John Q. Hammons officially opened the luxury Marriott Bloomington - Normal Hotel & Conference Center in Illinois with General Manager Jeff Pritts (left) and Director of Sales & Marketing Heather VanVoorhis (right) welcoming the hotel's first guests Adam Maurer and Jan Miller (center), two Midwest Food Bank 2008 Volunteers of the Year. Front Desk Supervisor Victoria Fells checked in first guests at a pod-style station. (Photo: Business Wire)

NORMAL, Ill. & SPRINGFIELD, Mo.-- (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Mr. John Q. Hammons announces the opening of his third hotel this year with the debut of the nine-story, 230-room/suite Marriott Bloomington – Normal Hotel & Conference Center (www.marriottnormal.com) in the revitalized Uptown Normal, Ill. Located at 201 Broadway Avenue, the contemporary-designed hotel and adjoining 40,000 gross square feet of meeting space created nearly 150 new jobs. The luxury facilities are being managed by Springfield, Mo.-based John Q. Hammons Hotels & Resorts, the nation’s leading independent builder, developer, owner and manager of upscale, full-service hotels, resorts and suites (www.jqhhotels.com). Sporting a whimsical, jewel-toned décor, the full-service hotel is owned by world-renowned hotelier Mr. Hammons.

The Marriott Bloomington – Normal Hotel & Conference Center’s first guests were Jan Miller and Adam Maurer, 2008 Volunteers of the Year for the Midwest Food Bank (photos available). The locally headquartered charity supplies 600 service organizations with food for 225,000 people each month and will be the beneficiary of the hotel’s grand opening invitation-required masquerade ball scheduled for Saturday, January 23, 2010. In addition, a ribbon-cutting/open house with Normal and Bloomington city officials and the McLean County Chamber of Commerce is slated for Thursday, November 12, 2010, from 4 to 6 p.m.

“Exceptional service is a pillar of the John Q. Hammons commitment to excellence, making it especially fitting for our first guests to be outstanding individuals celebrated for their exceptional service in the community,” said Jeff Pritts, general manager of the Marriott Bloomington – Normal Hotel & Conference Center. “The opportunity to collaborate with Midwest Food Bank and be the organization's first hotel supporter enables us to immediately be an active member of the community, while supporting Marriott's nationwide program with Feeding America to assist with domestic hunger relief.”

The new Marriott Hotel and adjoining conference center represent one of the first major capital improvement plans the Town of Normal has taken in nearly 20 years. The facilities connect to a 500-space parking deck via a climate-controlled skywalk across Beaufort Street. The lavish property also features personalized pod-style check-in, a 21-foot water feature, and more than 40 tons of granite in design finishes reflective of the focus on detail indicative of a John Q. Hammons development. The Marriott Bloomington – Normal Hotel & Conference Center also touts the area’s largest ballroom with guest rooms and the city’s only hotel with a dedicated concierge floor offering a private lounge and personalized guest services.

The Marriott Bloomington – Normal Hotel & Conference Center features flexible meeting space to accommodate events up to 2,000 attendees and provides professional catering and audio visual services on site. With more than $3 million in group and business pre-opening sales, hotel and conference center reservations span interest from associations, corporations, universities and community influencers, such as: American Institute of Architects – Illinois Council; Bloomington – Normal Economic Development Council; Girl Scouts of Central Illinois; Illinois Chapter of NECA; Illinois State University; and Illinois Wesleyan University.

The hotel is offering special opening promotional packages at www.marriottnormal.com/SpecialOffers.aspx, including:

• Date Night Package* $169 + tax/night: featuring an overnight stay and dinner for two at Jesse’s Grille and two tickets, popcorn and sodas at the historic Normal Theater attached to the hotel
• Family Time Package* $169 + tax/night: featuring overnight accommodations, breakfast buffet for four in Jesse’s Grille, and four tickets to the Children’s Discovery Museum

The new high quality facilities complement John Q. Hammons’ other luxury property in Illinois, the Embassy Suites East Peoria Hotel & Conference Center, recently recognized as the number one Embassy Suites in the world.

Area Information & Demand Generators

The Marriott Bloomington – Normal Hotel & Conference Center is conveniently located in the heart of Illinois at the junction of Interstates 55, 39 and 74 and just 2.5 hours from Chicago, St. Louis and Indianapolis. Strategically located at the intersection of Fell Avenue and Beaufort Street, the facilities are easily accessible from Illinois State University, home to more than 20,000 students and 3,000 faculty. An eclectic selection of dining, entertainment and shopping destinations are also located in Uptown Normal. Guests are able to conveniently experience the nearby Children’s Discovery Museum and historic Normal Theater.

In conjunction with Bloomington (2.5 miles), the area’s major employers and company headquarters, such as Bridgestone-Firestone Off-Road Tire Co.; Country Financial; General Electric, Growmark, Inc.; Mitsubishi Motors of North America, Inc.; State Farm Insurance; and Verizon Communications will serve as demand generators for the facilities. A well-developed road, rail and air transportation network also serves the Normal – Bloomington community, which enhances the hotel and conference center’s accessibility and convenience.

Making a Reservation

For more information or to book a group function at the Marriott Bloomington – Normal Hotel & Conference Center, contact (309) 862-9000, fax (309) 862-9001, or go to www.marriottnormal.com. The hotel also can be booked under the following GDS codes: Amadeus BMIMCM, Galileo 70173, Sabre 0057684, and Worldspan BMIMC.

Hotel Information

John Q. Hammons’ Marriott Bloomington – Normal Hotel & Conference Center boasts spacious rooms and suites featuring the signature Revive^® Bedding Package. Guests can start their day off right with their favorite coffees and pastries from Caffeina’s Marketplace featuring Starbucks^® Coffee, work up a sweat in the complete fitness center with indoor pool, or stay productive with high-speed wireless Internet access. Guests also have the option to dine in style in the casual but elegant on-site Jesse’s Grille, featuring unique American cuisine prepared by John Q. Hammons Hotels & Resorts’ award-winning chef – Nicholas Wichtner.

About Marriott

Visit Marriott International, Inc. (NYSE:MAR) for a company overview.

About John Q. Hammons Hotels & Resorts

Springfield, Mo.-based John Q. Hammons Hotels & Resorts is the nation’s leading independent builder, developer, owner and manager of upscale, full-service hotels, resorts and suites, including: Embassy Suites Hotels, Renaissance, Marriott, Radisson, Residence Inn, Homewood Suites by Hilton, Holiday Inn and Courtyard by Marriott brands. With 83 hotels strategically located near demand generators, such as state capitals, universities, airports, corporate headquarters or office parks in secondary and tertiary markets, John Q. Hammons Hotels & Resorts’ properties are dominant in their markets. Over the course of his impressive 51-year career in the hotel business, Mr. John Q. Hammons has developed 209 hotels. For more information about John Q. Hammons Hotels & Resorts, please visit the company’s Web site at www.jqhhotels.com.

Editor’s Notes: Photos of hotel’s first guests are available on request. *Special offers subject to availability and state and local laws.

Photos/Multimedia Gallery Available: http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/mmg.cgi?eid=6089057&lang=en