PHOENIX — Brittain Resorts & Hotels is expanding its portfolio outside of South Carolina for the first time in the company's 80-year history.
The Myrtle Beach, South Carolina-based full-service hospitality management company has partnered with Provident Hotels & Resorts to operate its portfolio of eight hotels and resorts in Florida.
The properties include: The Ocean Pointe Suites at Key Largo in Key Largo; The Provident Oceana Beachfront Suites, The Sunset Vistas Beachfront Suites and The Crystal Palms Beach Resort in Treasure Island; The Sailport Waterfront Suites in Tampa; The Provident Grand Luxury Short-Term Residences and The Provident Doral at the Blue in Doral; and The Mutiny Hotel, Coconut Grove in Miami.
Brittney Jones, chief development officer at Brittain Resorts & Hotels, said in an interview with HNN at The Lodging Conference that key executives at the company decided about a year ago that the company would need to grow outside of Myrtle Beach to continue its success.
"Our partners have relationships with the partners of Provident, and through various meetings and conversations, everyone identified that we would be able to come in and bring our tools and resources and the corporate infrastructure that we have and make a positive impact to the bottom line rather quickly," she said. "It puts us in a new state, several different markets within that state, and then it diversifies our portfolio a little bit, too, from a key-count perspective."
Most of Brittain's existing portfolio is filled with big resorts on Myrtle Beach. Jones said the average room count of its South Carolina properties is about 250 rooms. The Provident portfolio comes with a property as small as 25 rooms and a hotel as big as 180 rooms.
Brittain isn't done expanding outside of South Carolina, though. Jones said the company is going to focus on the southern coast of the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf Coast, and also on leisure destinations in Tennessee such as Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg.
The portfolio expansion comes on the heels of Jones' hiring as chief development officer for Brittain back in June. She said how much the company emphasizes and values people is what drew her in during the interview process, and her experience fits well with what Brittain want to accomplish.
"I've spent the last 90 days assessing the portfolio that we currently have and understanding the strength that the organization brings and what sets us apart from our competition, such as our marketing department that drives an 80% to 85% direct contribution rate to our independent hotels," she said. "I'm really excited for what the future holds."