Ed Baker

Negotiations are under way to rebrand the Holiday Inn Select, says Ed Baker, an executive vice president with Executive Hotel Management, which owns the property near the Interstate 10/College Drive intersection.InterContinental Hotels Group, the Great Britain-based company that owns the Holiday Inn chain, is phasing out the Holiday Inn Select brand, which targets business travelers."We feel like in this marketplace, a mid-luxury hotel is needed," Baker says."That will allow us to take care of the mid-market and the Holiday Inn customers."The Holiday Inn Selectâ€"which opened as a Sheraton and later rebranded as a Radissonâ€"was recently renovated, so Baker says it won't take a lot of work to turn the hotel into a Crowne Plaza, other than installing plasma televisions in all the rooms and fixing up the bathrooms.The Holiday Inn scheduled to be built adjacent to the current property will be one of the first of a new hotel prototype.Baker says by combining the new construction with the renovation, Executive Hotel will save some money. --Timothy Boone

Edward Baker has been appointed to the University of Central Missouri's Board of Governors.Baker has served since 1985 as partner and executive vice president of Executive Hotel Management in Columbia.Baker will serve UCM through Jan. 1, 2013.

Ed Baker, an executive vice president with Executive Hotel, says the deal gives the Holiday Inn "a whole boatload of parking.""We have adequate parking, but there's not an overabundance, especially when we have certain events with 1,500 people," Baker says.

Meanwhile, Edward L. Baker, of Columbia, has been named to the University of Central Missouri Board of Governors.Baker is the executive vice president of Executive Hotel Management, which owns the Holiday Inn Select Executive Center in Columbia.

Baker, whose term will end Jan. 1, 2013, hopes to bring his business experience to the board.Formerly known as Central Missouri State University, the school in Warrensburg has about 11,000 students."There are a lot of opportunities (for students) at that size of a college," Baker said.

Baker graduated from MU, but his mother-in-law and sister-in-law graduated from Central Missouri, and his niece is a student there now.

Gov. Matt Blunt appointed Cozette and Baker to their respective boards.

Expectations are turned around, when Governor Ed Baker decides to go along with a "draft Baker" campaign instead of simply becoming Russell's running mate.

Ed Baker, executive vice president of the Radisson's owner, Executive Hotel Management, agreed with Haney's assertion that the market cannot sustain 400 more rooms.

And he supports Haney's calculation that $10.7 million would significantly upgrade Haney's property.

According to Smith Travel Research, the Knoxville hotel occupancy rate was nearly 60 percent last year, but Haney and Baker said that number is closer to the low 50s downtown.
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Baker said his company's Radisson Hotel in Baton Rouge, La., has been named tops in customer service among the chain's hotels worldwide.

"That's proof we're running the hotels well; it's the Knoxville market that's run down," he said.

Edward Baker, executive vice president of Executive Hotel Management, the Missouri company that owns the hotel, said the Crowne Plaza is perceived to be a more upscale brand and will be a better fit for Knoxville.
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Crowne Plaza is one of the brands of InterContinental Hotels Group, which Baker said is the largest hotel chain in the world.
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Baker said Crowne Plaza is a more natural fit for the downtown property because the brand has a strong emphasis on business meetings, which have been a strong suit for the Radisson.

"It's the perfect fit for the hole in the market," Baker said."We have been at the top of Radisson for a long time, and this gives us an opportunity to step it up."

Baker declined to say how much money the company would spend to make the change.