Close User Name Password
Hotel stories straight to your inbox:

Tags: / /

Fancy Schmancy Texas Resort Files For Bankruptcy Protection

Go To The Hotel's Web 
  Site Where: HC 70 [map], Lajitas, TX, United States, 79852
July 19, 2007 at 11:20 AM | by juliana | 0 Comments

The Lajitas Resort in Lajitas, Texas has got some serious money problems. Hot shot developer Steve Smith bought the property in 2000 for $4.5 million and then went about turning it into a luxury resort complete with an "emerald-green" golf course, a gourmet restaurant and two bedroom suite room rates of $750 a night.

The place, now worth over $200 million, was tagged as "The Ultimate Hideout" where Richie Rich could fly in on his private jet or helicopter for a weekend of golf and relaxation. It also has a "mayor" on staff--a beer loving goat named Clay Henry.

Yet it seems not everyone wants to pay the high room rates or the $75,000 annual club membership fee as the resort has defaulted on a $12.2 million loan and has filed for bankruptcy protection.

MORE

Smith say the resort is getting alternative funding and insists that the place will remain open while this mess is resolved. But the loan might just be the start of the Lajitas money woes.

The Houston Chronicle reports that the resort "is estimated to owe more than 100 creditors between $1 million and $100 million." And some of those creditors include randomly, The Texas Monthly magazine (owed $35,346) and the Golf Channel of Orlando, Fla. (owed $40.000.)

What this means for hotel guests is unclear. The owner vows to run the resort without any interruption and we checked for rooms on July 27 and found a room with a king-sized bed for $175 a night. So it's still open and it looks like room rates aren't that expensive.

But when money gets tight, the first thing to go always seems to be customer service and air-conditioning as this recent review implies.

The service was ok, not great though. Today there was a power cut and we came back to a boiling hot room.

[Photo: avondale17]

Related Stories:
· Getaway for rich comes up short [Houston Chronicle]

0 Comments

Post a Comment

Leave a Comment

Not yet a member? Click here to become a member.

Already a member? Log in below:

Comment with your Facebook account.