Kim Hendren degree in engineering from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. He is an Independent Protestant who has been active since 1963 in the Gideons International, the men's group which distributes Bibles in such public places as hotel rooms. He is active in Kiwanis International. Hendren is married to the former Marylea Hutchinson, a sister of former U.S. Senator Tim Hutchinson and former U.S. Representative, former head of the DEA, and current Governor Asa Hutchinson. In 2002, Tim Hutchinson lost his reelection bid to Mark Pryor for the other U.S. Senate seat from Arkansas. Asa Hutchinson lost a Senate race in
Hotel Macdonald campaign. The hotel reopened in 1991 after work totaling $28 million. The renovation added several suites in what had been storage space, some of which are named for prominent guests of the hotel, including: Charles Melville Hays Suite, Lois Hole Suite, King George VI Suite, Sir Winston Churchill Suite, Edward Prince of Wales Suite, the Aberhart, Manning, and Lougheed suites, and the Queen Elizabeth II Suite (also known as the Royal Suite), which covers over two floors, with two bedrooms and a dining room for eight. With the addition of the 18 suites, the hotel now has 199 rooms on