Surprise! Hotel Boom Not Over...

After years of hotel construction in Lafayette, get ready for another new property. The Best Western brand is returning to Pinhook Rd., just across the street from what used to be the Best Western Hotel Acadiana (now a Crowne Plaza). A building permit has been issued for the Best Western Oil Center Suites on Rue Fernand, which is just behind Chili's.

I've heard that Oil Center hotels frequently stay fully booked with business travelers during the week. I guess that would explain why so many hotels have recently opened in the Pinhook / Kaliste Saloom area (Staybridge Suites, Wingate Inn, Residence Inn, Holiday Inn Express). The hotel is permitted at $1.8 million.

Broussard LaQuinta Now Open

As the hotel boom begins to cool down, Broussard's first chain hotel is now open for business. The La Quinta Inn & Suites is now open on Sweetland Pkwy. - which is across Hwy. 182 from the Celebrity Theater near Hwy. 90. Before the La Quinta, the only accomodations in town were found at the Bel-Air Motel - an almost vintage hide away on Main Street.

A few months ago, the owner told me he was excited to catch some of Hwy. 90's oil-related business. I believe this is the only hotel between Hwy. 14 in New Iberia and the twin older hotels in front of the airport in Lafayette.

Hotel Acadiana Becomes Crowne Plaza

POSTED 2/11/09

UPDATE 4-13-09 Signs are up on Pinhook and on the hotel sporting the Crowne Plaza brand. The hotel is also booking rooms according to Crowne Plaza's national website.

It looks like the official re-branding of the Hotel Acadiana as a Crowne Plaza could be just days away. After months of construction - the Crowne Plaza logo is up on the building, but the new CP sign out on Pinhook is still draped in tarp. Managers told me that basically every aspect of the hotel was being renovated, from guest rooms to meeting rooms. Most recently, Hotel Acadiana was a Best Western. I believe the property opened as a Sheraton back in the oil boom years.

Crowne Plaza used to be known as Holiday Inn Crowne Plaza. The hotels are mostly geared towards business travelers. The CP will have new competition, a Staybridge Suites will open soon just behind the property on Kaliste Saloom. Also - a new Best Western is slated for a piece of land just behind Outback Steakhouse and the Fairfield Inn across Pinhook. The area really is Lafayette's hotel district, most likely because the Oil Center, hospitals and major oil offices are nearby.

I'm not sure if the Crowne Plaza reno will have any effect on the hotel's restaurant, which is now branded as Mustang Sally's. We'll see.