Occupancy at the new Hampton was at 51 percent through March, on par with the competitive market as a whole, says Daniel Fay, president of Commonwealth Hotels, the company managing the property. “We were pleased with that number,” he says. “The first quarter of the year is a slow quarter.” During the chilly winter, Fay says, the hotel saw about 20 percent leisure travelers. The annualized number, he says, is expected to double.
Despite the success of the hotel boom, some question whether the hotels are ready for a time when oil workers move into more permanent housing and occupancy rates decline. Even now, though some newer oil companies coming to Minot still have workers in hotels, Hayes says, most of the city’s housing has caught up with workers’ demand. Rather than being filled with oil workers for weeks or months at a time, he says, the La Quinta’s clientele now consists more of corporate and consultant oil employees who stay just a few days. But oil workers based farther west often visit the city on weekends with family and friends, Hayes says, enjoying the mall, restaurants, and big-box stores.
While the rush to get oil rigs in the ground is over, Hayes says the oil boom is expected to play out for another several decades. “We definitely think the property is sustainable long-term,” he says. The Hampton Inn came to Minot with a similar long-term plan, Fay says. “[Minot is] a big Canadian destination for shopping,” he says. “We see regular weekend traffic.” Minot hosts an annual Scandinavian festival and the Hampton Inn sits across the street from Minot State College. “We don’t want to do too much oil business,” Fay says. “We wouldn’t want to be held captive by any one industry.”
