Nov 3 2009
Mr. John Q. Hammons announces the opening of his third hotel this year with the debut of the nine-story, 230-room/suite Marriott Bloomington – Normal Hotel & Conference Center in the revitalized Uptown Normal, Ill. Located at 201 Broadway Avenue, the contemporary-designed hotel and adjoining 40,000 gross square feet of meeting space created nearly 150 new jobs.
The luxury facilities are being managed by Springfield, Mo.-based John Q. Hammons Hotels & Resorts, the nation’s leading independent builder, developer, owner and manager of upscale, full-service hotels, resorts and suites. Sporting a whimsical, jewel-toned décor, the full-service hotel is owned by world-renowned hotelier Mr. Hammons.
John Q. Hammons officially opened the luxury Marriott Bloomington - Normal Hotel & Conference Center in Illinois with General Manager Jeff Pritts (left) and Director of Sales & Marketing Heather VanVoorhis (right) welcoming the hotel's first guests Adam Maurer and Jan Miller (center), two Midwest Food Bank 2008 Volunteers of the Year. Front Desk Supervisor Victoria Fells checked in first guests at a pod-style station.
The Marriott Bloomington – Normal Hotel & Conference Center’s first guests were Jan Miller and Adam Maurer, 2008 Volunteers of the Year for the Midwest Food Bank (photos available). The locally headquartered charity supplies 600 service organizations with food for 225,000 people each month and will be the beneficiary of the hotel’s grand opening invitation-required masquerade ball scheduled for Saturday, January 23, 2010. In addition, a ribbon-cutting/open house with Normal and Bloomington city officials and the McLean County Chamber of Commerce is slated for Thursday, November 12, 2010, from 4 to 6 p.m.
“Exceptional service is a pillar of the John Q. Hammons commitment to excellence, making it especially fitting for our first guests to be outstanding individuals celebrated for their exceptional service in the community,” said Jeff Pritts, general manager of the Marriott Bloomington – Normal Hotel & Conference Center. “The opportunity to collaborate with Midwest Food Bank and be the organization's first hotel supporter enables us to immediately be an active member of the community, while supporting Marriott's nationwide program with Feeding America to assist with domestic hunger relief.”
The new Marriott Hotel and adjoining conference center represent one of the first major capital improvement plans the Town of Normal has taken in nearly 20 years. The facilities connect to a 500-space parking deck via a climate-controlled skywalk across Beaufort Street. The lavish property also features personalized pod-style check-in, a 21-foot water feature, and more than 40 tons of granite in design finishes reflective of the focus on detail indicative of a John Q. Hammons development. The Marriott Bloomington – Normal Hotel & Conference Center also touts the area’s largest ballroom with guest rooms and the city’s only hotel with a dedicated concierge floor offering a private lounge and personalized guest services.
The Marriott Bloomington – Normal Hotel & Conference Center features flexible meeting space to accommodate events up to 2,000 attendees and provides professional catering and audio visual services on site. With more than $3 million in group and business pre-opening sales, hotel and conference center reservations span interest from associations, corporations, universities and community influencers, such as: American Institute of Architects – Illinois Council; Bloomington – Normal Economic Development Council; Girl Scouts of Central Illinois; Illinois Chapter of NECA; Illinois State University; and Illinois Wesleyan University.
The hotel is offering special opening promotional packages at http://www.marriottnormal.com/SpecialOffers.aspx, including:
- Date Night Package* $169 + tax/night: featuring an overnight stay and dinner for two at Jesse’s Grille and two tickets, popcorn and sodas at the historic Normal Theater attached to the hotel
- Family Time Package* $169 + tax/night: featuring overnight accommodations, breakfast buffet for four in Jesse’s Grille, and four tickets to the Children’s Discovery Museum
The new high quality facilities complement John Q. Hammons’ other luxury property in Illinois, the Embassy Suites East Peoria Hotel & Conference Center, recently recognized as the number one Embassy Suites in the world.
Source: http://www.jqhhotels.com/home.aspx