Thursday, Dec. 1, 2011 | 6:54 p.m.
After $150,000 worth of renovations to date, the Best Western Plus on Boulder Highway in Henderson will host a grand opening event Thursday night.
The hotel, formerly a Holiday Inn at 1553 N. Boulder Highway, came under new ownership in April, when Khem Babbar, the former director of marketing for Intel, bought it for $5.1 million.
“The opportunity came to me and it was a perfect one,” Babbar said. “Occupancy was extremely low and could not go any further down, about 15 to 20 percent.”
Babbar, who said he had always hoped to get into the hospitality business, retired from his job in California to buy his first hotel in Henderson.
“If you look at Henderson, there is no Best Western. I didn’t want to be another Holiday Inn,” Babbar said. “This whole area is under redevelopment … that boosts the overall profile of the area. We are probably more centrally located than any hotel in the area.”
The three-floor, 115-room hotel has undergone several renovations, including a repaved parking lot, new landscaping, new room amenities like lamps, towels and pillows, new meeting room equipment and pool furniture. The hotel originally opened as a Holiday Inn in 2008.
With 101 double queen and king rooms and four suites, rooms at the Best Western Plus start at $79. The hotel also houses a fitness center, an outdoor heated pool, a business center, a lounge with a full bar, a meeting room. Free Wi-Fi Internet access and a complimentary breakfast come with a stay.
Babbar said he plans finish a $135,000 remodel the lobby early next year with new furniture and an expanded bar.
He said in the past six months the hotel’s occupancy rate has increased 100 percent.
The hotel, which employees about 30 people, gets a third of its guest through business travel, the rest through leisure.
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