News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
Steve Rodgers, Robin Rodgers, Kris Rodgers and Savanna McBride joined GrandStay Hotels’ John Synstegaard in marking the opening of the new GrandStay Hotel in Sisters.
The first thing you notice when you walk into the lobby of the new GrandStay Hotel & Suites on Rail Way at the west end of Sisters is the rich wood and iron of the bannisters and a towering rock fireplace. It feels like Sisters.
And that’s exactly what longtime Sisters contractor and developer Steve Rodgers was trying to achieve.
“I want it to be Sisters, but I didn’t want to go over-the-top ‘cowboy,’” he said. “I think we nailed it.”
The fact that Rodgers could decide just how he wanted the entrance to the 39-room hotel to look speaks to the nature of the GrandStay Hotels franchise.
“We’re a brand that partners with our franchisees,” said John Synstegaard, vice president of operations with the Minnesota-based hotelier. “We like to have our owners put their personalities into it — and their area.”
That means art by local artists featured in public spaces and building materials that speak to pine trees and mountain streams. The Bend company Northland Furniture built the case goods — dressers and the like — for the hotel.
Rodgers was determined to put that Central Oregon stamp on his hotel, which is built across Rail Way from his Mainline Station development. It wasn’t easy to find the right partner.
“I talked to four franchises, and they all just put us in this box,” he said.
GrandStay gave him leeway to be creative — while providing systems and logistics that allow people who are new to the industry to hit the ground running.
“I couldn’t have picked a better franchise for us,” Rodgers said. “They have been so much help.”
The GrandStay Hotel & Suites in Sisters is No. 32 in the chain, which is located mainly in the Midwest, but it’s expanding its footprint across the nation. The hotel features 39 rooms, including four deluxe suites (one of them ADA accessible). There is an indoor pool and hot tub; two whirlpool rooms; a 17-seat meeting room, and a breakfast room where hot breakfast is offered each morning.
The hotel currently employs 14 people. Steve and Robin Rodgers’ son Kris Rodgers is managing the property.
“I’m excited about it,” Kris told The Nugget.
GrandStay Hotel & Suites is open for bookings now, (www.grandstayhospitality.com/find-a-hotel/locations/sisters/overview). They plan to host a grand opening with an open house for the Sisters community in June.
Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.
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