Co-owners Najam Saleem and Muhammad Khokhar have re-invested millions to transition a hotel from a Comfort Inn to a Holiday Inn.
Precious Grundy | The Lima News
BLUFFTON — The Comfort Inn hotel is getting a new name. Co-owners Najam Saleem and Muhammad Khokhar have decided to re-invest in the multi-million dollar project. In a few short months, the hotel will become a Holiday Inn Express.
“When COVID hit in 2020,” Saleem said, “it drove the entire market down, and we are still in the recovery phase. That is what made us think we have to have a larger number of clients. As a Choice property, we were not generating as many revenues. We thought it would be a good idea to transition from Comfort Inn into Holiday Inn.”
The Comfort Inn was established in Bluffton in 1998. Saleem said the hotel is simply starting a “new chapter.” The Khokar family purchased the hotel in 2013. Saleem joined the team in 2020.
“We are sandwiched right between Lima and Findlay,” Khokhar said. “We strongly believe the village of Bluffton needs an A-branded hotel. An A brand includes Marriott, Hilton and IHG (or InterContinental Hotels Group). These are the top three A-branded hotel brands in the world. We feel that is what the village needs — being right off the interstate is also important because we have people who are traveling on I-75.”
Khokhar also said the hotel will temporarily become a Bluffton Inn Suites until the improvements are made to become the Holiday Inn Express. The hotel will go through a series of cosmetic changes. The owners have plans to replace all the flooring, create a fitness room, provide hot breakfasts, add a snack station, transform the rooms and much more.
“We have been doing the homework towards the project for about three years,” Khokhar said. “We needed to wait until we had an exit window with Choice Hotels to get out of that franchise. If you get out of a franchise agreement before it is to expire, then they want to charge you for liquidated damage. Now we are out of the Choice system and transitioning to become a Holiday Inn Express.”
The project will be fully transformed in just a few short months. The owners hope the new hotel will draw more business not only to the franchise but to the Bluffton community.
The building is located at 117 Commerce Ln, Bluffton. The hotel will remain open for business during the transition. For more information call 419-358-6000.
Reach Precious Grundy at 567-242-0351.
