Libby’s Rodeway Inn, a chain hotel that employed eight people, shut down at the turn of the new year. The reason for the closure is as of yet unknown.

The hotel, which has 42 rooms, closed its doors so suddenly some employees are still surprised.

“This was a big shock,” said Sarah Morkeberg, former front-desk clerk at the motel. “They gave us 10 days’ notice and locked the door on that last day.”

National Hospitality Services, a national hotel management company based in Fargo, N.D., which acted as a consultant to Rodeway, sent a letter to the employees Dec. 21 that the Rodeway would shut its doors at the new year.

A representative from the company confirmed that the Boise-based bank, AMRESCO Commercial Finance LLC, had foreclosed on Rodeway Inn, but declined to comment as to why.

Several calls to the bank, went unreturned by press time. The bank, which specializes in commercial loans, owned the Libby Rodeway Inn.

For Rodeway’s employees, the fact that a bank owned the motel was always a heavy weight overhead.

“For months we had been asking them to put up a website, or get an 800 number,” said Angel Herb, a front-desk clerk. “People couldn’t get their Choice points.”

Rodeway Inns, owned by Choice Hotels, usually offer a point system as a way of rewarding customer loyalty. The bank-owned one in Libby did not. It was a chain motel without any of the benefits a chain provides.

This mismanagement, as Herb saw it, led to the low revenues.

“I did the night audits,” she said. There were days where there would be one, two, three people in house. That wouldn’t cover wages, much less expenses.”

The eight employees at the Rodeway were laid off and given what amounted to a week’s worth of severance pay. The notice of the closure, days before Christmas was ill times, said Herb. Some employees, like Morkeberg and Herb, had no other means of income. This leaves the single mothers adrift.

“I’m in the process of looking for a job, but it is really hard to get a job in Libby,” Morkeberg said. “We’re definitely not trying to go on state assistance.”

The empty building was taken over by Town and Country Property Management, which began winterizing the building on Monday. 

“All I know is the bank foreclosed on them,” said Zach McNew, owner of Town and Country. “We’ll be securing the building. It won’t open again until a buyer comes along.”

Employees from McNew’s Glass and Home Supply were putting plywood on the windows of the hotel Monday.

Across the street, at the Venture Inn, feelings were mixed.

“It’s bad for everybody in Libby,” said Linda Gerard, owner of the Venture. “Yes, we’ll get some of their business, but it’s not good for anyone in Libby unless they find a buyer. There are so many repairs to do on that thing.”

McNew agreed.

“It’s pretty bad in there,” he said of the disheveled hotel. 

The building may not have been the prettiest in town, but 42 missing rooms will certainly hurt Libby in the busier months.

Darren Short, former president of Ignite the Nites, said the closure could hurt the event.

“Oh, absolutely, unfortunately,” he said. “I contacted all the participants from last year and let them know the Rodeway was closing. I’m hoping someone will buy it before Ignite the Nites.”

Libby had just more than 200 hotel rooms before the closure, meaning about a fifth of all rooms are lost with the shuttering of Rodeway, Libby’s second-largest hotel.