Tourists cruising into Rapid City now have two new hotels to greet them at the Elk Vale Road exit.

A 80-room Sleep Inn and Suites opened July 2, and a 92-room Comfort Suites will likely open this weekend.

The Comfort Suites cost more than $10 million to build and includes a pool and a conference center than can seat 400, said Diane Heinis, a managing partner in Heinsel Investments LLC, which owns the hotel.

The new hotel sits just off the south side of the exit on a spot with a view east and west on Interstate 90. That means it has good visibility from the highway, as well.

"We liked that lot, because it was a higher lot," Heinis said. "We put all the lights on it to see if it works, and you could see it a mile down the road. It looks kind of spectacular."

Heinis and fellow managing partner and husband, Ron, own several other hotels in Rapid City, including Comfort Inn and Days Inn on La Crosse Street. Both of the hotels and the Comfort Suites are part of the Choice Hotels line of franchises.

Their new all-suite hotel includes suites specialized for families and others for business travelers. Those suites includes meeting tables. Even the breakfast room has audio-visual systems.

"So we're really going for some convention business and some business people," Heinis said.

The couple also is in talks with a steakhouse to fill the restaurant pad in front of the hotel, Heinis said.

Across Elk Vale Road to the south, Sleep Inn has been open for a few weeks, and the kinks are starting to get worked out, said Chris Connelly, the hotel's co-owner with his brother Mark Connelly and mother, Beth Miller.

But that doesn't mean the opening hasn't been a lot of work for hotel staff and the owners.

"We start off the morning with ties and end the evening cleaning rooms," he said.

The Sleep Inn employs 16 full-time workers, and cost $5 million to $5.5 million to build, Connelly said.

The Sleep Inn is the first hotel for Connelly, his brother and his mother. Although they've had to deal with a range of problems over the past few weeks, Connelly said he's been pleased to see how kind other hotels owners are.

"Our neighbors and fellow hotel staff are just really, really kind and welcoming," Connelly said. "To be kind of the new kid on the block, it feels really good to see that Rapid City kind of holds up to that kind of integrity."

Also nearby, a $25 to $30 million expansion is in the works for the WaTiki Water Park meeting and hotel complex. The property, which links two hotels to the water park, will gain a conference center, sports cafe and a 150-room SpringHill Suites by Marriott hotel by 2011.

Heinis said the Sleep Inn and the planned WaTiki expansion, conference center and new hotel make the intersection better for everyone calling Exit 61 home.

"We think of it as a positive. We think the more you have in an area, the more people will come," she said. "If you have one lonely hotel, they'll think, 'aww, we don't want to stay there.'"