Tru By Hilton Amarillo

It is the first property of a three-hotel, 300-room "hotel campus" located on a five-acre site at the intersection of I-40 frontage Road and South Soucy Road -- an intersection that is among the city's busiest, according to the Texas Department of Transportation.

"Our appeal is to travelers with a millennial mindset - tech-savvy, design-conscious, contemporary in spirit, and on a budget," explains Mehul Patel, Chairman and CEO of NewcrestImage. "It's a hotel that is a game-changer for the area's mid-scale category."

For example, the hotel's large central lobby features four different areas -

• for play, with a billiards table, large screen TV, and tiered stadium-style seating
• for lounging, with bar tables and mini-hammocks
• for working or relaxing, with noise-cancelling seating set into the walls, and
• for eating, with stations where guests can fix hot or cold breakfast; make a Greek yogurt parfait topped with one of 35 different offerings; or purchase snacks, meals, and beverages.

Guest rooms convey a sense of openness, with features such as an 8-foot window; a platform bed with space underneath for storing luggage; and a suspended bar instead of a closet for hanging clothes.

High-tech features include checking in remotely and getting a room key through smartphone app; a social media wall in the registration area to engage guests; 55-inch televisions in guest rooms with more than 100 channels; free high-speed broadband Wi-Fi throughout; and abundant electrical outlets.

"This hotel, like all our properties, has been carefully created and furnished to be a comfortable place of community - for the community," adds Patel.

The two other hotels in the complex are under construction - a 90-room Hyatt Place and a 90-room Aloft, which is a Marriott International brand. They are expected to open in 2019.

NewcrestImage owns and operates two other properties in downtown Amarillo: a 107-room, 10-floor Courtyard by Marriott that opened in 2011 in the city's historic Fisk Building, and a 226-room, 6-floor Embassy Suites that opened in December of last year and includes 18,000 square feet of flexible meeting space.