Rooms Outnumber Guests

The Best Western Pheasant Run was almost full on Tuesday night, the eve of the Spokane Valley Wal-Mart’s grand opening.

“It was our biggest night,” said Al Garnett, Pheasant Run manager. “A lot of that was Wal-Mart corporate executives.”

But since opening May 21 just off Interstate 90’s Pines Road interchange, the Pheasant Run has struggled to fill its 105 rooms.

“We haven’t even filled up one complete night yet, so it’s taking a little time for us to get people in,” said Garnett.

The number of hotel rooms in the Valley has skyrocketed in the past year. The new Pheasant Run and the 109-room Holiday Inn Express that opened near the Argonne Road interchange in late 1996 together pushed the number of rooms available in the Valley to 1,064, a 28 percent increase in the past year. In addition, there is a 60-room Radisson Hotel planned on Sullivan Road, north of the freeway.

But the Valley’s hotel managers worry there are not enough guests to fill all those rooms.

“The Valley is poised for the future, but there’s no doubt that the supply has arrived before the demand,” said Larry Ross, manager of the Spokane Valley Doubletree. “There’s a 28 percent growth in supply, but demand is flat.”

Market analysis reports by Smith Travel Research, a national firm, show that while the number of rooms here has increased in the past year hotel occupancy is down by about 5 percent in Spokane, including the Valley.

But there is a bright spot, hotel managers say. They are betting on continued long-term growth in the corporate traveler market.

“Corporate business will continue to grow for us,” said Doubletree’s Ross, citing the industrial developments in Liberty Lake. “Corporate is a big share of our market.”

The Best Western Pheasant Run courts corporate travelers with modem connections for business rooms and quiet work rooms with fax machines. The hotel also offers special amenities and rates to attract traveling executives.

“A lot of corporate people are looking for middle-priced rooms,” Garnett said.

Pheasant Run also is counting on its highly visible location on a bluff above the freeway interchange to help draw summer travelers from Montana and Canada to reverse the trend.

For the Valley Doubletree, Ross said, the Canadian market is dry. “Canadian traffic needs to pick up before we would market there, because the Canadian dollar is so weak. We need to become more attractive,” Ross said.

Canadian visitors aren’t as numerous as they used to be, said Hartly Kruger, president of the Spokane Area Convention and Visitors Bureau.

“We’ve seen a significant dropoff in the Canadian market,” said Kruger. He too attributes the drop to the decline in strength of the Canadian dollar against the U.S. dollar.

Valley hotels still hope to court out-of-towners.

The Doubletree is planning to advertise “Christmas in the City” hotel and shopping packages at the Spokane Valley Mall to residents of small towns in Eastern Washington, such as Ritzville and Colville.

Garnett also hopes to sway customers from outside the immediate area.

“With the natural growth of the area, we’re counting on a lot of visitors from Montana, Canada and Idaho,” said Garnett.

Ross plans to meet with other Valley hotel managers, and discuss the impacts of the growth in the hotel market.

, DataTimes