May 31, 2011--As construction continues on three hotels in Dickinson, two more -- La Quinta Inn & Suites and Candlewood Suites -- are scheduled to open in 2012.

Patrick Giese, Jason Fridrich and Ray Wetzstein of Dickinson, along with Chuck Hayes of Fargo, formed DIK Lodging LLC, which will be the owners of La Quinta Inn & Suites, Giese said.

"We're going to start construction hopefully within the next 30 days and we're figuring in around seven months we should be open," he said. "We purchased the Pizza Hut lot and the lot behind Country Kitchen."

The former Pizza Hut building may be used for housing while construction is underway, Giese said.

The hotel will be four stories with 79 rooms, meeting rooms, an exercise facility, pool and hot tub, he added.

"It just all around was the best available franchise, we felt," Giese said of La Quinta. "We just like the way the rooms are set up. They're bigger rooms and bigger beds. The overall atmosphere of them is really nice."

It will also have a "mudroom" near the entrance where people can clean up before heading to their room, he said.

Candlewood Suites will be at the intersection of Sims and 14th Street East, said spokesperson Sherry Telford of InterContinental Hotels Group, which owns the Candlewood brand. The 90-bedroom building should be open before the end of 2012, Telford said.

Terri Thiel, Dickinson Convention and Visitors Bureau executive, said there are 12 operating hotels with about 850 rooms in Dickinson.

Microtel Inn & Suites may open as soon as Saturday, adding 79 rooms. A Hampton Inn & Suites is being constructed near Taco John's, adding 85 rooms and the former Albertson's building is being morphed into The Astoria, which will add 95 rooms, she said.

"I think those extra hotels coming in are going to be needed," Thiel said. "They're going to give some relief for the visitor industry coming in."

However, she is unsure if the hotels will be needed if the oil boom busts.

"Currently we need the hotels," Thiel said. "We need every room, but we're going to have to see where prices are at and what happens with the energy industry."

Giese said La Quinta will cater to more than just oil workers.

"It's a fantastic location right off the interstate by a restaurant, gas station and liquor store -- everything that a hotel wants," he said. "Even when oil stuff slows down, we'll have an ideal location."

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