CHARLESTON, South Carolina—Charlestowne Hotels closed out 2021 and announced growth updates to its portfolio and enhancements to its corporate infrastructure.
The management company has continuously experienced RevPAR growth across its properties, including in 2021. Through November 2021, Charlestowne saw a 90 percent RevPAR increase year over year and an 11 percent 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, CEO 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, Charlestowne Hotels grew its portfolio by 20 percent, developing or taking over the management of 10 new properties. The company’s national footprint now extends across half the country, with a collection of over 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 entrance into one of the country’s biggest hospitality markets with the full-management takeover of four boutique hotels in Chicago, including an upcoming brand refresh for The Ivy Hotel.
Food and Beverage
Charlestowne Hotels emerged in the food and beverage space with the debut of five new concepts in 2021 and five in areas ranging from Waterville, Maine, to Westminster, Colorado. The company’s food and beverage team, which leads all front and back-of-house operations for its restaurants, approached each project with a goal to fill gaps in the market and further support local economic development. Charlestowne’s new concept openings include Front & Main at the Lockwood Hotel (Waterville, Maine); Anvil + Ax at the Hotel Morgan (Morgantown, West Virginia); and Devil’s Kitchen at Hotel Maverick (Grand Junction, Colorado).
In 2022, Charlestowne will take on the development of 10 new culinary outlets. Concept ideation, programming, and branding for eight of these projects will be completed in-house by the Charlestowne team.
Hires
Charlestowne Hotels added 17 corporate hires and executive appointments throughout the year. Matt Barba returned to the corporate team 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 portfolio, including food and beverage.
Charlestowne also added to its marketing division, which handles hotel brand concept development and promotional efforts The department doubled its creative team and hired five new corporate marketing members to support branding development projects and digital marketing efforts, including strategic planning, project management, print and digital media development, paid media management, CRM and email deployment, analytics and 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 added 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.”
“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 Barba. “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.”
