Local hotel becoming an independent

Renamed Ameri-Stay finds new freedom without franchise

MOSES LAKE — Everything will stay the same at the AmeriHost Inn and Suites.

Except one thing — its name.

The hotel has been located at 1157 N. Stratford Road since May 2002.

"We've been supported really well by the community and received really well," said Bob Russell, one of the owners of the hotel. "But we haven't been supported, we don't feel, as much by the brand, by the AmeriHost people. And so we made a decision — 'Let's just be more independent.'"

So, Tuesday the hotel will become the Ameri-Stay.

Russell said the decision gives his business more freedom to go in the directions that they so desire.

"With a franchise, you have to kind of follow certain guidelines, and they try and be consistent," he said. "For instance, you're not supposed to have hot food on your continental breakfast. Now we can have hot food … Lots of little things like that. Basically, we're just changing the name."

Russell called selection of the new name quite a process, and noted that he liked that it also starts with the letter "A."

"In a sense, nothing really changes," he said. "Same phone number, if you go to the old Web site, it will divert you to the new Web site."

Russell added that the hotel's property management system will also be able to be upgraded with the change, enabling use of a modern reservation system.

"That should streamline the process of reservations, check in and check out," he said.

Russell said that new Ameri-Stay signs will be going up in a couple weeks, with the AmeriHost mark eliminated as part of its agreement with the franchise, and the business will slowly incorporate things that will be important.

"Same friendly staff, same clean rooms," Russell said, adding that the number of employees and pricing will also not change. "We're just getting rid of the franchise. They just weren't really helping us that much."

The hotel has built itself up over the past three years as the Hometown Hotel, Russell said.

"We felt like, due to our location, which is not on the interstate, we have to be supported by the local community," he said, explaining that that means when residents have visitors, they recommend the hotel. "We're more inner city, we're more centrally located and so we don't get that traffic from the freeway, so we need repeat business, we need referrals. So that's what we've tried to do, and it's working real well."