Shaner To Open Three Marriott-Branded Hotels

STATE COLLEGE, PA— Shaner Hotel Group has plans to open three new Marriott-branded hotels by the end of 2002, including a new 70-room SpringHill Suites in State College. Shaner will also build a 125-room Courtyard by Marriott at the University of Delaware adjoining the new Clayton Conference Center and a 76-room Fairfield Inn by Marriott in Jacksonville, FL. Construction on each of the hotels is expected to begin by the end of the year and the hotels are scheduled to open before the end of 2002. Shaner Hotel Group, founded by Lance and Fred Shaner in 1983, owns and or operates hotels in 23 states, and specializes in buying, developing, re-positioning and re-branding hotel properties. The SpringHill Suites in State College will be the third Shaner hotel at Williamsburg Square, which is also the site of Shaner Hotel Groups new corporate headquarters. Shaner owns and manages a Holiday Inn Express and the new prototype Hampton Inn & Suites at the location. The property will cater to business and leisure travelers visiting the Penn State area. “It’s a growing trend in the hotel business to have a development that offers travelers a selection of hotels in a campus-style setting, said Plato Ghinos, Shaners vice president of development. “Our Williamsburg Square site will offer three distinct brands. The concept is a great example of Shaner Hotel Groups future development strategy. The Fairfield Inn by Marriott – Jacksonville Beach, will be on 1st Street adjacent to the Holiday Inn SunSpree Resort that the Shaner Group owns. The Fairfield will have an outdoor pool and beach access, and will primarily serve the leisure traveler. The Courtyard Hotel on the campus of the University of Delaware, in Newark, will be a learning facility for students and faculty of the universitys hotel, restaurant and institutional management department. The upscale Courtyard will cater to business and leisure travelers, and will complement existing campus conference facilities, which include 22 meeting rooms, 7,700-square feet of meeting space and a 500-seat auditorium within the Clayton Hall. Shaner is the 21st largest owner/manager of hotels in the U.S., with 54 hotels and nearly 8,000 rooms in 23 states. Seventeen different hotel brands are represented in the Shaner portfolio.