Dec. 04–Home2Suites opened in College Station earlier this week, the third new hotel in the Bryan-College Station area this year, according to the Convention and Visitors Bureau.
The opening of the hotel on Texas Avenue brings the number of hotels in Bryan-College Station to 40 and the number of rooms to 3,762.
Shea Williams, director of sales at Home2Suites, said the phone was ringing off the hook at the hotel with people looking to book a few nights to a year, thanks to the amenities in the rooms making longer stays possible.
“This was a good market for this type of hotel with the growing oil and gas industry, as well as the university,” Williams said. “It caters very well to extended-stay travelers.”
By the end of 2015, six more hotels are expected to open, adding more than 500 rooms to the market.
Three of those hotels include Baymont Inn and Suites, Candlewood Suites and Best Western Plus, which are anticipated to be open for guests in the next three months.
Robert Levy, the general manager of Hyatt Place, which has been operating since 2005, said he expects the hotel market in the area to hit a saturation point in the next few years, potentially closing some of the lower-end hotels.
“It’s always a threat to have more competition,” he said. “But it’s a challenge we all take.”
Williams said officials with Home2Suites and Hilton, which Home2Suites is a part of, took market capacity into consideration when planning, and are confident their newest addition will prosper.
“With the growing industry, we’re not concerned about being able to fill our hotel,” she said. “We’re off to a great start.”
