Saltwater Suites

Saltwater Suites

Speaker 1 0:02

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 . Coming up , hear all about Saltwater Suites , a new hotel with ocean views , luxury bedding , qr codes and keyless entries . And get this every sweep comes with a full kitchen , including a dishwasher . They also have a washer and dryer in most every room , and there's just so much more . Let's get started . Welcome , everyone . Thanks for tuning in to another episode of Topsoil Insider . My name is Krista and I am your host Today . I am so excited to be talking to Mr Richard Stroop . He is the owner of Saltwater Suites , located just one block from the beach at 605 North Topsoil Drive in Surf City , north Carolina . Welcome and thank you so much for joining me , richard .

Speaker 2 1:18

Absolutely . Thank you for having me .

Speaker 1 1:20

Saltwater Suites is a brand new hotel on Topsoil Island . When was the building completed ?

Speaker 2 1:25

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

Speaker 1 1:30

And it's 24 units 24 units . And they are four unique designs . Now , were you a part of that design process ?

Speaker 2 1:36

Oh yeah .

Speaker 1 1:38

So let's talk about the four designs that you have . All of them are queen suites , except for one , the barefoot , correct . So the queen suite . 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 . 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 .

Speaker 2 2:05

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

Speaker 1 2:08

Yeah Well , it works , made me want to go , that's right . So we have the low tide suite , which sleeps six , and we have the sundown , which is more geared for a business traveler .

Speaker 2 2:19

Right .

Speaker 1 2:21

And they all have ocean views .

Speaker 2 2:23

Yes , All three levels have ocean views .

Speaker 1 2:25

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

Speaker 2 2:31

Yeah , we have an awesome team that helps build our content on Instagram and Facebook . They're great and they do a phenomenal job .

Speaker 1 2:38

Keep them . Yeah , they're doing a great job .

Speaker 2 2:40

Absolutely .

Speaker 1 2:42

And they're hotel suites , or more like condos , instead of hotel rooms . Correct , talk to me about that .

Speaker 2 2:47

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 .

Speaker 1 3:11

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

Speaker 2 3:14

Correct . Wow , yeah , I still live in Virginia . Oh , you do .

Speaker 1 3:17

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

Speaker 2 3:20

Okay , now I understand . I might as well live in North Carolina . I'm down here like every two or three weeks .

Speaker 1 3:25

You should move down here . Everybody else does . I'm originally from North Carolina . Are you my ?

Speaker 2 3:29

intent is to come back .

Speaker 1 3:30

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

Speaker 2 3:33

Yeah , so when I bought the Loggerhead in 2017 , there was a bit of deferred maintenance . Over time they just age and wear and tear . You have to these depreciating assets . You have to keep up and maintain .

Speaker 1 3:47

And it's hard with the ocean air . It's really difficult .

Speaker 2 3:50

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

Speaker 2 4:51

A lot of people came by and wow , this is great . This doesn't exist on the island short term hospitality . To find this type of experience you'd have to rent a house , and mostly for seven days . There's no short term option for something of that nature . 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 . So we made smaller suites on the dolphin side . So there's three on the top , three on the bottom with kitchenettes . 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 .

Speaker 1 5:39

I think that's really important too . When you're traveling with your kids , you kind of need that option , absolutely yeah .

Speaker 2 5:45

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

Speaker 1 6:13

Yeah , I saw that . I was surprised at that . There's no minimum and there are minimums with the vacation rentals .

Speaker 2 6:19

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 . 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 . 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 .

Speaker 2 6:52

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

Speaker 1 6:55

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

Speaker 2 6:59

if they want extra cleanings Now was this at loggerhead or is this currently ? At saltwater . This is at the suite . Yeah , this is at saltwater . Saltwater suites , okay .

Speaker 1 7:08

So when did you stay with loggerhead ?

Speaker 2 7:11

I finally sold Loggerhead July 22 . I sold it to the operator at the head at the time .

Speaker 1 7:17

Okay , let's go back to the saltwater suites and talk about the features that you offer there . Sure , in the saltwater suites , you have full kitchens and all the units .

Speaker 2 7:26

Full kitchens and all the units .

Speaker 1 7:27

And these are like full size stainless steel appliances .

Speaker 2 7:31

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 . A dishwasher too , yeah .

Speaker 1 7:41

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 .

Speaker 2 7:53

Correct .

Speaker 1 7:53

That is huge .

Speaker 2 7:54

Yeah , 21 .

Speaker 1 7:55

Especially at the beach .

Speaker 2 7:56

Yes .

Speaker 1 7:57

With the sand and the salt water . You got to come in and get washed up .

Speaker 2 8:00

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

Speaker 1 8:06

Yeah , you also have three ADA rooms .

Speaker 2 8:09

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

Speaker 1 8:25

You offer laundry service .

Speaker 2 8:27

Just for those rooms . Yes , we want to make sure that everybody has a similar experience . Okay , that makes sense . Yeah , for your charge .

Speaker 1 8:33

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

Speaker 2 8:39

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 . You need to go a little over the top . You don't want to feel like you're sleeping in paper towels .

Speaker 1 8:59

No , I think you ?

Speaker 2 9:00

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

Speaker 1 9:02

You have .

Speaker 2 9:03

Yeah , awesome , yeah , and I think we spent probably three times the budget that we allocated for . But I think it's important because if you don't have a good night's sleep , then it cascades from there . So we want to make sure that the pillows are great , the sheets are fantastic , the bedding is very comfortable , the mattresses are phenomenal .

Speaker 1 9:20

Wonderful yeah , and you have smart HD TVs in all the rooms and you have your website said super high speed internet . Yes , we have two T1 lines .

Speaker 2 9:30

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 . So that way doesn't ride on the same pipe . So basically the latency on the internet is not going to be dragged by cable , so you have different uses .

Speaker 1 9:55

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

Speaker 2 10:05

Yes , we just installed those a couple weeks ago .

Speaker 1 10:08

Are they heavily used so far , really ?

Speaker 2 10:11

The day we went live the very day we went live , a Tesla owner pulled right in and said can I hook up ? That's awesome . Awesome , do it .

Speaker 1 10:19

Let's talk about some of the other things that you offer your guests . You have eight guest beach bicycles on your site for use .

Speaker 2 10:25

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

Speaker 1 10:32

Okay , that makes sense .

Speaker 2 10:33

And then they get a code to unlock the bike and then they can just use the bike . So we wanted to try to provide as much experience to our guests . So the bikes are one . We just bought , some Shabu-Mes I saw that . It's first come , first serve . But again , they don't have to go out and buy one , they can just use ours .

Speaker 1 10:48

They're expensive and they're very popular right

Features and Amenities of Saltwater Suites

Speaker 1 10:51

now .

Speaker 2 10:51

Yeah , and we're also reaching out to the community , like New York Deli , for example . 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 . So that way if they want to order lunches or dinners , they can pre-order . And this is a pass-through . It just goes right to New York Deli . We just say , hey , here's the menu . Talk to these guys . So all the payment and everything coordination is handled in New York Deli . But then they deliver it to the suite , two rooms yeah .

Speaker 2 11:19

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

Speaker 1 11:22

That's so cool .

Speaker 2 11:22

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

Speaker 1 11:26

Everything's also high-tech . I love it . Tell me about your common area .

Speaker 2 11:31

So the common area downstairs is cool . We were able to set up like a ping pong table . There's like a gaming area with chairs and tables and things . People could sit out there and just hang out , drink beer . There's a nice breeze that comes through . 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 .

Speaker 1 11:52

So it's ritual . That's a great idea . I love that it's pet friendly or you have some pet friendly suites .

Speaker 2 11:57

We have four pet friendly and we're talking about increasing it to five . Really , yeah , there's a lot of demand for pet friendly suites . The problem is that there's people that can't stay in pet suites . 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 .

Speaker 1 12:23

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

Speaker 2 12:29

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

Speaker 1 12:32

She's our third child . Yeah , how far away is the beach access from your hotel ? I know you're one block off of the beach , is that right ?

Speaker 2 12:38

That's right . We're one block back from the beach access .

Speaker 1 12:42

And free on-site parking .

Speaker 2 12:44

Yep .

Speaker 1 12:44

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 .

Speaker 2 12:50

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

Speaker 1 13:17

Awesome , okay , good Now . We talked about your QR codes earlier and everything being automated . We don't check in at the front desk .

Speaker 2 13:24

Right .

Speaker 1 13:24

And get your key issued and then go to your room . Let's talk about how , what the check-in process is like for you .

Speaker 2 13:30

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

Speaker 2 13:50

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

Speaker 1 14:07

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

Speaker 2 14:13

Yep and it's fully automated and integrated with our platform . And if somebody has a problem , if they forget their code or whatever , yeah , oh yeah . There's another QR code that they send a request to , and we have a team that manages around the clock .

Speaker 1 14:26

Okay If they need help . So two o'clock in the morning I'm locked out of my door .

Speaker 2 14:30

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

Speaker 1 14:32

Yes , okay , yeah , you've been drinking too much at the trailer bar . You can still get in , okay , and you mentioned that you do have on-site personnel there Some portion of the day .

Speaker 2 14:43

Yes , there is a team that is on-site during the day , normally around eight nine to about three or four . Okay , yeah , so if you need help , there's someone there that could possibly help you .

Speaker 1 14:55

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

Speaker 2 15:02

Absolutely so . 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 . 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 . 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 .

Speaker 1 15:42

Yeah , yeah , although I think that's changing a little bit . It is as more people move here and just kind of make it home . There was a full shutdown . You know , in the wintertime it was hard to even find a restaurant that was open . But now I noticed that they're taking much shorter breaks . If they're taking a break , it's a much shorter break during the winter .

Speaker 2 16:00

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

Speaker 1 16:07

And that was the first thing I changed .

Speaker 2 16:08

I was like we're not shutting down . 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 . So we're going to come .

Speaker 1 16:21

I love that Good Talk about your COVID methods .

Speaker 2 16:25

We take COVID very seriously as far as how we clean what we clean . So there's a method of disinfecting the room . 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 . Yeah , and we have keyless entry . Everything's kind of nature facing , so you don't have to worry about getting around a lot of people .

Speaker 1 16:56

Okay , I also want to say I love your website . I was on that heavily last night . It's so beautiful . I love the colors . I love on the homepage . 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 . And I love your logo . 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 .

Speaker 2 17:22

It's been a struggle . We so the first website we had , we partner with the company and we told them exactly what we wanted . We gave them several examples and the outcome wasn't exactly what we wanted . So we respectfully worked with them for a while . Say , look , this is really cutting it for us . This is what we need , and I give credit to my PM . 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 . Look , here's my requirements .

Speaker 1 17:56

That's this .

Speaker 2 17:57

And it took about four months Slowly developing .

Speaker 1 18:00

but it's beautiful . Yeah , are you proud of it ?

Speaker 2 18:03

I am you should be . It's a lot better than it was . It's gorgeous .

Speaker 1 18:06

I encourage everyone to go and look at the website , but it's saltwatertopsellcom not saltwatersweetscom .

Speaker 2 18:13

Yes .

Speaker 1 18:13

And then , while we're on the name , I also love the name Saltwater Suites it's it's perfect for our area . So how did you come up with the name ?

Speaker 2 18:20

It's a funny story . So we partnered with Port City Design Group out of Wilmington to create those four designs the barefoot and the nest . 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 .

Speaker 2 18:45

I would say , this one is completely different , and I hired her to do the loggerhead work as well . That's how I met her and I will . You know , I gave it some time . It was a little different . You almost have to put a different hat on . Ok , this looks a little modern . I'm not really used to it . You have to think outside the box a little bit . But after a while you get used to it . Like all right , I can dig this .

Speaker 1 19:06

So oh , you mean the look and feel of the room design .

Speaker 2 19:09

Yes .

Speaker 1 19:10

Oh , it took you a minute to get used to that .

Speaker 2 19:11

Yeah , yeah , because again , it's you train . You know , I guess , like our brains run on a script and it's what we're used to . And if you're used to a design , pattern or surrounding and like a standard hotel room , like you walk into a hilton .

Speaker 1 19:23

you know what to expect .

Speaker 2 19:25

Yeah , and if you stay in a beach hotel in a beach , then you're probably going to get beach decor .

Speaker 1 19:30

You know a lot of birds , seashells yes , ocean , very cliche type things up on the wall yeah .

Speaker 2 19:37

And it still feels coastal , it just feels modern coastal .

Speaker 1 19:40

It's very modern . I love the way that it's decorated . 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 .

Speaker 2 19:50

Yeah , Again , it's something I think you'd find in a beach house Again . You walk into a room and you feel the same type of experience .

Speaker 1 19:57

Yeah , for sure , they did a great job .

Speaker 2 20:00

Yeah .

Speaker 1 20:00

So tell me about the name . She actually picked the name she did yeah , so how did she come up with it ?

Speaker 2 20:06

She's a fabulous person .

Speaker 1 20:09

Yes , she's very creative . Yeah , it's like it's .

Speaker 2 20:12

It's basic , but it's also very nice . Saltwater suites , all right . That kind of rings a little bit it does . I love it yeah .

Speaker 1 20:21

We talked about this earlier , but I do love your Facebook presence and the team that you have doing that . It always captures my attention . If video goes up through my feed , I'm like I know that's all watersweeds , click on it , yeah . 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 .

Speaker 2 20:41

Yeah , it's amazing , her name's Anna . She's fantastic .

Speaker 1 20:44

Oh Anna , hey Anna , I love your work .

Speaker 2 20:46

Yeah .

Speaker 1 20:46

You're doing a great job .

Speaker 2 20:48

We always talk with one another . Ok , here's the next reel . I need something like this . She's OK , great , what do you think about this ? And then we throw some stuff around . So she's fantastic . Yeah , she's really good .

Speaker 1 20:57

I'm almost done gushing . I also love your community involvement . I want to talk a little bit about what you're doing to give back to the community . Tell me about Saltwater Foundation .

Speaker 2 21:08

So the Saltwater Foundation is dedicated to being very active in the community and giving back to the local charities . 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 . We provide grants to organizations who are very thorough with their job and very specific at what they do . 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 .

Speaker 2 21:52

So far we've given out over $55,000 .

Speaker 1 21:55

Wow , that's amazing .

Speaker 2 21:58

And my goal is to hit $500,000 , but again , it's going to take some time .

Speaker 1 22:01

Yeah , that's a big goal .

Speaker 2 22:02

Yeah . 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 . So if the old cliche , the tide rouses all boats , so we're just trying to raise all boats around us and give back .

Speaker 1 22:19

That's really cool . Thank you for doing that .

Expanding to Saltwater Resorts

Speaker 1 22:25

Okay , let's talk about the big news You're expanding .

Speaker 2 22:28

Yes .

Speaker 1 22:28

So let's talk about saltwater resorts .

Speaker 2 22:31

Crazy , right , I love it . What are you doing , man ?

Speaker 1 22:36

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 .

Speaker 2 22:47

Yeah .

Speaker 1 22:48

Tell me about what the difference is between saltwater resort and saltwater suites .

Speaker 2 22:52

Okay . 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 . 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 . I've got a good GC , the electrician , the HVAC provider , the plumber All these people are really good to work with . And if I can try to keep my cost in check , it might work .

Speaker 2 23:29

And I knew at this time I had to sell loggerhead to make this work . So my intent was to keep loggerhead and to keep saltwater . But after thinking for a while I'm like maybe it's best to sell loggerhead and then build saltwater .

Speaker 2 23:44

Number two and to have those because it's a different . It's a night and day difference . Very similar hospitality style , but I think the experience you get at saltwater is different than you would have with any other hospitality offering . So I wanted to stay consistent in the brand and what we were trying to do . So that's what I'm basically decided is all right , I'm going to pull the trigger . I bought the land . We started buying material .

Speaker 1 24:09

Was it all one property or did you have to ? Okay , it was almost a full acre , okay .

Speaker 2 24:13

Yeah . So after we've successfully negotiated and got it under contract , I started to procure material . 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 .

Speaker 1 24:33

Oh really .

Speaker 2 24:33

Yeah , and that's one of the things the city helped us out with , and the elevator was finally operational in October .

Speaker 1 24:40

Oh wow , so it's almost four months after the yeah , there were a few disruptions there .

Speaker 2 24:44

Yeah , so we started buying material for the new project and putting them in storage containers . And again we have to get to the city to file permits and so every six months . 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 . Then we turned our attention to the new project .

Speaker 1 25:11

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 .

Speaker 2 25:18

Yes , a 20 by 40 pool , saltwater pool and saltwater pool .

Speaker 1 25:21

That's awesome . I love it .

Speaker 2 25:23

You have a clubhouse A clubhouse . That's right . It's going to be a three story clubhouse .

Speaker 1 25:28

What are you going to do with three stories ?

Speaker 2 25:30

We're going to rent that out for events , but we're also going to make that part of the experience of the resort . So when you stay at the resort , you have access to the clubhouse and the pool .

Speaker 1 25:40

Okay .

Speaker 2 25:40

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 .

Speaker 1 25:52

Oh , that's cool .

Speaker 2 25:53

Yeah , we're experimenting that now . 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 . 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 .

Speaker 1 26:11

We're not going to charge you anything for it .

Speaker 2 26:14

Again , we're trying to be an advocate for small businesses supporting businesses . Right , and then where we , from a business model point of view , we'll probably we'll rent that out for events Again . Downstairs it's 900 square feet , but then you have two levels that are going to be open like a deck .

Speaker 1 26:33

Okay .

Speaker 2 26:33

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 . We're even on the third floor , and then they can have access to the pool and have birthday parties or corporate events .

Speaker 1 26:49

That'd be great . So let's talk about you for a minute . I want to hear a little bit about your personal history . I always ask this of my guests . I'm just curious , because no one really is from around here . So I always ask where were you born and raised ?

Speaker 2 27:08

I'm originally from Gaston County , a little town called Cherryville , which is 45 minutes west of Charlotte . Okay , and growing up my grandparents had a beach house in Carolina Beach .

Speaker 1 27:18

Oh , that explains some things right there , yeah .

Speaker 2 27:21

So I spent most of all my summers playing little league baseball and coming down to Carolina Beach and eating breadstone , nuts and breadstone nuts yeah . Going to the carnivals and seeing all the interesting people .

Speaker 1 27:34

So that's in North Carolina

From Software to Hospitality

Speaker 1 27:35

. And then you said you moved to Virginia . What was the succession of your ?

Speaker 2 27:39

travels . So I graduated from App State and took a job with a government contractor right outside of DC in . Fairfax , virginia , and a software engineer working for the intelligence community , so that's where I started my career .

Speaker 1 27:53

Can you tell us a little bit about that ?

Speaker 2 27:55

A little bit Working in software and I switched companies a few times and ended up going to Oracle and really honing my experience around database development and the technology at that time and it was before 9-11 . So they were investing a lot of effort into what they call clustering of technology , but basically what that is is that they were hosting systems in multiple environments so that if one goes down another one can still keep going .

Speaker 1 28:24

Makes sense .

Speaker 2 28:24

Yeah , disaster recovery is what they call it , and I had a chance to start my own company from that experience , and I did so . I started out as my own 1099 person , working on multiple contracts , and that eventually led me to Topsoil and had some capital . I'm like you know what I want to have a place at the beach . I went to Virginia Beach and I didn't like it . Ocean City is not my vibe either , and I wasn't going north .

Speaker 2 28:50

So , like why don't we go south and let's just not be around a bush ? And then , from a price point of view , we looked at outer banks . We went to Carolina . They didn't like the vibe there and Topsoil really checked all our boxes . It was low key . They call it Mayberry at the beach . It's very down home and I love it Absolutely , love the people , great restaurants and it's only six hours from where I live in Virginia . So it wasn't too terribly far .

Speaker 1 29:18

How did you end up getting from the software business to the hospitality business once you got here vacationing ?

Speaker 2 29:25

and buying that house . That's a loaded question . I've built and sold two software companies .

Speaker 1 29:31

Right .

Speaker 2 29:32

So after I sold the first one , I had to spend two years not doing software like a non-compete agreement . So I became a venture capitalist . So I joined a local VC group where I was learning how to read not only business plans but also financials and really understanding business and what makes it work and how operations could be more efficient and successful from an investor point of view . So there's an operator side . So me being an operator , I have what makes operations tick and what you need to do to be a profitable business . But from an investor point of view it's a little different . On the other side of the table , I mean , you're both on the same team , except there's different vantage points you have and it was interesting experience learning it from both sides .

Speaker 2 30:17

So , spending two years there , I launched another software company with a friend of mine and that went really well , but at the same time I kept my venture business going . So I was running those parallel and I quickly got burned out because I started to experience frustration in how some of these other companies that we were investing in were managing their money and making poor decisions . So I decided to stop putting more money to work in that area and just focus on the ones that I had invested in , but I still had the desire to do something more , and that led me into real estate . So I started to really investigate real estate . Watching HGTV , obviously , but really listening to podcasts like Bigger Pockets got me really interested in learning , multifamily and things of that nature . So in 2017 , I saw the Motel for sale at Loggerhead and I thought how interesting . How often do you get to actually see the financials of another business ?

Speaker 1 31:22

And .

Speaker 2 31:22

I'm like , all right , I want to check this out , just to check out their op-acts or margins and how things operate Interesting . So I just pulled in and said are you for sale ? Yes sir , we are . Here's the broker . And I called him and said , hey , give me three years of P&L , balance sheet , tax returns , full list of processes .

Speaker 1 31:40

And you're like what , and initially it was just I want to see what this looks like . It must have looked really good .

Speaker 2 31:47

Yeah , it was interesting . The margins at the time were like 60% and I couldn't believe it and I'm like how are you operating a 60% margin ? Operating cost , you mean no the profit they were making 60% profit .

Speaker 1 32:00

Oh , wow .

Speaker 2 32:01

So I didn't understand , like how they were doing this , because I'm from a world 20 , 25% . You're freaking great .

Speaker 1 32:08

That's surprising .

Speaker 2 32:09

Yeah , yeah . So I started to really understand the taxes and the labor and the cost of goods , things of that nature . And again , ligerhead at the time was operating at a different level than what it could have been . So of course , if you're shooting for higher categories , it's going to cost a little bit more money . So that provided me at least the insight into hey , I could operate this business and then over time put that money back into the product and improve it , thereby increasing the rates . And if you can keep your cost minimum to slight increase but increase your top line , then your margins would expand . But I had a small setback after buying the property and I ended up subbing it out to a local property manager After explaining exactly what I saw . Like the margins are killer . I think we put a little bit of money into this . I'll charge you a nominal rate to lease the property , but there's a lot of upside here . And he finally said you know what You're right .

Speaker 1 33:11

I'm just I'm curious . I've never , I've never heard anyone mention a 60% profit before , unless I'm thinking about this wrong , and I just don't know enough about it . Why would anyone sell something that's getting that type of profit ? Why were they letting go of it in the first place ? That kind of product needs Improvements oh , they were missing the maintenance part of it . Well , the deferred maintenance probably wasn't at the level it needed to be , and over with that margin wouldn't have been the same had they been Reinvesting back in the property right .

Speaker 2 33:43

Yeah , now that we basically dismantled the property . Oh my gosh , you would not believe it looks very similar , but that thing is brand new as of 2020 . But , yeah , we started to peel the onion back . We took this off . Oh my god , we just go another level . We took the boards off .

Speaker 1 34:00

Oh dear lord , this is that where the setback came in when you started ?

Speaker 2 34:04

things back .

Speaker 1 34:04

Yeah , okay , so a bigger project than you anticipated . Yeah , okay .

Speaker 2 34:08

Yeah , well , it's funny because the team that I've hired originally to do the renovation , we put a budget down for that and then we blew that budget , probably within the first three months .

Speaker 1 34:18

Oh , no and I started to cry .

Speaker 2 34:20

I'm like , oh my god , this is gonna be a nightmare .

Speaker 1 34:22

What have I done ?

Speaker 2 34:23

Yeah , like how far does the whole go ? Yeah , you , just , you keep digging and Eventually it's like you're gonna hit the bottom and it's like well , here's the bottom .

Speaker 1 34:31

Okay , so you pulled yourself out of that hole and you sold the property . Yeah , tell me about some of the , the challenges or the hurdles that you ran into being on an island . Is there anything specific to that that was troublesome ?

Speaker 2 34:47

Financing is a big one , banks . They back in 2020 , during the COVID pandemic , they bundled hospitality in the same genre as restaurants and Obviously , they look for consistency , consistent cashflow to make sure that you can pay your mortgage and your bills and not have to go through the foreclosure process , but after having to explain to them hey , this is a head and shoulders model . Most of your money is made during the season . There's a surge , it's booming . Pinder County is one of the fastest growing counties in North Carolina . They just didn't get it . It's just like they're deaf . Oh , you're still a hotel . No , I can't talk to you . So I had to sell , finance A lot of this construction , pretty much all of it .

Speaker 2 35:31

I'm mortgage my house in Virginia . I'm mortgage my beach house down here . When you feel passionate about something and you see a vision , this the entrepreneur curse the next deal has to be better than the last one that you just had . You , you get behind this idea and you see it , even though you're talking to people , and I think you're freaking crazy . Why are you building this in a hurricane alley like ?

Speaker 1 35:52

right .

Speaker 2 35:53

It's beautiful , it's needed , it's a great team , economics work and why not ?

Speaker 1 35:58

people are pouring in here yeah .

Speaker 2 36:01

Yeah , just last night . The firework crowd is Crazy .

Building a Successful Business and Team

Speaker 1 36:08

You mentioned storming , norming and performing . I Loved that , so I just want to put a little note in here about that .

Speaker 2 36:14

That's an old business school analogy . When you're building a team and trying to implement a vision or mission , you go through the storming , norming and performing . And storming is you're working together , just like it says You've got a lot of chaos , you got a lot of opportunity , and you're trying to build your processes and get everybody on the same sheet of music as far as how to operate . And then norming is when you take those procedures and start developing a process of execution , and then , of course , performing is just running the script that you've built .

Speaker 2 36:47

Okay , and of course , that's an iterative process because over time things are dynamic and Evolution happens , whether it's in life or business , and you have to adapt to Degree of outcome and you have to understand that you have to constantly be looking at reviewing those things to make sure that the customer's experience is exactly what they signed up for . So we take our feedback very seriously as far as making sure that folks are happy . If they're not happy , we want to know why they're not happy and and that way they can come back and tell their friends because that is the best source of Advertisement is word of mouth .

Speaker 1 37:24

I love that . I've seen a few examples where people get offended and take it personal when someone gives some poor feedback or some bad feedback rather .

Speaker 2 37:33

Yeah , I try to try to remove emotions from issues . Because they were all passionate human beings and your emotions dictate your behavior and the choices that you make . And Sometimes you just have to look at an issue and remove emotion and think like a robot and say , alright , how do I handle this emotion ? Obviously they're upset , happy , sad , whatever . But then if you remove the emotion , then it can help Calibrate the response that you give to solve the issue .

Speaker 1 38:01

I wanted to ask you . You've obviously got a really great business sense about you and we have so many new small businesses in the area , and I just wanted to find out if there were any Tips or guidance that you could provide . We got a lot of young folks out here that are doing a lot of startups , a lot of the boutiques are young ladies who are taking a big step .

Speaker 2 38:21

Mm-hmm .

Speaker 1 38:22

What advice can you offer them ?

Speaker 2 38:24

It's an interesting question . I've guest lectured at schools and a lot of kids have the same question . A lot of people and I even talked to my own kids About some of the stuff . But I think they're too young to even try to comprehend some of these recommendations or or concepts . But I think it it starts with just having Confidence in what you're doing . You don't have to be an expert in an industry here . I'm a software guy , I'm not a developer , I'm not a hospitality owner or , I guess , owner , but like an operator . But if you surround yourself with Professionals and you learn and you go to meet up groups and you Invest your time in books and podcasts and really understand All you needs a little bit of information , just a little bit of a spark , and then that creates you some momentum that you can carry forward Into building out what you think you want to do . So that I think a lot of people get hung up on that oh , I don't believe I have the skills or I don't have the expertise . I don't believe in that .

Speaker 2 39:26

I think with the available resources out today , anybody can pick up a pen and paper or just listening to a podcast or a book and Develop the necessary knowledge , at least to know where to go to the next step , whether it's to invest into Learning from another person or whatever . That that's number one . Number two is time . I think it . You know you have to devote a lot of time and energy to something and with all the distractions of today Attention deficit or whatever there's just there's too many things going on . And I tell people all the time you have to ignore the noise , to focus on what you want to achieve in your outcome . There's gonna be people talking all the time you turn on the news and that's all you hear , just blocking out .

Speaker 2 40:13

If your goal is to open up a hotel or to start a company , whatever it is , then that's what you think about 24-7 . You take notes . What I need to do , what's my next steps ? What's the model ? Go learn , go to a competitor and figure out what they don't do and try to do what they don't do better , to lever that experience . It's almost like You're not trying to copy somebody , you're just trying to learn and observe and figure a better way of doing it . Because that that , to me , is like the American spirit competitions , great . We need competition , and competition Sturs innovation , and that's where people become innovative and become risk takers to do what they need to do . So I think a lot of its confidence , a lot of its time and energy and spending in the area and and just Having fortitude to chase your dream , a lot of people , like I said , it's like just getting out of the gate is 90% of the challenge truly , I have to say , I love talking about your businesses and all that , but that was really my favorite part of this whole conversation .

Speaker 1 41:13

Thank you for sharing that with me and I . I know the listeners are gonna love that . So , beyond saltwater resort , mm-hmm , what are your future plans ?

Speaker 2 41:23

Maintained saltwater for now . We'll see what happens with that in the future . But I still have desire for software and innovation . I've already got a lot of investments in artificial intelligence space , in software that's like my three areas of focus and in the hospitality side , but started a new venture fund and we made a first investment in a company out of Wilmington , mm-hmm , and it's a hundred percent software . So it scratches an itch that that I had with that . So now what I'm here I get I mean heaven , because I get to live out my dream as maintaining and running saltwater , meeting the guests , making sure all their experiences are happy , and then have the software side and help them develop or pass on all the experience I had running my two businesses and building software and see if I can't get them to the next level .

Speaker 1 42:15

So that's wonderful . I'm happy for you . I'm glad you're pulling it in from all the sides . I love it . And to tell me about your family .

Speaker 2 42:23

I have three kids , son's 21 . He goes to Purdue and he just joined the Air Force . He's an Air Force ROTC , so he's actually doing his field training and a hundred degree temperature in Alabama .

Speaker 1 42:36

Has he reached out to you ? How's he doing ?

Speaker 2 42:37

No , they shut their phones off .

Speaker 1 42:39

Yeah .

Speaker 2 42:39

Yeah , so I think he he's . He's out next week , I believe . Yeah , around the 16th . Yeah , he still has another week or so .

Speaker 1 42:47

Hang in there , buddy .

Speaker 2 42:49

Yeah , I'm gonna . He's doing an internship in LA , so I'm gonna fly out there and see him in a couple of weeks and then my daughter goes to school . She plays volleyball at WPI , which is in Worcester , outside of Boston .

Speaker 1 42:59

Okay .

Speaker 2 43:00

And she's thinking of joining . She is part of Army ROTC , but she's been offered a scholarship as well and she's trying to decide whether to join the Army . So I'm like who knew I had two kids ? That ?

Speaker 1 43:12

would be in military .

Speaker 2 43:13

And my youngest daughter she's 14 . She plays travel volleyball too . Definitely keeps us busy .

Speaker 1 43:18

I bet . Yeah , it's been so nice talking to you and getting to know you . I'm excited about having you here in our area and creating all these opportunities . So , thank you , I appreciate your time and I appreciate the information that you gave us Well .

Speaker 2 43:32

thank you for having me .

Speaker 1 43:33

Yeah , it's my pleasure . I'm just going to give out the contact and location information so you can find and follow Saltwater Suites on Topsoil on Facebook at Saltwater Suites on Topsoil , and then on Instagram , the handle is Saltwater Topsoil and you can also find them on Twitter and TikTok and the address is 605 North Topsoil Drive and surf city , 28445 . The website is saltwatertopsoilcom , the phone number is 910-886-4818 . And your property is managed by Blue Star Real Estate in Wilmington , correct .

Speaker 2 44:09

Correct .

Speaker 1 44:09

And you can email them at saltwateratbluestarrealestatenccom . So I just want to say thank you to my listeners for joining me today , and thank you again , richard for sitting and talking with me .

Speaker 2 44:23

Absolutely Thank you .

Speaker 1 44:25

Hey , thank you for joining me today on Topsoil Insider . If you liked today's episode , please hit the follow or subscribe button so that you can get the Topsoil Insider podcast delivered automatically to whichever podcast platform you're listening on . And if you're a business owner and you wish to set up a pre-interview or you want to advertise , please email me at topsilinsider at gmailcom . Please also find and like the Topsoil Insider Facebook page . I provide links to the new podcasts there each week , as well as providing photos of the businesses that I'm highlighting , along with any of their upcoming events . So , hey , let's do this again next week . I'll see you around Topsoil .