Comfort Suites changing flag to Holiday Inn

Cape Girardeau-based JKD Inc. is investing $500,000 to convert its Comfort Suites hotel to a Holiday Inn Express & Suites at 310 E. Monastery Road, fronting James River Freeway east of South Campbell Avenue.

The 87-room property is scheduled to open under the new flag Sept. 9, according to a news release.

Drury Properties Inc. developed the $3 million, 54,000-square-foot hotel in mid-2006, according to Springfield Business Journal archives.

Jerry Drury and Mitchell Drury are officers of JKD Inc., according to Missouri secretary of state filings. Jerry and Katie Drury were reported as owners of the Comfort Suites property in a 2009 SBJ article.

Springfield-based Rolling Oaks Hospitality Inc. manages the property under a license agreement with a company in the InterContinental Hotels Group (NYSE: IHG).

“Holiday Inn Express is modern, fresh, clean and uncomplicated, and a perfect fit for our south Springfield location,” General Manager Pam Long Prentice said in the release.

The property will meet Holiday Inn’s brand relaunch standards, including signage with the redesigned logo, the chain’s signature scent and sound program, upgraded lobby and exterior lighting and landscaping, and employee training in the Stay Real guest service program, the release said. Under the $1 billion campaign launched in 2007, Holiday Inn has rebranded roughly 2,600 hotels in its more than 3,400 portfolio.

A Holiday Inn Express operates on St. Louis Street downtown, near Hammons Field. Springfield-based John Q. Hammons Hotels & Resorts LLC built the 119-room property in early 2005.

Holiday Inn launched its Express brand in the United States in 1991, according to www.ihgplc.com.[[In-content Ad]]