SEQUIM — The Holiday Inn Express & Suites in Sequim has a refreshed feeling in its rooms and common areas.
From its rooftop garden visible from U.S. Highway 101 to its lobby to its 77 rooms, the 15-year-old hotel received a head-to-toe remodel with light blue and gray tones reminiscent of water throughout.
The six-month project recently finished at 1441 E. Washington St. and cost nearly $4 million.
“This highlights the commitment we’re making to the region,” said hotel owner Bret Wirta, CEO of Wirta Hospitality Worldwide. “We wanted to show Sequim what we could offer.”
The hotel’s front desk now faces “The Great Room” that was opened up by removing a wall and fireplace so guests can enjoy meals and relax.
“It creates more open space, and it’s brighter and more inviting,” said Namaste Stayton, vice president of hotel operations. “Guests spend more time down here too.”
The Great Room includes new seating and tables, computers, a 75-inch TV, a marketplace and two Costa Coffee machines available any time.
Breakfast is available from 6:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. weekdays and until 10 a.m. on weekends, with warm cookies made available every afternoon for guests starting about 4 p.m.
Staff also commissioned shots of Olympic Peninsula scenes by photographer John Gussman to be placed in the hotel, including a 180-degree wrap of the Olympic Mountains to go in its elevators.
The four conference rooms and “pre-function room” remains a rarity for Holiday Inn Expresses, staff said.
Guests can wait in the redesigned pre-function room and watch TV as they await their rooms to be readied.
The approximate 2,500-square-foot total for the conference rooms has new carpeting and can be partitioned off into four separate sections.
Spaces are used for a variety of activities with audio-visual equipment available, General Manager Shelby Schleve said. She added she likes seeing people enjoying the spaces so much.
Each room has had a makeover, too.
Gone are heavy draperies, and in their place, blackout screens that do work, Stayton said.
In the past, some guests have gone to great lengths to eliminate outside light, including one instance of someone stapling drapes together, she said.
“These are true room-darkening screens,” Stayton said of the upgrade.
For wayfinding, though, there are permanent nightlights in the restrooms.
Tile, carpet, beds, furniture, bathrooms and TVs (55 inches) are all new, too. All couches are pull-outs for added sleep space. They’ve also added wardrobe units and luggage benches to replace fold-out racks.
Beds all have solid bases to prevent lost items underneath, and there are now USB ports by them.
Stayton said the hotel has 17 different suite combinations, including double queen-sized beds or double king-size beds.
Eight suites have wet bars with sinks, and some have full refrigerators. Stayton said a range of people stay at the hotel for longer periods of time, such as Coast Guard families and construction crews.
In bathrooms, they’ve added new floors, defogging mirrors, quartz countertops and fixtures at the sink areas, and they’ve refinished tubs and added new surroundings to reduce maintenance on tile.
To reduce waste, the hotel has done away with small soap containers and added fixed bulk soaps to showers and sinks.
The hotel’s fitness center overlooking the pool also is new.
Stayton and Wirta handpicked new equipment, including a new cable machine, two treadmills with personal TVs, an elliptical, exercise bike and weights.
The pool was renovated in 2021, but this recent remodel has added new furniture to go with basketball hoops, pool toys and available life jackets.
The hotel’s rooftop garden and terrace remains one of two known in the franchise worldwide, Wirta said. It has all-new flowers and will have its roof professionally stained by the end of this month.
Stayton said two plantings of periwinkle will take about two years to fully grow but will remain green year-round.
It also remains a great place to watch Sequim’s Fourth of July fireworks and the Sequim Sunshine Festival’s Illuminated Drone Show, staff said.
The hotel has switched to using Bizy Boys for landscaping, and the crew planted many new plants, Stayton said.
Planning
Remodel plans date back to 2018, Stayton said. Work was supposed to begin in 2020, but the COVID-19 pandemic and inflation delayed plans.
Wirta said they rebid the project and decided to go forward this year.
Innspace, based in Montana, was chosen to lead the project and will return in the fall to complete some small details that won’t conflict with guest experiences, Stayton said. She said they prepared guests the last six months with updated social media posts on construction, and placement of false walls throughout the hotel to keep guests safe.
“Many guests have told us they’ve been to many Holiday Inn Expresses and ‘This is the best one I’ve been to,’” Schleve said.
“We take a lot of pride in our staff and the culture we have here.”
Wirta credits Stayton for keeping things smooth and steady for guests and staff during the remodel.
“She’s done an unbelievable job,” he said.
Stayton said she’s particularly proud of the hotel’s custom elements, including the fitness room and local photographs because “they’re things that make us stand out.”
“To watch this come to fruition has been such a dream,” she said.
Wirta, who has maintained businesses in Sequim for 20 years, also owns neighboring Black Bear Diner Sequim, and Quality Inn & Suites at Olympic National Park, that, along with the Holiday Inn Express, have won many franchise and industry awards.
A grand reopening and ribbon cutting with the Sequim-Dungeness Valley Chamber of Commerce is tentatively set for sometime in September.
For more information about Holiday Inn Express & Suites, visit IHG.com, call 360-681-8756, or visit facebook.com/HolidayInn ExpressAndSuitesSequim.
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Matthew Nash is a reporter with the Olympic Peninsula News Group, which is composed of Sound Publishing newspapers Peninsula Daily News, Sequim Gazette and Forks Forum. He can be reached by email at matthew.nash@sequimgazette.com.