At Your Service

Behind the luxurious accommodations, world-class golf and fine dining at Florida resorts and residential communities stand companies that specialize in making everything run just right.

Hospitality management companies are "kind of Oz behind the curtain," says Lee Weeks, CEO of Naples-based Coral Hospitality, a full-service management and investment company. Boasting backgrounds at posh properties including The Ritz-Carlton, Naples, The Breakers and Atlantis, Weeks and company chairman John Ayres Jr. head up Coral, which handles operations at high-end resorts, condominiums, golf clubs, marinas and other clubs and communities.

Lately the curtain has spread to envelop new sectors, especially condominium hotels, in which a developer sells units to individuals, who share in the profits. As that sector and the hospitality market as a whole expand, Southwest Florida companies, some with backgrounds in construction and real estate development and others with expertise in hotel management, see opportunities.

All Inclusive

For the most part, Coral Hospitality works as a third-party manager, overseeing everything from operations to finances and service. It manages 35 properties in Florida and Georgia, including Casa Ybel Resort on Sanibel Island, Sancerre residential condominiums in Naples, Naples Bath & Tennis Club, and Highland Woods Golf & Country Club and its master community association in Bonita Springs. It also is partial owner of Arrowhead Golf Club in Naples.

The company's involvement in hotels and resorts, as well as marinas, tennis clubs, golf clubs and other properties, differentiates it from others, says Ayres. It has the resources and purchasing power that an individual property owner might not have, he says.

Some investors look to Coral to turn an unstable property around and then stay on as a consultant. With some, it has a 20- to 30-year contract to manage a property.

"When they hire Coral, it's more than just a general manager. In addition, you get all of these resources behind the general manager," Ayres says, citing areas such as financial, maintenance and interior design. "We're like a one-stop shop."

The company has a smorgasbord of expertise, and its experience and professionalism make operations easier, says Bruce Meriwether, president of the board of governors at Eagle Creek Golf & Country Club in Naples. Although the company has had a management contract with Eagle Creek, it currently is working in a consulting capacity, assisting the club in areas such as human resources and food and beverage planning. Meriwether says another benefit of using a company like Coral is being able to access a group buying plan with other clubs that provides significant discounts.

Coral's $5 million annual revenue is growing by about $1 million annually, a figure that's expected to double starting next year, when several redevelopment and new projects will be complete, Weeks says. One of its strategies for growth has been establishing exclusive relationships with developers such as Centex Homes.

"As they grow, we grow with them," Weeks says.

But they don't want to grow the company to a point where they don't maintain quality. "If we can't do it and do it first-class and do it right and be well thought-of for what we do, we need to slow down and regroup," he says.

"We don't lose sight of the fact that we're in the hospitality business," Ayres adds.

In the past year, Coral Hospitality has seen 400 percent growth in its condominium hotel and resort sector. Last year the company signed four new management contracts in Florida to redevelop or build new projects at Warm Mineral Springs Resort in North Port, Sandpearl Resort & Residences in Clearwater, Vero Beach Hotel & Club in Vero Beach and Seagate Hotel & Spa in Delray Beach.

The 100-acre Warm Mineral Springs Resort, which features an 87-degree mineral springs lake said to be the Fountain of Youth sought by Juan Ponce de León, will have a lodge and residential community with 270 guest and owner accommodations. Plans also call for a town center that will house the Institute for Natural Healing and European Spa, a conference center, restaurants and shops.

Condo hotels are the "new rage," says Weeks.

But Coral Hospitality has been careful to make sure the projects it is managing are "one-of-a-kind properties in one-of-a-kind locations," Ayres says. "We've picked and chosen very well, understanding this whole condo-hotel concept."

Hotel Hybrid

In the past, a hotel company would develop a hotel, own it and take 20 to 30 years to pay off the debt, but now developers are building condo hotels and selling the units to individuals.

"Where can you buy a condo for less than $300,000 with all the resort amenities in Southwest Florida?" says Todd Gates, founder, president and CEO of Naples-based Gates McVey, a development company that launched a hospitality division about two years ago to venture into condo hotels. "Even though they are hotel rooms, they're still habitable, comfortable, unique."

Gates says the condo-hotel trend picked up pace after Sept. 11 devastated the tourism industry; some hotels went out of business, and others took more than a year to return to normal levels. "You had these beautiful buildings with beautiful amenities and locations that were not performing as hotels that would be wonderful condo locations," he says. "The challenges that the hotels were running into opened up opportunities from a real estate and

investment standpoint."

Condo hotels spread costs such as insurance, utilities and property taxes among individual unit owners, and offset the debt service, making it easier and more profitable to operate as a hotel.

Gates McVey plans to grow the division quickly, by branding the names and expanding throughout the Sunshine State. It has completed a $2.5 million renovation of the Inn at Pelican Bay and is selling units, and it has purchased Staybridge Hotel in Bonita Springs. Three others are under contract in Florida. The company expects to invest $2 million to $4 million to update each property before putting the units up for sale.

Although Gates McVey is relatively new to the hospitality industry, Gates says that as a fully-integrated construction, real estate, mortgage, development and hospitality firm, it brings expertise all under one roof.

"Not too many firms can do what we can do. We do have all of the tools in our toolbox to do just this," he says.

Sharp Vision

Twenty Twenty Worldwide Hospitality, also based in Naples, is another company that provides third-party management for hotels, and is building a new Hampton Inn & Suites in Cape Coral.

"Management fees are very lucrative; it's a very profitable market," says Fred Hirschovits, who founded the company in 1996. Hirschovits declined to provide annual revenue figures.

For investors who aren't familiar with the hotel business, Twenty Twenty can step in and run the hotel, from the capital planning to operations. If investors want to change hotel brands, Twenty Twenty can assist with that also; Hirschovits deals with the franchisees to work through the process.

The philosophy among hospitality management companies is simple.

"The customer has to be taken care of," says Hirschovits. "You have to run a clean, service-oriented, friendly environment."