NASHVILLE, Tennessee — Independent hotels have freedom and flexibility, but the downsides can be challenge and risk.
Curator Hotel & Resort Collection has been working to fix those challenges.
Curator is a collection of more than 100 independent hotels and resorts, fairly evenly split between the two, said President Jennifer Barnwell. In late June, Curator welcomed four new properties: the Quirk Richmond in Richmond, Virginia; the Albert Hotel in Fredericksburg, Texas; the Ozarker Lodge in Brandon, Missouri; and the Parker Hotel, formerly Ascent on Main, in Parker, Colorado.
Curator launched in November 2020 through the collaboration of hotel real estate investment trust Pebblebrook Hotel Trust and six independent and lifestyle management companies. The goal was to create a collection in which owners of independent and boutique hotels could gain the benefits of scale without having to attach themselves to a hotel brand and the associated brand requirements and fees.
As Curator expands, Barnwell's goal is to make sure that it brings value to the independent hotel owners who consider joining. Prospective new members include owners of single assets as well as small groups of independently managed hotels and owner-operators.
“The key for us is to have those conversations about how the operation is operating today, but make sure that we can bring value to them through our offerings, which are both on the cost-saving side but also the incremental revenue-producing side,” she said.
Hotel owners are interested in cost-saving initiatives to drive more profitability, creating more value in their properties, Barnwell said. Curator has more than 100 programs available through different vendors across multiple disciplines to help, taking advantage of the collection’s scale to find lower costs.
“Every hotel needs a whole series of technology platforms to operate,” she said. “We've got reservations, we've got revenue, we've got point of sale — and then also another one that's a very high-cost savings program for us is actually credit card processing, which maybe doesn't get it a lot of attention, and maybe isn't that sexy, but it's a huge cost savings for many of our properties.”
One side of Curator's business is the B2B side, which centers on agreements and negotiations with vendor partners to achieve lower costs, which is a struggle for independents working on their own, Barnwell said. Hotels that are part of a brand can get the best pricing on everything just from a volume perspective.
On the business-to-consumer side, Curator has put several initiatives in place that are additive to what its member hotels are already doing, she said. The company relaunched its website, and it's heavy on visuals, features its member properties and has a section on experiences to help match guests with hotels.
"We feature the experiences that are separate and apart from just booking a room, but what you can do on your itinerary while you're at that hotel," she said.
Curator has invested in keyword buys to drive traffic to its website and increase awareness of the site itself and its member properties. It also relaunched its social accounts and formed new partnerships who are producing content for its social media accounts.
"You can learn a lot more about Curator from a business perspective if you're an owner-operator, but also if you're a consumer, what our properties have to offer and how you can find us on our website and discover more about us," she said.
For more of Hotel News Now's interview with Curator's Jennifer Barnwell, watch the video above.