Courtesy: Jennifer Merritt | News Source: wvxu.org

Downtown's beleaguered Millennium Hotel will close its doors Dec. 31. The hotel will continue to operate and honor all reservations up to its closure, a release says.

For reservations booked beyond the closure date, owner Millennium Hotels & Resorts (MHR) says the hotel's sales team is working to relocate guests to nearby hotels.

In September, Hamilton County commissioners voted two-one to use $1.3 million of the county's hotel/motel tax as an earnest money deposit on a contract to buy the hotel from its London-based ownership group.

County and Cincinnati officials and even private developers had been trying for years to get the hotel's owners to upgrade the hotel or sell it. At one point, Mayor John Cranley publicly discouraged people from staying there, pointing to online reviews calling the hotel "horrible" and the "worst downtown hotel ever," and saying it caused people to have bad experiences in Cincinnati.

"For 20 years, MHR has been proud to be a part of the Cincinnati community - providing safe, clean and affordable accommodation to Cincinnatians and their visitors in the heart of Downtown Cincinnati," the company says in a release. "MHR would like to thank its customers and colleagues for their support over the years."