Aloft Leawood hotel opens soon

Leawood’s first hotel is being hailed for the increases it will provide in area lodging capacity and in customer traffic to neighboring businesses.

The six-story, 156-room Aloft hotel celebrates its grand opening on Thursday at 117th Street and Nall Avenue in the Park Place mixed-use development.

Strategically positioned just across the street from the Sprint Nextel campus, the hotel’s parent company, Starwood Hotels and Resorts, is banking on business travelers to fill a large proportion of its rooms.

The hotel is Aloft both in name and concept, said Lynne Fleenor, a Starwood spokesperson.

“This is a loft-inspired hotel. That is, the guest rooms are like lofts in that they have high ceilings – 9-foot – and the hotel is very open and spacious in design,” Fleenor said.

Leawood Mayor Peggy Dunn said she has stayed overnight in another of Starwood’s 31 Aloft hotels, and liked what she saw and experienced.

“It’s different from what we have in this market. It is extremely high-tech and has a unique contemporary design that is truly appealing, especially to the young and young at heart,” Dunn said.

She also likes what it means to her city.

“It is a first for Leawood, and that is reason alone for it to be extremely exciting. We won’t have to poach off Overland Park anymore. Visitors to Leawood will be able to stay in Leawood,” Dunn said.

She said another benefit of the hotel will be the boost it can give to nearby Leawood restaurants and merchants.

Park Place’s founders certainly were counting on that when they put their project together. A variety of shops and eateries are just outside the front door of the hotel. And if the lodgers cannot find what they want within the confines of Park Place, they can walk to more shops and eateries as well as a movie theater across the street at Leawood Town Center.

“This will be the only hotel in the county where you can park your car and walk everywhere you need to go,” Fleenor said.

Inside, the hotel does not by design have its own restaurant. But it has re:fuel, which Fleenor described as “a grab-and-go food concept.” Aloft also features a 24-hour fitness area, a bar, a swimming pool, and a lobby called re:mix, “where guests can mix, mingle, grab a cocktail, play pool or watch TV,” Fleenor said.

Adjoining the hotel is a multi-level parking garage that is being financed in part through a city-adopted 7 percent transient guest tax added to hotel lodging bills. Some of the proceeds from that tax eventually will be used for a convention and visitors bureau of some sort, but Dunn said city officials have not yet discussed what form that entity would take.

Technologies in the hotel include wi-fi access throughout the building and a kiosk where newly arriving guests can check themselves in.

Though most of its customers will be business travelers, Leawood Chamber of Commerce President Kevin Jeffries said the hotel offers something to residents.

“It’s important to have that kind of amenity available if residents have visitors from out of town and want a nice place close by for them to stay,” Jeffries said.

As for the retail impact, he added, “Whenever you have guests from out of town they will have down time and will frequent area stores and restaurants. I believe that will be a real positive.”

Fleenor said Starwoods started the Aloft brand in 2005 after research indicated that such a concept would be appealing to their target customer base.

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