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no 38.107.179.222
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Today: Feb 04, 2012
no 38.107.179.222
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Today: Feb 04, 2012
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Dumas adds 180 Hotel Beds
| Dumas adds 180 Hotel Beds |
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Dumas adds 180 hotel beds New businesses raise community's room capacity by nearly 30 percent By Chris Ramirez This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it Publication Date: 10/30/08DUMAS - Twelve hours, 44 minutes. If you believe Mapquest, it takes that long to drive from Dallas to Denver. That's plenty of time for eyelids to get heavy. Paul Bhakta responded. With beds, rows of them. The Dumas man owns two of three new hotels under construction in Moore County's largest town. When completed, the businesses will add 180 more beds to Dumas, raising the community's room capacity by nearly 30 percent. The projects come at a time when hoteliers in bigger communities including Amarillo are reporting shrinking occupancy rates. Bhakta believes Dumas' business climate is fertile for more bed space. "This town needs this," said Bhakta, owner of the LaQuinta and Holiday Inn Express, both four-story buildings. "It's ready for this kind of business and these kinds of jobs." A Hampton Inn owned by Nick Bhakta - no relation to Paul Bhakta - is the third hotel under construction. All three are on Dumas' southside, across U.S. Highway 287 from Wal-Mart. Collectively the hotels will employ about 140 people. Sam Cartwright, president and chief executive for the Dumas/ Moore County Chamber of Commerce, hopes creating more bed space will foster future development for the area, which already enjoys one of the state's lowest unemployment rates at 3.1 percent. Dumas hotels are making money. Last year, the 12 other hotels in town generated $7.2 million in taxable receipts, up from $5.3 million the year before, according to records kept by the Texas Comptroller's Office. A total of $2.9 million was generated in the first two quarters of 2008, which don't include the high-volume summer months. Pritesh Bhakta, whose father Nick owns the Hampton Inn, was confident beefing up Dumas' room volume would benefit not only casual travelers, but also business people who are lured by the area's burgeoning wind-farm industry and other emerging commerce. The LaQuinta and the Hampton Inn are expected to open by January, barring weather delays. Work on the Holiday Inn Express began after the other hotels and was hampered by heavy rains earlier this month, Paul Bhakta said. "All of a sudden, Dumas has a skyline," Cartwright said.
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