Old Holiday Inn Airport renovations....

[slick]

I went to see what's going on with the extended of 15th Street through Meridian near the Airport area and saw that the old Holiday Inn was getting a renovation.

I always seem to forget about that place since its only two story and doesn't stand out much. But then I realized that the new 6 story Holiday Inn is being built, and well, you can't have two Holiday Inn's in within 1/2 mile of each other!

Looks like they turned it into an interior corridor property now, but its still a Holiday Inn (for now).

Any ideas on what they might convert it to? Must be something decent if they are going through all this work.

[etsuco05]

The old Holiday Inn is going to become a Radisson.

[slick]

The old Holiday Inn is going to become a Radisson.

Really? That's cool I guess, I always thought that Radissons were large, multi story type hotels.

[Luke]

Will this be the first Radisson in the market?

[slick]

Will this be the first Radisson in the market?

Seems like it, Carlson in general doesn't seem to have many properties in OKC. That new Country Inn & Suites that opened up right next to Club Rodeo is really nice, went in there one day when I saw it was open and was impressed.

[Luke]

And doesn't Radisson do convention hotels? Perhaps an entry into the OKC market will help them look at downtown for a high rise convention hotel?

Who knows...

[bombermwc]

Well from what I understood, the new Holiday Inn on 15th is going to be a Holiday Inn Express. Plus if Raddison was taking over, why would Holiday Inn be doing the renovations before they sell??

[slick]

The two hotels that on 15th will be a Staybridge Suites and Holiday Inn, according to the signs in front of the hotels. I don't think they would build a new Holiday Inn Express when there is one like a mile north on Highline (Across from the Courtyard and near that Hilton Garden on I-40).
I have been reading about Holiday Inn trying to reimage its brand, its been losing appeal over the years. Look at the following "new style" HI in Duluth, and then the one currently in OKC, big difference:
Holiday Inn DULUTH Hotels | GWINNETT CENTER | Welcome

The one on Meridian is probably franchised, and the owner(s) are deciding to convert it to something else thats not related to Holiday Inn since they lost the flag. I guess we will see once they are all done.

[etsuco05]

I have been reading about Holiday Inn trying to reimage its brand, its been losing appeal over the years. Look at the following "new style" HI in Duluth, and then the one currently in OKC, big difference:
Holiday Inn DULUTH Hotels | GWINNETT CENTER | Welcome

The one on Meridian is probably franchised, and the owner(s) are deciding to convert it to something else thats not related to Holiday Inn since they lost the flag. I guess we will see once they are all done.

That is correct; the HI on Meridian is franchised. Holiday Inn has raised their minimum standards over the past few years. Many of the old Holiday Inns do not meet this new standard and have been forced to change their flag. Just in Oklahoma, Holiday Inns in Ponca City, Stillwater, and Idabel have changed to Quality Inn in the past year or so.

[jbrown84]

There used to be a "Holi-Dome" Holiday Inn right at I-40 & Meridian on the SW corner. It was pretty old and somewhat run down at the time I stayed there around 15 years ago. I'm sure it lost the franchise too at some point.

Incedentally, I've stayed at the current Holiday Inn in question as well--about 10 years ago. It was called the Plaza Hotel then I think. It's a similar "holi-dome" set up, but newer.

[slick]

Just a small update.

I drove by the Holiday Inn today and the second floor, all the way around the front and side of the building, was painted orange.

Yep, orange. Unless I'm color blind, it was orange.

Orange.

[bombermwc]

Yeah, i noticed that color the other day. Can't say that really excites me at all. I guess it will match Zio's.

The old Holi-Dome...isn't that the Clarion Inn now? When the May 3rd twister took out the Holi-Dome in MWC, they didn't rebuild it (thank goodness). They did build an Express, but the lot is smack dab in the middle of 6 other hotels now. I'm glad to see they are raising the bar though. Holiday Inn's had really gone down the crapper all across the country. Sad to say though, the ones that converted aren't any better than they were. I've stayed in "old" HI's that converted to one of the billion brands of Six Continents (or whatever they call themselves) and they usually were very bad experiences. Gimme Hampton any day.