courtyard by Marriott there but couldn’t.

“We had a little opposition from (the) downtown Courtyard,” Patel says.

His group also has the Fairfield Inn & Suites and Holiday Inn Express in Hutchinson along with the Best Western in Hiawatha.

Patel says he’s had 37 hotels that he’s bought and sold through the years.

“Our business is to run hotels and build them,” he says.

SpringHill Suites will open in spring or summer 2014.

Patel says the hotel will have 3,000 square feet of meeting space but won’t have a restaurant.

“We have Texas Roadhouse next door.”

By Carrie Rengers | Tags: , , , , , , , Filed under Hotels, New business, West side | Comments

Courtyard by Marriott renovates in Old Town

Feb. 22, 20131:14 p.m.

WICHITA — What’s the fun in traveling only to be stuck in a hotel room?

That’s what Marriott International thinks, and that’s why the Courtyard by Marriott at 820 E. Second St. in Old Town has had a major renovation of its lobby and other public areas.

Jim Korroch, developer of the 128-room hotel that opened in 2006, says the buzz word for the renovation was to “activate” the lobby.

He says the idea was “to really make it an area where guests feel like they can get out of their rooms and … socialize with other guests.”

There’s a new bistro called Table 820. It’s mainly for guests, although Korroch says, “Anybody is welcome to use it.”

It’s in the same area as a bar and a Starbucks service station.

Without these kinds of amenities, Korroch says, “Frankly, it causes us to hang out more in our rooms.”

The hotel’s traditional front desk has been replaced with welcome pedestals of sorts, which are more private and personal, according to the hotel.

There’s free WiFi, computer terminals, a printer and the thing that often proves the most elusive for business and other travelers: plenty of electrical outlets.

Read More »

By Carrie Rengers | Tags: , , , , , , , Filed under Downtown, Hotels, Old Town, Real estate | Comments Off

You don’t say

Feb. 5, 20134:24 p.m.

“By the way, I was back at Siena today. The sidewalk view was every bit as good as I remembered.”

– An e-mail from Denice Bruce of Professional Engineering Consultants joking about the Ambassador Hotel’s website, which brags the hotel has views “overlooking the sidewalks of Wichita”

By Carrie Rengers | Tags: , , Filed under Downtown, Hotels, Real estate, Restaurants, You don't say | Comments Off

You don’t say

Jan. 22, 20134:19 p.m.

“I don’t know whether he’s seen it and found it hilarious or not.”

– Wichita Inn North general manager Wes McGregor on a sign employees put up that says, “Highly recommended by the owner”

By Carrie Rengers | Tags: , Filed under Hotels, You don't say | Comments Off

Private equity firm invests $100 million in Jack DeBoer’s Value Place

Jan. 22, 20132:57 p.m.

UPDATED — How hard is it to get a $100 million investment in a company?

If you’re Jack DeBoer, apparently not that hard. At least it wasn’t in a recent deal with New York-based private equity firm Lindsay Goldberg LLC, which is going to invest $100 million in DeBoer’s Value Place chain of extended-stay properties and short-term apartments.

“It was sort of a …hit the bull’s-eye on the first shot,” says Value Place president and COO Kyle Rogg. “Jack knew somebody who knew somebody who knew somebody, and it worked out from the very first meeting.”

Extensive due diligence “became a contract, became a hundred million.”

“It was relatively fast and extraordinarily cordial,” Rogg says. “It was a little bit of love at first sight. … They like Jack’s vision and like the team.”

The infusion from Lindsay Goldberg, which manages $10 billion in total capital, will allow Value Place to expand more quickly than it otherwise would have.

“It’s going to allow us to do, really, three main things,” Rogg says.

Read More »

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Hotel at WaterWalk ranked No. 11 on TripAdvisor for best service nationally

Jan. 17, 20135:00 a.m.

UPDATED — The Hotel at WaterWalk has had bragging rights for its ranking on TripAdvisor.com for almost the entire time it’s been open, but now it has something new to boast about.

TripAdvisor has ranked it No. 11 in the country for best service at a hotel.

“Our service here is extraordinary,” says Steve Butcher of Consolidated Holdings. “The staff truly cares about taking care of the guests.”

They also care about TripAdvisor, he says.

“It’s real life. It’s what people say about you.”

He says employees check the site daily to see what customers have posted in reviews about the hotel.

“It’s something they believe in and love.”

The hotel, which is at 711 S. Main St., converted to the Hotel at WaterWalk almost two years ago. Butcher says more than a year ago, it became the No. 1-ranked Wichita hotel in customer reviews on TripAdvisor.

Customer service is something most of the reviewers note.

“They even scraped the ice off our windshields in the morning after it snowed,” one reviewer wrote.

Another wrote, “The staff allowed my 3 kids to swim after the 10:00 closing which was much needed after our 6 hour drive.”

Another reviewer, who came to Wichita for an adoption, commended one employee by writing, “Upon our arrival, we noticed not only the promised bassinet, but Christine had stocked our room with diapers, wipes, onesies, washcloths, receiving blankets, and baby toiletries.”

Butcher says good service starts with the hotel treating employees well.

“The biggest thing is taking care of the employees, and they take care of the guests,” he says. “It’s just one big circle.”

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