STREATOR - Six years after Hilton Reservations Worldwide call center opened, it is closing, though its 170 employees have the option of working out of their homes.

The impact of a call center closing is not as strong as "say a manufacturing plant," Mike Neuenkirchen, head of the Streator Area Chamber of Commerce & Industry, said Tuesday.

The company will provide $250 and an allowance for high-speed Internet service to allow employees to work from their homes, making reservations for hotels in the chain, according to a press release issued this week. About 35 employees have taken the company up on its offer and the rest have until Jan. 25 to decide. The rented space at Westgate Plaza will be vacated by March.

While the company would eventually like half of its reservation staff working at home, the Streator operation will be completely home-based. The company currently has 600 people nationwide working from their homes.

The move will allow Hilton "to maintain its strong workforce presence in Streator," the company said in its release.

Most employees in Streator live within a few miles of the city, said Neuenkirchen.

The savings in getting to work should offset the cost of any additional expenses, "at least theoretically," he said.

The company has offered the same pay and incentives for working at home as at the Westgate center, the release said.

"Internet access and all the various telecommunications tools we have now nowadays allow a lot more flexibility in the way work can be done," Neuenkirchen said. "It's a trend to be aware of."

The trend can be both negative and positive, he said. "Someone that might be a thousand miles away from a company can still get work," he said. The negative would be "not having a business acting as the center of influence within a community."