Larkspur Hotels and Restaurants is on the road to becoming a major contender in the local hospitality industry—and beyond.
In sports argot, the Larkspur Hotels and Restaurants group is “butter.” It’s “on a roll.” It’s en fuego. It’s hot! This North Bay hospitality outfit—put together in 1996 by former investment banker Karl Hoagland, who had worked closely with the legendary hotelier Bill Kimpton—is on the cusp of a growth plan that will take the left coastal group from about two dozen hotels now (that’s nearly 3,000 rooms in California, Oregon and Washington) to twice that in the next five years. If that weren’t enough, Hoagland is also eyeing expansion eastward (think Colorado, Utah, and beyond). Look out, folks!
Three sides to the story
For many of us, Larkspur means the ferry to AT&T Park, a most pleasant means of accessing Giants baseball. But the Marin County community is also headquarters to Larkspur Hotels and Restaurants, a rapidly expanding entity that’s carving out three distinct brands in the ever-evolving hospitality field: Larkspur Landing; Larkspur Hotels; and The Larkspur Collection. For those keeping score, here’s the breakdown:
The Larkspur Landing facilities fall into the “extended stay” category and feature all-suite hotels that cater to the needs of modern business travelers and families. “Comfort and productivity,” sums up Richard Flores, the corporate vice president for marketing. When you combine a healthy start breakfast, complimentary fitness rooms, laundry facilities and Wi-Fi, and then toss in hand-crafted art in the common areas and house-baked cookies by the fireplace, all comfortably set in a craftsman-style structure, well, you get the coziness of home.
Larkspur Hotels is the group’s three-star brand. The “star” ratings are cumulative scoring systems, developed by AAA, that rank facilities by room size, bathroom size, number of employees, the availability of other amenities, like a restaurant, workout rooms, Internet access, laundry facilities and the like. Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn and Spa in Sonoma and Meadowood in St. Helena are among the North Bay’s five-star establishments—the highest ranking possible. “The aim here,” says the New York-born, Los Angeles-raised Flores, “is for a hotel with distinctive charm and personality, yet one that delivers value, comfort and service for business and leisure travelers.” The debut of this brand came with the recent opening of the Larkspur Hotel Union Square, in the heart of San Francisco.
The third brand is called The Larkspur Collection. “These are our premium, independent boutique hotels,” explains Flores, who previously worked in Miami and in Spain for Sol Melia Hotels & Resorts, the 12th largest hotel group in the world with more than 300 properties in more than 30 countries. “Here, we’re trying to offer an individual experience that matches the surrounding locale,” he says. “The brand focuses on unique and individual travel experiences, complemented by the local flavor and surrounding community. The Larkspur Collection delivers a sensorial guest experience, upscale amenities and exceptional service.” The properties presently included in the Larkspur Collection are The Belamar Hotel (Manhattan Beach), Casa Munras (Monterey), The Lodge at Tiburon (Tiburon), the Sainte Claire (San Jose), Toll House Hotel (Los Gatos) and RiverPlace Hotel (Portland, Oregon).
Genuine inspiration
A theme that crops up with disarming regularity in the company’s press kit is “genuine hospitality.” It’s a phrase that would be numbing and meaningless if the company’s employees, from Hoagland on down, didn’t work so hard at it. “That’s how we have to differentiate ourselves from other hotels, and it has to be the core of who we are as a company,” says Hoagland, who garners the respect of his employees by living what he says.
“That’s why I came to work here,” says Flores, who joined the company almost a year ago. “When Karl talks about sustainability and ‘green,’ he knows what he’s talking about, because that’s the way he lives at home.” Indeed, Hoagland’s Marin County home employs solar power, is insulated with fiber from old denim blue jeans and has a system to capture rainfall runoff for irrigation. He drives cars powered with bio-fuel, and the company uses bamboo and other sustainable materials in construction whenever possible in its hotels.
“We’re aiming to be the third main player in the San Francisco market,” says Flores. “Our primary competitors are Kimpton Hotels and JDV [Joie de Vivre] Hotels, both of which are based in San Francisco. Karl worked with Bill Kimpton when Karl was still working as an investment banker, and Bill’s work was the inspiration for what Karl has done—and is doing—with the whole of the Larkspur group. We’re getting all the good public relations that we’re getting because we have good stories to tell. Our restructuring is a good story, our expansion is a pretty good success story, and Karl is certainly a good profile.” (It doesn’t hurt that Flores has come on board. The company spent a year looking for the right person to fill its empty vice president of marketing post before enlisting him last December.)
Hospitality with a heart
Flores is also impressed by the company’s insistence on community involvement, again from the top down. “We’re very involved in the Toys for Tots program,” he says with pride. “We started collecting toys before Christmastime at all of our hotels a year ago—toys from our guests, toys from our employees—and we displayed the toys in our lobbies prior to distribution. That encouraged further donations, as you might imagine, and the company matched all the donations, dollar for dollar.
“This year, we’ve added Habitat for Humanity to our community involvement programs, and we’re helping build houses in Portland, San Francisco, Seattle, Silicon Valley, Los Angeles and Sacramento. It’s a part of what we see as genuine hospitality. We give our employees time off to engage in these sorts of programs. That’s the business we’re in, after all: hospitality. And people can tell if you’re genuine.”
Of course, the whole of this attitude and commitment has to flow from the top down for it to work. Good thing Karl Hoagland wants his vision and influence to be reflected by all employees, from his managers to his maids, his maitre d’s to his bussers. Born in Alton, Illinois (north of St. Louis), Hoagland says with a perhaps not so ironic laugh, “My father told me I had to either go to law school or work for Goldman Sachs.”
So, he went to Brown University and graduated with honors in 1987, having studied business economics and organizational behavior and management. “I headed to Wall Street and did, in fact, sign on with Goldman Sachs as an analyst in its mergers and acquisitions department. On a visit out west, I fell in love with the Bay Area, bought a Craftsman-style home in Berkeley and took a job with Montgomery Securities in San Francisco specializing in the gaming and hospitality industries.”
Hoagland seemed to have a knack, as a young investment banker, for taking companies public and raising capital for clients like Doubletree, Red Lion, La Quinta and Marriott. Gradually, he noticed his passion was more for the properties themselves than for the financial intrigue in establishing them. His desire was to become a hotelier.
“When I had the wonderful opportunity to work closely with Bill Kimpton, he taught me to pay close attention to the smaller, often-overlooked details,” he says. “If you’re going to be hospitable, you have to do it at every level.
“When Larkspur Hospitality Development and Management was started in 1996, it brought together 16 extended-stay properties in suburban California, Oregon and Washington. Our focus then—and now—was to make our guests’ stays more efficient. If we could make life easier, more comfortable and more productive for business-oriented travelers, then all of our customers would benefit and, best of all…they’d want to return. I don’t care what business you’re in, the return customer is the best customer. If we could show them real hospitality, they’d want to come back. We want folks to feel warmly welcomed—as if they’re being welcomed into a friend’s home.”
Villa Florence reopens
Last month, the company reopened Villa Florence, part of its Larkspur Collection, just off Union Square in San Francisco. “Every one of the 183 guest rooms has been remodeled,” says Flores. “We’ve redesigned the lobby, our business facilities are state-of-the-art and we’ve added an intimate wine bar—Bar Norcini—that specializes in Italian wines and Italian-themed cocktails. The whole of the hotel is designed to give you the feel of a modern Italian villa, along with the comfort of family and hospitality.”
Flores says the hotel’s convenient location, in the heart of San Francisco, makes it equally enchanting for business and leisure travelers. “The hotel is mere steps away from the city’s best shopping, dining and entertainment venues, not to mention the financial district and the Moscone Convention Center. The room remodels focus on Italian décor, with furnishings in warm, Tuscan hues. Of course, that includes our FeatherBorne beds, plush towels, robes and slippers, and LCD flat-screen televisions, complimentary Wi-Fi, and iPod docking stations.”
Villa Florence also has four meeting rooms, capable of handling groups as small as 10 or as large as 120. The business amenities include audio-visual equipment, conference call capabilities and Wi-Fi. “Of course, we have meeting professionals on staff to customize our business visitors’ needs,” adds Flores. “And our business center is open to all of our guests free of charge.”
Flores points with pride to the new, 24-seat wine bar, located in the hotel’s lobby. “They installed floor-to-ceiling cabinets that show off our impressive collection of Italian wines, and logs of house-cured salumi hang behind the bar. The tables for two are intimate, and large glass doors open out to the lively bustle of Union Square, inviting passersby to drop in for a drink or a bite to eat. Illy coffee and pastries are offered in the morning; noontime features panini, pizza and salad; and a light menu of cheese, charcuterie and pizzettas is offered in the evening at Bar Norcini. Don’t forget, Villa Florence is also connected to Kuleto’s Italian Restaurant—known for its open kitchen and Northern Italian cuisine—a San Francisco tradition for more the two decades.”
The restaurant biz is hard
The average new restaurant has about a 50 percent chance at exceeding a six-month life span. Larkspur has a handful of restaurants—all in or connected to one of its hotels—and is looking to branch out further. “We just hired Nathan Tanner as vice president for restaurants to manage our expansion in that area,” says Flores. “That’s a clue as to how important Karl sees that side of our business. Though costs are higher on the food side, our food and beverage sales already comprise fully one-quarter of our total revenues.
“Tanner developed two restaurant concepts for us and had two other restaurants he brought with him. Estéban, which is part of our completely redesigned Casa Munras Hotel in Monterey, and Second Story—yes, it’s on the second floor—which is part of our Belamar Hotel in Manhattan Beach. Tanner was previously with Hilton Hotels, where he developed independent restaurant concepts to replace the traditional cookie-cutter hotel restaurants. He helped bring Donna Scala of Napa’s Bistro Don Giovanni to Hilton San Francisco, where it recently opened its first Urban Tavern, a licensed concept in which Hilton has invested some $13 million.”
“Restaurants are becoming a bigger part of our business,” affirms Hoagland. “That’s why we hired Nathan. It’s important to us that each restaurant has its own unique identity and character; of course, that’s in line with our vision for our Larkspur Collection Hotels: We want them to resonate with the local community and not be seen merely as hotel-only restaurants.”
Estéban, Tanner’s paean to all things Mediterranean, features Spanish-inspired tapas in a congenial and festive setting. There’s an outdoor patio and an exhibition kitchen that brings chefs and diners together. Second Story focuses on more contemporary foods, what Tanner calls “nostalgic American comfort foods, prepared with a twist.” Sounds a little like an E.E. Cummings short story.
“We’re finding that restaurants are a great way to promote catering services and fill hotel rooms,” adds Tanner. “At Estéban in Monterey, locals come in, have a great dining experience and then come back to book an event. We’re seeing that some three-quarters of our social event catering at Estéban comes from guests who first dined at the restaurant.
“Smaller, boutique hotel companies that focus on restaurants as much as on their hotels is a new trend—and you have to give a nod to Kimpton, who laid the foundation for what we’re doing now. I think food and beverage service in hotels has often been an amenity, but we view it as a business entity, a complement to the hotel and a revenue-generating opportunity.”
Larkspur’s other restaurants include the famed Kuleto’s on Union Square and the company’s Three Degrees restaurants—American fare, fresh ingredients, waterfront views and/or outdoor patios—which are currently part of the The Lodge at Tiburon, Toll House Hotel in Los Gatos and RiverPlace Hotel in Portland. “The core of our restaurant strategy,” says Flores, “is that we buy locally grown, organically grown products and market the restaurants to local customers, but also have them convenient to our hotel guests. When you make people feel at home, they come back to you.”
“You have to understand, we’re not a big brand,” says Hoagland. “We don’t have frequent-stay programs, so we have to go out of our way to make each guest feel as comfortable as possible. We require our managers to respond to each and every guest survey comment. If we don’t listen, we’re out of business.
“We’re often compared to Kimpton Hotels and Joie de Vivre Hospitality. We’re all small, independent brands, and we’re all doing pretty well at it. It’s interesting that all three of us are on the West Coast, which has always been fertile ground for new ideas.”
“It’s true that we’re also competing with the big chains,” concludes Flores, “but we offer something they lack: an organic and genuine approach to hospitality.”
