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New hotel owners plan big improvements

The Clarion Inn & Suites in Craig was purchased Friday by Craig Hospitality Incorporated. Pictured, from left, are Accounting Manager Julie Fisher, KPartners Ted Teruya, Craig Hospitality Incorporated owners Vip Kachhia and Sadhu Behera and General Manager Shannon Moore. Not pictured is owner Nick Desai.
Sasha Nelson/staff

CRAIG — The new owners of Clarion Inn & Suites in Craig see great things for the town and the property, which was sold Friday.

“First thing, we like the town. It’s a small town; everybody knows everyone,” said Sadhu Behera, one of three new owners of the hotel, which is located on the west side of town.

On Friday, Craig Hospitality Incorporated — a business owned by Behera and partners Vip Kachhia and Nick Desai — purchased the 152-bed, full-service hotel for $3.7 million from New York-based Jacobs 300 Colorado LLC., a subsidiary of Jacobs Real Estate Advisors. Jacobs bought the hotel from a New York bank in 2013 for about $3.1 million.

“This is a lively city with many recreational activities, like hunting, attracting an international clientele. Eight out of 12 months are good months. Our other motels, only six months are good months,” Kachhia said. “We think with minor improvements in this property, we could make it a very good business. We project that, in four years time, our business will be greater than today.”

The first improvements the community can expect include a remodel of the restaurant and bar, with the addition of a new, family friendly restaurant. The restaurant will include an outside entrance to create better accessibility for people who are not staying in the hotel.

“Next week, we will finalize the vendor,” Behera said.

Other improvements include new LED lights, carpets, fitness equipment and amenities that will bring the hotel in-line with the brand standard. For now, the property, part of the Choice family of hotels, will continue to carry the Clarion Inn & Suites flag, but that, too, could change.

“We will survey Choice customers in six to nine months and find out what other flag could bring more revenue,” Behera said.

The hotel was bank-owned from 2011 to 2013 and this latest sale marks the seventh time the property has been sold since the 1990s, according to documents at the Moffat County Assessors office. In 2013, the property switched brands from Holiday Inn to Clarion Inn & Suites.

Behera, Kachhia and Desi are all from Aurora, Colorado. The men met while working in the IT Industry and started buying gas stations, before selling those businesses to invest in hotels.

They own three other hotels and all hold full-time jobs, so they turned to KPartners — a San Antonio-based management company with more than 20 years in the hotel management industry — to manage the current team of 65 Craig employees.

“They will be making sure that things are getting done and that people are working efficiently and honestly,” Kachhia said.

The Clarion Inn & Suites in Craig is the second Craig Hospitality Incorporated hotel KPartners manages.

“We are honored to have been selected by Craig Hospitality Incorporated to manage another one of their properties in the Colorado area and look forward to providing their guests with the excellent customer service for which we are known,” said Shawn Kvernen, chief 0perating 0fficer for KPartners, in a news release.

KPartners also manage a Quality Inn & Suites and La Quinta Inn in Steamboat Springs for different partners.

“They have been amazing. We’re seeing more resources for the staff,” said General Manager Shannon Moore.

Contact Sasha Nelson at 970-875-1794 or snelson@CraigDailyPress.com.


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