If you plan to go to the Keene Pumpkin Fest next October, you might want to start now to find a room.
Got kids at Keene State?
Get your reservations in this summer for a stay in the city over Parents Weekend.
A local hotel, however, would be thrilled to see you if you just popped in, say…, this weekend?.
But the hotel scene in Keene is about to change if city planners give the go-ahead.
The Keene Sentinel's Donna Moxley reports.
Seasonal fluctuations have been a way of hotel life in Keene for years.
But those ups and downs haven't scared away at least four developers looking to build in town.
For example, The Monadnock Economic Development Corporation wants a spa/hotel to be part of a 3-building complex on city-owned railyard land downtown.
Developers are pitching the project as a "destination hotel" that would bring new visitors to the area.
It also would include an ice rink, retail space, and apartments.
A Hooksett developer is planning a Courtyard by Marriott and conference center on the opposite side of Main Street, now occupied by parking lots.
Nanak Hotel Group of Brattleboro wants city approval of its Hampton Hotel and Suites near the highways into town.
And there's also a plan to knock down the run-down Valley Green motel and replace it with a Town Place Suites hotel.
The total number of proposed hotel rooms?
350.
Even locals who think Keene needs more guest beds doubt all four developers will stick it out.
Jack Dugan heads the region's economic development corporation, which is planning the railroad square spa/hotel.
Dugan hotel 1: "It's unlikely that all those hotels are going to come to fruition in this community. Historically, even in other communities with this type of activity, anywhere from 30 to 50 percent of them drop out over a period of time."
The Nanak Group's Terry Lipman says her company's pretty well assured of its place in the pecking order: first.
They're the ones who want to build the Hampton Hotel out near the highways.
Lipman says the company plans to break ground on Key Road as soon as the ground thaws.
They already run two hotels in Brattleboro and another in Killington, Vermont.
Lipman market: "It is our backyard, we know the market in Keene, we know what the market is looking for, we feel there is demand for it."
During most of the year, local hotels serve more corporate clientele than casual visitors.
Corporate activity is picking up in the region - so demand is expected to grow.
And each proposal offers its charms.
For example, the proposed Marriott hotel downtown would replace parking lots with commercial space.
And it would provide Keene with its first conference center.
But not everyone is excited about all the activity.
Some current hotel owners worry about price wars during the off season.
Denise Meadows manages the E.F. Lane hotel downtown.
She complains that there are already too few visitors for too many beds at certain times of the year.
A large hotel, she points out, needs about 65 percent occupancy year-round to make it.
Meadows: "The reality is, January, February, March, if you're doing fifty percent, you're having a good month."
Meadows, who also is president of the Monadnock Travel Council, is advising existing hotels to get creative.
Meadows competition: "Everybody kinda has to look and see what's working, what's not working, what do we need to do to be competitive?."
Meanwhile, in the race to city approval, the Nanak Group's Key Road proposal is ahead.
The city could give the go-ahead as soon as tonight.
The complex on the city-owned railyard is likely next in line, having been in the works for years.
Later entries - the Marriott and conference center and the Town Place proposal - have been presented to the city but are still in the early planning stages.
For NHPR News, I'm Donna Moxley in Keene.
