Hospitality Net

Columbia, South Carolina | Grand Opening festivities were celebrated this week for the Candlewood Suites Hotel Columbia, South Carolina, in true Southern style according to Clyde Harris, President of Harris Hotel Group and American Hotel Development Partners. The event featured local dignitaries and a ribbon-cutting by country music star Charlie Daniels.

The brand new all-suite extended stay hotel is a joint venture between American Hotel Development Partners and Glenmont Capital Management, LLC, and is the first Candlewood Suites property to enter the Columbia/Fort Jackson, South Carolina, market. The hotel’s operations, sales and marketing are professionally managed by Harris Hotel Group.

“We are pleased to have Mr. Daniels, an American icon, patriot and true Southern gentleman, here to cut the ribbon for this property,” remarked Mr. Harris at the ceremony. “Our primary goal in opening this Candlewood Suites property is to serve those who honor our country through their service in our military as well as their families, and we dedicate this hotel today in the hope that it will provide warmth, shelter and a hospitable environment to everyone who stays with us in Columbia/Fort Jackson.”

Prior to playing a show for the military based at Fort Jackson as part of his current tour, Charlie Daniels and his band stayed at the Columbia Candlewood Suites. During the ribbon-cutting ceremony Mr. Daniels said that he travels more than 100 days each year and thought the Candlewood concept was “extremely comfortable and a great product,” and that the staff and facilities at the Columbia Candlewood were “fantastic.”

The Grand Opening ceremony also included the commemoration of the first White Oak tree to be planted by InterContinental Hotels Group in honor of Mr. Harris’ son, Clyde J. Harris, IV, a young hotelier who passed away in 2006 after a three year battle with tongue and neck cancer. IHG has committed to donate and plant a White Oak at every IHG hotel its franchise partner, AHDP, develops. A plaque with the history of Clyde's brave fight is being installed in each hotel lobby.

Jimmy Taylor, Corporate Director of Sales for IHG’s Candlewood Suites Brand, was on hand to dedicate the tree in honor of Young Clyde.

“Many of us at IHG have known the Harris family for many years and we are honored to help their family in preserving Clyde's memory,” he said. “The Harris family is part of the IHG family.”

Following the ceremonies, Harris Hotel Group conducted property tours to showcase the three suite types at the property and show off the array of Candlewood amenities. A Fall Harvest theme cocktail party warmed guests and wrapped up the event.

The property tours showcased that guests at the Candlewood Suites, Columbia/Ft. Jackson, South Carolina, can cook meals in their fully equipped kitchen, relax in the overstuffed recliner while watching movies from the hotel’s free movie library. Business travelers work more efficiently utilizing the executive desk with two separate phone lines and free high speed internet. The Candlewood Suites Columbia/Ft. Jackson, South Carolina, also provides guests with a Fitness Center and free Guest Laundry. The fully stocked Candlewood Cupboard provides breakfast, lunch, and dinner options, as well as sodas, snacks, and ice cream.

For more information on the Candlewood Suites Hotel Columbia/Fort Jackson, American Hotel Development Partners or Harris Hotel Group, please contact Lisa Woodman at 941.918.4000 or lwoodman@gdgfl.com.

The Candlewood Suites, Columbia/Ft. Jackson, South Carolina, is conveniently located near the intersection of I-77 and Garners Ferry Road exit 9. The beautiful property is situated in the heart of the Columbia Metropolitan area and is within minutes of the Columbia Metropolitan Airport, Ft. Jackson, the Carolina Center/Columbia Convention Center, State Farmers Market, Providence Hospital, Downtown/USC Campus and local area business parks.

Sarasota-based American Hotel Development Partners and affiliates of New York-based real estate investment firm Glenmont Capital Management, LLC have formed a joint venture to pursue the development of extended stay hotels in select markets throughout the United States. The Columbia/Fort Jackson Candlewood Suites is the first hotel to open as a result of their partnership. The principals of American Hotel Development Partners and Glenmont Capital Management, LLC chose the Candlewood Suites brand for its high consumer acceptance and fit for their targeted markets. The brand prides itself on putting guest amenities where they really count – in your room. ABOUT CHARLIE DANIELS

Charlie Daniels is an American icon. A singer, guitarist, and fiddler, who began writing and performing in the 1950s Daniels’ most famous song is “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” which reached #3 on the charts and won the Grammy Award for Best Country Vocal Performance in 1979. The song is by far Daniels' greatest success, still receiving regular airplay on U.S. classic rock and country stations, and is well-known even among audiences who don’t favor country music.

Early in his career Daniels co-wrote “It Hurts Me,” a song which Elvis Presley recorded. He worked as a Nashville session musician, often for producer Bob Johnston, including playing on three Bob Dylan albums during 1969 and 1970, and recordings by Johnny Cash and Leonard Cohen. In 1975, he had a top 30 hit as leader of the Charlie Daniels Band with the Southern rock self-identification anthem “The South's Gonna Do It Again.” Subsequent Daniels pop hits included “In America” (#11 in 1980), “The Legend of Wooley Swamp” (#31 in 1980), and “Still in Saigon” (#22 in 1982). In 2005, he made a cameo appearance along with Larry the Cable Guy, Kid Rock, and Hank Williams, Jr. in Gretchen Wilson's music video for the song “All Jacked Up.” In 2006, he appeared with Little Richard, Bootsy Collins, and other musicians as the backup band for Williams' opening sequence to Monday Night Football.

In November 2007, Daniels was invited by Martina McBride to become a member of the Grand Ole Opry. He was inducted by Marty Stuart and Connie Smith during the January 19, 2008 edition of the Opry at the Ryman Auditorium. Daniels now resides in Mount Juliet, TN, where the city has named a park after him. He continues to tour regularly and recently appeared in commercials for UPS in 2001 with other celebrities convincing NASCAR driver Dale Jarrett to race the UPS Truck.

ABOUT HARRIS HOTEL GROUP | Harris Hotel Group is a wholly-owned subsidiary of American Hotel Development Partners. Clyde Harris, President of Harris Hotel Group, has an extensive hospitality background which includes serving as Director of Development for all Intercontinental Hotel Group (IHG) company-owned and managed hotels, responsible for overseeing the corporate-managed hotel portfolio and administering current and future management contracts. Mr. Harris also currently serves as the President and COO of American Hotel Development Partners. He has overseen the industry’s third largest managed portfolio, consisting of more than 300 hotels. Mr. Harris helped IHG launch the Crowne Plaza brand in 1994 and the Staybridge Suites brand in 1998, and he worked on the acquisition of the Candlewood brand in 2004. While managing the Staybridge brand, Mr. Harris achieved an 8% RevPAR premium from company managed hotels vs. franchised hotels in 2005. The Harris Hotel Group management team has overseen the management of more than 120 IHG extended-stay hotels. This experience includes managing through several industry cycles and has led to strong relationships with hotel franchise sales representatives, hotel management personnel and key corporate and military clients.

AMERICAN HOTEL DEVELOPMENT PARTNERS, LLC | American Hotel Development Partners, LLC is an integrated hotel development company which has significant hotel expertise and deep industry relationships by virtue of its principals’ 75 collective years of experience in building, managing and operating hotels. Among the company’s principals is Clyde Harris, a former executive of Intercontinental Hotels Group, who was responsible for the Candlewood Suites brand and other significant operational and brand initiatives.

American Hotel Development Partners is focused on the extended-stay hotel sector because of its ability to leverage the expertise of its principals, develop in several of the many existing underserved markets, invest a relatively modest amount of capital, and achieve high cash flow margins. To date, American Hotel Development Partners is actively developing highly attractive, well-located extended-stay hotel assets in South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania and Florida.

ABOUT GLENMONT CAPITAL MANAGEMENT, LLC | Glenmont Capital Management, LLC is a privately held real estate investment management firm headquartered in New York. It deploys equity capital from its existing investment funds composed of institutional investors and is focused on high-yielding, midsize investment opportunities across the country, that typically require $5 million to $15 million of equity capital. The funds target joint venture equity investments in all real estate asset classes where Glenmont can leverage the expertise of its experienced and proven sponsor partners who operate the properties on a day-to-day basis. Glenmont’s existing portfolio consists of several million square feet of various hotel, retail, industrial, office, multifamily, land and other properties around the United States and in Europe.