Lodging landscape changing in New Bedford

Buy This Photo

Simon Rios/The Standard-Times Chuck Smiley, owner and operator of the Captain Haskell's Octagon House on Union Street, says the economy and increased competition have made the business harder than ever.

By SIMN RIOS

April 06, 2014 12:00 AM

NEW BEDFORD Before the Fairfield Inn arrived, about the only lodging available downtown was a handful of bed and breakfasts.

Now, with the expected construction of a second downtown hotel, the lodging landscape is poised to change once again.

Not everyone is happy about it.

"Prior to the hotel we were getting a chunk of people who were just happening by, looking for a place to stay (in New Bedford)," said Chuck Smiley, owner of Captain Haskell Octagon House, a Union Street B&B.

Now, he said, "I don't think I'm getting those people."

Smiley said the opening of the 106-room Fairfield Inn & Suites in June 2010 cut deep into his occupancy rates, which are about 50 percent of his most successful year. And with a proposed 141-room hotel at the landmark Rodman Candleworks building, Smiley said it could force him to close.

Excerpt from:
Lodging landscape changing in New Bedford