Study shows Fairfield needs more hotel rooms

FAIRFIELD — Visit Fairfield Iowa and the City of Fairfield hired a company to study the town’s hotel needs, gathering data that both groups hope will lure another hotel into opening up shop in Fairfield.

In 2022, Hospitality Marketers International was hired to evaluate the hotel offerings in Fairfield and the surrounding area, and get a sense for the demand for lodging. Visit Fairfield’s Director Terry Baker said this study showed there is a need for a steady lodging business that can accommodate both business and leisure travelers.

Baker said Fairfield has two hotels that serve the community well, but the study showed there is room for growth in this industry.

“Fairfield is lacking an upper mid-level hotel,” she said. “We have more than just a need for rooms. We have a need for a particular kind of experience. We’re looking to see if an additional hotel would support the needs of these additional travelers we’re hoping to attract.”

Baker said that she’s learned from talking to some of the city’s largest businesses that they often bring consultants to town, people who are accustomed to staying in bigger cities. However, because of Fairfield’s lack of hotel rooms, these guests will either stay in a neighboring town like Ottumwa, or travel back to Des Moines where their flight was.

Baker also talked about a problem that towns Fairfield’s size suffer from called “visitor leakage,” where people who would otherwise want to visit Fairfield decide not to come here because of a lack of hotel options. This means that the town’s shops and restaurants are missing out on those dollars the visitors would have spent here.

The idea to commission a study of the area’s hotel offerings was prompted in part by the closure of Boarders Inn & Suites, formerly Fairfield Best Western, on the west side of town in December 2020. A fire in the building’s restaurant forced both the restaurant and hotel to shut down. Though the restaurant, Mike and Nikki’s, reopened elsewhere, the hotel has remained close for the last two years.

Not only was Fairfield down a hotel, but Baker said it became clear that the town lacked lodging for the large events that draw scores of visitors, such as the Vintage Power Wagon Rally and the Greater Jefferson County Fair.

“We realized we were losing out on our ability to house people attending these events,” Baker said. “We wanted to look at the possibility of bringing a new property to town so we could accommodate those visitors.”

Baker said her office, as well as Grow Fairfield Economic Development and the Fairfield Arts & Convention Center, are approached by people wanting to host conferences in Fairfield. But time and again, the organizers had to turn Fairfield down because of its lack of hotel rooms.

The study produced by Hospitality Marketers International identified a number of potential hotels that might be a good fit for Fairfield. Baker said she’s been in touch with those, and can report that some of them are interested in the idea.

“This study is a tool that we can provide to those developers, so they can determine if building a hotel here makes good business sense for them,” Baker said.

Call Andy Hallman at 641-575-0135 or email him at andy.hallman@southeastiowaunion.com