2024 Economic Impact Awards 21-35 Years in Business Top Honors: Oasis Hotel & Convention Center

Oasis Hotel & Convention Center is a local leader in bringing in tourist dollars, through the hotel, conventions and eateries. The events hosted vary in type and size, says Missy Handyside-Chambers, general manager at Oasis. She added the biggest group they’ve hosted in the convention center’s 30,000 square feet is 1,500.

“We just had an event with 400 people last week,” she says. “It’s something new every single week here at the Oasis. The groups that we have are never the same. Those groups do return year after year after year, so when we did build the convention center in 2012, we were booking business out two to four years. I believe my furthest out convention that we are at right now is 2029, so we know we’re going to have an impact all the way through 2029.”

This brings in tourists that can stay at the hotel, go to conventions, get massages on-site or eat at Fire & Ice Restaurant and Bar, Bella’s Pizzeria or at its latest addition, Starbucks. However, the Oasis impacts other local businesses as well.

“We’re bringing in new visitors every day to the Springfield market,” she says. “We love for them to eat at Fire & Ice, but we know if they’re here three or four days, they’re not going to eat there every day. They’re out in the community, eating at our local restaurants, shopping or maybe they are going to BigShots [Golf]. If they come for a convention and it’s just them alone, but they experience what Springfield has to offer, hopefully when they go back home, they plan a little family getaway or a girls trip and come back to Springfield.”

Oasis Hotel & Convention Center brought in just under $12 million in revenue in 2023.

Handyside-Chambers says there are also growth opportunities for its 124 employees.

Oasis has implemented incentives in addition to base pay for most of its hourly associates, through performance and sharing a stakeholder bonus.

Oasis also holds Think Tank contests where associates can contribute their ideas. One idea that came from an employee several years ago, says Handyside-Chambers, was to donate coins from the fountains to the Make-A-Wish Foundation. She adds that all employees have a voice working at the Oasis, but some of the ideas coming from them also benefit the local community.

“I presented that to owner Robert Low and he loved the idea, but also matched it,” she says. “Every month when we clean out the fountains, no matter how much money we have in them, Robert matches that, and we now give it to a charity of choice, so it’s not only the Make-A-Wish Foundation.”

She says employee retention is key at Oasis, with some staffers having been employed for as long as 25 years. It’s not only the culture and opportunities for growth that makes it a good place to work, Handyside-Chambers says, but also the atmosphere of Oasis with its fountains and murals by local artist Meg Wagler.

“I mean, who wouldn’t want to come to work at a resort every day?” she says.