Not built to be a Howard Johnson's Motor Lodge, Plainview was NOT a typical standardized location. Nonetheless the motel was remodeled in the late 1970s and became a HoJo's in 1979. Featuring a nearby Howard Johnson's Restaurant, it was a complete complex that offered about 180 guest rooms.

By 1984 the Howard Johnson Company had been sold to Imperial Group and was desperately trying to invent new niche concepts. One of the new concepts that was hoped to revive HoJo's was the Plaza-Hotel idea. Existing properties and conversions were updated into the concept. Plainview became a Plaza-Hotel in 1984. It featured 56 Executive Section rooms along with 126 re-decorated guest rooms. With its redesignation the location received a new front desk, lobby, executive offices, meeting rooms, entrance canopy, roof, stucco pillars, and landscaping.

The location survived as a Plaza-Hotel well into the 1990s, but by the 2000s had been converted into Castle Senior Living of Plainview.