Managing principal, A-1 Hospitality GroupNumber of employees you oversee: We have over 300 employees across our portfolio of nine hotels.Taran PatelBrief background of your business: A-1 Hospitality is a hotel development and management company headquartered in Kennewick. The company was founded my parents Vijay and Mita Patel in 1997, three...
Interestingly, while restaurants and airlines continue to be clobbered by coronavirus-related lockdowns, recreational vehicle sales and rentals took off. People have switched their travel preferences to minimize their Covid-19 exposure.Travel trailers and motorhomes are iconic symbols of campgrounds in our “Great Outdoors.” Meanwhile, outdoor recreation increased once the initial lockdowns...
As we enter the second year of the Covid-19 pandemic, we have an opportunity to look back at what the last year has meant for the hospitality industry — and look ahead at how we can recover.The hospitality industry has been hit the hardest of any industry in the state, by...
Washington wine has experienced unprecedented growth over the past 20 years, adding an average of one new winery every week, doubling the vineyard acreage, and steadily turning into an $8.4 billion industry.And then 2020 happened – a year of turmoil, change at every turn, new restrictions and much uncertainty.It forced...
Terence L. ThornhillWith nearly 27 years designing homes and other buildings in the Tri-Cities under his belt, Pasco architect Terence “Tere” Thornhill is too diplomatic to call out a favorite.They’re all his babies, said Thornhill, who believes buildings should tell the story of what is happening inside.“I’m a believer in...
A Richland winery has opened a tasting room downriver from the Tri-Cities in hopes of expanding its customer base.Barnard Griffin’s new storefront joined a growing number of wineries setting up shop at The Waterfront in Vancouver, just across the Columbia River from Portland.“It’s been a long time in the planning,”...
The Port of Benton is seeking a new operator for Prosser’s Walter Clore Wine and Culinary Center after the nonprofit that established the wine industry showplace vacated the property because of the Covid-19 pandemic.The port, which owns the taxpayer-funded wine and event center, pledged to move quickly to find a...
The Port of Kennewick used wineries to woo tourists and hungry crowds to an industrial stretch of Columbia Drive.Now food is following, all part of the port’s plan to use its wine-themed tourism to spark development and reconnect Kennewick to its downtown waterfront.“The tourism focus was the driving factor for...
Hospitality is big business in the Tri-Cities. It just misses landing in the top five sectors, as ranked by employment levels in Benton-Franklin Trends data.The data behind this indicator show that in 2019, hospitality employment levels averaged slightly over 10,000 in the two counties. That placed hospitality sixth. As a...
One good thing happened when Crow Butte Park in southern Benton County closed to campers because of the Covid-19 crisis.No one was camping in early June when a storm blew through. Lightning struck an irrigation pump and 14 large trees blew down in the campground.Normally, all 52 campsites would have...
