Homewood Suites Closing After 2 Years

La Quinta — The Homewood Suites will close August 26th. The hotel’s property owner, Richard Oliphant says the FDIC closed the banks they borrowed from. Now Oliphant is hoping someone will come forward and buy the property.

General Manager Brad Poncher says the toughest part of the closure was informing his 40 employees, some who will be added to a growing list on the unemployment lines.

“It’s tough, it’s tough to think about breaking up the team but we’ve got good, good folks that work here,” says Poncher.

Fortunately for many of his staff, Poncher says other hotels are hiring.

“Some of the hotels are calling us and saying, ‘hey you know we’ve got some house keeping positions opening we’ve got some server positions open or buser positions and some of our people are starting to get some calls and have leads to place them,” says Poncher.

Performance wasn’t an issue for the hotel. They’re 80 percent full this weekend. It also boosted La Quinta’s revenue. Hotel taxes from Homewood earned the city more than $300,000 a year.

It also helped nearby businesses, like the Applebee’s next door. They’re hoping the eisenhower medical Center, currently under construction across the street, will replace the business they’ll lose when Homewood closes.

“They fill up and that drives a whole lot of business here into the restaurant and so that was going through my head thinking, ‘oh no what are we going to do now for Coachella Fest? What are we gonna do for the tennis tournament? Are we still gonna have that much business,'” says Applebee’s bar manager Todd Hoffmann.

Oliphant says the Homewood Suites could reopen this winter, or sooner. It depends on how fast they find a new owner.

“Whether it be as a homewood suite or any capacity whatsoever. That would be great,” says Poncher.