Ocean Springs Looks to Build More Hotels

The City of Ocean Springs is home to only three major hotels, limiting visitors to places near downtown. The city has now hired a consultant to see where it could possibly open more.

The downtown area of Ocean Springs is short of one thing: hotels. Paige Riley owns Hillyer House on Washington Avenue. She thinks bringing more hotels to the city is a great idea. Riley says, "It’s so needed between the festivals and the events that we have, I really feel like if we have a couple of hotels we could get them filled probably three fourths of the time."

The city has partnered with the Chamber of Commerce to hire a consultant to perform a study of the city’s demographics and to survey the city’s competition to see what kind of hotels the city can attract. Connie Moran, Mayor of Ocean Springs, says, "HVS, one of the world’s largest hotel appraisers, and we are identifying certain parcels of property that would be ideal for several hotels. We think we have room for several, not just one."

There are some skeptics who don’t believe the hotels would profit during the off season. Riley disagrees. She says, "Right now, we have actually this week alone probably six to ten different people in from northern parts of the country who think it’s warm today at 54!" The train that runs downtown could derail these plans.

Moran closes, "But what we understand from some of the hoteliers that we’ve talked to is that the train track and the whistle is a deterrent."

The train obstacle would be cleared if the city could keep trains from blowing their whistles within city limits, making it a quiet zone. Mayor Moran says she’ll be bringing this up to the Board of Aldermen at next week’s meeting.