Inside Olympia Hospitality’s Niche: Managing Campus Hotels with Heart and Strategy

Glenn: everybody is your hospitality. Friend Glenn, from the show floor here at the lodging conference. Before I introduce these amazing people, let’s thank our friends over at Unifocus. Unifocusn technology that drives value. I’ve got from Olympia Hospitality, Sara masterson and John Schultz. They’re up in Maine, one of my favorite states up there, the way life should be. I hear you on that. And I will tell you, just before we went on camera, you were telling me a little bit about your business, and you say that you guys operate hotels on campuses, but not for yourselves. You’re doing it for the universities out there. That’s pretty interesting formula. How’s that working out for you? How’d you figure out how to do that?

John: We backed into it the old fashioned way. We started with owning hotels and campus markets back in the 70s and 80s when our company began. And then as we got through the recession and we started thinking about where we want to be in third party hotel management, we uncovered some campus opportunities. And what we realized, like not long after, is we love working in the college space, a passionate ownership, engaged leadership There’s missions in the way that everybody thinks. We get to bring those things to life and hospitality, and it’s just really, really fun work. All right. And the more we’ve done, the more we want to do. And now we’re sort of entrenched in this space, but it’s become part of our DNA.

Glenn: That’s right. Sarah. How do you see it?

Sarah: Yeah. Very similarly. I think it’s you know, we take the stewardship of really prestigious academic institutions and bringing that to communities as the front door and the back door for the student and parent engagement. That’s a really big responsibility, and we love being a part of that.

Glenn: It sure is. I love that you’re immersed in that campus culture. And I’ll say, good. Good thing there’s a lot of built in audience there as well to stay in the hotel. I’m not saying work hard, but that’s got to take a little bit of the pressure off. And also, I find that those hotels are probably more boutique in nature as opposed to flagged hotels. And I know you guys really you know, have a mix of both, but really like that boutique side too. So, Sarah, how are you seeing the future of the boutique hotel business in our incredible industry?

Sarah: Well, I mean, I think it’s just it’s continuing to grow. And I think that there is one of the things that we, our portfolio growth in the past two years or so has been pretty heavily focused in the independent space. Because we have a platform for it, because it is a unique operating model. But we also love that the brands are leaning into the lifestyle and boutique hospitality space. And because we operate on both sides you know, I think we are able to leverage knowledge in both the independent space and in the brand space. And when those two things get knit together, it creates some pretty fantastic experiences.

Glenn: And we’re seeing the debut from a number of the major companies today, products that kind of fit into that, that feeling. So probably a good idea then the major brands are getting into it, but also on the just general boutique side. How are you feeling about operating those properties compared to more of the franchise properties in terms of how they connect with customers and all that?

John: Yeah, I do think we have a little saying in Olympia World, it’s sort of the art and science and hospitality and the boutique side, really. It really focuses on the art, but it really relies on the science. And the art is what’s what’s in front of everybody. It’s in front of mind for us. And so that’s the fun part of the business. It’s creative. It’s engaging. Our our staff care about it. Our guests really care about it. And it’s our owners are sort of relying on us to sort of help it flourish. And then there’s the science that goes in behind it, which is, you know, tactics and distribution and engagement that make it all work. I think this the soft brand collection stuff is sort of a validation of that. Oh, yeah. Where when people can’t really do it on their own, they really need the benefits of a larger franchise system to back them up. We like to think we can do it pretty, pretty well without that, but we acknowledge there are going to be circumstances in marketplaces where you really need to have both things working together.

Glenn: Totally. And what I’ve really loved about the the major companies move into that market is it does give people a sense of security, but that freedom aspect of it. You’re working on a high wire there if you’re not doing the soft branded side of stuff. Right. So how are you getting out there and connecting with the customers when it seems like you got a deal with a big machine a lot of times in order to get people’s attention.

Sarah: Well, I mean, I actually think that generally the the playing field has been leveled with sort of in distribution strategy.

Glenn: Totally agree.

Sarah: Yeah. So I think that we’re able to use marketing tools in order to make sure our messaging, our brand, our footprint is out there. Even if it doesn’t have the power of a major franchise behind it.

Glenn: Excellent. How about you give us final thoughts? Anything that’s on your mind, maybe how are you feeling about the tone and temper and potential future of hospitality in general, based on what you’re hearing here?

John: I think statistically, the lodging conference, there’s cause for concern. But what I love about our business is we’re a consummate optimist. And you can just hear everybody who’s living within the space, like, don’t give up on us, right? It’s gonna be great. People have been traveling forever. We’re gonna have evolving resources like AI that are going to continue to level the playing field. But at the end of the day, stay the course, and it’s going to continue to be awesome.

Glenn: I love it. I’ve been doing a little bit of a group face at this event, so I like hearing positive stuff. We’re supposed to be at three. Yeah yeah yeah that’s great. Oh, we got John. We got Sarah. Glenn, please be sure to like, share, subscribe this video. I mean, it’s my first interview with them. We gotta we gotta get it out there. Thanks for watching. Thank you. Beautiful to see you all next time. Bye. Thank you.