Saltwater Suites

Transcript

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Welcome to the Topsoil Insider podcast, where locals, vacationers and those looking to relocate to the greater Topsoil area can hear all about the wonderful businesses and events in our beautiful coastal Carolina towns, including Hampstead, topsoil Beach, surf City, north Topsoil, holly Ridge and Sneeds Ferry.

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Coming up, hear all about Saltwater Suites, a new hotel with ocean views, luxury bedding, qr codes and keyless entries.

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And get this every sweep comes with a full kitchen, including a dishwasher.

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They also have a washer and dryer in most every room, and there's just so much more.

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Let's get started.

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Welcome, everyone.

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Thanks for tuning in to another episode of Topsoil Insider.

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My name is Krista and I am your host Today.

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I am so excited to be talking to Mr Richard Stroop.

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He is the owner of Saltwater Suites, located just one block from the beach at 605 North Topsoil Drive in Surf City, north Carolina.

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Welcome and thank you so much for joining me, richard.

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Absolutely.

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Thank you for having me.

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Saltwater Suites is a brand new hotel on Topsoil Island.

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When was the building completed?

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We opened our doors May of 22, but it took about 18 months to build.

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And it's 24 units 24 units.

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And they are four unique designs.

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Now, were you a part of that design process?

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Oh yeah.

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So let's talk about the four designs that you have.

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All of them are queen suites, except for one, the barefoot, correct.

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So the queen suite.

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And then you have the nest, you have the low tide and the sundown designs, and those are queen suites, and they're all geared for different vacationers or visitors.

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So the nest is for an entire family, but it's luxury I saw the word luxury in there, so it's a luxury suite.

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It's one of those keywords for SEO, for marketing.

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Yeah Well, it works, made me want to go, that's right.

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So we have the low tide suite, which sleeps six, and we have the sundown, which is more geared for a business traveler.

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Right.

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And they all have ocean views.

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Yes, All three levels have ocean views.

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I thought so because I also look at the videos online and somebody opened up that door and you can just see the ocean.

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Yeah, we have an awesome team that helps build our content on Instagram and Facebook.

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They're great and they do a phenomenal job.

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Keep them.

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Yeah, they're doing a great job.

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Absolutely.

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And they're hotel suites, or more like condos, instead of hotel rooms.

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Correct, talk to me about that.

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So the original concept of the suite or the open floor model that we had really originated from my time at Loggerhead, and so I bought Loggerhead in 2017 with the idea of doing small renovations over time you know, just to manage cash flow and the whole process of the work involved, since I still had a full time job up in Virginia.

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Oh, you were doing Loggerhead while you were still living in Virginia.

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Correct.

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Wow, yeah, I still live in Virginia.

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Oh, you do.

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Yeah, that's why it was hard to get you in my schedule.

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Okay, now I understand.

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I might as well live in North Carolina.

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I'm down here like every two or three weeks.

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You should move down here.

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Everybody else does.

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I'm originally from North Carolina.

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Are you my?

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intent is to come back.

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Okay, yeah, I'm sorry, let's go back to Loggerhead.

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Yeah, so when I bought the Loggerhead in 2017, there was a bit of deferred maintenance.

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Over time they just age and wear and tear.

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You have to these depreciating assets.

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You have to keep up and maintain.

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And it's hard with the ocean air.

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It's really difficult.

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But what made it even more difficult is that the idea was to transform Loggerhead from the original format that it had into something completely different, where it looked more like a bedroom you'd have in a beach house as far as the appeal and the colors and the floor.

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On the backside of the Loggerhead where the original units were built, there was one in the corner I can still remember the number eight is where we named it and they had this sink area over to the side and that's where they used to, because a bunch of peer fishermen used to rent there and they would bring their fish back and they would clean it in this big open sink.

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During the remodel we decided to basically take that room and that open sink area and combine it into a concept where we'd have a full kitchen, a double bed and then a little, I would say, a couch, love seat area and a TV, almost like a Hampton Inn type model.

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So once we did that, we're like oh my God, this thing's going to be really nice.

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A lot of people came by and wow, this is great.

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This doesn't exist on the island short term hospitality.

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To find this type of experience you'd have to rent a house, and mostly for seven days.

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There's no short term option for something of that nature.

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So then we decided on the dolphin street side there were six total 12 small rooms, about I don't say 160 square feet or tiny and we decided to basically collapse the six into three and three.

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So we made smaller suites on the dolphin side.

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So there's three on the top, three on the bottom with kitchenettes.

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It's not a full kitchen, but it's enough where you have a sink and a small refrigerator to give them the option that if they wanted to do some cooking in the room that they could.

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I think that's really important too.

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When you're traveling with your kids, you kind of need that option, absolutely yeah.

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Yeah, especially what we've seen today talking to the chamber folks.

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There's more and more flexibility in today's hospitality market where you don't have to rent a house for seven days if you wanted to rent a product like what we have at saltwater, which is a condo can sleep up to six, eight people.

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If you really want to stuff them in there and you have a full kitchen and everything's baked in there and you have a little small living room area to hang out, they can rent it by the day.

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Yeah, I saw that.

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I was surprised at that.

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There's no minimum and there are minimums with the vacation rentals.

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Yeah, most of our I would say competitors, do a two day minimum during the season and that's to contend with the cost, the cost of cleaning and turnover and laundry, just so that they could make a profit.

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We decided that to give people more flexibility, we do one night stays, no minimums, and we do absorb a fee for cleaning, but we do break a little bit of that off and give it to the person.

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So whether you stay one night, two nights or 10 nights, it's still the same fee as far as the cleaning goes Because there's an option to clean the room.

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we can have them come and clean it at their expense.

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Okay, so they can request mid-stay or multiple times during this day.

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if they want extra cleanings Now was this at loggerhead or is this currently?

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At saltwater.

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This is at the suite.

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Yeah, this is at saltwater.

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Saltwater suites, okay.

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So when did you stay with loggerhead?

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I finally sold Loggerhead July 22.

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I sold it to the operator at the head at the time.

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Okay, let's go back to the saltwater suites and talk about the features that you offer there.

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Sure, in the saltwater suites, you have full kitchens and all the units.

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Full kitchens and all the units.

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And these are like full size stainless steel appliances.

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Yeah, fully stocked with all the utensils, plates and yep, you see, you can go right to cooking if you need to Love that, with the dishwasher and everything's ready to go.

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A dishwasher too, yeah.

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And then there's a dining table there for you to use, and then this was something that I loved, especially with children again, 21 of your rooms have a front loading, washer and dryer.

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Correct.

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That is huge.

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Yeah, 21.

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Especially at the beach.

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Yes.

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With the sand and the salt water.

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You got to come in and get washed up.

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Yeah, yeah.

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No other hospitality product out there has a washer and dryer, except for us.

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Yeah, you also have three ADA rooms.

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Yes, those three rooms do not have washer and dryer in those rooms.

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However, we have four downstairs that our team utilizes for turnover and we provide the ADA guests options of doing their laundry for them in those washer and dryer rooms.

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You offer laundry service.

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Just for those rooms.

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Yes, we want to make sure that everybody has a similar experience.

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Okay, that makes sense.

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Yeah, for your charge.

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And I remember you saying that y'all paid special attention to your bedding.

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Tell me about that.

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Yeah, one of the things I noticed at Loggerhead was the bedding was okay, but of course, when you try to take opportunities to create different experience, you want to invest in a little more areas and I thought bedding, pillows, comforter sheets, things like that.

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You need to go a little over the top.

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You don't want to feel like you're sleeping in paper towels.

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No, I think you?

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Yeah, we've had a lot of compliments on our bedding.

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You have.

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Yeah, awesome, yeah, and I think we spent probably three times the budget that we allocated for.

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But I think it's important because if you don't have a good night's sleep, then it cascades from there.

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So we want to make sure that the pillows are great, the sheets are fantastic, the bedding is very comfortable, the mattresses are phenomenal.

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Wonderful yeah, and you have smart HD TVs in all the rooms and you have your website said super high speed internet.

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Yes, we have two T1 lines.

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So we ran originally ran one T1 line just for internet and everything all the IoT devices and TVs and such we devote to that and then we decided to run cable to, so we had a whole nother T1 line just for cable TV.

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So that way doesn't ride on the same pipe.

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So basically the latency on the internet is not going to be dragged by cable, so you have different uses.

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Gotcha.

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Yeah, okay, other saltwater suite features that I noticed online is you have four new electric vehicle charging stations.

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Yes, we just installed those a couple weeks ago.

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Are they heavily used so far, really?

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The day we went live the very day we went live, a Tesla owner pulled right in and said can I hook up?

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That's awesome.

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Awesome, do it.

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Let's talk about some of the other things that you offer your guests.

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You have eight guest beach bicycles on your site for use.

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Yes, there's a QR code that our property manager set up, so basically it's a liability waiver.

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Okay, that makes sense.

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And then they get a code to unlock the bike and then they can just use the bike.

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So we wanted to try to provide as much experience to our guests.

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So the bikes are one.

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We just bought, some Shabu-Mes I saw that.

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It's first come, first serve.

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But again, they don't have to go out and buy one, they can just use ours.

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They're expensive and they're very popular right now.

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Yeah, and we're also reaching out to the community, like New York Deli, for example.

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They're doing a prototype with us where they give us a limited menu and we can send it to our guests before they come.

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So that way if they want to order lunches or dinners, they can pre-order.

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And this is a pass-through.

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It just goes right to New York Deli.

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We just say, hey, here's the menu.

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Talk to these guys.

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So all the payment and everything coordination is handled in New York Deli.

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But then they deliver it to the suite, two rooms yeah.

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So if you're coming off the beach, spend the whole day.

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That's so cool.

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Yeah, and that way you can take a shower and walk outside your food there.

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Everything's also high-tech.

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I love it.

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Tell me about your common area.

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So the common area downstairs is cool.

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We were able to set up like a ping pong table.

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There's like a gaming area with chairs and tables and things.

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People could sit out there and just hang out, drink beer.

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There's a nice breeze that comes through.

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There's an outdoor shower in the back If parents want to bring their kids, and while they're washing off the sand of the chairs and the toys, you know, the kids can play out there.

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So it's ritual.

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That's a great idea.

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I love that it's pet friendly or you have some pet friendly suites.

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We have four pet friendly and we're talking about increasing it to five.

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Really, yeah, there's a lot of demand for pet friendly suites.

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The problem is that there's people that can't stay in pet suites.

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So basically, when we clean our beds, we specifically shrink, wrap the pet rooms and keep it separate from the non-pet rooms, just so that those are the same sheets in the same rooms you know, just for hyperalagenic and stuff.

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That makes sense.

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Yeah, it is hard to find a good, pet friendly hotel because we travel with ours as well.

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Well, yeah, having a pet's like having a member of the family.

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She's our third child.

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Yeah, how far away is the beach access from your hotel?

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I know you're one block off of the beach, is that right?

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That's right.

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We're one block back from the beach access.

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And free on-site parking.

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Yep.

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And then tell me about the wedding event planning and the groups and the meetings, because I don't think we discussed that over the phone.

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Yeah, so one of our strategies for increasing sales is to reach out to groups, organizations and try to organize events like weddings or a larger block type offerings or discounts, okay so we're actively engaging in community there and trying to figure out hey, if you're coming to a wedding on North Topsill or on the beach, we'd love to host you and your team.

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I know our property manager has booked several weddings already this year.

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Awesome, okay, good Now.

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We talked about your QR codes earlier and everything being automated.

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We don't check in at the front desk.

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Right.

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And get your key issued and then go to your room.

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Let's talk about how, what the check-in process is like for you.

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Absolutely so.

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When you book a reservation, everything's handled online and within a day or two hoping to get it like automatic, you receive a welcome email with basically everything about your room full description pictures, everything that you possibly could want and also recommend.

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Hey, here's some things you might want to bring with you, but here's what you get with the room.

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That's cool, and also it spits out a code.

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Each one of our rooms has a automatic door lock that resets itself, so that way, when you come, you have a unique code just for you, and when you leave, that code expires and then the next guest will have a code of their own.

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So it's like just a 10 key code pad there that you'll just punch in some numerical digits and get in, okay.

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Yep and it's fully automated and integrated with our platform.

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And if somebody has a problem, if they forget their code or whatever, yeah, oh yeah.

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There's another QR code that they send a request to, and we have a team that manages around the clock.

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Okay If they need help.

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So two o'clock in the morning I'm locked out of my door.

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That's right, someone can help me get in.

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Yes, okay, yeah, you've been drinking too much at the trailer bar.

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You can still get in, okay, and you mentioned that you do have on-site personnel there Some portion of the day.

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Yes, there is a team that is on-site during the day, normally around eight nine to about three or four.

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Okay, yeah, so if you need help, there's someone there that could possibly help you.

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Okay.

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Yeah, you mentioned head and shoulders model to me on the phone and I don't know what that means.

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Can you explain that to me?

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Absolutely so.

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When I was investigating the whole industry because I'm not a hospitality guy, I'm not a developer I fell into this kind of by accident.

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One of the things I noticed and a lot of people around here already know this, but I coined it a head and shoulders model where you have your spring season March, April, may is a shoulder and then you've got June, july, august is your head, that's like your high season and then your September, october could be the other shoulder.

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So as things ramp up, you've got a heavy demand, a surge for people coming here, and it all starts around March, april and it all subsides around October, november, okay, and then December, january, february is like the dead period.

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Yeah, yeah, although I think that's changing a little bit.

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It is as more people move here and just kind of make it home.

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There was a full shutdown.

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You know, in the wintertime it was hard to even find a restaurant that was open.

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But now I noticed that they're taking much shorter breaks.

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If they're taking a break, it's a much shorter break during the winter.

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Yeah, I remember when I bought Ligerhead they actually shut everything down after Thanksgiving and they didn't open back up until March 1st.

00:16:07.546 --> 00:16:08.892
And that was the first thing I changed.

00:16:08.912 --> 00:16:11.041
I was like we're not shutting down.

00:16:11.041 --> 00:16:20.230
I'm like the weather here is great, you could have a weekend of 60 or 70 degrees in the wintertime, and people from Charlotte, raleigh, you know want to escape for the weekend.

00:16:20.230 --> 00:16:20.951
So we're going to come.

00:16:21.131 --> 00:16:24.794
I love that Good Talk about your COVID methods.

00:16:25.414 --> 00:16:29.086
We take COVID very seriously as far as how we clean what we clean.

00:16:29.086 --> 00:16:32.806
So there's a method of disinfecting the room.

00:16:32.806 --> 00:16:49.296
So, for example, we wash everything after somebody leaves, run it through the dishwasher very high steam temperatures, disinfecting and the chemicals that we use and the process that we use and as far as just making sure that everything's fully sanitized, exactly.

00:16:49.296 --> 00:16:51.023
Yeah, and we have keyless entry.

00:16:51.023 --> 00:16:56.125
Everything's kind of nature facing, so you don't have to worry about getting around a lot of people.

00:16:56.315 --> 00:16:58.342
Okay, I also want to say I love your website.

00:16:58.342 --> 00:16:59.941
I was on that heavily last night.

00:16:59.941 --> 00:17:01.217
It's so beautiful.

00:17:01.217 --> 00:17:02.140
I love the colors.

00:17:02.140 --> 00:17:04.018
I love on the homepage.

00:17:04.018 --> 00:17:13.242
That picture like pushing out over the waves and then pushing out over the ocean is so pretty and that's what people come here for and that's just the most welcoming thing.

00:17:13.242 --> 00:17:14.538
And I love your logo.

00:17:14.538 --> 00:17:22.618
It's all it all works so well together and scroll down and everything's really clean and crisp and white and it's perfect.

00:17:22.700 --> 00:17:23.462
It's been a struggle.

00:17:23.462 --> 00:17:30.522
We so the first website we had, we partner with the company and we told them exactly what we wanted.

00:17:30.522 --> 00:17:35.926
We gave them several examples and the outcome wasn't exactly what we wanted.

00:17:35.926 --> 00:17:39.324
So we respectfully worked with them for a while.

00:17:39.324 --> 00:17:41.160
Say, look, this is really cutting it for us.

00:17:41.160 --> 00:17:44.279
This is what we need, and I give credit to my PM.

00:17:44.279 --> 00:17:55.560
She found another developer, I found a developer, she found a developer and we compared contrast and eventually we went with her developer, who specializes in hospitality and stuff, and I just fed her.

00:17:55.560 --> 00:17:56.805
Look, here's my requirements.

00:17:56.935 --> 00:17:57.378
That's this.

00:17:57.621 --> 00:18:00.699
And it took about four months Slowly developing.

00:18:00.739 --> 00:18:01.762
but it's beautiful.

00:18:01.762 --> 00:18:03.040
Yeah, are you proud of it?

00:18:03.477 --> 00:18:04.486
I am you should be.

00:18:04.486 --> 00:18:05.378
It's a lot better than it was.

00:18:05.378 --> 00:18:06.278
It's gorgeous.

00:18:06.875 --> 00:18:13.306
I encourage everyone to go and look at the website, but it's saltwatertopsellcom not saltwatersweetscom.

00:18:13.385 --> 00:18:13.547
Yes.

00:18:13.915 --> 00:18:19.095
And then, while we're on the name, I also love the name Saltwater Suites it's it's perfect for our area.

00:18:19.095 --> 00:18:20.480
So how did you come up with the name?

00:18:20.835 --> 00:18:21.618
It's a funny story.

00:18:21.618 --> 00:18:29.905
So we partnered with Port City Design Group out of Wilmington to create those four designs the barefoot and the nest.

00:18:29.905 --> 00:18:45.084
So Danielle Valente she owns Port City Design did a phenomenal job putting everything together and it's different because most of the rooms you go into you find your coastal type decor.

00:18:45.384 --> 00:18:52.287
I would say, this one is completely different, and I hired her to do the loggerhead work as well.

00:18:52.287 --> 00:18:54.657
That's how I met her and I will.

00:18:54.657 --> 00:18:56.242
You know, I gave it some time.

00:18:56.242 --> 00:18:57.046
It was a little different.

00:18:57.046 --> 00:18:58.441
You almost have to put a different hat on.

00:18:58.441 --> 00:18:59.901
Ok, this looks a little modern.

00:18:59.901 --> 00:19:01.555
I'm not really used to it.

00:19:01.555 --> 00:19:03.494
You have to think outside the box a little bit.

00:19:03.494 --> 00:19:05.301
But after a while you get used to it.

00:19:05.301 --> 00:19:06.862
Like all right, I can dig this.

00:19:06.994 --> 00:19:09.624
So oh, you mean the look and feel of the room design.

00:19:09.756 --> 00:19:10.057
Yes.

00:19:10.318 --> 00:19:11.849
Oh, it took you a minute to get used to that.

00:19:11.950 --> 00:19:14.280
Yeah, yeah, because again, it's you train.

00:19:14.280 --> 00:19:17.503
You know, I guess, like our brains run on a script and it's what we're used to.

00:19:17.503 --> 00:19:23.861
And if you're used to a design, pattern or surrounding and like a standard hotel room, like you walk into a hilton.

00:19:23.881 --> 00:19:24.864
you know what to expect.

00:19:25.095 --> 00:19:30.040
Yeah, and if you stay in a beach hotel in a beach, then you're probably going to get beach decor.

00:19:30.061 --> 00:19:36.936
You know a lot of birds, seashells yes, ocean, very cliche type things up on the wall yeah.

00:19:37.156 --> 00:19:40.260
And it still feels coastal, it just feels modern coastal.

00:19:40.375 --> 00:19:41.240
It's very modern.

00:19:41.240 --> 00:19:43.363
I love the way that it's decorated.

00:19:43.363 --> 00:19:50.740
The furniture is not your typical hotel furniture, it's not big and bulky and dated, and it's beautiful, it's light, it's airy.

00:19:50.954 --> 00:19:54.596
Yeah, Again, it's something I think you'd find in a beach house Again.

00:19:54.596 --> 00:19:57.305
You walk into a room and you feel the same type of experience.

00:19:57.496 --> 00:19:59.723
Yeah, for sure, they did a great job.

00:20:00.154 --> 00:20:00.415
Yeah.

00:20:00.455 --> 00:20:01.359
So tell me about the name.

00:20:01.359 --> 00:20:05.940
She actually picked the name she did yeah, so how did she come up with it?

00:20:06.836 --> 00:20:08.582
She's a fabulous person.

00:20:09.637 --> 00:20:10.521
Yes, she's very creative.

00:20:10.521 --> 00:20:11.758
Yeah, it's like it's.

00:20:12.459 --> 00:20:15.567
It's basic, but it's also very nice.

00:20:15.567 --> 00:20:16.755
Saltwater suites, all right.

00:20:16.755 --> 00:20:19.196
That kind of rings a little bit it does.

00:20:19.196 --> 00:20:20.699
I love it yeah.

00:20:21.385 --> 00:20:25.865
We talked about this earlier, but I do love your Facebook presence and the team that you have doing that.

00:20:25.865 --> 00:20:27.681
It always captures my attention.

00:20:27.681 --> 00:20:32.335
If video goes up through my feed, I'm like I know that's all watersweeds, click on it, yeah.

00:20:32.335 --> 00:20:41.218
And then it's the most recent one that got my attention so much is there's someone laying in bed and she throws the covers off and walks to it and it opens the door and looks out and it's that's right.

00:20:41.238 --> 00:20:43.438
Yeah, it's amazing, her name's Anna.

00:20:43.438 --> 00:20:44.162
She's fantastic.

00:20:44.234 --> 00:20:46.061
Oh Anna, hey Anna, I love your work.

00:20:46.295 --> 00:20:46.516
Yeah.

00:20:46.576 --> 00:20:47.500
You're doing a great job.

00:20:48.555 --> 00:20:49.680
We always talk with one another.

00:20:49.680 --> 00:20:50.858
Ok, here's the next reel.

00:20:50.858 --> 00:20:52.044
I need something like this.

00:20:52.044 --> 00:20:53.421
She's OK, great, what do you think about this?

00:20:53.421 --> 00:20:55.182
And then we throw some stuff around.

00:20:55.182 --> 00:20:56.519
So she's fantastic.

00:20:56.519 --> 00:20:57.343
Yeah, she's really good.

00:20:57.835 --> 00:20:58.819
I'm almost done gushing.

00:20:58.819 --> 00:21:01.263
I also love your community involvement.

00:21:01.263 --> 00:21:04.965
I want to talk a little bit about what you're doing to give back to the community.

00:21:04.965 --> 00:21:07.523
Tell me about Saltwater Foundation.

00:21:08.595 --> 00:21:15.443
So the Saltwater Foundation is dedicated to being very active in the community and giving back to the local charities.

00:21:15.443 --> 00:21:25.913
I set this up and again we wanted to create a mechanism to improve the lives and well-being of the individuals in this area Topsole, wilmington area.

00:21:25.913 --> 00:21:32.701
We provide grants to organizations who are very thorough with their job and very specific at what they do.

00:21:32.701 --> 00:21:51.807
We have a lot of recommendations and again we're trying to spread it out into different groups, like we've given to the Humane Society we've given the food banks and we've given to area groups like the Real Housewives or the Paddle for Troops, habitat for Humanity just some of the recent ones that we had.

00:21:52.268 --> 00:21:54.833
So far we've given out over $55,000.

00:21:55.233 --> 00:21:57.298
Wow, that's amazing.

00:21:58.000 --> 00:22:01.450
And my goal is to hit $500,000, but again, it's going to take some time.

00:22:01.490 --> 00:22:02.714
Yeah, that's a big goal.

00:22:02.915 --> 00:22:03.759
Yeah.

00:22:03.759 --> 00:22:10.742
So to me it's hey if saltwater wins, and we're doing good, we're getting them back to the community and we're reinvesting in the community.

00:22:10.742 --> 00:22:19.030
So if the old cliche, the tide rouses all boats, so we're just trying to raise all boats around us and give back.

00:22:19.251 --> 00:22:19.913
That's really cool.

00:22:19.913 --> 00:22:20.895
Thank you for doing that.

00:22:20.895 --> 00:22:27.590
Okay, let's talk about the big news You're expanding.

00:22:28.152 --> 00:22:28.472
Yes.

00:22:28.833 --> 00:22:31.807
So let's talk about saltwater resorts.

00:22:31.866 --> 00:22:33.330
Crazy, right, I love it.

00:22:33.330 --> 00:22:35.537
What are you doing, man?

00:22:36.839 --> 00:22:47.380
You did mention a few of the hurdles that you had to jump over getting saltwater suites up and running, and so I was a little surprised to hear that you're already moving forwards with something that's bigger even.

00:22:47.741 --> 00:22:47.982
Yeah.

00:22:48.084 --> 00:22:51.893
Tell me about what the difference is between saltwater resort and saltwater suites.

00:22:52.594 --> 00:22:52.875
Okay.

00:22:52.875 --> 00:23:02.710
So number one we're basically carbon copying the same suite design again at the 400 blocks or two blocks down closer to surf city.

00:23:02.710 --> 00:23:15.737
Okay, there was a piece of property for sale and we had that opportunity and went back and forth about a year and a half and finally purchased that property and I felt I've already got the design, we've got the engineering documents, we have a great team.

00:23:15.737 --> 00:23:23.758
I've got a good GC, the electrician, the HVAC provider, the plumber All these people are really good to work with.

00:23:23.758 --> 00:23:28.903
And if I can try to keep my cost in check, it might work.

00:23:29.284 --> 00:23:32.132
And I knew at this time I had to sell loggerhead to make this work.

00:23:32.132 --> 00:23:35.765
So my intent was to keep loggerhead and to keep saltwater.

00:23:35.765 --> 00:23:43.946
But after thinking for a while I'm like maybe it's best to sell loggerhead and then build saltwater.

00:23:44.007 --> 00:23:46.853
Number two and to have those because it's a different.

00:23:46.853 --> 00:23:48.857
It's a night and day difference.

00:23:48.857 --> 00:23:56.652
Very similar hospitality style, but I think the experience you get at saltwater is different than you would have with any other hospitality offering.

00:23:56.652 --> 00:24:01.294
So I wanted to stay consistent in the brand and what we were trying to do.

00:24:01.294 --> 00:24:05.894
So that's what I'm basically decided is all right, I'm going to pull the trigger.

00:24:05.894 --> 00:24:06.878
I bought the land.

00:24:06.878 --> 00:24:08.144
We started buying material.

00:24:09.131 --> 00:24:11.003
Was it all one property or did you have to?

00:24:11.003 --> 00:24:13.073
Okay, it was almost a full acre, okay.

00:24:13.285 --> 00:24:13.546
Yeah.

00:24:13.546 --> 00:24:18.586
So after we've successfully negotiated and got it under contract, I started to procure material.

00:24:18.586 --> 00:24:33.217
That was hurdle number one for the suites is that we had supply chain issues because of COVID and the shipping like our elevator motor was sitting at the port of Los Angeles for six months and we actually opened without an elevator.

00:24:33.257 --> 00:24:33.659
Oh really.

00:24:33.880 --> 00:24:39.756
Yeah, and that's one of the things the city helped us out with, and the elevator was finally operational in October.

00:24:40.017 --> 00:24:43.934
Oh wow, so it's almost four months after the yeah, there were a few disruptions there.

00:24:44.125 --> 00:24:49.817
Yeah, so we started buying material for the new project and putting them in storage containers.

00:24:49.817 --> 00:24:53.422
And again we have to get to the city to file permits and so every six months.

00:24:53.422 --> 00:25:07.936
And then, once we were able to successfully have the suites under proper management and was operating because you have to work King's out and of course the main are there making sure that all the holes are plugged and the fire alarm system works and you can just work it out.

00:25:07.936 --> 00:25:11.146
Then we turned our attention to the new project.

00:25:11.467 --> 00:25:17.711
So one of the big differences that you mentioned in the phone conversation for saltwater resort is you're now going to have a pool.

00:25:18.372 --> 00:25:21.967
Yes, a 20 by 40 pool, saltwater pool and saltwater pool.

00:25:21.987 --> 00:25:22.788
That's awesome.

00:25:22.788 --> 00:25:23.329
I love it.

00:25:23.550 --> 00:25:25.255
You have a clubhouse A clubhouse.

00:25:25.255 --> 00:25:25.876
That's right.

00:25:25.876 --> 00:25:27.769
It's going to be a three story clubhouse.

00:25:28.111 --> 00:25:29.875
What are you going to do with three stories?

00:25:30.265 --> 00:25:35.307
We're going to rent that out for events, but we're also going to make that part of the experience of the resort.

00:25:35.307 --> 00:25:39.596
So when you stay at the resort, you have access to the clubhouse and the pool.

00:25:40.105 --> 00:25:40.365
Okay.

00:25:40.867 --> 00:25:51.884
And downstairs in the clubhouse there's going to be about 900 square feet, fully air conditioned, and we're going to partner with local businesses to come sell their goods and services.

00:25:52.667 --> 00:25:53.411
Oh, that's cool.

00:25:53.431 --> 00:25:55.137
Yeah, we're experimenting that now.

00:25:55.137 --> 00:26:02.498
We've partnered with scoops ice cream down in Topsle Beach, so they've been there a few times selling their homey goods, which is awesome.

00:26:02.498 --> 00:26:11.742
And yeah, there's several businesses that we're going to invite and say, hey, you know what, use it, and then, if the guests want to come, you can advertise on your own channels.

00:26:11.762 --> 00:26:13.208
We're not going to charge you anything for it.

00:26:14.089 --> 00:26:17.967
Again, we're trying to be an advocate for small businesses supporting businesses.

00:26:17.967 --> 00:26:26.891
Right, and then where we, from a business model point of view, we'll probably we'll rent that out for events Again.

00:26:26.891 --> 00:26:32.608
Downstairs it's 900 square feet, but then you have two levels that are going to be open like a deck.

00:26:33.171 --> 00:26:33.510
Okay.

00:26:33.872 --> 00:26:44.738
And there'll be a makeshift bar on the second level and everything will be fully supported for bands and things we're thinking like, if somebody wants to make a band, put it on the second floor that'd be great.

00:26:44.738 --> 00:26:49.513
We're even on the third floor, and then they can have access to the pool and have birthday parties or corporate events.

00:26:49.615 --> 00:26:50.215
That'd be great.

00:26:50.215 --> 00:26:58.890
So let's talk about you for a minute.

00:26:58.890 --> 00:27:00.895
I want to hear a little bit about your personal history.

00:27:00.895 --> 00:27:02.470
I always ask this of my guests.

00:27:02.470 --> 00:27:05.601

Saltwater Suites

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