Even with his accomplishments in the hotel industry, Sunil “Sunny” Khatri, the owner of Fairfield’s Comfort Inn, has always been a modest man, so one can imagine his shock and surprise when he learned he was on the front cover of California Lodging News magazine.

California Lodging News, the official magazine of the California Hotel & Lodging Association, profiles outstanding hoteliers and properties around the state. Khatri, the owner of two franchise properties in Solano County, including the Comfort Inn, is on the front cover of the July/August 2019 issue standing outside the Fairfield property.

“When they came here for the photo shoot, I remember thinking, ‘oh, maybe my picture will be somewhere in the magazine,’” Khatri said. “When they told me, I was going to be on the cover, wow! It was a real surprise. This is such great exposure for our hotel, our city, and our community.”

Khatri, who serves on the Executive Board for Visit Fairfield, has been in the hotel industry for over 20 years. His grandfather and father owned and managed hotels and motels throughout the Bay Area, and he was raised around the business. As a young adult, he had the opportunity to purchase and operate his own hotel in Arizona.

He has been back in Northern California since 2014, when he purchased Fairfield’s Comfort Inn. Since then, he and his partners have acquired two additional properties.

“When I first came to Fairfield, I liked that the hotel had accessibility to San Francisco, Sacramento and Napa,” Khatri said. “I also quickly learned that Fairfield, Green Valley, and Cordelia are wonderful communities and we’re happy to be a part of that.”

For the magazine feature, Khatri wanted to specifically highlight the Comfort Inn and Fairfield.

“They love what we’re doing with the new signage and all the changes we’ve made,” he said. “We recently remodeled everything in the rooms for the second time in four years. Our team also really makes the difference. They put their passion into everything that goes on at this property.”

He also recognizes the importance of tourism within the community. He has been on the Visit Fairfield board for four years and has seen the impact at his hotel and the region.

The Comfort Inn is one of 18 hotel properties in Fairfield that together contributed to the city’s total direct travel-related spending of $215 million in 2018 – a 9.5 percent increase from 2017! The total visitor spend at Fairfield’s 18 hotels was $34 million in 2018, an 11.8 percent increase from the prior year.