Leisure Hotels to manage Weldon Springs, Missouri, Wingate Inn® Hotel

Ground-breaks on African American-owned property 

December 13, 2004 (LEAWOOD, KS) --  Leisure Group of Companies President and CEO, Steve Olson, joined other VIPs in donning hard hats and digging with shovels to break ground November 9, 2004, for the new Wingate Inn® hotel in Weldon Springs, Missouri, a property to be managed by Leisure Hotels & Resorts.   

Located at 18 Research Park Circle on the University of Missouri’s Missouri Research Park campus, the 100-room property is scheduled to open by the second quarter of 2005.  Owned by the members of the Fifth Episcopal District of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, through Inn at Missouri Bluffs, LLP, it is the first Wingate Inn® hotel to be owned exclusively by African American members of a single church. 

Leisure President/CEO, Steve Olson, is very proud to be a part of this exciting endeavor.  “Not only are we especially pleased to add this new property to our management portfolio, but we are thrilled to be a significant part of the successful the economic development efforts at the University of Missouri’s Missouri Research Park.  I applaud the efforts of the University of Missouri Office of Economic Development and Research Parks and believe in these kinds of efforts to develop and sustain research and technological advances.  We’re very proud to be involved with this kind of focused and sophisticated economic development effort especially given its breakthrough minority ownership.”

The hotel will feature a 24-hour business center, fitness facilities, indoor pool, whirlpool, conference room to seat up to 200 people, and a 100% satisfaction guarantee.  Every room will be equipped with consumer-friendly amenities including two-line speakerphone, large desk, coffee maker, hair drying, iron and ironing board, in-room safe, pay-per-view movies, and free wired and wireless high-speed Internet access. The Wingate Inn chain has been ranked first in the mid-scale, limited-service segment and third among all brands in North America by JD Power and Associates in 2004; Wingate Inns International is franchised by Cendant Hotel Group.

Leisure Hotels & Resorts is a third-party management group that operates as a division of Kansas-based Leisure Group of Companies, which specializes in hotel and convention center development, construction management, brokerage services and hotel management in the resort, extended stay and full service markets.  Employing more than 800 people, Leisure is one of the industry’s fastest growing multi-faceted full service hotel companies in the United States with corporate offices in the Kansas City Metro area and in Hutchinson, Kansas. Using the latest in technological developments, Leisure Hotels & Resorts provides hotels with complete operational and financial services, as well as extensive human resource training and development. Leisure is consistently recognized among the top owners/developers and management companies in the nation by leading industry publications.

Photo Listing

Left to Right:  Gus Cervetto of CB&E Construction Group, Chester Thompson Jr, Rev. Dr. Cecelia Bryant, Bishop John R. Bryant, Harold Whitfield, Loretta Moore, Rev. Edgar Boyd and Chris Kerckhoff of CB&E Construction Group.   All persons listed here not designating an affiliation are members of the Fifth Episcopal District of the African Methodist Episcopal Church

For More Information Contact:

Katie Olson

Leisure Group of Companies

(913) 905-1460

4501 College Blvd Suite 275

Leawood, Kansas 6621

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