He said that the rebuild of the Hocking Hills State Park lodge is part of a wider effort to put more funding into the state park system — noting that plans are in the works to upgrade the other nine park lodges across Ohio – and that it will help support the region’s already booming tourist trade.

“I think it is something that we really do need,” DeWine said. “If you look at the Hocking Hills, the Hocking Hills are red hot. We have people come not just from Ohio, but from all over the country to the Hocking Hills. And I think this lodge is going to give them another destination place. This will become — and already is, really — a place of destination.”

Following the remarks and a ribbon-cutting, the governor and First Lady Fran DeWine were given a guided tour of the facility, while the hundreds of visitors explored the new lodge on their own.

Many seemed very impressed.

“This place is amazing,” said Lancaster resident Ceran Swackhamer. “I mean, the other lodge was beautiful, but this is phenomenal… I remember the old lodge well. We used to make day trips down here and go swimming and hiking. It’s just amazing that now they have a place where you can actually stay, with very nice rooms. It’s beautiful, absolutely beautiful… They did a great job on this.”

https://www.athensnews.com/news/hundreds-flock-to-grand-o... [/QUOTE]https://www.hockinghillsparklodge.com /

Recently opened another full service hotel for SEO. But like Burr Oak isn't too close to Athens which according to this article will be having a renovation soon for itself. It would be nice if the lodges were within 15-20 minutes instead of 35-40 minute drive. Its not as big of a problem if one is traveling from points north but its out of your way if traveling in from the east. Its possible this lodge has been a factor of why OU didn't decide to expand the Inn up on The Ridges as it was considering in the master plan of 2016, always worried about profitability and market share.

This was an article back in 2000 on a mixed use retail/housing project with a hotel that was never built with quotes from OU skeptical about the feasibility. In the following 15 years or so Athens did see 5 new hotels (Central, Holiday, Fairfield, Hampton and Super 8) arrive in town plus expansion of the Knight's Inn. If another hotel were to arrive it would probably make sense for extended stay units and as a part of a development on the W. Union street with HCOM right around the corner and as part of a larger mixed use development.

[QUOTE]IF THE MARKET IS INDEED not growing, the OU Inn's future prospects could be heavily impacted by plans of a Beachwood firm, the Coral Co., to develop a retail/housing complex on a site very near the Inn -- a complex that, if completed as envisioned, will include a hotel/conference center that would probably compete with the OU Inn directly.

Siemer expressed some skepticism about the Coral Co.'s ability to find financing for the project and make it work (though his comments should perhaps be taken with a grain of salt, given that he was talking about a potential competitor for the Inn.)

"I don't know how they're going to take a pro forma (business plan) to a bank that shows you're going to get more business," Siemer said. "I just don't see that (project) happening. There's just not that much business."

Alexis V. Wiegand, a development associate at the Coral Co., said this week that the company doesn't wish to comment on Siemer's remarks. Wiegand reported that Coral is currently "researching different sources of funding" for the project, and may have an announcement of some sort within the next 30 days.

Local hotel operator Jack Bortle, who has facilities across Ohio including the Amerihost in Athens, said he agrees to some extent with Siemer's assessment of the regional room market.

"There are certain weekends when we could take a dozen new motels (in Athens)," Bortle said. "(But) it would be difficult to support another hotel in my view." He said the regional market is "not growing by leaps and bounds," and questioned, "what new demand generators have been created in Athens?... If there were room for another hotel, believe me, I'd build 25 of them."

https://www.athensnews.com/news/local/will-ou-inn-pay-off...

Always thought the Ridges. would make a great hotel with several dining options (truly fine to pub/clubhouse food) with an 18 hole championship golf course. There is a large perfectly flat spot up there where you and look in four different directions and see a par three, two par fours, and a par five right before your eyes not to mention views that stretch miles into the distance.

What are your thoughts then toward the growth of popularity of AirBnB? From my experience a lot of it is driven by people who are traveling with dogs and desire yard space for them. That is another counter trend to brining another hotel down to Athens. Though from what I understand its not legal to have an AirBnB business in the Athens City limits.

yeah, because crime and disturbances never happen at a hotel.

Airbnb's are legal in Athens. City Council passed that legislation earlier this year. Council also passed an additional ordinance earlier this month which tightens up the permitting process.

Almost $500 a month I guess is relatively restrictive. One thing about your post that struck me is a group traveling to a variety of courses within an hour. If this is the case won't they continue to do so even with a public 18 in town once the become bored of it? Play it once a month and the other nights of the month go somewhere else?

Especially at the lower price points of $50 dollar a night that he views as appropriate to see in Athens. There is a reason why people pay up to stay at a nicer hotel, particularly traveling with a family.

I'm with Alan on this one...Athens can support an 18 hole golf course if it's done right. I was part of the group of people who regularly drove 60-90 minutes out of town when I was a student to play 18 hole golf courses. If the course is a real layout (at least 4 sets of tees and at least Par 70) that is well kept people will drive in from all over to play it. A strong local base of players would be ideal but good golf courses draw from a much larger area than I think many expect (not uncommon for me to drive 2+ hours to play with my friends when I have the time). Not to mention our golf teams could actually practice on a real golf course! Eagle Sticks in Zanesville is a good example of a quality course that isn't exactly that close to a large population center that does well and draws from a wide area (including Athens).

There have been many courses that have closed in Ohio in the last 10 years and almost none that were built recently so the supply and demand issue has balanced out. As property prices skyrocketed and the golf crowd waned it made sense in a lot of cases to develop the land the courses were on for housing. Now we expect housing prices to drop in the short term and golf popularity has ticked back up considerably in the last 3 years. Try getting a tee time at a nice course a couple days away from a Summer weekend. It's become nearly impossible on many public tracks.

Westchester in Canal Winchester in the late 90's is the last mid-high end course I can think of being built SE of Columbus. It's barely survived but in the immediate vicinity Cooks Creek Closed (I think it's done at least), the Phoenix closed, Upper Lansdowne closed, Foxfire killed off the original 18 (let's not forget the Elm, R.I.P.). Those are all South and Southeast of Columbus that used to draw the diehards out of SE Ohio. Of that group Cooks was built basically in a river that flooded all the time and the layout required huge maintenance costs, The Phoenix was literally built on a dump that caused lots of problems, Lansdowne was redeveloped for housing after years of neglect, and Foxfire's original 18 was also redeveloped for housing. Ohio probably had too many golf courses given the climate but I think now the tables have turned where a new course could thrive if done right.

Getting it right isn't easy and the piece of property plays a huge part in it. The other major factors are making the layout fun for all players, designing it so maintenance costs aren't crazy (e.g. can't have 100 bunkers) and avoiding a design that causes pace of play issues. Of course having competent people in charge is just as important. It can be done but I admit it's not easy to thread this needle. Having zero competition within 30 minutes in your weight class sure would be a nice leg up though.

I'm not going to hold my breath but man it would be cool to see it happen in Athens and give me another reason to drive back more often.

Good analysis. But let’s be fair the original 18 at Foxfire can’t keep up with the newer 18 which is a treat to play.