The hotel is in "preliminary planning stages now," according to Waltona Manion, a spokeswoman for the Morongo Band of Mission Indians, but she confirmed that the plans in general call for a 23-story hotel of about 300 rooms. She tells GlobeSt.com that representatives from the tribe will discuss more project details at a public hearing to be held in March for the community of Cabazon. "After that, we will have a lot more information," she says.

Manion says the project is envisioned to include a new casino of nearly 400,000 sf. The existing Casino Morongo is about 100,000 sf. No dates have been set for construction or completion, but such a deal would require several years for planning, design and construction.

A 300-room hotel would be one of the largest in the Inland Empire, where another Indian casino, Pechanga in Temecula, opened the largest new hotel in California during 2002. The Pechanga hotel comprises 500 rooms and includes a new casino.

Manion says the public hearing in Cabazon will be conducted according to an agreement between California and Indian tribes that operate casinos. The agreement requires that any tribe undertaking a major development that could have an impact on a local community must conduct a public hearing to explain the project to community residents and solicit comments from them.