Marriott sees room for new Suffolk hotel

Did Long Island need another hotel in Suffolk County?

Marriott thought so, and on Wednesday it opened a SpringHill Suites - its first on the Island - in Bellport, a 128-room hotel that has been a couple of years in the planning.

Nancy Lupo, sales director for the SpringHill Suites Long Island Brookhaven, as it's called, said she has signed up 15 companies as guests in the few days since the opening.

Marriott has more than 250 SpringHill Suites in the United States and Canada. It opened the first one in 1998. The Long Island hotel, where standard rooms start at $159 a night, will operate as a Marriott franchise, owned and managed by Briad Group Livingston, N.J.

Lupo said a lot of planning went into the decision to open in Bellport, on Sawgrass Drive. Other hotels, including the Fairfield Inn on Route 112 in Medford and the Hampton Inn off Long Island Expressway Exit 63, are 10 minutes to 15 minutes away. If they are booked, travelers must go to Riverhead or points west for overnight accommodations.

"The corporate business world didn't have a lot of choices around here," she said.

Baseball Heaven in Yaphank, which holds tournaments, is a mile from SpringHill. Brookhaven National Laboratories is 10 minutes away in Upton.