The Hallmark Inn on F Street will be undergoing more changes in the near future.
Over the last few years, they have added a large mural of Davis’ view of Winters, an upgraded complimentary breakfast and renovated all the rooms.
“To stay competitive in the market is to be upgrading,” said Marisa Schaffer, the general manager of the hotel.
Despite many of the changes being structural, there are also a few programs the hotel has started. One of those involves community service in which the hotel asks if residents are willing to add one dollar a night to benefit Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA), which helps children who have been neglected and abused.
Another service they have is bike rental. All residents of the hotel are able to check out a bike for a few hours with no additional charge to their room fees.
The bike service began in October 2009, and while starting with six bikes, now there are 10 bikes with locks, lights, helmets, baskets and even maps of downtown Davis.
“It made sense to have bicycles available,” Schaffer said. “[The bikes are here] so guests can experience Davis the way they should, by bicycle.”
The bike service is a part of the hotel’s enhancement to becoming eco-friendly, an enhancement which also includes composting throughout the hotel, even in individual rooms.
While the hotel has made plenty of changes over the last few years, they are expecting some major changes within the next year.
The hotel is planning on transforming the entire first floor. The main part of that includes wiping out all the rooms and replacing them with three retail spaces.
These retail spaces could end up including a newsstand store, coffee shop and clothing store. The stores would be mostly to benefit hotel guests, but all of them would also be advantageous to local residents, especially those going to or coming from a movie across the street.
“[We are] trying to enhance on guest experience,” Schaffer said. “We are making it easy for guests in a comfortable atmosphere.”
More plans for the renovations include expanding their breakfast buffet and making it more like a cafe, which would include lunch take out for hotel residents.
The project involves making the entrance bigger and looking more like a hotel lobby, in which there will be room to sit and relax. The renovations will lower the number of rooms from 134 to 120, but the management believes it will serve the best interest of the guests.
The hotel’s goal is to complete these refurbishments by this upcoming spring. The new look should therefore be completed by spring graduation time, for which the hotel is already fully booked and has started a wait-list.
Even after this large renovation, Schaffer assured that once finished, there will be plenty more coming.
“There’s so much we can possibly do here.”
ZANDER WOLD can be reached at city@theaggie.org.
