PANAMA Metropolis BEACH — Visitors have a new, a lot more hassle-free place to remain whilst traveling by means of the Northwest Florida Beaches Intercontinental Airport (ECP).
Hilton Back garden Inn opened on Thursday, near the intersection of Venture Crossings Boulevard and West Bay Parkway. The growth was spearheaded by the St. Joe Business and is the very first hotel to open near the airport.
It features more than 140 rooms, a conference area, pool, exercise centre and entire-company restaurant.
“It is really excellent for our neighborhood and great for the airport,” mentioned Parker McClellan, govt director of ECP. “It will provide a benefit to our travellers for individuals early-morning departures, as effectively as the late-night time arrivals. Early-early morning departures actually will never (sense) as early if you keep at the lodge.”
St. Joe Business:breaks ground on to start with airport resort
More:St. Joe expects to open up Hilton Back garden Inn close to PCB airport subsequent summer
When the lodge is convenient for travellers, David Demarest, hospitality spokesman for St. Joe, reported it also will advantage the local economic climate by earning it much easier for individuals traveling to Bay County on organization outings.
The resort is positioned about 12 miles from Pier Park, arguably the coronary heart of the Beach front, and about 7 miles from Latitude Margaritaville Watersound, a Jimmy-Buffett themed neighborhood geared toward these 55 several years outdated and older.
“The airport is going to be an critical element of how men and women go to the area and how persons do business enterprise in the region,” Demarest claimed. “Nobody has a resort within likely a 10-mile area.”
According to Katja Chatfield, standard manager of the hotel, the facility had its to start with guest in 3 hrs of opening at 2 p.m. Thursday. That amount jumped to about 20 later that night.
Chatfield included that the lodge is open to everybody and not just those traveling through the airport.
“If you fly in or you consider any of your spouse and children customers or good friends to the airport, you can’t miss out on us,” she said. “If you might be heading to the airport for anything at all at all, we’re correct here … a stunning, brand new, glowing penny.”
Amid the first wave of attendees to stay at the hotel was Ian Andrzejewski, who came to install the computer software program used to control the hotel’s bar and cafe.
Andrzejewski mentioned he usually travels all over the country and that basically every airport has a close by resort for attendees.
He noted the airport’s cafe, Backyard garden Grille & Bar, is about double the sizing of the places to eat he has visited at other Hilton Backyard garden Inns. It’s not only open up to friends, but anyone in the neighborhood.
“Owning an … airport which is a rapid travel or a speedy wander from (a hotel) is super hassle-free for overnights, for overlays, for business enterprise vacationers,” Andrzejewski mentioned. “I consider it can be likely to be good for the neighborhood business enterprise community and any individual coming by.”
Panama Town Beach Mayor Mark Sheldon said the Hilton Backyard Inn will be “a launching pad” for far more hotels to be designed encompassing ECP, which proceeds to working experience constant progress and passed more than 1 million passengers for the to start with time in 2019.
Sheldon explained he expects other inns in the area could be declared afterwards this 12 months.
“Obtaining more lodging choices close to our occupied airport offers much more overall flexibility to all in the area,” he wrote in an e-mail. “It also drives more action for men and women out of condition who have an early flight to spend the evening near to the airport.”
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