Local hotel concerns move to front burner | News, Sports, Jobs – minotdailynews.com
Jill Schramm/MDN
The Super 8 on Minotâs North Hill is one of many lodging facilities in the city. A proposal to locally license lodging facilities could be coming before the Minot City Council.
The City of Minot needs to begin licensing the community’s hotels to enforce a higher quality of service, according to Mayor Tom Ross.
Ross said he plans to place the matter of hotel licensing on the Minot City Council agenda for discussion, possibly at the March 18 meeting, and has asked city staff to begin drafting a licensing ordinance.
He said issues ranging from dirty rooms to rude staff recently came to his attention in an extended conversation with an upset Canadian visitor who shared a bad experience with bed bugs and commented on the frequent poor reviews that Minot hotels receive online. Additionally, Ross said, he has heard concerns from other Canadian guests and has been aware that certain hotels have been problematic.
It is time to move the issue to the front burner, he said.
“It’s something that needs to be addressed,” he said. “With all the hotels we have in town, and with all the events we have in town, there are a small percentage of hotels that are meeting or exceeding customer expectations. The others – they’re not even coming close.
“We’ve a lot to offer in Minot. The month of March is going to be incredibly busy with people coming to Minot,” he added. “If all these people have a bad experience, they might not want to come back to Minot.”
Ross said the city possibly could team up with First District Health Unit, which already inspects lodging facilities. First District inspects annually and in response to complaints. Inspections of hotel food services and pools are separate.
According to First District, inspections look for health-related concerns, including cleanliness. Staff follow up and work with hotel management to address any noncompliance issues.
Visit Minot Executive Director Stephanie Schoenrock said the rarity of local hotel ownership, turnover of ownership in the industry and workforce shortages are primary factors behind issues being seen in the hospitality industry. In the past five months, five hotels have changed ownership in Minot, she said.
“It’s been a conversation for a while, and it continues to be something we explore because our goal, of course, is to bring people in from outside of Ward County and that means providing the best experience we can,” she said. “Aside from bringing people in from outside of Ward County, we market for leisure travel, for conferences, for meetings, for sports tourism, and in each of those segments, we have heard concerns from our clients or customers.”
Concerns from entities interested in bringing events to Minot are raised infrequently, though, she said. Minot is not alone in North Dakota, or even beyond, with challenges around hotel quality, she explained.
Hotel stays aren’t the experiences that bring people to Minot, either, she said.
“But during that stay, if they have a negative or unpleasant experience at a hotel, that absolutely impacts the outcome of their vacation or getaway. And so, it is a concern for us and something that we’re working hard to remedy,” Schoenrock said.
She added it is important to keep in mind that hotels can vary significantly in their amenities, rates and quality. Cheaper hotels aren’t going to offer the experience that a more expensive hotel might, and during high occupancy times, visitors might end up in hotels that would not be their preference, she said.
She also noted some hotels have been found to be misrepresented online, which is outside the control of Visit Minot but contributes to bad experiences for consumers.
Would city licensing help?
“Hopefully. Possibly,” Schoenrock said. “I think it depends on what that licensing looks like. I think that’s a step in the right direction. But it depends on what’s required in order to be licensed and how is that truly controlled and monitored.”
Licensing could give the city an enforcement tool in collecting delinquent lodging taxes, which is another problem with some hotels, Ross said. Ross explained unpaid taxes typically happen when a hotel changes hands. If the seller doesn’t pay the tax before the sale, it becomes difficult to collect after the sale.
The amount of lodging tax being lost is unknown, but lodging taxes are an important source of income for Visit Minot, Schoenrock said. She added the theft of lodging tax money affects communities everywhere hotels are sold.
