The Hotel Pattee.
A national travel magazine is naming an Iowa hotel as one of the top 25 in the Midwest.
The Hotel Pattee in Perry made the list in the latest edition of Conde Nast Traveler. Jay Hartz is co-owner of the hotel and says the ranking is a thrill.
“Very proud and quite honestly, very surprised,” Hartz says. “We did not anticipate that award. That’s the first time we’ve been named by that organization.” Hartz and his business partner/wife Denise have owned the historic Perry landmark for five years.
“When we bought the hotel, the hotel was closed and we reopened it. The first year-and-a-half or two years was very scary but we turned the corner,” he says. “Business picked up and continues to pick up and we’re doing fine now.” The Hotel Pattee is the only Iowa hotel on the list and it’s joined by posh facilities including the Ritz-Carlton in St. Louis, the Hotel Ivy in Minneapolis and the Hotel Iroquois on Mackinac Island in Michigan.
“We do have to create more of a marketing plan to draw people here because there aren’t really demand generators right in our backyard,” Hartz says. “We have marketed the hotel as a destination and we try to tell our guests, once they come here, they don’t have to leave for a few days.” The 40-room hotel features specialty rooms centered around Perry and the state of Iowa.
(By Pat Powers, KQWC, Webster City)