Inside the World of Boutique Hotels with John Flannigan - Founder & CEO of Wylder Hotels

John Flannigan is a hotel industry veteran with over 30 years of hospitality experience. In June of 2016, John founded Wylder Hotels to seek out drive market leisure properties that had a nostalgic history. He thought there was white space within the adventure travel sector in tertiary areas of the country that could compete with urban assets, yet at a much lower basis and cost to develop. Wylder sought to take advantage of this dislocation while leveraging adventure travel. The all-season brand, Wylder Hotels acquired the first property in October of 2017, the infamous Harrisons Chesapeake House on Tilghman Island Maryland. He and his team transformed it and soft opened Wylder Tilghman Island in April of 2018.

On this episode, Jake and John discuss:

- Becoming a GM at 26 years old

- Building a great hotel culture

- The process of concepting a new-build

- Sourcing and capitalizing deals

Connect & Invest with Jake:

Follow Jake on Twitter: https://twitter.com/jwurzak

Take the Hospitality Investing Masterclass: https://learn.jakewurzak.com/

Learn How to Invest with DoveHill: https://bit.ly/3yg8Pwo

Links:

Wylder Hotels: https://wylderhotels.com/#

John on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-flannigan-73550a1/

Topics:

(00:00:00) - Intro

(00:01:40) - John’s career in hospitality

(00:10:41) - Becoming a GM at 26 years old

(00:12:44) - Rate ceilings

(00:14:10) - Doubling revenue of a hotel

(00:15:58) - Making a great hotel website

(00:20:17) - Building a culture at a hotel 

(00:23:44) - How boutique hotels have changed over the years

(00:26:11) - Where people mess up in executing on a soft-branded hotel

(00:28:31) - The process for concepting a new-build

(00:36:15) - Sourcing deals

(00:40:10) - Capitalizing deals and managing properties

(00:49:57) - Characteristics of a strong General Manager

(00:54:14) - Mistakes made

(00:58:25) - Key components of a great F&B concept

(01:04:34) - Investment horizons