Work has recently started on the newest addition to the hospitality industry, a Hampton Inn and Suites, city officials said Thursday.

In the first stage, machines have to move dirt to fill a depression and pack it down, City Building Official Paul Dawes said.

The owner, Dr. Shilesh Vora of El Dorado, Ark., received the building permit Jan. 23, Dawes said.

Located across from the Natchez Visitor Reception Center, the hotel will have 86 rooms and will be four stories tall with stucco finish, Dawes said. It will likely look like most other Hampton Inns and have entrances from Canal and Simmons Streets.

Vora could not be reached for comment.

Natchez Tourism Director Walter Tipton said a new hotel on Canal Street was a plus when recruiting visitors.

“It’s a very good thing,” Tipton said. “It’s always nice to have another major new accommodation in your inventory. And it’s within five miles of the convention center.”

When the Ramada Inn Hilltop closed in November, Natchez lost roughly 160 rooms, Tipton said. Although the Ramada may be remodeled in the future, the extra rooms in the new hotels would be useful, he said.

“Hopefully within the next 14 months, between this one and the Country Inn and Suites (being built across from the convention center), we will be adding 200 rooms,” Tipton said.

And when it comes to hotels, he said, a name is everything. The Hampton is part of the Hilton family of hotels, which means a lot in the tourism business, he said.

“I can’t overplay the importance of a Hilton-related property,” Tipton said. “Everybody that owns membership cards (to the franchise) and when people look at new properties in Natchez (online), they’re going to pull up that hotel.”

The Hampton, as well as the convention center hotel, will likely open their doors next year, he said.

“They’re both scheduled to open in the spring, which is good timing,” he said. “It’s during Spring Pilgrimage, when rooms get tight.”