CHARLESTON, SC – January 18, 2022 – Charlestowne Hotels, a leading hospitality management company known for its customized, owner-centric approach to management, closes out 2021 with significant additions to its growing portfolio and enhancements to its corporate infrastructure.
The management company has continuously achieved above-average RevPAR growth across its properties and 2021 proved to be no exception. Through November 2021, Charlestowne saw a 90% RevPAR increase year over year and an 11% increase compared to pre-pandemic levels in 2019.
“After the pandemic sparked an industry-wide evolution, our team used 2021 as a time to push ourselves creatively and expand our robust suite of management capabilities, ” says Kyle Hughey, Chief Executive Officer at Charlestowne Hotels. “We doubled down on our commitment to hiring, retaining, and promoting top talent, bringing together some of the most entrepreneurial minds in the industry today. Through these efforts, we’ve been able to provide our partners with an unmatched level of management expertise across multiple specialties, enabling us to quickly grow and develop successful independent brands in new markets and expand our food and beverage division.
HOTEL OPENINGS AND DEVELOPMENT
In the past year alone, Charlestowne Hotels grew its portfolio by 20%, developing or taking over management of 10 new properties. The company’s national footprint now extends across half the country, with a collection of 50+ hotels in 25 states.
Notable grand openings include the historic Hotel Morgan in Morgantown, West Virginia (the company’s tenth opening in a collegiate market and eighth adaptive reuse project), soft-branded property The Origin Westminster in Westminster, Colorado, and newly-launched lifestyle independent hotel, The Loutrel in Charleston, South Carolina. The year also marked Charlestowne’s significant entrance into one of the country’s biggest hospitality markets with the full-management takeover of four boutique hotels in Chicago, including an upcoming comprehensive brand refresh for The Ivy Hotel, a luxury property located in the city’s premier commercial district, the Magnificent Mile.
FOOD AND BEVERAGE
Charlestowne Hotels emerged as a leader in the food and beverage space with the debut of five new concepts in 2021 and five food and beverage takeovers in areas ranging from Waterville, Maine, to Westminster, Colorado. The company’s dedicated food and beverage team, which leads all front and back-of-house operations for every restaurant it manages, thoughtfully approached each project with a goal to fill gaps in the market and further support local economic development. Charlestowne’s new concept openings have been met with local acclaim: Front & Main at the Lockwood Hotel (Waterville, ME) is the city’s highest-rated restaurant on Yelp, coffee and cocktail bar Anvil + Ax at the Hotel Morgan (Morgantown, WV) maintains a five-star rating on both Yelp and Facebook, and Devil’s Kitchen at Hotel Maverick (Grand Junction, CO) is the city’s number one recommended restaurant on Yelp and a Charlestowne Hotels portfolio leader in both revenue and profitability. The company’s food and beverage outlets also achieved national recognition through highly respected industry accolades. For instance, The Bar at The Spectator Hotel was voted one of the top three “Best Hotel Bars” in the U.S. in the 2021 USA Today 10Best Readers’ Choice Awards.
In 2022, Charlestowne will further solidify its reputation as a respected food and beverage operator as it takes on development of 10 new culinary outlets. Concept ideation, programming, and branding for eight of these projects will be completed entirely in-house by the Charlestowne team.
STRATEGIC HIRES
The accomplishments of 2021 were made possible through the hard work of the entire Charlestowne Hotels team, and the addition of 17 strategic corporate hires and executive appointments made throughout the year. Matt Barba, an integral member of the Charlestowne Hotels family for more than a decade, returned to the corporate team this year as Chief Operating Officer (previous roles included general manager at the Deer Path Inn and regional director of operations for Charlestowne Hotels). He now leads the operational strategy of all property management departments for Charlestowne’s quickly expanding portfolio, including food and beverage.
Charlestowne also strengthened its fully integrated strategic marketing division, a specialized service not typically offered by third-party management companies, which handles hotel brand concept development and promotional efforts designed to drive revenue and boost guest loyalty. The growing department doubled its creative team and hired five new corporate marketing members to further support branding development projects and digital marketing efforts, including strategic planning, project management, print and digital media development, paid media management, CRM & email deployment, analytics & reporting, and a suite of creative services (graphic design, production/fulfillment, photography/videography).
To support corporate infrastructure across the operations, food and beverage and recruitment space, Charlestowne also welcomed a new corporate guest services manager, food and beverage support manager and corporate recruiter to its team.
“We’ve spent a year evolving our employee best practices at both the corporate and property levels, making thoughtful hiring decisions that will benefit our properties’ individualized goals and growth,” says Matt Barba, Chief Operating Officer at Charlestowne Hotels. “We’re excited to keep the momentum going in 2022, as we will continue to recruit the industry’s leading creative minds who will take our in-house capabilities and on-site programming and services to the next level – making Charlestowne Hotels one of the most dynamic companies to work for right now.”
LOOKING AHEAD
“Our team is fully equipped to execute and exceed expectations for the numerous projects we have in the pipeline, including seven hotel development deals and nearly a dozen food and beverage openings in food-centric cities like Austin and Charleston – with our very first standalone bar and restaurant concept opening next summer,” says Matt Barba, Chief Operating Officer, at Charlestowne Hotels. “As we look ahead to 2022, we’re eager to make more strategic development moves into primary markets while expanding our presence in remote destinations such as Wyoming, Montana and Utah. Whether we’re debuting a revenue-driving overnight package, conceptualizing a localized restaurant menu, or streamlining operational best practices to elevate guest service standards, our team is moving full steam ahead to put our partners on the map.”
For more information about Charlestowne Hotels and their innovative approach to management, visit CharlestowneHotels.com.
