As the Holiday Inn on Lane Avenue is renovated into Ohio State dorms, a new Holiday Inn Express is being constructed nearby, and will open in December.
Located a quarter of a mile down Olentangy River Road, near the Schottenstein Center, the seven-story Inn will house 107 rooms and suites.
The hotel will also offer a shuttle service to the downtown area. Singh said businesses such as Nationwide have set up contracts with the hotel to book people at the hotel and take advantage of the shuttle system. This will give the hotel a competitive edge over others, as the Blackwell Inn on campus is the hotel’s main competition, Singh said.
Singh, an Autumn 2008 graduate in finance and risk management from Fischer College of Business, is working for his father’s company on the project.
“I was involved with [the company] in minor ways as a kid,” Singh said. “I started to get more into it, and I sold a few hotels without brokers being involved.”
Now, Singh has been responsible for transacting the entire Holiday Inn Express deal, which began two years ago. He has worked for the company for the past three-and-a-half years, and constructed the initial model for the new hotel, serving as project manager.
The process of planning the Holiday Inn Express began before OSU’s Campus Partners bought the Holiday Inn on Lane Avenue this year. Singh said the management of the Holiday Inn was displeased with the construction of the Holiday Inn Express, as they thought it would take business away.
“I fully believe we played at least part of the hotel on Lane being shut down,” Singh said. “When you have a brand-new Holiday Inn coming into the area, nine out of 10 people will want to stay there instead of one that’s been around for years. I believe the management for the Holiday Inn got into the, ‘let me get out while I can’ mode when selling the hotel.”
Even with the economy down, Singh said the project will go smoothly.
“When you’re in a market like OSU, the largest university in America, there is tremendous opportunity,” Singh said. “The goal is not to be the biggest, but the best, and if you can strive to be the best in that market and personalize way you treat guests, it will be based on repetitive business.”
Singh said that, according to hotel reports for the area, business in 2008 has decreased little since 2007. He also said that the Blackwell Inn, another OSU hotel, does well year-round.
Singh said the Holiday Inn Express, like the Holiday Inn, plans to draw members of Priority Club, which is a travel program for IHG hotels, to keep business in the area.
“The same people who came to the Holiday Inn have been coming there, sometimes at the same time, for 20 years,” Singh said. “The basic point is just to keep guests happy and personalize the touch of the hotel, and you can’t really go wrong. But no one has complete control. If the university happens to shut down tomorrow then we’re all in trouble.”
Singh said rooms will cost $115-129 for a standard room, depending on the days, with suites at $149-159. With an opening in mid-December, Singh said March 2010 has already booked close to $140,000 worth of business.
Caitlin O’Neil can be reached at [email protected]
