For the better part of a year, Deb Pierrel and Katy Donoghue debated whether The Historian Inn in downtown Gardnerville fit into the niche that their Clé Hospitality is developing.

The company headquartered in Mammoth Lakes, Calif., is focused on resort markets — it bought Avalon Lodge at Stateline a year ago — and Gardnerville on first glance isn’t the same sort of resort as South Lake Tahoe.

But the more Pierrel and Donoghue learned, the more they were convinced that Gardnerville is a resort market — however low-key — and they moved to buy The Historian Inn with its 33 rooms.

The purchased closed last month. Privately held Clé Hospitality didn’t disclose terms.

The company’s team has been working long hours to completed a deep cleaning, and its doors will open to guests within a few days. A more extensive renovation is scheduled for completion by late May or early June, and The Market Café at the hotel is scheduled for opening by summertime.

“It’s a beautiful property that hasn’t been cared for during many, many years,” Pierrel said last week. The hotel at 1427 Highway 395 North was built in 2000.

As they researched the Douglas County tourism market, Donoghue and Pierrel learned that it’s a destination for many visitors who use Gardnerville as a base for visits to nearby attractions at Lake Tahoe, Genoa and Virginia City.

Visitors don’t typically come for a long stay, they learned, but they clearly view Gardnerville and Minden as a destination.

The new owners will be positioning the hotel in a niche that Pierrel describes as “value-oriented, high-service.”

Clé Hospitality is contracting with Gardnerville-area firms for much of the renovation of the property, which will include custom-designed furniture, upgraded beds and bedding and historic artwork and artifacts.

Among the amenities available when renovation is complete, Pierrel said, will be complimentary bicycles for guests to use as they explore Minden and Gardnerville.

The hotel also includes several meeting spaces, and Pierrel said a secondary market will be corporate and business travelers.

The hotel will employ 12 to 15. (For employment information, see clehospitality.com.)

Gardnerville, NV – The Historian Inn has now opened its doors to the public welcoming guests and weary travelers last night with a 24 hour front desk, complimentary WI-FI, pet friendly rooms and they are adding new and more amenities and services every day.

The economy may be insecure, but the Historian Inn has hired more than 10 community members as the opening team and is working diligently to transition into a model Clé Hospitality Property.

Katy Donoghue of Clé Hospitality states “The community has been welcoming and helpful.  We are very grateful for the outpouring of support.  We are also still looking to hire several positions including laundry staff and a retail manager for the upcoming Market Café opening this summer.”

The Historian Inn will remain open and welcoming guests while new beds, furniture and other property upgrades occur.  Rates start at just $69 per night prior to the Grand Re-Opening over the Memorial Day Weekend, when all rooms will be fully renovated.  Cle Hospitality invites the residents of the Carson Valley to learn more about their hospitality philosophy and style by extending a $72 per night “locals” rate at this South Lake Tahoe hotel, the Avalon Lodge, to those who live in the area.

For more information about Clé Hospitality or The Historian Inn, please contact Katy Donoghue at 775-783-1175, Katy@clehospitality.com or visit www.clehospitality.com.

For reservations at the Avalon Lodge, in South Lake Tahoe and the special locals’ rate, please call:  530-544-2285 or visit www.AvalonLodge.com.

Text and photos (c) Cindy A. Pavlinac, www.CAPavlinac.com

(Gardnerville, Nev.) February 27, 2012—The Historian Inn, built in 2000 and located in downtown Gardnerville, has new owners who plan on bringing their brand of casual elegance to this community landmark.

Clé Hospitality, a hospitality company headquartered in Mammoth Lakes, CA, purchased the property in February 2012 and has already begun renovating hotel rooms with historic artwork and artifacts, custom-designed furniture, and upgraded beds and bedding. The hotel is currently open for guests, and a grand opening event, post renovation, is planned for late May to showcase the property to locals.

In addition to 33 guest rooms, the hotel also features multiple meeting spaces with the latest in audio-visual technology, and La Petite Salon, which provides hair and nail care. The Market Café will open in summer 2012 for breakfast, lunch, gifts, and olive oil tastings.

“We’re excited to be part of community,” says Deb Pierrel, co-owner of Clé Hospitality. We opened the Avalon Lodge at Stateline last year and the support from local residents and business owners was incredible. The people in this region really believe in working together to achieve mutual success.”

Within six months of opening, the Avalon Lodge was named “Best of Tahoe” by the Tahoe Daily Tribune. Pierrel said she and business partner Katy Donoghue worked hard to create a quality lodging experience for visitors, as well as a vibrant business to support the local economy. They plan on doing the same in Douglas County with the Historian Inn.

The Historian Inn is located at 1427 Hwy 395 North, Gardnerville, NV. For more information, including special grand opening rates, visit www.historianinn.com .

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(South Lake Tahoe, California) January 31, 2012—South Lake Tahoe’s Avalon Lodge, which re-opened with new owners and a major renovation last year, placed more than 20 raffle boxes throughout northern California this winter. The raffle winner, Vanessa Gilovich of San Jose, CA, was announced last week and will enjoy a four day ski vacation at Lake Tahoe.

 The raffle boxes, which promoted a Lake Tahoe ski vacation, including a stay at the Avalon Lodge and lift tickets from Sierra-at-Tahoe, were located at popular outdoor recreation stores such as Sports Authority and Any Mountain, as well as the Eldorado Hills Fire Department. Avalon Lodge Hotel Manager, Tony Sunzeri, said the stores were excited to be part of the promotion.

“We get a lot of visitors from northern California,” said Sunzeri, “and the stores we contacted to place our raffle boxes were more than happy to give their customers a chance to win a trip to Lake Tahoe. After all, so much of what they sell at the stores gets used here in the mountains.”

The raffle was a strategic move to not only build awareness of the Avalon Lodge, it also supported ongoing efforts to work closely with its business partners.

“We are very committed to working with community businesses,” said Pierrel, co-owner of Clé Hospitality, parent company of Avalon Lodge. “Sierra-at-Tahoe has generously donated the lift tickets for this promotion, and we really appreciated how the stores outside of our community jumped right on board to help us reach our market. In fact, the promotion was so successful we’ve already begun our second raffle with even more stores in the Bay Area participating, including REI. Having lived in San Jose, this promotion is especially fun for me, since I’m working with sports stores I grew up frequenting.”

Voted “Best of Tahoe” by the Tahoe Daily Tribune last year, the Avalon Lodge is located at 4075 Manzanita Avenue, South Lake Tahoe, CA. For more information, including special rates for Lake Tahoe locals, visit www.avalonlodge.com .

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About The Avalon Lodge

The Avalon Lodge, voted “Best of Tahoe” in 2011 by The Tahoe Daily Tribune, is a 20-room hotel located at 4075 Manzanita Ave. in South Lake Tahoe, CA. Purchased in late 2010 by Mammoth, CA-based Clé Hospitality, the Avalon Lodge’s rooms are updated with new furniture, bedding, flat screen televisions, iPod docking stations, and warm contemporary mountain décor. Amenities also include in-room fireplaces, a seasonal outdoor swimming pool, whirlpool tub, free WiFi, and gourmet foods and gifts from the Market Café. For more information about The Avalon Lodge, visit www.avalonlodge.com. For more information about Clé Hospitality, visit www.clehospitality.com.

My boyfriend and I stayed at the Avalon Lodge on Friday Dec 2-Sunday and it was absolutely delightful! It started with the staff greeting us in the cozy common area, with the fireplace warming the air, and told us about a few local places for a good dinner, then they walked us down to our beautiful room. We came back for a little socializing where we were given mulled wine, which I just have to say I am still craving. Such a perfect addition on a cold evening. Each night we ran on down to grab our cup and breath in the yummy flavors.

Thank you so much Avalon for making our weekend so special! It was truly was a magnificent time!

Lots of love from Courtney and Matt

The Cle Hospitality branded Avalon Lodge was acquired in December 2010 and refurbished over the past 6 months.  The Lodge places an emphasis on sustainable living and giving back.  The Avalon Lodge is looking forward to assisting in reducing both disease and waste by donating their gently used soaps and amenities.  These hotel amenities will be collected, recycled, sanitized, and distributed worldwide to reduce the risk of pneumonia, diarrhea, the leading cause in deaths of children under 5, as well as other diseases.   Studies have shown the risk of disease has been reduced 60% in regions that received donations. Countries receiving recycled soaps include Haiti, Pakistan, Armenia, India, the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Ethiopia, Uganda, and Swaziland.

Additionally, since their inception in 2009; Clean the World has eliminated over 340 tons of waste.  This equals over 5 million soap bars and 35.5 tons of shampoo and conditioner, prevented from enter landfills and instead put back to human use.  Katy Donoghue of Cle Hospitality states:  “We try to keep our eye out for the little things we can do to help in a larger effort.  It is important to us to partner with entities doing global good.”

To further support sustainable living, the Avalon Lodge uses local vendors whenever possible, resulting in handmade furniture by local craftsman Mike Leary, breakfast breads from the Sugarpine Bakery and art and jewelry featured for sale in their Market Café by members of the Tahoe Art League.  This summer, the Avalon Lodge began promoting walking and biking rather than driving by providing bicycles for their guests to borrow free of charge.

In the winter of 2011, Cle Hospitality will launch their “Gratitude is Key” campaign donating a portion of their lodging profits to a yet to be determined charity.  They are asking the public to nominate worthy charities online at www.CleHospitality.com

How to contribute to save lives or donate soap and shampoo:

• http://www.cleantheworld.org/contribute.asp
• Become a Recycling Partner: http://www.cleantheworld.org/partners.asp
• To Volunteer: http://www.cleantheworld.org/volunteer.asp
• Clean the World Blog: http://www.cleantheworld.org/blog/
• Follow us on Facebook: http://tinyurl.com/3575sck
• Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/clean_the_world

About Clean the World, Inc.: Clean the World is committed to reducing the waste created by discarded soap and shampoo products and collects these items from hotels to be recycled and distributed to domestic homeless shelters and impoverished people worldwide, helping to prevent millions of deaths caused by hygiene-related illnesses. Clean the World Foundation, Inc. is a not-for-profit, 501(c)(3) tax-exempt charitable organization. For more information visit: http://www.cleantheworld.org