Email  Print

New owners plan Glenelly Inn makeover

 

Sia and Ashish Patel, new owners of the foreclosed Glenelly Inn, held an "everything must go" estate sale the weekend of July 8, clearing virtually everything out of the guest rooms and main house of the Glen Ellen B&B, including the bathroom sinks.

The Patels are planning a total interior renovation of the neglected facility, updating and upgrading the 12 rooms with total Internet access, Mac Mini computers in each room with free WiFi and on-demand movies. Full gourmet breakfasts will be served with local ingredients.

The exterior will remain structurally intact but with a fresh make-over and the addition of a massage cottage with what Sia Patel described as "spa elements."

The couple also plan to clean up the property's landscaping and make use of the abundant and mature olive trees by harvesting their fruit for olive oil and wine tastings, among other new offerings.

Olives will also figure into the name of the inn which will be changed to Olea Hotel. And as with their Fort Bragg hotel, Shoreline Cottages, Olea will be pet-friendly with dogs allowed in some rooms. The Patels own a 3-year-old golden retriever, and dogs, said Sia Patel, "are near and dear to us."

The couple have already rented a home directly next door to the inn and will be moving down from Fort Bragg as renovation proceeds. Ashish Patel explained that he and his wife both have fulltime tech-relating home businesses, he in web development and Sia in event marketing.

The extended Patel family, said Ashish, "has been in the hotel business forever," and family members will also move down from Fort Bragg to help manage the Olea Hotel.

A grand opening is planned when the work is completed and a website (oleahotel.com) is already up where interested visitors can join a mailing list.

Ashish predicted the work should be completed by the end of the year.