SIOUX CENTER—After a year of work to build, Sioux Center’s newest hotel Fairfield by Marriott Inn & Suites is getting ready to open Thursday, May 30.
It’s a day property manager Henry Byl of Sioux Center is eager to see.
Fairfield, located at 290 St. Andrews Way, is a neighbor to the Terrace View Event Center and boasts impressive views of The Ridge Golf Club. It’s four-story structure with 76 rooms is about the smallest scale the hotel the franchise allows. There are also rooms designed for those with hearing impairments. Once open, Fairfield should have 22 employees, including full-time and part-time workers.
Byl, who also runs the nearby Holiday Inn Express & Suites, said Sioux Center has demonstrated a need for more hotel rooms, which led to this project getting started.
Fairfield by Marriott Inn & Suites front desk manager Suzanne Barbee, head housekeeper Benny Prellwitz, front desk employee Alexa Macias, general manager Lisa Gritters-Juranek and property manager Henry Byl are eager to see Sioux Center’s newest hotel open on May 30.
“When we have events in town, we are able to sell out. We just got to that point where we felt — it is a gut feeling that another hotel would work in town,” he said. “It just gets scary when you put this many more rooms up. The numbers are really hard to make work because we then need more people to come and stay to make this run effectively, but you just can’t build a hotel with much fewer rooms today.”
Byl has been working in the hotel industry for 24 years, getting his start with the Econo Lodge in Sioux Center back in 2000.
Being part of opening the third hotel in Sioux Center has been an exciting process for Fairfield’s general manager, Lisa Gritters-Juranek, who has been with the Sioux Center Holiday Inn for nine years before taking on the management role for the new Fairfield hotel.
“I just love working in hospitality, so even though it’s scary to switch, I did it,” she said. “I love working with people. So far, the employees have all been great.”
The hotel’s interior design, officially called Modern Calm by the company, incorporates elements that evoke nature, with features such as wavy glass that looks like flowing water. This is meant to call back to the chain’s roots.
“The first Fairfield was on a farm, and that’s why the drapes in the rooms have leaves on them and the carpet is blue like water. It’s all down to earth,” Gritters-Juranek said.
Comfortable rooms abound at Fairfield by Marriott Inn & Suites, Sioux Center’s newest hotel. In addition to 76 rooms, the hotel features daily continental breakfasts, a well-equipped fitness room and a swimming pool.
The hotel comes with ample seating for its daily continental breakfasts, a swimming pool and a fitness center equipped with treadmills, ellipticals, weights and a yoga area.
But management’s favorite feature is certainly the golf course view.
“We did not think we could get on this lot because it wasn’t big enough,” Byl said. “We were shy by about 0.2 acres. Well, if you don’t fit, you don’t fit. But Sioux Center Land Development worked with us, and we were able to get a bit of the fescue of the golf course. It was just 30 feet, but without that, we wouldn’t have been able to be here.”
If that hadn’t worked out, the hotel likely would have been located on the other side of the street.
“He already has the Holiday Inn Express with a golf course view, so we knew how much the guests love the golf course view. It was a no-brainer to be here,” Gritters-Juranek said.
Byl is pleased with the end results of the building project, with the pop of colors throughout the hotel and the desirable location.
“It looks really nice, and I love this spot. It sits up on a hill and you can really see it from a distance,” Byl said. “I didn’t have any other hotels where we had hallway windows as big as we have. You walk down our hallways, and it’s like, wow, there are some really nice views.”
The opening day is a bit later than originally planned. Early on, Fairfield was expected to open in April, but delays with the elevator pushed it back.
“The elevator was scheduled to arrive on our site sometime in January, and it didn’t arrive until March 18 or so. It takes about two weeks of work for each elevator, and we have two elevators. Then they had a few complications, which took another week and a half,” Byl said.
Crews are still working on some of the final touches inside the hotel, but progress continues along well. Last week, Fairfield had its elevators receive their proper certification, but the hotel swimming pool still needs to get its state certification.
“This has been a long time coming, so this is a big deal,” Gritters-Juranek said. “We have all the linens that need to be washed and dried and put up in rooms. It’s been exciting and fun to see it all come to fruition.”
Thankfully, recent severe weather didn’t damage the new building. During storms April 16, a tornado was spotted within view south of the hotel; in fact, a construction worker filmed it from the building’s fourth floor, posting it on social media.
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