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ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Alaska's largest airport is considering the addition of a hotel to the facility, officials said.
Ted Stevens International Airport in Anchorage is considering whether to build a hotel on land between a rental car complex and a train station, KTVA-TV reported Sunday.
"We're looking for 150-plus rooms. We kind of leave it up to the developer to decide exactly what the right number is," airport manager Jim Szczesniak said.
A tunnel connecting the terminal to the airport's rental car center could also serve as a path to the hotel, he said.
Construction could begin in the spring of 2020 and take up to two years to complete, he said.
Hotel developers have an Aug. 19 deadline to submit project applications.
"We have a lot of customers that come in here and have long layovers, or they're coming in from rural Alaska," Szczesniak said.
A hotel would provide a service the airport currently lacks, he said.
"If you have multiple businesses around Alaska, you can bring your employees into Anchorage, have meetings in the hotel," Szczesniak said. "If it's a multiple-day thing, you can stay there, get back on the airplanes and go."
An airport hotel sounds more appealing than staying downtown, said Australian Sue Gardner, who was visiting Alaska for the first time following a business trip to Vancouver.
"Long-distance travelers, they really need somewhere close just to recuperate and rest before they decide to go on and do their tricks, or whatever they've got planned," Gardner said.
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Information from: KTVA-TV, http://www.ktva.com
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