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Americas Best Value Inn, 1190 Arsenal St., is now a Quality Inn.
Room prices, which range from $59 to $119 a night, wont change. But business travelers who are members of the rewards program for the Choice Hotels franchise will enjoy perks by choosing to stay at the Quality Inn.
Customers also may enjoy an expanded breakfast with eggs and sausage, consistent with the continental breakfast offered at franchise locations nationwide, owner Richard E. Alexander said.
Rebranding the hotel is a move that Mr. Alexander said he believes will help it compete for travelers with other hotels along Arsenal Street. As a result of the franchise change, which took effect two weeks ago, the hotel has lured new business travelers who never have stayed there before.
Americas Best Value wasnt very well known in the Northeast, and we werent getting a lot of referrals for customers, he said. Quality Inn has a larger loyalty customer base because its rewards program is better. People can use their points to receive discounts and a free nights stay.
The move also is in keeping with the launch of a family-oriented Italian restaurant next door owned by Mr. Alexander, Restaurante de Riccardos, which opened in May. The restaurant complements the hotel by providing a venue for business travelers to eat lunch after meetings in the hotels conference room.
They stay at the hotel and go next door to get a meal, he said. I just had a woman from Washington, D.C., last night who said shell never stay anywhere else because she loves our restaurant.
The 79-year-old business owner said the main driving force behind renovations at the hotel was the increased competition from new hotels. Renovations included expanding the rooms, installing energy-efficient lighting and windows and upgrading heating and ventilation systems.
We saw the competition and wanted to be on the same playing field, Mr. Alexander said.
He said he hopes additional traffic among business travelers will help keep the hotel busy year-round, supplementing the business it garners during the summer from Canadian tourists.
Were now seeing an increase in business travelers we havent seen before, and were hoping to build a nice customer base all year and not just rely on tourism travel during the summer, he said.