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The Postcard Inn Beach Resort & Marina at Holiday Isle embraces its local , modern boathouse motif .
The funky Postcard Inn brand will serve as an expansion vehicle for restoring distressed resort properties .
By Jeff Weinstein , editor in chief
With the opening of the second Postcard Inn in Islamorada , Florida , Starwood Capital Group is taking its next step toward developing a funky , retro brand with potential for significant scale .
Roy Shanholtz , vice president of asset management for Greenwich , Connecticut-based Starwood , envisions 20 to 30 Postcard Inn hotels , leading to the sale of a new 3- to 3.5- star brand within the five- to seven-year timeframe of the investment fund . The first hotel — a renovation of a Travelodge — opened about two years ago in St . Pete Beach , Florida , and has been outperforming its competitive set , according to Shanholtz .
Shanholtz says the Starwood acquisition team is looking at more limited-service portfolios and already has identified sites ranging from Colorado , to Hawaii . Its partner , Hersha Hospitality Management , will operate all the Postcard Inn hotels . Shanholtz also likes locations such as Virginia Beach and the New Jersey shore , as well as California and Seattle . The group plans to renovate and rebrand a 51-room property in Islamorada and complex it with the other hotel there , as well .
“ There are a lot of distressed , resort-based properties ,” Shanholtz says . “ Postcard Inn has a retro , funky vibe , so when you are putting money in , you don ’ t have to go to the extent of a 4-star brand . We can break some of the rules while embracing the local environment . By having a brand not as regimented as a 4-star , we can do things like put quotes on the wall . We are a little different .”
From the asset management side , not much worries Shanholtz about the further development of the brand . He says Starwood already has the “ winning formula ” on the renovation side , which should range from US $ 5million to US $ 15 million for acquisitions that should range from US $ 10 million to US $ 30 million .
Based on market conditions and an uncertain future , what does concern Shanholtz is the exit from the fund .
In Islamorada , a US $ 11 million renovation led to the November launch of the Postcard Inn Beach Resort & Marina at Holiday Isle . Starwood Capital acquired the property in 2009 and touched just about every space in the old boathouse-style resort in the Florida Keys .
The culmination of the renovation came when the hotel unveiled the country ’ s first fast-casual Shula Burger restaurant , created by the restaurant team from legendary football coach Don Shula .
Islamorada hotel Managing Director Bob Van Bergen says he expects to realize a US $ 20 to US $ 30 bump in room rate as a result of the reposition and is already starting to see results . “ The renovation has had an immediate impact , with occupancy almost doubling over last year — and the market has not doubled ,” he says . He adds that actual and 90-days-out booking are up almost 100 % from last year .
16 HOTELS January / February 2012 www . hotelsmag . com