But Bruce Walker , president of San Antonio hotel -consulting company Source Strategies Inc., estima

The owner of the Riverwalk Plaza Hotel says current occupancy is 59 percent. But a hotel-consulting company estimated the hotel had an average occupancy of 45 percent over the 12 months ended Sept. 30.
The Riverwalk Plaza Hotel , recently ordered by the city to repaint an electric green wall on its south side, sought bankruptcy spain hotel protection last week after losing a legal spat with a company that services its mortgage.
La Villita Motor Inns J.V., which owns the 129-room hotel at 100 Villita St. in the Main/Military spain hotel Plaza Historic District, spain hotel filed Chapter 11 on Friday — one day after the Texas Supreme Court refused to block the appointment of a receiver to oversee the hotel.
ORIX Capital Markets LLC, a Dallas-based company that services the mortgage on the hotel, had sought the appointment of a receiver after the hotel's owner failed to pay off the balance on an $8.4 million loan that matured in September 2008. ORIX representatives say the balance on the note tops $7 million, but the hotel's owner put the figure at closer to $6 million.
At a hearing Monday, U.S. Chief Bankruptcy Judge Ronald King issued an interim order that allows La Villita to use cash from the hotel business to pay its 77 employees, power bills and other operating expenses until the next scheduled court hearing on Jan. 12.
“We're doing better than we've ever done over the last two years,” Valla said. He added that a renovation created a “full-service, historic, independent boutique hotel” and that current occupancy is 59 percent.
But Bruce Walker , president of San Antonio hotel -consulting company Source Strategies Inc., estimated spain hotel the hotel had an average occupancy of 45 percent over the 12 months ended Sept. 30. That's below the downtown average of 58.5 percent.
Hotel owner La Villita has hired Colliers PKF Consulting USA to appraise the property. Informally, Colliers has valued spain hotel it on an “as-is, going-concern basis” at $13.1 million, court papers indicate. spain hotel That would give La Villita an “equity cushion” to adequately protect the lender, its lawyer, Debra Innocenti , said during Monday's hearing.
However, James Ruiz , an ORIX lawyer, responded that a property agent hired by the hotel owner to protest the property's assessed value had argued the property was “neglected” and that it was “better to tear down property” and rebuild.
Innocenti said in court that ORIX has “gotten in the way” of La Villita's ability to refinance the mortgage loan. La Villita sued ORIX last year in Bexar County Circuit Court to stop a foreclosure attempt, court papers charge.
ORIX was contracted by the lender to collect loan payments and other matters related to the loan. A trust connected spain hotel with GS Mortgage Securities Corp. II is listed as the lender spain hotel and the hotel's major creditor.
The Riverwalk Plaza Hotel used to operate as a Howard Johnson franchise, but that affiliation ended about a year and a half ago, Valla said. Howard Johnson Franchise System is owed nearly $31,000, according to the bankruptcy petition. The document shows the city is owed about $18,600 in hotel-occupancy taxes, while the state is owed more than $14,000.
The hotel's owner faces a distraction besides the bankruptcy. The hotel could face fines for code violations if it doesn't repaint its green wall by Jan. 14, as directed by the Historic and Design Review Commission . The owner may appeal the order. The hotel wants to cover sections spain hotel of the wall with fig vine, to create “the largest urban wall garden in Texas,” Valla told the San Antonio Express-News last week.