If you can successfully build and open a hotel during a pandemic, all future challenges tend to look doable. That’s the viewpoint of management for the Hampton Inn by Hilton Bellingham Airport, a 98-room property that is opening Friday, May 7 at 1055 W. Bakerview Road, behind the Bakerview Starbucks cafe in Bellingham.
“We’re so excited to present this beautiful property to guests and the public,” said General Manager Craig Schultz. “The features and our Bellingham location make our Hampton Inn ideal for leisure travelers, for our team sports during weekends and also for our corporate travelers on weekdays.”
Those features include a large indoor saline pool and hot tub, a gorgeous up to date fitness center, business centers, a 600-square-foot meeting room, an airport shuttle, plus free Wi-Fi and a large buffet breakfast that Hampton Inns have become known for.
The Hampton Inn by Hilton Bellingham Airport is owned and managed by Erck Hotels. Based in Missoula, Mont., Erck Hotels has been managing and developing lodging properties in Montana, Washington and Idaho for more than 30 years. The company also owns and manages the Home2 Suites by Hilton Bellingham Airport, located just two blocks away.
The recently rising occupancy rate at Bellingham’s Home2 Suites adds to Schultz’s optimism that his hotel will thrive.
“We’re in a growing community that people love to visit,” Schultz said. “We’re within 90 minutes of Mt. Baker, the San Juan Islands, Seattle and Vancouver, B.C. Southwest Airlines will begin serving Bellingham later this year and the Canadian border eventually will reopen, unleashing pent-up demand to travel.”
The Hampton Inn by Hilton Bellingham Airport will have approximately 25 employees, 20 of them full-time. It cost approximately $20 million to build and experienced a five-month COVID-19 delay in construction due to a government-mandated shutdown and extra time for procuring and shipping building materials, Schultz said.
