Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, September 15, 1995 TAG: 9509150074
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MAG POFF STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The name of the 63-room hotel will change to Camberley's Martha Washington Inn.
The Atlanta company assumed management of the hotel on Wednesday. It is owned by The United Cos., a Bristol coal, natural gas and real estate company with operations in the Roanoke Valley.
Barry Stewart, vice president-administration of Camberley, declined to disclose the terms of the lease-purchase agreement. He said Camberley is running the hotel and "intends ultimately to own it," although there is no timetable.
Stewart, who was in Abingdon on Thursday, said the former general manager has left the hotel in order to remain with The United Cos. He said Camberley will bring a new general manager to Abingdon next week. No other major changes are planned, he said, except that the company intends to upgrade service.
The company owns the Camberley Brown Hotel in Louisville and the Camberley Plaza in Tampa. It also manages the Camberley Club Hotel in Toronto.
The company was incorporated in Atlanta in 1987 and assumed management of the Brown Hotel in Louisville the following year. It purchased the Brown in 1993 and the Plaza last June.
Camberley's president, Ian Lloyd-Jones, has been in the hospitality industry for nearly three decades. He has been with The Ritz-Carlton Co., the Vista International division of Hilton International and the Omni Hotels chain. He worked at hotels in his native United Kingdom before coming to the United States in 1969.
Tom Papelian, vice president-development for Camberley, said the Martha Washington "fits nicely into Camberley's growing portfolio of quality hotels and will be carefully positioned to expand its already strong group, corporate and leisure travel markets."
Papelian said no renovations are planned because the United Cos. spent $10 million on a restoration 10 years ago.
Papelian said the room occupancy rate has been about 75 percent for the past three years. He attributed the strong sales to the fact that the Martha Washington Inn is the only hotel in the Tri-Cities region to get Mobil Corp.'s four-star rating. He also cited its location near the Blue Ridge Parkway and Appalachian Trail as draws for tourists.
The central part of the hotel was built as a private residence for just under $15,000 in 1832 by Gen. Francis Preston and his wife, Sarah Buchanan Preston, for their nine children.
At Sarah Preston's death in 1858, the property was purchased for $21,000 and became Martha Washington College.
The college closed in 1932 during the Great Depression, and the building reopened as a hotel in 1935. The United Cos. purchased the property in 1984 and remodeled it.
The history of the inn is reflected in its antique furnishings such as crystal chandeliers, antique beds, Oriental carpets, a rare Dutch-Baroque grandfather clock shipped from England by a Preston daughter, and a teacup and saucer once owned by Martha Washington.
by CNB