It's been a long, strange trip for Tom Showalter.

The Lancaster native started out cleaning rooms in the hotel industry in 1992, left town in 2000 to move up in the ranks at hotels in Florida and Georgia, then returned here in 2006 as front desk supervisor at the former Holiday Inn on Greenfield Road.

By June 2007 he had become general manager of the facility but was abruptly fired that December for filing complaints with his corporate overseers, Kronos Hotels and Resorts, when employee paychecks started to bounce.

The situation at the hotel worsened. Employees, utility bills and vendors weren't being paid. The state health department closed the restaurant, and liquor control officers raided a party.

Even though he was no longer employed there, Showalter said the staff called him for advice. He tried to be supportive and encouraged them to stay until things turned around.

But that support ended when the state's Bureau of Liquor Control Enforcement officers cited a former co-worker for selling liquor at a catered party at the facility after the hotel had lost its license.

Even though she was ordered by Kronos officials to sell the liquor, Showalter said, when she was caught "they threw her under the bus and tried to make it seem like she was acting on her own."

(A Liquor Control investigation eventually exonerated the woman, and the state charged Kronos CEO Charles Morais and hotel General Manager Jay Sharma with selling alcohol without a license. Sharma pleaded guilty and paid a fine. Morais did not appear at his preliminary hearing, and there is an active bench warrant for his arrest.)

Showalter undertook a one-man campaign against the owners, Kronos Hotels and Resorts of Atlanta, Ga., and in October 2008 established a website (kronoshotelsllc.com) to compile media reports and court filings about problems at Kronos-owned hotels across the country.

In November 2008, Kronos filed a lawsuit to shut down the site and asked for $250,000 in punitive damages.

Through it all, the 39-year-old Showalter wondered if he'd ever again get a job in an industry he loved.

"After 18 years [in the business], it came to a screeching halt when all of that happened," he said.

Despite his own situation, Showalter was even more concerned about co-workers who lost their jobs in Lancaster.

"All the time I was there, they were loyal to me, not one of them jumped ship on me," he said. "When the paychecks were bouncing, one girl came to me and said, 'Give me one good reason to stay,' and I said, 'Because I want you to. Things will turn around.'

"They all became my family."

Morais and Mir, whose attention was now occupied by the collapse of their company, eventually dropped their lawsuit against Showalter in May 2009.

"It was an intimidation tactic," Showalter laughed, "and they didn't realize I'm too stupid to be intimidated."

Back in the business
After being shut out of the industry for a year and a half ("I started to question whether or not I had done the right thing," he said) Showalter got his break when he was hired by the management group Inns of Distinction in April 2009 to be front office manager for the Waynebrook Inn in Honey Brook.

"They gave me my shot," he said with gratitude. "I really appreciate those guys for that. They're the greatest thing since sliced bread."

Getting hired also enabled Showalter to fulfill a promise he made to his former Holiday Inn colleagues to hire them for positions where he worked.

Showalter explained why he stayed in the business, despite his two-year ordeal with Kronos.

"A lot of people say they get tired of going to work every day because it's tedious," Showalter said. "I may go to the same place every day, but everything is different, every day is a new challenge.

"And I really enjoy the people — the guests, my co-workers, management, the vendors. The bottom line is, it's my passion."

csmedley@lnpnews.com