Well-known real estate investor and hotelier Barry Sternlicht is launching a new hotel chain with a focus on the great outdoors.
The Starwood Capital Group CEO said Field & Stream Lodge Co. will operate hotels around national parks, ski mountains, lakes, deserts and woods across the country, the Wall Street Journal reported. The new hotel chain will be aimed at families and outdoor enthusiasts.
Starwood, which sold the Field & Stream outdoor retailer in 2014 but retained the lodging rights associated with the name, will use patterns and prints inspired by the natural elements surrounding the hotels to design the interiors.
Sternlicht said he is in talks to open 10 different locations and is targeting 125 total U.S. markets, including Idaho’s Snake River Canyon area, Joshua Tree in California and Lake Placid in New York.
“We want to change the vernacular by offering something fun and emotional that celebrates the wild outdoors,” Sternlicht told the outlet.
The new Field & Stream Lodge hotels will follow the recent trend of hotel operators honoring the outdoors. NYC-based Trailborn has eight hotels underway near national parks and other outdoor destinations. The newly created brand said it will donate a percentage of every reservation to support local land conservation and preservation. The first Trailborn hotel properties are set to open this summer, bringing 86 guest rooms to two locations in Estes Park, Colo.
The new Field and & Stream Lodge hotel line will be the second environmentally focused project for Sternlicht. His 1 Hotels brand has moss and bark along the walls and all of the wood on the properties has been recycled. The prices for rooms in that brand have risen recently, and Sternlicht wants to provide a more affordable option.
“I think this will always be a niche play,” Jan Freitag, national director of hospitality market analytics for CoStar, told the outlet, “but that does not limit its appeal for those who are eager to be closer to the outdoors.”
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— Victoria Pruitt