The Hecke algebra of a Hecke pair (G, H) is studied using the Schlichting completion (Ḡ, ), which is a Hecke pair whose Hecke algebra is isomorphic to and which is topologized so that is a compact open subgroup of Ḡ. In particular, the representation theory and C*-completions of are addressed in terms of the projection using both Fell's and Rieffel's imprimitivity theorems and the identity . An extended analysis of the case where H is contained in a normal subgroup of G (and in particular the case where G is a semi-direct product) is carried out, and several specific examples are analysed using this approach.