The Origin of Spirit Hospitality
The origin of Spirit began in 1998 when the Comfort Inn in Loveland, Colorado was built. Bill Albrecht, who had already been in the construction and development businesses as the owner of Albrecht Homes, was no stranger to the ins and outs of custom and unique land development. After meeting Rob Uehran, who was motivated specifically by hotel development, the two men put their expertise together to open the Comfort Inn's doors in August of '98.
The Comfort Inn was just the beginning of this quickly flourishing company. Business took off and Spirit decided to build its subsequent hotels under the WILLCO Development monikers. Spirit's second property, another Comfort Inn, this time located in Fort Collins, Colorado and was developed and opened in November 2000. This hotel later sold to new management in February 2007. The third Spirit property came to fruition in July 2004, when Spirit built a Super 8 in Wheatland, Wyoming.