Tru by Hilton taps Idaho Falls for its second Idaho location

Tru by Hilton plans to build a hotel in Idaho Falls next spring, the second in Idaho for the brand.

Tru By Hilton Meridian Boise West open in April as one of the first 55 Tru hotels, according to the Tru website.

Construction on the four-story, 94-room Tru in Idaho Falls started in May next door to the Hilton Garden Inn on Lindsey Boulevard, the city’s hotel row. Both properties are owned by entities of B&T Hospitality Management Company, a partnership with Ball Ventures and Rusty Townsend of Idaho Falls.

B&T Hospitality Management will operate Tru. It also owns and operates the neighboring Hilton Garden Inn and the Home2 Suites in Idaho Falls.

The Idaho Falls Tru is one of at least 42 new hotels in Idaho built, under construction or in planning stages since 2015, adding a combined 3,751 rooms to the statewide hotel stock.

Hilton announced the Tru by Hilton brand in January 2016 and the first hotel opened in April 2017 in Oklahoma City.

Hilton describes the midscale Tru brand as “vibrant, affordable and young-at-heart.” Hilton is aggressively placing Tru hotel in the markets, announcing 100 sites at the outset and saying this is “fastest-growing hotel brand in company history.”

These are the qualities that attracted the Idaho Falls developers to Tru.

“With a lot of millennial travelers, leisure travelers and SMERF business in the area, we felt like there was a need to be able to offer a new product that touches on these segments,” said Angie Mago, corporate director of sales and marketing at B&T Hospitality Management. SMERF stands for social, military, educational, religious and fraternal groups.

Method Studio of Salt Lake City and Rexburg is the architect. Headwaters Construction of Victor is the general contractor.

B&T Hospitality Management also manages these hotels: the soon-to-open Hilton Garden Inn Boise Downtown;  Hilton Garden Inn Clarksville in Tennessee; Hilton Garden Inn Lehi in Utah; Residence Inn by Marriott in  Gilbert, Arizona; Courtyard by Marriott in Fayetteville, Arkansas; Candlewood Suites in Plano, Texas; and Hyatt Place Lehi in Utah.