 Photo by Jonathan Nolte
Staff Writer “We’re not in the hotel business, we’re in the hospitality business,” said Al Rajabi, owner of the Boerne Hampton Inn. The hotel celebrated its grand opening on Monday. Rajabi called hospitality his passion. “You either have it or you don’t,” he said. The 78-room hotel opened on July 1 and features a heated resort-style pool, fitness room, business center, conference room to accommodate 150 people, cobblestone parking lot and an all-day lounge in which hot breakfast is served in the morning. Larry Woods of the Convention and Visitor’s Bureau called the hotel “one of the nicest-appointed Hampton Inns I have seen.” He said that Rajabi “barred no expense” on this hotel and called him a “top shelf” businessman. The hotel was designed to fit into the Texas Hill Country setting with stonework, Texas star accents, two miles of molding and a large cowboy mural in the lounge. The air conditioning in each room automatically shuts off when the room is unoccupied to save energy and the cobblestone parking lot allows water to seep into the ground around the property. Underground rainwater storage tanks have been installed to help manage water and reduce flooding. Rajabi worked as a recruiter for technology companies before working in hospitality. He was inspired by the autobiographies of Conrad Hilton and Kemmons Wilson, founders of the Hilton and Holiday Inn hotel companies. Rajabi purchased his first hotel in Shipshewana, Indiana, at the age of 27. The Amish country hotel staff rode horses to work. “I went from high-tech to horse-tech,” he quipped. In 2004, Rajabi purchased the Holiday Inn Express in Boerne. He said he was attracted to life in Boerne after visiting the city and subsequently brought that hotel the rank as the 52nd best in the world, number one in Texas and doubled its revenues. Five-Star Legends, a construction company that Rajabi started specifically to build hotels, built the Hampton in approximately seven and one-half months. He said the company would continue to build hotels in the area.
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