New motel has a new wrinkle -- garages for guests
Robert Franklin
Star Tribune
Published Sep 19 2001
WINDOM, MINN. -- Greg and Elaine Bezdicek checked into
Windom's Guardian Inn motel, then pulled their red pickup
truck over to the private, single-car garage that came with
their room.
Right, garage.
"It's a nice concept," Elaine said. Especially, Greg said, "if
you're traveling through and got your car loaded with stuff
you'd rather not leave out for security."
At the Guardian Inn, 32 of the 39 rooms come with garages,
and the developer, Tom Serie of Luverne, Minn., said he thinks
the idea might become the stuff of franchises -- "security, and
then starting the car at 20 below."
Serie, whose F&L Management Development Inc., develops
patio homes for seniors around the state, said the idea came
from his own road experience, and it's one he hadn't heard
before.
"I woke up at 4:17 a.m. one Sunday morning and thought of the
idea, and I was smart enough to get out of bed and start writing
things down," he said.
"Nobody has addressed something that's important to me, and
that's security," Serie said.
In fact, guests don't even have to get out of the car before they
drive to their rooms. The motel, which opened on a limited
basis in January, has drive-through registration where a guest
gets a garage-door opener as well as a room key.
Each room comes with a door that opens directly to the garage
-- and opening it triggers an automatic security light -- as well
as a door to the outside. Each garage also has a carbon
monoxide detector.
Cold-weather electrical plug-ins for cars are common at
Minnesota motels. But both the Minnesota Association of
Innkeepers, which publishes a directory of 625 motels, and the
American Hotel and Motel Association, representing most of
the nation's 3 million guest rooms, said they hadn't heard of
another garage arrangement like that at Guardian Inn.
"Conceptually, in this cold weather ... there's a lot of logic to
that concept," said Kirby Payne, vice chairman of the national
group and president of American Hospitality Management Co.
in Golden Valley.
Payne said he has seen, especially years ago, motels with
screened carports, many of them oriented to give guests privacy
as well as some security. He added most hotel industry
innovations -- from Hilton to Holiday Inns -- have come
from non-hotel people.
At the Guardian Inn on Hwy. 60 in Windom, "we assumed
people will drive a few extra miles so they can put their car in a
garage," manager Jean Fast said. "Vehicles are getting so
expensive. It's not uncommon for a person to have a $30,000 to
$40,000 car."
Fast assumes many people will be happy to spend an extra $6.50
per room, or $56 total, to keep their cars indoors.
So far, she has been right. Serie said occupancy figures are good,
and the motel turned a profit in July and August.
Elaine Bezdicek said that "we wish there were more" such
motels for a planned cross-country move. Greg Bezdicek, a
recently retired Minnesota Zoo employee, and Elaine, a former
bookkeeper, were about to move from Lakeville to Sequim,
Wash.
Serie, a former physical education and math teacher in St.
Louis Park, north Minneapolis and Luverne, said he is exploring
the idea of franchises in suburban Minneapolis; Fargo, N.D.;
Omaha, Neb., and Rapid City, S.D.
The garages cost about $3,500 apiece at the $1.8 million
Windom project, he said. "I look at it this way: We don't have a
swimming pool in Windom. The lack of swimming pool built all
our garages."
When a second motel is built, "our next challenge is going to be
hallways connected to the main office building," he added.
Fast said the Guardian Inn profits are to be shared with
employees, and she will put hers toward buying stock in the
motel.
The motel's name came from Serie's wife, Bobbi. "It portrays
safety, security," he said. And the lobby includes a couple of
angel decorations -- guardian angels, of course.
-- Robert Franklin is at rfranklin@startribune.com .
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