The Travelodge Hotel at the Spokane Convention Center downtown plans to change its affiliation and to begin operating as Downtown City Center Best Western Hotel, a Best Western Plus hotel, within the next 30 days, says Meredith Rainville, general manager.

Rainville says he believes the shift will help the 35,000-square-foot, 81-guest room hotel at 33 W. Spokane Falls Blvd. attract additional corporate business and enable it to better compete with other hotels in the downtown market.

“Converting to Best Western from Travelodge will enable the property to be upgraded from an economy brand hotel to an upper mid-scale brand,” she says.

The hotel is located at the southeast corner of Spokane Falls Boulevard and Browne Street, just south across the boulevard from the convention center’s 100,000-square-foot, elliptically-shaped exhibit hall.

Rainville, the daughter of owners Wayne and Mary Paupst, who built the hotel in 1996, says her parents have made more than $250,000 in renovations to upgrade the hotel to Best Western standards during the past year.

That work has included renovating all guest rooms, including adding small refrigerators in each room, plus Keurig coffee makers and upgraded linens. It also has included renovating the hotel’s breakfast bar and adding additional hot breakfast items, as well as expanding its fitness room to include four cardio machines and a weight-stack machine. 

The hotel’s guest rooms include six, two-room executive suites, some of which have two full bathrooms. Guest rooms typically range in price from about $90 to $210 per night. 

The hotel also has a business center that includes two computer workstations, a printer and a fax machine, Rainville says.  

The conversion will allow the hotel to take advantage of Best Western’s reservation system on its website.

“Best Western has an effective reservations system,” Rainville says. “They have a pretty strong following and an impressive guest rewards program where guests can get points for each stay.”

Headquartered in Phoenix, Best Western International chain includes more than 4,000 hotel properties, in 100 countries and territories, representing more than 400,000 guest rooms, located in 100 countries and territories worldwide .

Best Western Hotels currently includes three types of hotels, Best Western, Best Western Plus and Best Western Premier. 

There are currently two other Best Western hotels in Spokane: the Best Western Plus Peppertree Airport Inn, at 3711 S. Geiger Blvd., and the Best Western Plus Peppertree Liberty Lake, at 1816 N. Pepper Lane.