Kell Sloan, general manager of Sun City Hotel Ltd., poses for a photo in front of the Best Western Premier and Executive Residency located in Southlands. Owners have announced the development of a new hotel aimed to attract long-stay visitors on a plot of land directly west of the Best Western. Construction for the 100-unit hotel is expected to begin next August and wrap up late 2028 or early 2029.--NEWS PHOTO BRENDAN MILLER
bmiller@medicinehatnews.com
Construction on a new 100-unit long-stay hotel on the city’s south side is slated to begin next August and will include a waterslide and pool, wellness amenities, large meeting spaces for conventions and will be designed with the environment in mind.
Sun City Hotels Ltd., the company which developed the Best Western Premier and Executive Residency that opened in 2020 in Southlands, plans to expand service with an extended-stay style hotel constructed in a plot adjacent to the Best Western on the west side near the Towneplace Suites by Marriott.
The new all-suite hotel is being built to meet a growing market demand of business and extended stay travellers, the company says, and each unit will be built for longer stays with fully equipped kitchen and amenities designed to make a visitor’s stay feel “more like home.”
Kell Sloan, general manager, Sun City Hotels Ltd. says Medicine Hat receives a lot of business travellers from larger centres like Calgary, Edmonton and Regina, as well as families travelling for sports tournaments and recreational events.
“When you look at what we have in terms of hotels, the events that are going on, the corporate business, all the development in the area, there is a crying need for additional hotel,” says Sloan.
Hotels in Medicine Hat also welcome a large number of travelling members of the Canadian Armed Forces and other service members serving with NATO allies visiting CFB Suffield.
“What we do see a real need for is extended stay rooms,” explains Sloan. “There’s a lot of development in town with the investment that’s going right into the base, the renewable energies that are coming through and the industries that are starting to open up in Medicine Hat.”
Notably the demand for rooms in Medicine Hat is also causing an influx of spaces rented through AirBnb.
Sloan says data collected by the Alberta Hotel Lodging Association shows approximately 2,000 room nights rented each month.
The new hotel will be roughly 3,000 square feet and include anywhere between 100 and 120 long-stay rooms, as well as a new waterslide, pool and hot tub, wellness facilities and an exercise room.
“(It’s) an expanded water park,” says Sloan. “Because we know the water parks are really a huge attraction.”
The hotel will also include large conference areas designed to host business and corporate meetings, presentations and events.
“Something that we could host significant regional conferences in which would also benefit everybody in the neighbourhood,” says Sloan.
Hotel owners will also be constructing the new hotel with sustainability in mind and are aiming to achieve a Green Key Eco-Rating of four or five by working with local students at Medicine Hat College.
The Green Key Eco-Rating program is a third-party certification program designed to encourage and recognize sustainability efforts made by hotels and lodging facilities.
Sloan says hotel owners are speaking to MHC instructors seeking ways to incorporate student ideas into the construction of the hotel.
“We’d love to see students in the design program get involved in helping us design some of the elements and looking at those renewable aspects and the green aspects of that.”
To achieve a Green Key certification of four or five the hotel must be designed to exceed the high-efficiency energy sustainability standards of the previous tier.
Shovels for the new hotel are expected to break ground in August 2026. Owners expect the construction will create 200 construction jobs and once complete in late 2028 or early 2029, 45-50 permanent jobs.
“We are looking to bring as many local trades people as possible,” adds Sloan.
Hotel owners are also hoping to pay homage to Medicine Hat with the aesthetics as they plan to decorate with several works of local art and photographs of the region.
“Really individualize the hotel to focus on the great features that we have here in the Medicine Hat area, whether it’s bringing in photographs of the Saamis (Tepee) or Red Rock Coulee or Elkwater, things like that, bringing a little bit more cultural aspect to it.”
The hotel’s location is also positioned along major transportation routes located on the city’s south end.
Sloan says designs are roughly 75 per cent complete, however Sun City Hotel Ltd,. still needed to determine which brand “flag” the hotel will operate under.
At this moment it is undermined if the new hotel will be under the Best Western, Marriott, IHG Hotels & Reports or Hyatt branding.
Sloan expects owners will make a decision within six weeks and more details will be announced when they become available.
