The Blackfeet Tribe announced its former Holiday Inn Express in Browning, Montana has been renamed Glacier Peaks Hotel and will be managed, along with Glacier Peaks Casino, by Siyeh Development Corporation. Glacier Peaks Public Relations Manager Jostin Lawrence said, “It’s been a long time coming to combine both properties into one brand, the hotel and casino that we can market as one unit. It gives us more opportunities for promotions, catering and events.”
Lawrence said the move was made to balance costs and benefits. Although the Holiday Inn Express brand is recognizable, it’s most effective in areas with several hotels, he noted. “Here, nobody offers a property like this, so we looked at places like Coeur D’Alene and Kwatuknuk and we saw it saves us on the yearly percentage, and it opens things up to market it the way we want,” Lawrence said.
The hotel’s new General Manager Zola Sellers added, “The big thing is it was too restrictive. We’ve got 86 rooms in Browning, and we’re at the chief entrance to Glacier National Park.” She noted, “It’s in an ideal space with the Museum of the Plains Indian and the Heritage Center, and it allows us to focus on the off-season with events and specials to entice people to come in.”
Lawrence said in the near future the casino will offer hotel discounts and other specials, and the casino kiosk has been moved to the hotel to inform travelers about casino deals. Lawrence said hotel guests soon may be able to get room service from the casino’s restaurant, which now can cater conferences held in the hotel.
