Sweet Hampton Inn & Suites

 San Manuel hosted a tour today of the new Hampton Inn & Suites at its 12-acre San Manuel Village plaza at Highland and Boulder avenues.

Throngs of people, many City Council and Highland Chamber of Commerce members, filed in an out of rooms during guided tours by hotel staff.

The details really make it stand out.

It's got a fireplace in the spacious "Perfect Mix Lobby" with a 42-inch flatscreen t.v. hanging above it for people to watch while they eat breakfast. There's tables and chairs, couches and coffee tables with copies of tribal elder Pauline Murillo's book "We're Still Here, Alive and in Spirit" sitting atop them.

The 110 rooms have 32-inch flatscreen tvs. Roll-in showers are available for the disabled. Small black and white photos of flowers, picnic baskets atop tables, children in tire swings and other soothing images are affixed next to the room number placards near doors.

Room rates will range from $109 to $299, and will be driven by demand. Since the hotel sits at the base of the fire-prone San Bernardino Mountains, special accommodations could be made for evacuees during times of crisis, said Javier Barajas, the hotel's general manager.

"It's a beautiful facility, truly an upgrade from the Hampton Inns you normally see," said City Councilman Ross Jones, who went from room to room with Mayor Penny Lilburn and others during a tour.

He said the hotel and future retail businesses and offices to San Manuel Village will provide the city with much needed services and sales tax revenue.

Barajas said the hotel will provide complimentary shuttle service to and from San Manuel Indian Bingo & Casino and the hotel. Musicans and other celebrities performing at the casino will be able to hole up at the hotel as the tribe's VIP guests.

San Manuel purchased the land more than 10 years ago for a mixed-use commercial development. The project has gone through several incarnations before arriving in its current state, tribe spokesman Jacob Coin said.

A nail salon and Starbucks are the first retail businesses to sign leases, and there have been numerous letters of interest by other retailers, said Bryan Benso, real estate development division manager for San Manuel.

When San Manuel Village is fully complete and all its office and retail spaces leased out, it should provide about 450 new jobs, Benso said.