Shilo Inns exiting restaurant business?

Post Reply
Super S
Posts: 2690
Joined: April 1st, 2009, 9:27 pm
Has thanked: 11 times
Been thanked: 61 times
Status: Offline

Shilo Inns exiting restaurant business?

Post by Super S »

Last summer, I was in Seaside and noticed that Mo's Seafood has taken over the restaurant space at the Shilo Inn in Seaside. Today, I had to pick somebody up at Portland International Airport, and drove by the Shilo Inn just east of I-205. The restaurant there was closed with a For Lease sign posted.

Based on those observations, it appears they are closing those locations that other operators aren't interested in.
storewanderer
Posts: 14379
Joined: February 23rd, 2009, 3:54 pm
Has thanked: 2 times
Been thanked: 298 times
Contact:
Status: Offline

Re: Shilo Inns exiting restaurant business?

Post by storewanderer »

I've stayed at the Shilo Inn in Klamath Falls a number of times and the restaurant was open some visits and closed waiting for a new operator during other visits. Even though it was always called the Shilo Inn restaurant.

I think Shilo has been shedding properties slowly over the years in general. I noticed more recently the Twin Falls Shilo underwent a major remodel and conversion to Holiday Inn.

At present Shilo is running its headquarters out of the location you drove by. I would guess with travel down so much it was not viable to run the restaurant at the location near the airport at this time.
kr.abs.swy
Personnel Manager
Personnel Manager
Posts: 272
Joined: March 17th, 2009, 5:32 pm
Been thanked: 1 time
Status: Offline

Re: Shilo Inns exiting restaurant business?

Post by kr.abs.swy »

This chain has fallen dramatically. 20 years ago I would have considered staying with them. Today, not a chance.

I have stayed at hotels near the Newport Shilo a couple of times and walked through out of curiosity. It is depressing. One time they had a bunch of rooms with grills in front, presumably being occupied by folks on weekly or monthly rates. The restaurant has a fantastic view over the Pacific and should hypothetically be able to do just as good of business as Georgie's down the street in the Hallmark, but hadn't even bothered to reopen last time I was there (granted, this is during pandemic times -- but still -- Georgie's is ALWAYS busy). You can see that they are doing bare minimum levels of maintenance. It's a shame because this is a fantastic location and both the Hallmark and the Elizabeth Street Inn get really good rates while the Shilo does not. In Newport, they have cobbled together a collection of adjacent buildings with no architectural consistency and what I can only assume is a frustrating guest experience (if you drive up at night, it isn't totally clear where you are supposed to check in, then you probably have to drive to another poorly labeled building).

They have struggled through bankruptcies in the past and are down to about 20 locations. I suspect that everything they own is for sale but they are just holding on for decent prices. It is a well-known brand in Oregon, albeit tarnished. Love him or hate him, everyone has heard those Mark Hemstreet commercials.

If you own a hotel and want to explore franchise opportunities, they say they have a franchise program for their "family of brands" (each a variation of "Shilo"). Not sure what you get beside a reservation system ... https://www.shiloinns.com/franchise.
SamSpade
Store Manager
Store Manager
Posts: 1568
Joined: September 13th, 2015, 4:39 pm
Has thanked: 374 times
Been thanked: 57 times
Status: Offline

Re: Shilo Inns exiting restaurant business?

Post by SamSpade »

kr.abs.swy wrote: April 22nd, 2021, 10:35 am This chain has fallen dramatically. 20 years ago I would have considered staying with them. Today, not a chance.
Seconded.
The location in my hometown is only holding on because of the river view and a lack of other event/convention center spaces in the community.

The restaurant in that property was taken over by a local operator shortly before the pandemic restrictions, but they are serving '19th hole' style cuisine, nothing like the fine restaurant next door with the same river view.
Brian Lutz
Store Manager
Store Manager
Posts: 1425
Joined: March 1st, 2009, 5:51 pm
Location: Piedmont Triad, NC
Been thanked: 56 times
Contact:
Status: Offline

Re: Shilo Inns exiting restaurant business?

Post by Brian Lutz »

Every so often while traveling between the Salt Lake Area and Seattle there was a Shilo Inn near the Boise Airport we would stay at. It was decent, but nothing too special. When my wife and I made the trip last year we saw that it has been rebranded to Red Lion Inn, although there is still one other Shilo Inn in the Boise area. As far as I can recall the Boise Airport location had no restaurant. It shares a parking lot with a large TA truck stop with several restaurants inside, so presumably there was no need for one.
babs
Assistant Store Manager
Assistant Store Manager
Posts: 762
Joined: December 20th, 2016, 3:08 pm
Has thanked: 19 times
Been thanked: 64 times
Status: Offline

Re: Shilo Inns exiting restaurant business?

Post by babs »

Shilo Inns is collapsing due the owner's gambling issues, his age, and what I believe is an overall lack of interest in bringing in outsiders to help fix the business. Shilo was known as an affordable place to stay with decent standards. And some of the locations were well placed. There has been a hotel boom for the past 20 years and over this time Shilo has shrunk in size. I think the days are numbered for Shilo.
storewanderer
Posts: 14379
Joined: February 23rd, 2009, 3:54 pm
Has thanked: 2 times
Been thanked: 298 times
Contact:
Status: Offline

Re: Shilo Inns exiting restaurant business?

Post by storewanderer »

The Warrenton Shilo restaurant is also for lease. It has been run by multiple Asian concepts in recent years.

Shilo has each property in an individual LLC and they have been defaulting on certain properties and certain properties have been auctioned off.
https://www.postregister.com/news/local ... 7446f.html

I've only ever stayed at the Klamath Falls Shilo Inn, multiple times. Even as recently has perhaps 10 years ago they still gave you a physical room key which is amazing it took them so long to upgrade. The room itself- it is an all suite hotel and the rooms are large. Lots of sky blue and the room feels like a throwback to 1990. Odd stained glass divider in the room with Shilo logo. The property is maintained quite well. However switched to Running Y outside Klamath Falls instead, not really because anything was wrong with Shilo, but just for a change.

Also I have stayed in a Holiday Inn Express in Corning, CA which is a former Shilo Inn near a truck stop. This was about the worst Holiday Inn Express I've ever stayed in- that is not to say it was bad because it wasn't bad- just wasn't the usual... anyway, it still had blue floor tile in certain common areas and the furniture was a mixture of new and old when I was there (about five years ago now). This just had standard size hotel rooms.

Have also stayed in the large "waterfront resort" in Lincoln City that used to be a Shilo but was taken over by the casino there. It was not run by Shilo anymore when I was there but the rooms were real shoeboxes. I was just in a standard room. Supposedly they had some larger rooms in other buildings (higher cost)- did not need that myself given I was there alone. One bed and you could barely move around the room. Felt like the type of room you'd get in a big city downtown. Clearly Shilo was really trying to squeeze the profit out of that location.

I've had opportunities to stay at this chain elsewhere but looking at reviews have typically selected other options. Some properties like Klamath Falls could make for an interesting conversion to a higher tier Marriott or Hilton conversion brand (like a Doubletree) if that market could command it and someone did a total gut to the decor. Then again Doubletree was used in rural Pacific NW areas in the early 00's on those former Red Lions and most of those ended up back as Red Lion...
Post Reply