A 4-mile drive through a juniper forest leads to the newest hotel property in the Bend area, Pronghorn Resort’s Huntington Lodge.

The 104-room lodge is named after a 19th-century 250-mile wagon trail that ran through Deschutes County. It started in Klamath Falls and ended at The Dalles, according to Deschutes County Historical Society’s history of the area. The hotel had a soft opening April 1 and will officially open April 19, said Spencer Schaub, Pronghorn general manager.

“When you walk around, you see the story of the juniper forest, and that is our focus to bring the outside in,” Schaub said. “This is a 65,000-square-foot home-hotel. When you get a project like this it’s unique. Not cookie cutter.”

With advertised rates for a standard room ranging from $300 a night in the off season to a high of $479 a night during late summer, the hotel is designed to attract families, golfers and meetings and convention attendees.

Pronghorn, located between Bend and Redmond off Powell Butte Highway, also features town homes available for rent that are clustered around the Tom Fazio-designed championship golf course. The lodge is owned by The Resort Group, a Hawaii firm that developed the Ko Olina Resort on Oahu.

“I assume it will be attracting a higher end guest and that the research Pronghorn and its owners did prior to building the hotel would show that there was an unmet demand that was not being satisfied in the current mix of lodging options,” said Kevney Dugan, CEO of Visit Bend, the tourism promotion agency.

Bend has about 3,500 hotel rooms. Occupancy rates range from as high as 89 percent in the summer to below 48 percent in the winter, according to data provided by STR, a global hotel industry data firm.

Pronghorn has been planning to add a hotel to the resort since the mid-2000s. Conceptual planning of Huntington Lodge began in 2014. The Resort Group spent more than $20 million, Schaub said.

The lodge features artwork and furniture from 20 Oregon-based artists. Forest green walls, windows to bring in light and wood accents represent the outdoors, Schaub said.

“There’s a variety of room types and concepts and with that came a lot of thought to make the rooms special,” Schaub said. “There’s a serenity here of being surrounded by a juniper forest. We feel really good about the way the market is growing and finding our niche in that market.”

The lodge, which overlooks the 18th hole of the golf course, was designed by Portland-based Ankrom Moisan Architecture and branding and interior designer OMFGCO. The rooms are designed to accommodate groups, with adjoining rooms making three room suites that include full kitchens and in-room fireplaces.

“The outlying resorts tend to attract a more affluent visitor to their properties, and … I don’t think this new property will have any negative impacts on the industry,” Dugan said.

— Reporter: 541-633-2117, sroig@bendbulletin.com