Cypress Bayou opens 102-room hotel

Louisiana’s first American Native-owned and operated land-based casino has opened a hotel.

The Chitimacha Tribe of Louisiana, the owners of Cypress Bayou Casino, celebrated Friday the opening of a 102-room, three-floor hotel, complete with eight executive suites, two chairman suites, 10 disabilities-compliant guest rooms, a fitness center, a business center, and an executive board room.

The hotel provides indoor access to Cypress Bayou and its neighboring Shorty’s Casino. A restaurant – Café Bayou – is also located in Cypress Bayou Casino.

John Paul Darden, chairman of the Chitimacha Tribe of Louisiana, said construction cost the tribe $15 million.

“We awarded 79 percent of the work on this project to local businesses,” he said. “We also added 60 to 70 new permanent jobs, bringing our total employees [to approximately] 1,200, with an additional 180 persons on the payroll who work just for the tribe.”

Darden said there are currently 1,280 Chitimacha tribe members, 450 of which live nearby on the tribe’s reservation. The remaining members live as far away as Alaska or overseas, he noted.

“It’s a great day for the tribe. It’s a great day for the casino. And, more importantly, it’s a great day for this community,” the tribal chairman said during Friday’s grand opening.

Pete Riverso, Cypress Bayou Casino’s general manager, said the hotel is just what the facility needed.

“First of all, it brings more jobs to the area. Secondly, this is what we needed to make us a regional destination and not just a local one. That’s the direction we want to go in. And, as we get better, we will expand.”

Tom Schweitzer is the hotel director for the property. A Baton Rouge resident, he has over 40 years of experience with the Marriott Corporation and, most recently, served as president of the Hotel/Motel Association of Baton Rouge for six years.

Schweitzer said the smoke-free hotel features 37 rooms on its first floor, 34 rooms on the second floor and 31 rooms on the third floor. It includes 55 double-bed rooms and 37 king-size rooms.

The hotel celebrated a “soft opening” June 15.

Guests have been receptive to the $79 room rate Sundays through Thursdays and $89 nightly rate remaining nights. The hotel’s vast Tribal Chairman Suites rent for $250 nightly.

“What gets me most excited about this place is that it was built to make sure all of our guests have a wonderful experience,” Schweitzer said.

“Right now, we can accommodate up to 300 guests,” he said. “So far we’ve been up to 225, so we’re anxiously waiting to hit our mark.”

Schweitzer said plans are in the works to expand the hotel’s exterior and, in time, add more rooms.

“We’ve left an area aside for the extension. It’s just a question of when our present accommodations will no longer be able to meet the interests of more guests,” he said.

St. Mary Parish President Paul Naquin called the opening of the hotel a “history maker.”

“I can remember when they opened in 1993, this hotel was a vision. But John Paul made it happen,” Naquin said. “This move has solidified the Cypress Bayou Casino as the parish’s second largest employer, behind the St. Mary Parish School Board.”

Jacquelyn Junca, secretary-treasurer of the Chitimacha Tribal Council, said she is incredibly proud for her ancestors.

“Our ancestors are standing proud today. I come from a long line of traditional people and they would all be ecstatic if they were here,” she said. “They are looking down and smiling.

“They wanted so much for our education, but they never dreamed nor fathomed where our education would take us.”

Tim Rose, of R.O.I. Gaming, who served as consultants on the project, said he had never seen a more organized group of people in building a hotel casino than those within the Chitimacha Tribe.

“The Chitimacha Tribe – they’re the real stars of this project. Their organization and forethought is incredible,” he said.

Hotel guests Evelyn and Kelly Benoit, of Thibodaux, took a moment to applaud the hotel, saying their stay had been comfortable. “And the service – anything we needed, the staff was always there.”