ENTERPRISE — After more than a decade as Eagle’s View Inn and Suites, the hotel atop the hill on the northwest corner of Enterprise is changing to SureStay Plus Hotel by Best Western, according to its new owner, Maria Ogaard.

She and her husband, Erik, took over the well-known hotel in October from former owner David Hurley. Now it’s back to being with Best Western, with which it had been affiliated before Hurley took over.

“The property originally was built as a Best Western,” Maria Ogaard said. “Because it was closed for repairs for about two years, it’s been a challenge.”

She said the Best Western brand will give SureStay Plus, 200 Highland Ave., a wider reach when it comes to advertising.

The SureStay name is a huge help, Ogaard said. It goes on the Best Western advertising platform.

“It should create more awareness,” she said.

But the hotel remains a local fixture.

“We’re still locally owned,” Ogaard said. “We’re very excited about being part of the community.”

The Ogaards have been in La Grande for about 20 years, Maria said. Although they plan to remain living there, they have a local assistant manager, Johlona Nelson.

The 53-room hotel includes a pool, a hot tub and sauna, a gymnasium, a conference room and a hot breakfast for guests.

Rates are about $169 a night but fluctuate depending on the season, demand and availability, Ogaard said.

She said there are two main challenges to running a tourism-related business in Wallowa County — the tourism season and the offseason.

She said they’ve had seven months of being in the red since they took over and

hope to turn that around

now that tourist season has started.

“We need to maximize our traffic in the summer,” she said. “We’re working to get more traffic in offseason to make it work.”