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Integral Awarded Management of New Orleans Westbank Holiday Inn
Released: 2/13/2008
By: Bill Harris
BIRMINGHAM, AL - Integral Hospitality Solutions has been selected as the hotel management company for the new Holiday Inn to be developed in the “Westbank” sub-market of New Orleans. The developers (the KFK Group of New Orleans) have acquired an existing hotel structure located in the town of Gretna, almost directly across the Mississippi River from the Garden District. The 13 story hotel was built in the 1970’s as a Sheraton Hotel and later changed to various other franchises before becoming an independent hotel a few years ago. The hotel was recently closed and is now undergoing a complete renovation of both the interior and exterior of the building. The new facility will reopen in February 2009 as the Holiday Inn - New Orleans / Westbank with 182 rooms, a sports bar and grill concept and ample meeting space.
The hotel is designed as a round tower with a round restaurant building attached. The newly renovated facility will adapt a more modern exterior look along with an upscale modern feel to the interiors as well. The upper levels of the hotel enjoy spectacular views of the New Orleans area.
The Westbank area includes the towns of Gretna, Harvey, Marrero, Avondale, Terrytown, and Algiers. The area is a thriving sub-market of the New Orleans area with strong employment from the many facilities located along the river. These oil & gas, manufacturing and maritime oriented companies provide steady work for the nearly 350,000 residents of Jefferson Parish.
The city of New Orleans is recovering nicely and this special city will soon return to the full “pre-Katrina” glory days as one the world’s premiere destinations for conventions, business travelers and leisure travelers.
The pace of the returning visitors is once again allowing the local hospitality industry to focus on the future. For the past two years they have been working to emerge from the aftermath of a “once in a lifetime” type of natural disaster. The New Orleans convention and meetings “booking pace” is accelerating to pre-storm levels. The tourists have returned in impressive numbers and that important demand segment is quickly improving to pre-storm levels also. Most of the traditional cultural and sports events of the pre-storm New Orleans are back and the attendance is strong. Most of the city’s best fans are, once again, regular visitors and they arrive to find that most of the hotels have been renovated, all of the traditional attractions are open (most had little or no damage) and the number of open restaurants are at 100% of the pre-storm level.
Integral Hospitality currently manages approximately 40 hotels and has several new development projects underway. The company is based in Birmingham, AL but operates hotels in 14 states including Utah, New Mexico and Maryland. For more information about Integral Hospitality, please contact William B. Murray at (205) 655-2097 or via email at Bill@IntegralHospitality.com
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