SKANEATELES, NY—Boutique management company, Mirbeau Hospitality Services (MHS), LLC, now in its second year, is under way with its second property, a proprietary concept known as Mirbeau Inn & Spa.
“We’re a new concept,” said MHS CEO John Logan in describing what he foresees as a solid, desirable brand with future wide appeal. “Right now, we’re one property, but they’re starting to move dirt around for our second property.”
The “new concept” actually has been more than a dozen years in the making.
MHS is an offshoot of Mirbeau Management Co., LLC, which was launched by co-owners Gary and Linda Dower in 1999 with the objective of creating a “near-urban getaway,” a resort within a 90-mile radius of a city center. The original Mirbeau Inn & Spa, situated here in the tourist-flush Finger Lakes wine region, is reminiscent of a French country estate set among a Monet-inspired landscape of ponds, gardens and bridges.
“It immediately gives our guests the feeling that they’ve ‘gotten away,’” said Logan. “As they get into the property, the different elements, the rooms and spa, they feel like they’re in this old French country estate that’s been converted into a resort. Many of our guests ask us, ‘What was this building before?’ and they’re very surprised to learn it’s only 13 years old.”
When the initial property achieved stabilization and success—among other accolades it’s an AAA Four-Diamond winner—plans were put in place to expand the concept; however, noted Logan, those efforts got curtailed during the recent economic downturn and only recently were moved to the front burner.
The business model for Mirbeau, which will be translated to current and
future developments, is designed to appeal not only to multi-night-stay guests, but to “locals” within a 30- to 60-mile radius who want to enjoy the resort for the day by utilizing its award-winning spa facilities.
This will come into prominence with the company’s second hotel, Mirbeau Inn & Spa at The Pinehills, which is under construction and slated to open next year in Plymouth, MA. The 50-room property will be part of The Pinehills, a master-planned community of single-family homes, condominium townhomes and leased apartments that also encompasses two championship, daily-fee golf courses by Rees Jones and Nicklaus Design, as well as the nationally ranked private Old Sandwich Golf Club. The hotel will be sited on The Village Green, which offers 1.3 million sq. ft. of retail and commercial space.
“We’re in a perfect position for our guests to take advantage of the golf and a fitness facility that has tennis and an indoor, Olympic-size pool,” said Logan. “Those are all things we don’t have to build.”
The resort is being designed in the style of a French manor house and will feature a 14,000-sq.-ft. Spa Mirbeau, a fine-dining restaurant, a wine bar and bistro and a 5,000-sq.-ft. event space for up to 250 persons. Logan said the property, like the one here, would offer a spa membership program geared toward local residents.
The company also plans to add 40 rooms to the property at a later date.
“At the time we started to look for development opportunities, we determined we needed to establish a third-party management company,” said Logan. “Now, our next step is to begin to grow the company so that as we develop new Mirbeaus and we continue to manage those properties, we can go out and help other boutique property owners run their properties.”
According to Logan, MHS would work with boutique owners to negotiate a lower, fixed management fee with incentives for achieving financial performance goals. He noted this is important to consider, as most boutique owners who manage the property on their own “can be nervous about giving up so much on the front end without any guarantee of success.”
He said MHS would look to manage properties up to 150 rooms, with or without food and beverage and/or spa facilities.
“We’re on the ownership side and we’re on the management side so we know how important it is to make every dollar count,” said Logan. He added since MHS was originally concepted in 2009 and officially launched in 2011, “We’ve increased revenue over 30% and our NOI grew [in 2012]by 20%…we’ve really learned how to run a tight ship. What we pride ourselves on is that we can really drive a lot of money to the bottom line and do that while maintaining a high level of service standards for the guest.”
In addition to the Massachusetts property, MHS has other properties under development.
“We are working with a few private equity groups and individual investors who are very interested in participating in the roll out [of the concept],” he said. Projects are in the works in Rhinebeck, NY; Richmond, VA (part of a planned community); and three in Maryland.
Mirbeau also manages Finger Lakes Lodging by Mirbeau, a 14-room property across from the Mirbeau Resort & Spa, here.
Logan said the principals of Mirbeau Cos., which includes asset manager Mirbeau Management Co. led by Tom Abbott, have, or will have, equity in all the projects.
“Our goal is to have 25 Mirbeaus in the top 25 markets we’ve identified,” said Logan, with the new-builds capping at about 90 keys. He added the company has also been exploring conversion opportunities.
“And our goal with Mirbeau Hospitality Services over the next two years is to grow it so it not only manages the Mirbeaus, but obtain third-party management contracts.”