Posted by DEAN SKIP RUTHERFORD – When guests come to Little Rock to visit the Clinton School and the Clinton Library, they now have a wide variety of quality hotel options in downtown Little Rock. It wasn’t always the case.
When we started planning the Clinton Presidential Library in 1997, the now Peabody Hotel was The Excelsior. By the late 1990’s The Excelsior was significantly declining and needed major/costly physical and service rehabilitation. One of the reasons the Peabody owners (the Belz Family) decided to make the much needed major investment was the location of the soon-to-be Clinton Library and School only blocks away.
With the “new” Peabody, the historic Capital Hotel (which is as fine a hotel as you will see anywhere in the country) and the Doubletree (recently renovated), the city had some very good downtown/convention hotels by the time the Clinton Center opened in November 2004.
But during the process of seeking tourism advice from others, we learned that Little Rock did not have brand name/moderately priced hotel properties on the interstate which were needed to attract motor coaches, (tour buses), leisure travelers, prospective students and first-time visitors to the Clinton Center. The Peabody, the Capital and the Doubletree were not visible from the interstate.
As a result, one of my more memorable experiences in the planning of the Library and School began when I started recruiting interstate hotels. This was not a familiar area to me at all, and I had no idea it would be in the job description. But with the help of private sector investors and the Little Rock Convention and Visitors Bureau, we were successful.
A closed hotel was converted to what is now the Holiday Inn Presidential Center and a $19.99 day rate hotel is now a Comfort Inn and Suites. Both the Holiday Inn and Comfort Inn opened before the Clinton Center, and both have played significant roles in helping bring people to Little Rock. I give these hotels credit for enhancing the region’s travel business and particularly for making the view along the interstate much more inviting. Without them, thousands every year would pass by but not stop.
The Capital, Peabody and Doubletree hotels are great facilities. With the later addition of the Marriott Courtyard and the Hampton Inn and Suites in Little Rock’s River Market District, the city has some excellent hotel properties within walking distance of the Clinton School.
Lesson learned: always appreciate the importance of good and accessible hotel partnerships. As we commemorate the Clinton School’s 5th year anniversary, I thank them all.
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