INDIANA'S HOTEL BUSINESS is ready to rebound in 2004 with some new hotels and expansion projects serving specialized niches.
"All indications are that business will pick up in 2004 and get much better," says Sheryl Kline, director of the Center for the Study of Lodging Operations at Purdue University. "Tourism will be up and business will travel more. There's a bit of pent-up demand," she says.
"The travel business in Indiana is drive-up--we're not beholden to the peaks and valleys of air travel," says Bob Habeeb, president of Des Plaines, Ill.-based First Hospitality Group Inc. Habeeb's company is preparing to open a 185-room Hilton Garden Inn on the corner of Market ...