Owner thinks hotel's opening is well-timed

Jessie Singh figures that the economy in northern Nevada should show signs of recovery by the third quarter of 2009 almost exactly a year after the opening of his Holiday Inn Express hotel in Reno.

Given that business-oriented hotels generally need at least 12 months to reach their potential, Singh figures the opening of his Reno property is timed well.

The 98-room hotel at 2375 Market St. it faces Highway 395, just a little north of Vassar Street opened in late October.

It's one of a number of business-class hotels to open in Reno in recent weeks a Staybridge Inn and Suites opened in South Meadows, while a Hilton Homewood Suites property opened near Neil Road and Kietzke Lane and construction is under way on a 127-room Hyatt Place hotel at Plumb Lane and Terminal Way.

Singh acknowledges that the competition for business travelers will be heated, particularly as travel stays slow during the recession.

But he notes that Reno historically has lagged behind similar-sized markets in development of hotels that target business travelers, and there's relatively little competition in the business segment close to the airport. The new Holiday Inn Express is about a mile from the airport terminal, which it serves with a shuttle.

The new hotel was a long time coming as Singh acquired the right to fly the Holiday Inn Express flag in Reno about four years ago. He spent a couple of years trying to find land and another year getting permits and completing plans. Construction was completed by Metcalf Builders Inc. of Carson City.

The hotel is 100 percent smoke-free, a step that follows a common trend among new hotel properties. Singh notes hotels in California by law are entirely smoke-free, and he says the provision of smoking rooms is a management headache for hotel owners even where the practice still is legal.

"If you keep a few rooms available for smoking, then people smoke even in the non-smoking rooms," he says.

Along with a meeting room that can handle gatherings of up to 50 people and a business center, amenities at the hotel include an indoor pool, a fitness center, free wi-fi and a dining area at which guests are served a free hot breakfast.

The Reno hotel is the third Holiday Inn Express developed by Singh and his family, and a fourth is under development.

The family opened a Holiday Inn Express in Winnemucca in 2001 followed by an 85-room property in Carson City in 2004.

The family's fourth hotel, in the Minden Gateway Center at the north edge of Minden, is scheduled for opening next spring.

The Reno hotel employs 14.