Glen Ellen’s historic Olea Hotel reopens after wildfires

When the Nuns fire threatened the Sonoma Valley town of Glen Ellen early in the morning of Oct. 9, Sia Patel's first instinct was to make sure the guests at her historic boutique hotel made it out safely.

“I could see flames in the far distance, and I was like, ‘OK, well, it's not super close,'” she said. “You never expect that it's going to happen to you.”

But it did.

Flames crept to within feet of the hotel and burn marks still scar its hillside, but of the four Sonoma County hotels that suffered some level of building loss, the Olea Hotel was among the lucky. Now, after nearly a year of planning and renovating, it finally reopened to the public on Aug. 28.

Patel recounts that night vividly. With her husband, Ashish, and two young children safe inside their Sonoma home, she drove 10 minutes north to the century-old Olea Hotel property, formerly the Glenelly Inn, that the couple purchased in 2011. There, she found guests already packing up and fleeing the approaching flames. She helped with what she could, made sure everyone was awake, and sealed doors and windows in an attempt to prevent as much damage as she could - just in case the impossible happened. The scent of smoke was already thick in the early morning air.

The hotel's 15 rooms were completely booked that night, and many guests left their belongings behind as chaos erupted in the hills to the east.

Once she was sure every last guest had left, Sia Patel returned to her family, packing everyone up before they fled the fire's path later that morning.

As the hours wore on, firefighters made the property their battleground, she said, saving most of the property as well as a historical church down the road.

In the end, the fire devoured two of the hotel's historic cottages, plus the lush landscaping that gave the property so much character.

Gone are about 1/3 of the 200-year-old olive trees that rimmed the property, which gave the property its name - “olea,” latin for olive.

A newer building was outfitted with external sprinklers, and the Patels are certain that's the only reason it survived. Fire came within just a foot of its walls.

After purchasing the property seven years ago, Sia and Ashish Patel worked diligently to upgrade it as much as they could, while still maintaining the character that drew them to it in the first place. They added four guest rooms in the process, upping the total from 11 to 15.

Now, they're back down to 13 rooms.

The damage was estimated to be about $1 million, though the final dollar amount will likely be more than that, Sia Patel said. After scraping the fire debris from the land, the Patels took advantage of the unexpected forced closure, further modernizing the interiors of the rooms that remained, and installing the pool they had always wanted.

“That's the silver lining,” Sia Patel said.

In all, eight Sonoma County hotels were completely destroyed or damaged in the firestorm. Of those, the Olea Hotel is the only property that lost structures to reopen so far, said Tina Luster, communications manager for Sonoma County Tourism.

Getting the Olea Hotel ready to open in time for Sonoma County's harvest tourism season - business they largely missed out on last year - was always the Patels' goal.

“This is one of our highest seasons, and just to get through the harvest and feel like we've returned to normal a little bit is going to be really good for all of the community,” Luster said. “The tourism and hospitality communities, especially.”