The Boutique Hotel Playbook: Secrets & Strategies Revealed · 2026-06-30 · 28 min
Key moments - from our scoring
Substance score
54 / 100
Five dimensions, 20 points each
Salt and Sand represents a novel approach to boutique hotel development in the Caribbean by leveraging strata property structure - discovered buried in an appraisal line item - to allow individual investors to own units starting at $250K rather than requiring millions for whole-property acquisition. Sutton McKay and Lena Langill, alongside real estate professional Maura Watson, spent two years negotiating and executing this strategy, which opens beachfront property ownership to a broader investor base while maintaining operational cohesion through centralized management via Salt and Sand Resort Management, led by Emma (Maura's daughter). The property emphasizes wellness amenities (Nordic Spa circuits), digital infrastructure (Flow with Starlink backup), local community integration, and authentic Jamaican design using sustainable materials like bamboo and guangu wood. Rather than fractionalizing the guest experience typical of condo-hotel models with multiple operators, they charge a 25% management fee to ensure consistent five-star service across all units, handle all marketing (Expedia, Airbnb, VRBO, GDS), manage maintenance at scale, and retain experienced local staff. This model appeals to remote workers, wellness travelers, and investors seeking passive income from beachfront hospitality without the operational burden.
Discovering strata titling in the appraisal revealed the property was already subdivided into titled units, eliminating the need to go through complex subdivision red tape and allowing them to sell individual units starting at $250K rather than requiring a $4M+ single purchase.
Centralized management through Salt and Sand Resort Management ensures consistent five-star guest experience, scale benefits for maintenance and vendor pricing, professional handling of marketing across GDS platforms, and prevents the confusion of multiple front desks or operators that fragments the brand.
They educated buyers on the pros and cons of fractional ownership, explained their professional management model drawing on their experience managing 400+ doors in Canada, and demonstrated how economies of scale - shared staff, bulk vendor pricing, unified marketing - protect investor equity and returns better than individual operation.
The property keeps the existing Auntie's Patty Shop unchanged, hires and retains long-time local staff, opens the restaurant and bar to locals and beach walkers, sells wellness packages (Nordic Spa) locally, and maintains Jamaican design elements and culture at the center rather than modernizing away from local identity.
They set up Flow as the main provider with Starlink Business as a backup service, distributed hotspot connectivity throughout the property, and dedicated a digital nomad workspace overlooking the beach to ensure reliable connectivity for guests who need to work.
Our reviewer’s read on each dimension, with quotes from the episode.
There are genuine nuggets - the strata discovery, economies-of-scale threshold for hotel rooms, capital stack layering, and financial-statement red-flag detection - but a multi-minute off-topic skiing story and frequent throat-clearing drag the useful ideas-per-minute ratio well below what the subject matter could support.
40 or 50 rooms is important to run as a hotel alone because, you know, you have fixed costs like security and, uh, servers and bartenders
when I was reviewing the appraisal which the seller had sent to us, I realized that there was a line item that others had missed, that it was built as a strata, it had titles
The idea of spotting an already-titled strata property buried in an appraisal document is a genuinely non-obvious deal-finding insight, and the financial-statement authenticity heuristic (payroll never ending in round numbers) is a fresh practitioner tip; but the episode also leans on generic advice like 'location, location, location' and 'don't take no for an answer.'
I realized that there was a line item that others had missed, that it was built as a strata, it had titles. And even the seller didn't make this clear to us
sometimes it's cheaper to buy a $3 million property than it is to buy $100,000 duplex
Sutton is a genuine practitioner - running 400+ doors, doing one to two closings a month, and structuring a real acquisition with a mixed capital stack - which gives his comments credibility; Maura has prior strata-conversion experience; but none are high-profile industry figures and Lena's contributions are thin on substance.
We have a property management company back home. We manage near 400 plus doors and even my own properties, I don't manage myself
I'm very impressed that these two are under 30 years old
The episode delivers a solid layer of concrete numbers - room prices, ROI percentages, occupancy baselines, management fee, named banks, named internet providers - which is materially more specific than typical hospitality podcast fare, though some figures (e.g., overall purchase price) remain vague and a few claims go uncorroborated.
we started at 250 for some of the standard rooms and the most uh, expensive room here was 600,000
the smallest rooms. I think the ROI was 9% with the largest room being 12%, which is better than most money markets
The host occasionally asks useful probing questions (certifying financials, community access) and does redirect back to substance, but she allows an extended irrelevant skiing anecdote to consume several minutes of a 28-minute episode and rarely pushes back on unverified projections or challenged the guests' optimistic framing.
I was in Canada. I was on Blue Mountain. And I want to say it might have been like, MLK weekend or something. And they were like, oh, let's go for a night ski now
So who certifies those financials for you? Or you're like, I'm the money guy, so I already know what's the deal
Computed from the transcript - who did the talking, and the words that came up most.
If you're serious about building a hotel brand that guests remember, rave about, and return to, it starts with an honest look at your current positioning. Click here to complete a short questionnaire and see if you qualify for a Deep Dive Call: Most boutique hotel buyers never read the fine print on a property appraisal. This one line item changed everything. In this episode, we sit down with the team behind Salt and Sand, a beachfront strata hotel conversion in Negril, Jamaica, to break down exactly how they structured a multi million dollar acquisition without relying on a traditional bank loan. The story starts with a two year negotiation and ends with a financing stack most investors never consider. You will hear how a missed detail in a seller's appraisal document revealed that the property was already legally structured for fractional ownership, eliminating months of red tape most hotel conversions require. You will also hear how the team blended seller financing, a planned asset refinance, and pre sale capital to close the deal entirely outside the conventional lending system.
Transcribed and scored by The B2B Podcast Index.
Speaker A: What does it really take to buy a hotel, rebrand it, bring in investors, and turn it into a boutique hotel experience that people actually want to book. In this episode of the Boutique Hotel Playbook, I am sitting down with Maura Watson, a real estate professional, along with Lena Langill and Sutton McKay, the hotel investors behind Salt and Sand in Negril, Jamaica. And this conversation is such a good one because we are not just talking about the dream of owning a hotel, we are talking about the strategy behind it. So Sutton and Lina share how they went from Nova Scotia to Negril, how their love for Jamaica turned into a hotel acquisition, and how they found an opportunity in a property that was already set up as a strata. That detail completely changed the strategy and opened the door for investors to own part of, uh, a beachfront hotel. Mohra also breaks down why this type of acquisition can be a more affordable way for people to own beachfront property, especially when they may not have millions of dollars to buy an entire hotel on. Their really love is that we got into the part people don't always think about, because acquiring the hotel is only the beginning. We talk about rebranding, wellness, local materials, community access, keeping Jamaican culture at the center of the property, and why the guest experience has to feel consistent across the entire hotel. I feel like we should probably start somewhere as basic as how'd you get here?
Speaker B: All right. How did we end up in Negril, Jamaica?
Speaker C: Yeah.
Speaker B: All right.
Speaker A: Of all the places, because it's far from Nova Scotia.
Speaker B: Yeah. So funny enough, Nova Scotia and Jamaica, they have a few things in common.
Speaker A: Okay.
Speaker B: Bank of Nova Scotia. Scotiabank is one of the biggest Caribbean's bank. They used to trade rum, sugar and wood back in the day. There's a place not far from our house, Nova Scotia, called Nine Mile, which you know, we have in Jamaica here as well.
Speaker A: Seven Mile.
Speaker B: Oh, Seven Miles. Seven Mile, I guess. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker A: Because we're right on Seven Mile Beach.
Speaker B: That's right. That's right. I've always had a love affair with Jamaica. My parents have been coming here ever since I was a baby. They've been here over a 50, 60 times. And so I fell in love, I guess, as a kid. All my high school projects around Jamaica. And it's always a dream that I had that we wanted to purchase a hotel. And so when I met Lena, I shared this dream with her. She fell in love with Jamaica just as hard, if not harder than I did. And it's always something that we wanted to realize. So together we made the dream happen. We met Maura, and it was the perfect trio as a partnership. We fell in love with this property. Lena, uh, and I, when we looked at the property, it was about two years ago, and we've been in negotiations with this property for about two years with the seller of the property trying to find the right angle of attack and the right strategy for it. Okay. And one day, Lena and I just founded a strategy and we made our offer and it hit and it worked.
Speaker A: Okay, well, now you have to tell us the strategy. I feel we talked about it, but what was it? What'd you guys do? Two years is a while.
Speaker B: A while, yeah. Yeah. So they were looking at selling the property and, uh, I think we were first interested, it was operating as a hotel. Now we have many businesses. She has her own properties, I have our own properties, and we have other businesses. And we recognize that we're not going to be here all the time. So we wanted to make sure that this property would be profitable not only as an owner operated hotel. For a hotel to be not as high risk, economies of scale is important. And I believe 40 or 50 rooms is important to run as a hotel alone because, you know, you have fixed costs like security and, uh, servers and bartenders. And having 40 or 50 rooms allows you the opportunity to hire a manager to help take care of these things. When I was reviewing the appraisal which the seller had sent to us, I realized that there was a line item that others had missed, that it was built as a strata, it had titles. And even the seller didn't make this clear to us that there were titles, only found it in the document. And so I thought, wow, there's an opportunity. Yeah, there's an opportunity here because Maura has done great success in some hotel strata conversions. And I thought, well, I think we have the golden ticket because this property is already strata. It's already titled.
Speaker C: You don't have to go through the red tape.
Speaker B: You don't have to go through the red tape. So once we had that, we were in negotiations. I think it was, geez, what, six months at least. Even after that, if not longer, and we're competing offers right at the last minute, we finally came to an agreement. And in real estate, I have many closings, usually have one or two closings a month. What I've learned is relationships is the most important fair. And so in any business. In any business, yes. But a lot of real estate is traded without the relationship just by paperwork. And so I always try to work with a realtor to make sure that the realtor introduces ourselves as to who we are so we're not just a blank offer form. And that way you're able to get more negotiation power and more trust is built. And developing relationship with the seller was the most crucial aspect of this. And we're very thankful for them to give this as opportunity because things have changed since this whole idea and project first started and they've been very flexible, uh, with us.
Speaker A: Maurice, Sutton talked a little bit about the fact that uh, you've done this before.
Speaker C: Right.
Speaker A: So talk to me about why you recommend this specific kind of real estate position process not just for larger investment groups, but also for Jamaicans who are looking to invest in island.
Speaker D: This is a definitely an affordable way to own a beachfront property. Not many people have $4 million, but Sutton and Lena came in at reasonable prices. We started at 250 for some of the standard rooms and the most uh, expensive room here was 600,000, which was one of our loft suites with an oceanfront unit. Yes, I wanted that. I couldn't afford it, but we got a really good buyer and I think the concept has really worked and we've got like minded buyers and this place is going to be phenomenal. Salt sand, they're rebranding it and our investors own a part of a beachfront hotel and while they're in America or Canada, it will earn income for them. So it's going to be run as a boutique hotel. So it's really a way to get into the market affordably and it's a great investment. And we're on the beachfront and as we say in real estate, location, location, location for sure.
Speaker A: So Lena, I have a question for you.
Speaker C: No, yes, of course.
Speaker A: I know when we're talking about the general experience and design of things, you are the head honcho of all things. Yes. So tell what you envision, what you have planned.
Speaker C: Yeah. So we've done a lot of market research. We've stayed uh, at actually plenty of hotels along the beach. So we've done our fair share of what. We've done our research on what works, what doesn't work. So we're really taking that and putting it into this project and listening to our customers. We know, we've noticed that there's a huge trend on lifestyle and wellness. So we're focused on bringing the wellness aspect to this property and hopefully going to be the first Nordic Spa, uh, circuit.
Speaker A: Okay, talk to me a little bit about that and what that looks like because I have no idea.
Speaker C: Yeah, so Nordic Spa is Kind of like you have your hot, your cold. So you'll have your cold plunge your sauna. You're getting your heat from the grill sun anyway. But when it gets cold at night, there's always the sauna to go to. But it's mainly really good for your health. Yeah.
Speaker A: So my friends and I, we do that very frequently in Kingston, and it's a thing. We actually buy packages just to do. It going to be something that's only available to the persons who are staying here. Can locals decide that they want to come and participate and actually, yeah, so
Speaker C: we'll have the opportunity to sell those packages as well to locals. So that's why it's key to have that aspect that nobody else has, that experience that nobody else has. So we'll offer that to locals and also our guests as well.
Speaker A: So one of the things that I see happening on the beach that make properties really successful is how they choose to engage with the community and how they choose to. To offer those resources. It's great to hear that, uh, open and willing to that. What are your plans around how this property is positioned, not just abroad, but locally? And a lot of people go, Jamaica isn't for Jamaica anymore. Like, all the floors come and they buy the things. I think it's a point and it's fair. So how do you address that?
Speaker C: I guess the one thing is we fell in love with Jamaica and Jamaica, all that is the people, the food, the culture, the music, everything. So we don't want to get rid of that. We really want to just take this project and just keep the bare bones and build off of that and keep all the natural Jamaican elements. We really don't want to run away and become a modern. You're not going to notice what this place is. It's not going to be familiar. We want it to be familiar. Still have the Jamaican roots.
Speaker A: Anyone can answer this question. What's your favorite thing that you are working through as new hotel owners here? Like, the thing that you're looking, you're like, you know what? Once I get this done, it's going to be great.
Speaker C: Yeah. The painting.
Speaker B: Yeah.
Speaker C: Seeing just the painting. Yeah, I guess to level it up.
Speaker D: Facelift.
Speaker C: Okay.
Speaker A: I heard, uh, the painting. I heard the facelift. I heard the branding. Okay. I'm gonna dive into all the things. Okay. So painting, are we keeping the same aesthetic in terms of the paint color? Because I'm not saying that you're gonna modernize to the point where it's unrecognizable. What are we doing. What are our thoughts?
Speaker C: It's gonna be the fresh look of the nice white. We have our colors picked out, and so we're gonna have some accent colors on the green side. Sage green, beige, all natural element colors.
Speaker B: One thing that's important for us as well is we'll be using local materials. Uh, so Lena had the great idea to use cut stone because we love seeing the cut stone, especially in the west end where everything we're doing and selecting is intentional. So our meeting and our contractor yesterday, we're selecting bamboo wood and guangu wood. So happy. We love the smell of it too. I want to be able to smell the wood and trying to have those natural elements which Lena mentioned.
Speaker A: Why it's so funny. So one of my other clients, she's an architect, she works with natural materials. She's Jamaican, and so all of her spaces that she builds is primarily from bamboo. And people are always talking about they didn't know that bamboo could actually be used to build buildings. And we're talking the other day, she actually has a podcast episode. It's coming out, guys, and talking about how bamboo is almost as strong as steel.
Speaker B: Yes.
Speaker A: And, uh, when they talk about the different aspects of utilizing, it's not as. I'm trying to find a nice word, but it's not as remedial or as rural as people may think. So how did you guys even manage to roll to that area of material? Because not a lot of people know about it.
Speaker B: We have bamboo on the property and it's one of our favorite parts of the property in the look. Our property here has a very palmy, jungle like experience and some of our current signage we're keeping. There's another property here on the beach which is used bamboo. A high end property, and we really like the way that they use that. Bamboo is also economically better than some woods because it requires less milling, it requires less transportation and trucking and processing. And it's also material that's abundant and grows relatively quick compared to trees. And so it's something that we want
Speaker A: to experience once it starts growing, you stopping.
Speaker B: So our spa area is going to be very lush with bamboo and lots of exotic Jamaican plants.
Speaker A: All right, what else do I have on my head right now? Okay, so spa area, Nordic spa experience. What else is going on? What else do we have planned?
Speaker B: The wellness space, this up here above us, above the bar, overlooking the beach. One thing is, even before I had this property, uh, and project, as a business owner back home, you're always tied to a computer in Some capacity during the day. Finding a comfortable working space on the beach is not easy. Not easy. Not easy. It's not easy. And so one thing that's really important to us is also connectivity and making sure that there are digital nodes.
Speaker A: Oh, my gosh. It's a thing. It's a thing. It's absolutely a thing. Uh, it will drive you insane quickly.
Speaker B: So we have backup Internet services. So we have Flow as our main provider. We also have Starlink business as a backup, just in case that the main provider does go down. We're making sure that we have a hotspot connectivity everywhere and also ensuring that you have a dedicated workspace. So we'll have a dedicated nomad space at the top, uh, overlooking the beach with the cool breeze. Yeah,
Speaker A: I have a couple of things happening. Okay. One, I'm just gonna advocate for my local business, who very often don't have access to stable Internet.
Speaker B: Yes.
Speaker A: Or a, um, comfortable place to work. I find, and I think you've probably seen it as you participate on the beach, the properties that do the best, not just with the locals, but those are the ones that open the space for people to come experience.
Speaker B: Yeah.
Speaker A: So if they can come here and sit and have great WI fi, they're gonna buy a drink for them.
Speaker B: Oh, for sure, for sure.
Speaker A: And they're gonna say, oh, no. Yeah, there they have the best WI fi. Oh, stay there, everybody. That's where everybody hangs out. So that really excites me, not just for you all, but for me. So when I come back, I know
Speaker B: her brought up a great point earlier, and I'd like to speak to a little bit. Our doors are fully open to locals and walkers along the beach. This will be a restaurant that will be open to everyone here. The bar will. We will also have, like we mentioned before, the, uh, massage services, and we'll be hiring locals that, uh, used to work here before and courting with them. And our favorite part of this property as well is also the restaurant that we have next door, Auntie's Patty Shop. It's a beautiful, really authentic bar and kind of craft market that they have there. And we're not looking to change that at all. I think it's actually a beautiful piece of the beach.
Speaker A: It sounds like you guys are approaching this in the best way possible. I've even seen. I've seen locals. The mother did, the father did, whatever, and then take over the restaurant, or they take over the hotel now and they can finally do it their way. And they don't do it in the Same community, forward way that their parents did it. And it really changes not just the dynamic of the hotel, but the dynamic of the beach. Like how things change out there. You also see how the reputation changes.
Speaker C: Right.
Speaker A: It could be something as silly as Boy, Mr. John, you used to sponsor the football tournament all the time. I'm boy, since Indeed even give $100. And you might think it's, we don't owe you anything. But it's, uh, a whole. It's a completely different thing. It's really about nurturing and building those relationships, not just with the persons who see us from the outside, but the who are here in the community.
Speaker C: And speaking to soccer, I'm up for playing soccer. Whenever anybody let me know I'm ready.
Speaker A: I am not a soccer player. I'll do it and do it badly. Like almost anything. I will. I'll ski. But I also roll down mountains and leave one behind me, one down there. I remember I was in Canada. I was on Blue Mountain. And I want to say it might have been like, MLK weekend or something. And they were like, oh, let's go for a night ski now.
Speaker C: Sure.
Speaker A: Except for when your stepbrother tricks you into going on a double black diamond. And, baby, I'm not supposed to do anything past blue. No. My goodness. And then.
Speaker B: Then he came back with your legs.
Speaker A: Hello, Frank. Who is my doctor who got them back together because, Dr. Frank, this knee was not so great. Actually, to be honest, I don't think they're back to 100%. This one about two, three years ago. Wow. It might have been two years ago, but I just know they were like. They were at the bottom of the hill by this. And they were like, yeah, we're ready to go. And they're like, where are you? I was like, I'm on the hill. Are you coming down? I was like, yeah, eventually. I'm waiting on someone to see me because it's dark. I, um, want someone to see me and to bring one ski down. So finally a guy did that. And then I stood up and I said, oh, that hurts. That's not as easy as the snowboards. Come down on your butt. Keep both of them together and come down on my butt. And then I was going too fast because now I'm. And I'm totally scared. And I'm like, okay, I gave up. I don't know how we got here. Uh, clearly. And I'll still go back, which is,
Speaker C: yeah, such a good experience.
Speaker A: I just wouldn't. I just. The next day, I went snowboarding oh, my goodness. I didn't realize how much I had hurt myself, mind you. Are there videos of them icing my foot in the kitchen? Yes. Are there videos of, um, bruising? Yes.
Speaker C: Yeah.
Speaker A: Did I say to myself, I already paid for this. He lives. So I'm going, yes, yes. Yeah, whatever. The case is gonna be dangerous.
Speaker B: Yeah, yeah.
Speaker A: Okay, so circle back to actual hotel things. We're operating as a hotel.
Speaker C: Yeah.
Speaker A: Talk to me about what that looks like for the investors.
Speaker B: Maura has a whole network in this industry, so her lovely daughters Emma and Sid will be managing a lot of the resort operations and restaurant operations. They have luxury villa experience, and so we're very confident in their abilities to manage and we're very excited to onboard them. Um, we've opened up a separate company, Salt and Sand Resort Management. We've brought Emma on as a partner and she'll be the day to day management here. I have a hotel management degree. She has Airbnb and short term rental experience. And so we're well versed in this area. We will be operating this as a resort, as one. For the reason why is we want to make sure that every guest has the same experience and a five star experience. We want to make sure that the property feels connected. Whereas some condominiums, when you rent an airbnb and there's 20, 30 operators, I mean, there's one place that we went to and there's three front desks. And so I went to say, hey, can I check in? Oh, you have to go to that front desk over here. Oh, sorry. No, it's this one hot property.
Speaker C: Right.
Speaker A: It's funny. I don't know. I don't know if Sid told you, but she and I had a conversation about that where I was like, why would anybody want to try to manage, um, unit at a hotel by themselves? Why would they not turn that over to a professional? Okay, I told more of this secret about me. M. I'm actually a licensed property manager.
Speaker B: Okay.
Speaker C: Yeah.
Speaker A: So I understand the difference between someone trying to do.
Speaker B: Yes.
Speaker A: Professional. It's literally night and day, night and day, not just for the guest and the guest experience, but also to maintain a certain level of brand stability, for sure. And also investor equity. Because if you're able to actually have investors equivalent experiences across the board, when people talk about the crosser to be in the mix, regard of what's happened,
Speaker B: that, uh, that was one of the largest hurdles we had with buyers, for sure. And it was, I guess it was an educative experience that they had to. For Some persons to explain to them, I guess the cons and the pros. We have a property management company back home. We manage near 400 plus doors and even my own properties, I don't manage myself. I let my team handle it. So even when my tenants text me, I say, I can't help you. I haven't done a lease in two years. I wouldn't be able to help you. It's better. You let the system and the pros handle it. And the thing is, say for example, there's a maintenance issue in one of the rooms. That operator is going to have to, if they're in the States, figure out, you know, who's the plumber, who's the
Speaker A: vendor, they get paid, how money gets transferred.
Speaker B: Exactly. But what we can do is because we have scale here, we can call one guy in and do three, four tickets in the same day and we're going to have on site. M price point will be different. We also have on site maintenance here and we're keeping staff here that have been here for seven or eight years and Jiggy's been here for eight years. So they know the property well. And so that's a huge advantage of it. And also a concern is we are always going to ensure that we're always upgrading the property as we go on and listening to our customer reviews. And when we offer paddleboards or we offer kayaks, but it's only limited to rooms 5, 6 and 7, the people are going to say, how come I don't access the kayaks and paddle boards?
Speaker C: And then.
Speaker B: So we really wanted it to be a seamless experience. We're going to have clear reporting for all of the individual owners and investors using softwares that I already do because I have investor partnerships back in Canada as well. So I'm used to that process. We're charging a 25% fee, but we're also ensuring that the property, we're doing our own marketing expense and we're going to be listed on all gds so travel agents can book it. Expedia, Airbnb, vrbo. We encourage owners to make their products always think competition is great. So we encourage their owners to make their room the best room and make it a unique experience. So if you'd like to make it a room that's more wellness focused, with red light masks like one of our owners is doing, or if you'd like to have an art easel in your room, we will make sure that your room is marketed specifically for those.
Speaker C: I like that.
Speaker A: I think it still gives Them the ability to have some semblance of a competitive advantage.
Speaker B: Yes.
Speaker A: But, uh, still be able to take advantage of the overall pool.
Speaker B: Yes.
Speaker D: I think from the investor standpoint it's much easier to have in house management. You don't want to get a call at 2 in the morning that they need more toilet paper. Nobody wants to be. And also will control when we have groups, we want a yoga group, but we don't want a party group or we'll have a party group one week. So in house control. And I think the investors will love it. They'll just see the income they're making and they won't be aggravated. So that's a great investment.
Speaker A: I think one other thing that Sutton mentioned that I think is also really worth talking about is keeping the staff that is familiar with the property. Because when you could talk to someone and they can actually be like, no man, you can just fix that. They change that two years and don't
Speaker B: buy a new one.
Speaker A: This one is good.
Speaker C: It just came.
Speaker A: As opposed to uh, someone who's, I don't know when they brought this in. We can't find it anywhere in the investment pocket. I don't know what's going on, but we'll just buy a new one. And you come to find out that there was a man who came and gave you a quote, but like he was not being so nice. That's another thing. The professional aspect of it. Being able to pin to persons that you know are professional, that you know, you can rely on, that know more, you can speak to them. So one of, one of the things that's really a thing these days is when you're creating content to have to create multiple person content because AI has a harder time, at least right now, of actually rendering multiple people. So people are like, oh, that's real cool.
Speaker D: Yes. And they've chosen a Jamaican contractor and it's um, a lot of local subs. So they're going to have it done right here and just bring this place back to us. Uh, still keep it the Jamaican vibe, but also give it a modern vibe. And the investors will do well. The location is key. I say we're like on Monopoly. We're on Boardwalk. We have Skylark on one side, Treehouse on the other.
Speaker C: Yeah.
Speaker A: It's a pretty top notch location is.
Speaker C: Yeah.
Speaker A: And a prime, prime gorgeous.
Speaker D: Just. And look at that.
Speaker A: Being able to look out like it's fake.
Speaker D: It's so fake.
Speaker A: And be like, is it real? I get a lot of sloth sometimes. Like I'll get like a zoom call with someone. And they were like, how do we know you're real? Can you put one finger in front of your face? I'm like, guys, we're not doing this. No, seriously, I told you about how I had to get on a plane to the Virgin Islands to prove that I was a real person. They were like, I don't know this to be a scam. I was like, if you think it's a scam, do a charge.
Speaker D: But hey, you got that look. They have that girl that's singing. You kind of look like her on TikTok.
Speaker A: Talk to AI.
Speaker D: She's so pretty.
Speaker A: She looks built on me, to be fair.
Speaker B: Yes. One thing too that was advantageous to us is because this property was operating up until July of 2025. We had previous financials. And so we looked at the numbers and we're able to make an approximation that based off its current status, if it was averaging 50 to 60% occupancy, if we upgraded it, we could and
Speaker A: did some more modern marketing and different kind of positioning.
Speaker B: So I underwrote the numbers which you presented to the investors. We created an excel sheet together to calculate their cash on cash rate, ROI and the smallest rooms. I think the ROI was 9% with the largest room being 12%, which is better than most money markets. At the same time, that didn't account for appreciation. It was only cash flow. So that was a huge advantage. I do like to see when purchasing a, uh, property, previous financials. It gives me confidence to tell the investor that we're going to be able to achieve these targets for you.
Speaker A: So who certifies those financials for you? Or you're like, I'm the money guy, so I already know what's the deal.
Speaker C: Yeah, uh, yeah, we also looked at other properties too. Yeah, we do our market research.
Speaker D: Yeah.
Speaker B: And the financial statements which they provided. In any business, you have to have taken with a grain of salt. But you could tell by when you look at financial statements over and over again if. Because it came with the restaurant and bar expense. So if I saw the room, revenue was 80,000amonth. But the cost of purchasing alcohol didn't go up in relation to a percentage based off a slow month. I knew it was a fake month. So I received financial statements from another property which I won't name on the beach. And red flags, red flags are going off. We asked for income statements and it was payroll. 35,000 doll on 000. I highly doubt your payroll ended with a 00, you know, and so when it ends at a penny and the consistent percentages, I would believe that there,
Speaker A: I don't know why in my head now I'm like, there is someone, um, watching this who is about to just add 5 cents to the end of something. Do you guys know the meme it goes Jamaica stop.
Speaker B: No, I've seen that. Yeah, I've seen that.
Speaker C: Stop.
Speaker B: Yeah, I see it, I see it. Yeah, everyone's editing their financials right now. They put a 5 cents here, 7 cents sense, 30 cents. I'll catch you because you got to edit the percentages as well.
Speaker A: Yeah, one, one day. Okay. Is there anything else that someone who is maybe opening their own boutique hotel can learn from you?
Speaker B: For sure. I think we'll all take a turn because there we all have information. We used a mix of financing and I think that was one of the most beautiful parts of the deal. I guess I'm a finance geek or nerd. So I stay in the numbers all day. Right. I'll wake up at 2am so. Oh my God, let me look at this spreadsheet. But, but no, we used a mix of uh. And we were talking about it earlier and I saw in your other podcast, leveraging your assets back home, that was a planned refinance that I've been in the works since 2023. And so the timing hit perfectly, which I think is a sign that the timing was perfect. Also a use of cash, a use of uh, seller financing. And I also took a strategy from new condos and new developments. When you do pre sales or when you sell condos, that sales revenue becomes a part of your capital stack. And so by leveraging all of those mixes, we were able to achieve our uh, purchase targets. And so I would tell people to try to look at different opportunities or try to look at outside the box. Always recommend seller financing. We did also have a mix of a loan and banks were interested. And we went away from the banks just in the effort of time and speed and clarity because that was an issue for us and we wanted a certain level of certainty. But the banks also were very helpful. We talked to NCB and they did make an initial offer and we could have used that as well. But between seller financing, leveraging assets back home, I've done some deals seller financing that are 60, 70% back home. And so I always say sometimes it's cheaper to buy a $3 million property than it is to buy $100,000 duplex.
Speaker A: Yeah.
Speaker B: Because there's so much more money to work with.
Speaker A: Mhm.
Speaker B: You like to continue.
Speaker C: Sure, sure. One of my things is not letting one person tell you no and just stopping there. Just think there's somebody else who's accomplished this. So how do I get in their shoes? Don't take no as an answer. Keep going. There has to be a solution. So that would be my advice to people.
Speaker D: I would say I'm a little older than all of you. I'm very impressed that these two are under 30 years old, you as well. And it's so refreshing to see young people getting into the boutique hotel business. And they're bringing in my daughters as well. I am very pleased at the team. So the team makes the dream work and we've got a lot of smart people involved and our investors as well. So I think collectively this is definitely going to be a win and I'm really glad to be part of the team.
Speaker A: I love it.
Speaker D: Yeah, man.
Speaker A: Thank you so much. I love this conversation because it made one thing very clear. Buying the hotel is only the beginning. The real work starts when you have to figure out the positioning, the guest experience, the operations, the management, the local relationship, and the marketing strategy that turns the property into something people actually want to book. What stood out to me about Salt and Sand is that Lena and Sutton and Maura are not just looking at this as a real estate transaction. They're thinking about the full experience, the wellness concept, the local materials, the team, the investor experience, the community, the food, the beach, the culture, the wifi, the management and all of the the small details that make a boutique hotel feel intentional. And that matters because a property can have a beautiful location and still be forgettable. A beachfront view may get attention, but it is the brand, the service, the story and the consistency of the experience that turn that attention into bookings, referrals, reviews and long term value. So if you have acquired a boutique hotel, a resort, a villa, a property or a hospitality space and you know the marketing needs needs to be stronger, this is where I can help. At the ykmd, we help boutique hotel owners turn beautiful properties into strong driven brands that attract the right guests, increase direct bookings and create an experience people remember. Now you don't need random marketing. You need a clear brand, a strong guest journey, and uh, a marketing strategy that helps people understand why your property is worth booking. If you want help figuring out what your hotel needs next, next book a deep dive, call with me and we'll look at where your brand is now, what may be holding you back and what needs to happen next to your positioning for your property. To actually grow. A huge thank you to Maura, Lena and Sutton for sharing the story behind Salt and Sand and giving us such an honest look at what it takes to acquire, reposition and operate a boutique hotel. If this conversation made you think differently about boutique hotel investing, ownership, or what it takes to build a property people actually remember, share this episode with someone who needs to hear it, and make sure you go ahead and hit the subscribe button. Thanks for listening to the Boutique Hotel playbook and I'll see you in the next one.
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