[Triple_R]

I still can't help but think that people are developing an overly idealized conception of an Inn, and that's resulting in people not fully appreciating Sui's position.

An Inn is first and foremost a commercial enterprise. Now, the people who work there can legitimately develop a sentimental attachment to it (and to one another), but at the end of the day, if a commercial enterprise is continually bleeding cash it's going to go under (barring wealthy benefactors keeping it going, or some parent company eating up a lost to keep it going - neither is at play here).

Sui has a struggling commercial enterprise, is near the point of having to retire, and she sees no potential heir that is both able and willing to manage the Inn and manage it well (Enishi she views as willing but unable, Satsuki as able but unwilling).

Now she may buttress these cold, hard facts with defensible and sincere emotional/selfless reasons for wanting to shut down the inn, but the primary reason is the cold, hard facts of the situation. I really don't see how anybody can fault her for her reasoning there. Her assessment of Enishi may yet be proven wrong, but she has good reason for having that current assessment of him.