The Westport Lodge motel, built in 1947 along Route 66 in Joplin, Missouri, will hold its grand reopening Monday as an Enlight Inn wellness center, motel and cafe.
Joplin Globe business writer Wally Kennedy reports the motel at the corner of North Main Street and Fountain Road is the last surviving motor court in Joplin.
It faced an uncertain future until the family of yoga instructor Christa Tullis bought it a few years ago and decided to renovate it with an eye toward making into a wellness center as well as a spot for overnight travelers.
The motor court has eight rooms and a lobby with a kitchen. Six of the rooms are stand-alone cottages. They offer incline beds to promote better sleep. They are available for $100 per night. Two smaller rooms are available for $75 per night. The lobby has been transformed into a drive-thru cafe where you can pick up fresh foods and raw vegetables in a snack pack to go or order something to drink such as a smoothie or coffee. The cafe will serve Bulletproof Coffee, a brand promoted as having no toxins and providing longer energy without the jitters.
The lounge in the lobby will be used for wellness and nutrition classes, Tullis said. A massage chair, a vibration machine and a biofeedback monitor will be available for clients of the inn to use.
In one room is one of the neatest features of the inn, a flotation-therapy tank that uses 1,000 pounds of salt to create near weightless conditions. The water in the tank, which is 10 inches deep, is heated to 98.6 degrees. The tank has a UVA and ozone filtration system. The tank can be completely silent and dark if the occupant prefers sensory deprivation. Or, you can hear music inside while watching the night sky float above you.
The Enlight Inn held a soft opening last week.
The old Westport Lodge is a rarity in Route 66 circles — a motor lodge with separate cabins for each room.
According to previous reporting, Route 66 Chamber of Commerce owner Ron Hart and Boots Motel co-owner Debye Harvey lobbied the Tullis family to keep and renovate the motor lodge.
UPDATE 3/12/2017: The Joplin Globe published a long profile about the motel’s owner, Christa Tullis.
(Image of the Enlight Inn in Joplin, Missouri, via Facebook)