Days Inn owners file for protection

<p>The owners of Days Inn on Santa Rosa Avenue have filed for bankruptcy protection after business there fell 40 percent during this year's economic slump.</p><p>The 104-room property will stay open while they try to restructure their debt, said Joy Mukherji, who owns the business with her husband, Inderjit "Andy" Kalia.</p><p>"It's business as usual," she said. "We're paying all our bills."</p><p>They aren't the first Sonoma County innkeepers to seek protection from creditors as the tourism sector feels the pinch of recession. Earlier this year, hotel owner Kirk Lok filed for bankruptcy for his 109-room Quality Inn in Petaluma.</p><p>The Petaluma motel remains open while Lok seeks to reorganize the business.</p><p>Sonoma County hotel occupancy is down about 10 percent from last year, said Ken Fischang, who heads the county's Tourism Bureau. But most hotels are riding out the storm, and he hasn't heard of other innkeepers filing for bankruptcy, Fischang said.</p><p>Sonoma County is doing better than Napa, Monterey and Lake Tahoe, areas that compete for the county's tourist dollar, he said. "Other places are much worse off," Fischang said.</p><p>Mukherji and Kalia filed their petition Oct. 1 in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Santa Rosa, saying they owe creditors more than $10 million. Their bankruptcy also covers Valley of the Moon Plaza, a commercial property on Highway 12 at Melita Road east of Santa Rosa that has a gas station and several other small businesses.</p><p>A hearing in the case is scheduled Thursday.</p><p>Business at Days Inn dropped off after the first of the year and didn't pick up during the summer tourist season, Mukherji said.</p><p>Days Inn has several large tenants, including a health club, Stan Bennett's Health &amp; Fitness. It's also a pickup location for Sonoma County Airport Express, which provides bus service to San Francisco and Oakland airports.</p><p>The budget motel offers rooms starting at $49.99 a night.</p><p>Mukherji and Kalia also operate a nightclub, The Casbar, at Days Inn. The nightclub also will stay open, along with the other businesses on the property, Mukherji said.</p><p>They've owned the motel since 2001.</p><p>Their largest creditors are Heritage Bank and Summit Bank, which loaned more than $6.5 million on the Days Inn and Sonoma Highway properties.</p><p>The Chapter 11 petition will allow them to avoid foreclosure while they restructure the debt, according to bankruptcy documents. "Hopefully we will be successful," Mukherji said.</p><p>The couple have owned other Sonoma County hotels, including Santa Rosa's Los Robles Lodge. They bought Los Robles for $4.3 million in 2004 and later sold it to a developer who wants to tear it down and build condominiums.</p><p>Los Robles, on Cleveland Avenue near Coddingtown, closed in 2006 and remains vacant.</p><p>You can reach Staff Writer Steve Hart at 521-5205 or steve.hart@pressdemocrat.com.</p>