Holiday Inn to become Clarion
New owners to change décor, upgrade rooms
A new owner plans to rename and revamp the Holiday Inn Hotel & Suites Downtown, the hotel’s general manager said Monday.
Fort Wayne Hospitality LLC purchased the 208-room hotel for an undisclosed price last week and will remodel it, said Susan Arney, the hotel’s general manager. The Miami-based company is calling the hotel the Fort Wayne Inn temporarily. Fort Wayne Hospitality plans to change the hotel to the Clarion brand in three to six months, she said.
The hotel’s previous owner, Lodgian Inc., sold the downtown hotel and a 159-room Holiday Inn in Bridgeport, W.Va., in separate transactions totaling $5.6 million, Lodgian announced in a written statement Monday. The company did not disclose the buyers’ names. A company spokeswoman declined to provide further comment.
Lodgian’s statement showed the downtown hotel had not fared well in the past year. The company reported the Holiday Inn had a net loss of $83,000 in the year that ended June 30. That breaks down to a loss of $399 a room. A typical hotel in that location and price bracket made between $4,000 and $10,000 per available room during the same period, said Mark Eble, vice president at the Indianapolis office of PKF Consulting, a firm that advises hospitality businesses.
Lodgian, which still owns the Hilton Fort Wayne at Grand Wayne Center, announced in November it would sell the Holiday Inn and 26 other hotels to focus on more profitable properties. The Atlanta-based company has sold 22 properties and has three under contract, it said Monday. Two other hotels remain for sale.
Fort Wayne Hospitality plans to renovate the former Holiday Inn extensively. It will repaint the hotel’s peach exterior and install plasma televisions in each room, Arney said. The company has not said how much the renovations will cost, and its property management company did not return calls Monday.
“From what I’ve been told,” Arney said, “they’re upgrading everything.”
The hotel had not undergone a major renovation since 1995, according to Lodgian.
Fort Wayne Hospitality kept the former Holiday Inn’s staff, Arney said. The Fort Wayne Inn employs about 65.
Clarion is the top brand for Choice Hotels International Inc., and the property will continue to provide many amenities after it switches brands, Arney said. The hotel restaurant – called the Sidewalk Café – and meeting rooms will remain open when the property is converted.
Full-service Clarion hotels offer high-quality atmosphere at an affordable price, Choice Hotels spokeswoman Heather Soule said. The properties provide room service, Neutrogena bath products and banquet rooms, among other services. The company’s other brands include Quality Inn, Comfort Suites and Sleep Inn.
But Clarion hotels are considered less competitive than the Holiday Inn brand, Eble said. Choice Hotels has less stringent standards for hotel improvements than Holiday Inn brand owner Intercontinental Hotels Group PLC, he said.
The Fort Wayne Inn’s renovation will make it more attractive to travelers, Arney said. Visitors to Grand Wayne Center soon could choose from three hotels – the Fort Wayne Inn, the Hilton and the proposed Courtyard by Marriott that is part of the $120 million Harrison Square downtown redevelopment project.
“We want, of course, to help build the downtown area,” Arney said.
jglenn@jg.net