Hanford Insider: Community News, Sports, and the new Hanford Hotel

Welcome And Weekly Snapshot

On this episode of the Hanford Insider, we get a look inside Hanford's newest boutique hotel with Sam Patel. Rob will give you a look at some of this week's community events, and I'll be back with your sports report. This is the Hanford Insider for Monday, May 4th.

City Council And Community Updates

Events Calendar And How To Submit

Meet Sam Patel At Hanford Hotel

Welcome to the Hanford Insider, where community meets conversation. We spotlight the people, events, and ideas moving Hanford forward, sharing the positive stories that define our community one story at a time. I'm your host, Rob Bentley. So let's get started. In community news this week, the Hanford City Council will meet on Tuesday. The study session begins at 4 p.m. and the general meeting begins at 7 p.m. in the council chambers located inside the Hanford Civic Auditorium. If you can't make it in person, you can always watch online at Hanford.city. Hanford is starting a new Girls NFL Flag Football League. This will be for girls ages 13 to 17. If your family's interested, call the city at 559-585-2525 for more information. Now let's take a look at this week's community calendar. The Carnegie Museum of Kings County is holding a special author event with Sarah Vladik, the author of The Dangerous Shore, on Wednesday, May 6th. For more information into RSVP, visit Carnegie Museum of Kingscounty.org. Thursday, March 6th is the annual National Day of Prayer at the Hanford Civic Auditorium beginning at noon. Thursday is also the first Thursday night marketplace of the year. The band August will be providing the music and it will be a great time. If you haven't heard last week's preview show with Jim Castleman, check it out on the Hanford Insider website. Comedian Tim Hawkins will be performing at the Hanford Fox Theater on Friday, May 8th. Visit FoxHamford.com for information and tickets. The Carnegie Museum of Kings County's 2026 exhibition, Building Kings County, is open Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays from 1 to 5 p.m. The museum is located at 109 East 8th Street in downtown Hanford. Learn more at Carnegymuseum of Kingscounty.org. If you have an event coming up, large or small, and you'd like some help getting the word out, let's work together. Send your information to Hanford Insider at gmail.com. Be sure to subscribe to my weekly newsletter to get a complete calendar of events. It's the most comprehensive community calendar available. Well, I'm sure you have seen the construction going on at the old Comfort Inn down at the end of Urban Street and 6th Street in downtown Hanford. And this place looks fantastic. And I'm so excited to be here with Sam Patel, who is the owner of the hotel. And he's here to tell us about all the great things going on here at the Hanford Hotel. Welcome to the show.

I appreciate it. Thank you so much for having me. Once again, my name's Sam Patel. I invested into Hanford in July of 2019, having a vision. Continued the Comfort brand all the way till 2025 and thought about converting it to the Hanford Hotel, which sits perfectly with the city of Hanford, being a very well-located in the historic downtown of Hanford, bringing a charm to the city, a new vision, which I had when I took over in 2019, knowing that bringing something different to the city of Hanford, which no one has brought, especially after the urban inn had been basically shut down. And now seeing and looking at this story since we took over, it's been an ongoing story. And it seems like the story never ends. I personally think that my goal is to end the story in 2027. As you all know, that we've started this beautiful construction over three million dollar construction back in 2019. We've now completed the outside of the entire building. And I personally think that changing the name did a big thing to the city of Hanford. I think it brought a really big awareness that we as investors of Hanford, I personally think the name people really enjoyed seeing the change.

Room Upgrades And Breakfast Expansion

Yeah, it certainly has made a change. And you've made not only improvements on the outside that we can see, but a lot has gone into the work in the rooms and the breakfast area. Can you kind of elaborate a little bit more on the improvements you've done in the rooms and the surrounding areas?

Inside the rooms, we've basically made it modern where we've removed our carpets and went with LVT for hygienic purposes. We've made our bathrooms more like a home feel, uh more of a boutique. We've installed new 50 and 50 five-inch TVs in the rooms. All the rooms come with micro refrigerators. Our breakfast is extended. Something that I've always wanted to give back to a guest leaving the hotel with a full stomach and not worry about having an early lunch. Our breakfast contains uh several different items throughout the week. We do anywhere from bagels, eggs, omelets, sausages, biscuit and gravy. We have burritos. So it's plenty, plenty of variety for the consumer.

Sam, I know you own multiple properties throughout the state, and you're not necessarily a Hanford resident. You bebop back and forth between all these investments. But what properties do you have in the local area that people might recognize or um be able to check out as well?

Our family has the home too in town, as well as the best western in the moor. Those are franchises as well. Our property here is a franchise. We're under choice, such as comfort was in choice, but we've elevated our brand to an Ascent collection. Ascent collection is a boutique segment of the choice family. So we are one level above Comfort N. Okay.

Boutique Branding And Staffing Challenges

Yeah, well, it certainly looks nice. I would imagine though, in this climate with California's economy and everything, there are plenty of challenges. And I know we spoke of the construction challenges. In a little bit, we'll get to some of the things that are still going on in the works. But I thought, you know, as a hotel owner, investor, what are some challenges that uh you have to overcome to open a place like this?

I would say first and foremost, having the employee is a very important segment of this business as we're a hospitality industry serving the consumer, making them feel comfortable away from home. And that's what I preach daily to my staff that we have to go over and beyond their expectations, especially now being a boutique segment. It's one level above that we have to cater to. It's not just a regular in or regular other franchise that serves the day-to-day consumer that comes into any other hotel.

Sam, being downtown, of course, has its challenges as well as its rewards. And we'll talk about the rewards in just a minute. But I I think it's probably a pretty good idea to look at the big picture of being downtown. And what are some of the challenges that you find being a hotel downtown?

Our biggest challenge here, I must say, is unfortunately the homeless population that we have that stroll through downtown. I've done as much as I can besides hiring a full-time security company. But when we took over the property, there's approximately 16 cameras on the premises. And we've now got 52 cameras on the property. We've installed lights in the parking lot that we bought from the city of Hanford a couple of years ago. But it seems like the homeless issue continues. And I understand it happens in all cities, but that's something that I would help I would love to see the city of Hanford kind of step up. Because we do bring a lot of revenue to the city, taxes, as well as our consumers are going out to restaurants, bars. So there's a lot of money that is getting fed into the city of Hanford through these hotels.

Visitors Love Hanford’s Food And Fun

Yeah, having traveled uh myself to hotels, I know that sometimes it can be a challenge if you want to go out at night and grab a drink or a nice meal or something and have to step over people sleeping in doorways and such. So uh it definitely becomes a challenge. Let's uh spin it to the positive and let's talk about some of the visitors that you've had and some of the things that they've enjoyed about not only your hotel, but maybe the surrounding area in downtown Hanford.

Our biggest event that we have annually, everyone should know, is the Ag Show that comes in. We have people that come from Europe, Brazil, I mean all parts of the country, and they do really enjoy being part of downtown, walking to local restaurants. They really enjoy Zaytuna's restaurant right on the corner, the Mediterranean restaurant, if you haven't eaten there. Um, breakfast is amazing, not just at the hotel here, but across the street at Starz Restaurant. Local bars. Um, they've enjoyed the winery down at the corner by Fox Theater. And our Supreme Dairy Ice Cream, the famous Supreme.

Yeah.

So those are great places that visitors enjoyed. They've also enjoyed coming to the Fox Theater. Um, we've had a quite a few people that's booked here, and then I can't wait until May next week, our opening of the market.

Oh, Thursday.

Thursday night market.

We had that on last week's show.

What’s Next Pool Signs And Lighting

Yes. So Thursday night market does bring a lot of attraction to our guests, something to do on Thursdays. And I know Michelle Brown has done an excellent job of creating a beautiful atmosphere on Thursday nights.

Your social media presence is great. Whoever's doing your Instagram account, give them a raise. They uh they have really shown off the best things about this place and the things that are going on. When I pulled up, I saw the guys had the screens off the windows working on that. But uh, what's still to come?

Detail Standards And Housekeeping Quality

Oh my goodness, what's still to come? So we're finishing up our swimming pool as we speak. That should be opened up May 18th. Our outside canopy at our main entrance is going to be installed the second week of May, as well as the final touches of our landscaping, as well as our special down lights to populate the building and give it this beautiful look in the evening time as you're coming down from downtown. Finally, we've got two signs coming on both sides of the building, like our main entrance that says the Hanford Hotel, which will be installed the second week of June.

One thing I noticed is the attention to detail. You and you admitted yourself, you're you're particular on all the details. And how's that been going? I know you've had difficulties with some of the contractors, but probably the reason is you really care about the look of what this is going to be.

Oh man, talking about our stuckle, um, the stucco company's been here since April of 2025. Next week is gonna be the last week. Uh, they're gonna finish up. I had them go back and redo some touches that I didn't really completely liked, I should say. I'm very detailed about how the building looks, especially outside. Inside, we go over and beyond. Our rooms are spectacular. I must say, in the last six and a half years, going on seven years in July, I must say we've only had approximately four complaints about something that didn't work or whatnot. Um, our housekeepers are not pushed for time, they're pushed for quality. We run a complete different system here. We're giving our housekeepers 45 minutes to clean the rooms. Oh, yeah. Compared to our standards in the industry, is about 25 to 30 minutes.

That's great. Sam, great job. I I love downtown Hanford, and that's why we're doing this interview is because this is going it is currently, and it's going to become even more of a big draw for the things that are going on in downtown Hanford, and people are able to stay and have a great place to rest for the night, whether they're just moving through on their way to the ag show or maybe they're going to a concert at the Vox Theater or something. Uh, but you're uh really providing a great service to the community, and I want to thank you for that.

I truly appreciate your time. Thank you for having me.

High School Baseball And Softball Update

You can find out more about the Hanford Hotel at HanfordHotel.com. And as I mentioned in the interview, they're also very active on social media at Hanford Hotel. So check them out. Now let's check in with Eric for the latest high school sports news as the baseball and softball season winds down.

And now it's time for Hanford Insider Sports with Eric Bentley. The Hanford High Baseball team went 2-0 in their two league games to improve to 8-3 in WIL play this season. Wednesday's game versus Dainuba was headlined by a stellar showing from Hayden Keeney on the mound as the senior went all seven, striking out eleven and only allowing two hits in the 7-1 Bullpup win. Friday's showdown with a struggling Tularie Union team saw Hanford High assert dominance early, jumping out to a 10-0 lead through three innings, eventually winning in six innings, 16-4. At second place in the WIL, it'll be a tough task for the Bullpups to climb to the top of the league standings, but they'll get a shot at league leading Tularie Western at home on Wednesday before going to Talerie to face off with Mission Oak on Friday. The Sierra Pacific baseball team also picked up a pair of wins last week. They were non-league wins over Hanford West. It was an all-around solid series for Sierra Pacific, with the pitching staff limiting the Huskies to only two runs in the two games, while the offense combined for 14 runs to cruise to the victories. With those games being non-league games, the Golden Bears know what they have to do in order to share a league title with Kingsburg. Since the Vikings won their two league games last week, they hold a two-game lead in the win column, so Sierra Pacific will need to take both games from Kerman this week, with the action getting started at Sierra Pacific on Tuesday. And the two losses to Sierra Pacific dropped Hanford West to 9-15 overall, with their final two games of the season coming up this week with a manual. Out to softball now, where Sierra Pacific softball picked up a pair of league wins over CBC and Washington Union last week. The offense was rolling in both games as the Golden Bears took down the Cavaliers 13-7, then the Panthers 14-4. Sitting at second place in league, Sierra Pacific will need to beat league leading Readley in their matchup on Tuesday and need the Pirates to fall to CBC later in the week if the Golden Bears want to share a Tri-County Kings League title. The Hanford High Softball team split their two league matchups last week, taking down Dainuba 9-7 thanks to a seven-run home half of the fourth inning, then fell in a blowout to Tular Union. Two more league games on the schedule this week for the Bullpups at Tulary Western and home versus Mission Oak. And it was a tough week for the Hanford West softball team falling in both league games last week. Tuesday it was a four-to-nothing loss to Selma, which allowed the Bears to jump the Huskies and move to second place in the league standings, and then a two to one extra innings loss to Kerman as Hanford West falls to three and four in league play, with one league game remaining on the schedule at Kingsburg on Tuesday before closing out the regular season at Sierra Pacific on Friday. As always, if you have a score report or a team update for any team in any sport at any level, you can let us know by emailing HanfordInsider at gmail.com. I'm Eric Bentley, and this has been your Hanford Insider Sports Report.

Support The Show And Stay Connected

And that wraps things up for this week's show. If you're enjoying the podcast and you want to support it, you can head over to buymeacoffee.com/slash Hanford Insider to make a donation. Or you can Venmo me directly. Stay connected, join the Hanford Insider email list at HanfordInsider.com. You'll get weekly updates plus an exclusive newsletter delivered right to your inbox each week. I also really appreciate your help spreading the word by liking or sharing on social media or just telling a friend. You can follow the show on Facebook, Instagram, Threads X, and YouTube at Hanford Insider for more content and updates. And if you've got a show idea, be sure to email me at HanfordInsider at gmail.com and I'd love to hear your suggestions. Thanks for listening to the Hanford Insider Podcast. Have a great week.