Fairfield hotel opens in Brevard

Another hotel has entered the competition in Brevard County for the traveler's dollar. The first Fairfield Inn & Suites on State Road 192 in West Melbourne will cater to the business traveler and leisure visitors driving down I-95. The Fairfield's 83 rooms join about 12,000 hotel rooms across the Space Coast. "It's not an easy market," said Clancy Cipkala, general manager of the Fairfield Inn & Suites. "Anyone can go down in rates, but the key thing in this economy is to take extra care of the customer." While the northern part of Brevard County finds its strength in leisure tourism, hotels in the south part of the county tend to cater to the business traveler. Many hotels, like the Crowne Plaza Oceanfront, the Hilton Oceanfront and the Radisson on the beach north of Indialantic, use business travelers as a base for their sales. On the mainland, hotels like the Hilton Rialto, Residence Inn by Marriott and Courtyard by Marriott go head-to-head with Fairfield Inn & Suites for the corporate business, such as the employees of one of many defense companies in Brevard County. Cipkala said the four-floor hotel cost about $7 million to build and targets the mid-priced business traveler. Each of the rooms have a wireless Internet connection, a 32-inch flat panel TV and other amenities. "You have to have the latest technology," Cipkala said. "That's what the customers ask for." The hotel, with rooms featuring a retro look, is owned by West Melbourne Hotel Associates LLC. Contact Balancia at 242-3647 or HYPERLINK "mailto:dbalancia@floridatoday.com"dbalancia@floridatoday.com.

BY DONNA BALANCIA

FLORIDA TODAY