Hampton Inn & Suites and Colton Chamber Margaritaville Mixer

The Hampton Inn & Suites in Colton on Aug. 29, with the assistance of the Colton Chamber of Commerce, welcomed approximately 150 guests to the hotel in the effort to bring awareness to the services the hotel provides to the area and to provide networking opportunities between local businesses. The event, which Hampton Inn & Suites general manager Jay Koury described as successful, ran from 5:30 p.m. that evening throughout the night, and residents and local business owners and employees handed out business cards and enjoyed food from Sushi Miguel’s Style and cocktails to boot. “We wanted to show that while there may be a lot of local business leadership that has migrated, we are still here, we do a great job and we have a beautiful hotel,” Koury said by phone last week. “This was an opportunity for us to collaborate with businesses in the community, which was great.” Recently the hotel also has undergone some renovations, and the mixer event presented the opportunity for community members who had not seen the final product the chance to do so. Those who attended also got together for a cause, with many bringing a pair of gently worn used shoes to donate in support of Soles4Souls, which brings footwear to those less fortunate. For every pair of shoes each guest brought, they received a raffle ticket and were entered into a drawing for other prize giveaways. “The idea was to give the hotel some more exposure and to bring people in so they could give tours of the hotel,” said Colton Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Laura Morales. “It’s great for [the Chamber] to be able to help bring in some of the community to see the business and for it to have a great turnout.” “It was needed,” Koury said, “and it was great to see that so many people turned up.” The mixer came as a prequel to Hampton Inn & Suites’ hosting of approximately 40 motorcyclists making their way from Chicago, Illinois to Santa Monica in the “Ride for the Relay” in the effort to help raise funds for cancer cure research.