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Layton's lodging industry received a boost last week with Hilton Worldwide's opening of a 107-room Home2 Suites extended-stay hotel across the street from the Davis Conference Center.
The four-story structure is the city's first new hotel since 2004, when a Hilton Garden Inn opened at the conference center.
"This new extended-stay hotel will bring a higher level of accommodation and service to our hospitality area, and we're happy to have it here," said Ben Hart, Layton's director of economic development. With this new development, he added, Layton now has 960 hotel rooms.
Hilton Worldwide identified Layton as a good location for only its second Home2 Suites — the first opened five weeks ago in Fayetteville, N.C. — because of its proximity to the conference center, downtown Salt Lake City, Hill Air Force Base and the Davis Hospital and Medical Center.
"A number of notable companies are headquartered in the metropolitan area, such as Smith's Food and Drug, Vehix.com, Arctic Circle Restaurants, FranklinCovey and Overstock.com, making the region a vibrant business center for Utah and the Mountain West," said Bill Duncan, the Hilton official overseeing the Home2 Suites brand.
Conference center General Manager Scott Lunt said the new hotel will improve his ability to attract more meetings to the facility.
"When we expanded a couple of years ago, we realized there was a need for a few more hotel rooms in the area," he said. "This will allow us to attract larger groups, increasing the [center's] already strong economic impact."
Hilton established this extended-stay brand in 2009 and now has 30 properties in development plus 63 more in the planning stages. Five hotels are scheduled to open later this year or early in 2012, including a Home2 Suites in West Valley City.
Home2 Suites offer complimentary Wi-Fi Internet access and breakfast selections, rooms that can be customized to meet a guest's needs, laundry and fitness facilities and a 24-hour business center.
Western States Lodging and Management developed and will manage the property, which is owned by Summit Lodging, ESP. The hotel has 20 employees.
"Home2 Suites will be a great addition to our existing portfolio of hotels," said Andy Pettingill, Western State Lodging's director of hotel operations, referring to his company's operation of five other hotels in Layton — the conference center's Hilton Garden Inn, a Town Place Suites, a Marriott Courtyard, a Fairfield Inn and a Comfort Inn.
Based in Taylorsville, Western States Management also operates hotels in Logan and Las Vegas, as well as eight senior living communities, two apartment complexes and a 40-bed rehabilitation facility.
Hilton Worldwide
The 92-year-old chain has 3,250 hotels with 600,000 rooms in 82 countries. Its brands include Hilton, Waldorf Astoria, Conrad, Doubletree, Embassy Suites, Hilton Garden Inn, Hampton, Homewood Suites and Home2 Suites.