Watch Hill gaining traction as luxury destination

WATCHFUL EYE: The Ocean House in Westerly's Watch Hill, in background above, announced a joint endeavor with Watch Hill Properties to renovate the Watch Hill Inn condominiums. / COURTESY MATT ANDREW PHOTOGRAPHY
WATCHFUL EYE: The Ocean House in Westerly's Watch Hill, in background above, announced a joint endeavor with Watch Hill Properties to renovate the Watch Hill Inn condominiums. / COURTESY MATT ANDREW PHOTOGRAPHY

Westerly’s Watch Hill long has catered to an affluent, seasonal vacation crowd, but a surge in leisure tourists recently has added to its cache – and marketability, tourism leaders say.
According to Mark Brodeur, director of tourism for the R.I. Commerce Corporation, and Lisa Konicki, executive director of the Westerly-Pawcatuck Chamber of Commerce, while the seaside community has remained a destination for families of all income levels, the reopening of the luxurious Ocean House in 2010 and the purchase of a local mansion by singer/songwriter Taylor Swift have contributed to a “resurgence” in interest.
“There’s truly a change in the type of consumer coming into that marketplace,” said Brodeur. “It is a very high-end consumer: We’re talking [about] the top 2 percent of American income earners coming in because of the amenities of the Ocean House. It’s clearly a world-class experience.”
As soon as the Ocean House opened its doors after its $140 million reconstruction, the town experienced a nearly immediate increase in commerce and tax dollars, said Brodeur. The Weekapaug Inn, a sister property of the Ocean House, also reopened in the fall of 2012 after a $45 million renovation, he said.
The Ocean House is the first and only Forbes Five-Star and AAA Five Diamond Hotel in Rhode Island, according to its website.
More recently, Swift’s presence and occasional “sightings” by the public referenced on social media have added a level of attention the community hadn’t quite experienced before, said Konicki.
“The Ocean House has truly put Watch Hill and Rhode Island on the map,” Konicki said in an email. “Taylor Swift has only helped catapult Watch Hill on the social scene. The combination of these two [influences] has given incredible media coverage that has caused heightened awareness and visitation. While exhibiting at a ‘Daytrips and Destinations’ trade show in Hartford last year, Chamber staff talked with literally thousands of potential day trippers and vacationers. The No. 1 topic discussed at the Westerly booth pertained to Taylor Swift’s house.” Peter Catalano, president and principal of Watch Hill Properties LLC, said Taylor Swift’s presence in Watch Hill is welcome because she is “family oriented.”
“I’ll see her on a paddle board out on the water doing what most people her age would do,” he said. “It’s good for business because it doesn’t bring in the groupie crowd. Her production people are well-educated, nice. That’s the kind of clientele you want. They’re just regular folk who happen to have a lot of money and raise the value of the property. And they have no attitudes.”
The renewed popularity of this seaside village led the Ocean House, which has been turning away guests seeking stays that cost between $2,000 and $2,500 a night because of a surge in demand, to partner in February with the Watch Hill Inn, said Daniel A. Hostettler, president and managing director of the Ocean House and Catalano.
While Catalano and any individual condominium owners retain ownership of Watch Hill Inn units, Hostettler and Catalano said, the partners are spending $5 million to renovate the Watch Hill condos in keeping with the upscale, international Relais & Chateaux brand. Ocean House will market those redesigned suites at approximately $650 or more a night as part of a rental program, they said.
“They really plan on a long-term investment in the community,” said Brodeur.
Relais & Chateaux is an international brand of individually owned and operated luxury hotels and restaurants. Both the Ocean House and Weekapaug Inn are Relais & Chateaux properties, as is the Castle Hill Inn in Newport.
The brand brings in a “well-heeled, well-traveled clientele,” Hostettler said. “They want to stay in an independently run property that feels true to the area they’re visiting and yet get a true level of luxury service.” The Ocean House has a more formal, grand air, while the Weekapaug Inn five miles down the road caters to the “barefoot, elegant ‘Flip Flop’ crowd,” Hostettler said.
“The missing component has been the 30-something Wall Streeters, so design [at Watch Hill Inn] will be contemporary, modern, coastal,” which they tend to prefer, he said.
As a partnership, “the increased level of onsite services paired with the access to the amenities of the Ocean House is really the big seller, followed by complete renovation of the Watch Hill Inn,” Hostettler added. “And for us, we get 18 to 20 more suites in what amounts to an annex which is right down the street.”
A block away, the Watch Hill Inn will have access to the Ocean House’s restaurants, spa and private beach, all within reach by shuttle, he said.
“The whole idea – that you can shuttle between three Relais & Chateau properties – is going to be enormous,” said Catalano. “The closest you get to that is in Europe and France, not in the states. This is a great union.”
The tradeoff for Catalano was the need for a brand, which Relais & Chateaux provides, while Hostettler needed the additional beds, they said.
The partnership is possible because this year Relais & Chateaux introduced a “Villa” component, in which a property can be connected to a host hotel, Hostettler said. Watch Hill Inn will be ready for occupants by Memorial Day weekend, the start of the summer season, Catalano said.
“We applied for Villa status and will be inspected [this month],” he said. “It is our hope that based on the other two properties and our track record, chances are fairly strong that we will be invited in.”
Unmet demand for more rooms both for leisure and corporate visitors at the Ocean House prompted the partnership, said Hostettler. “Demand has outgrown supply from June through the end of September – hence the reason to add another product,” he said. And from a corporate standpoint, “We have historically turned away business for the larger groups, where we could have accommodated the function space but not the room space,” he said.
At the corporate level, the Ocean House and Weekapaug Inn are attracting mainly corporate-suite-level groups, boards of directors and executives as opposed to sales groups, Hostettler said – “the higher-end of the spectrum.”
With Watch Hill Inn “literally right down the street,” Ocean House can open and shut down the inn “at will” from January through April, he added.
“It will always be a hard sell to convince corporate groups to come to Watch Hill in the wintertime when they can just as easily get on a plane and be at Tucker’s Point in Bermuda or the Bahamas,” Hostettler acknowledged.
Nonetheless, a tree-lighting ceremony and Christmas activities will keep the inn in the market through Christmas, he said.
Within Watch Hill as a whole, Brodeur said, Westerly has recently upgraded village infrastructure where shops and art galleries are located. Sidewalks have been replaced, lines painted in parking areas and private businesses have upgraded their exteriors, he said.
Westerly Town Manager Michelle Buck did not immediately return calls seeking comment on the town’s infrastructure improvements and the economic benefits of Watch Hill’s growing marketability.
The partnership of the Ocean House and Watch Hill Inn has the potential to elevate Watch Hill as a destination with comprehensive resort-style offerings, said Brodeur.
“Now, we can be competitive in this market,” he said. “It’s a huge benefit. It’s like when you go to the mall at Nordstorm – a high-end anchor store. In a luxury market, the Ocean House [and affiliated properties] are an anchor for us. It turns the head of the luxury consumer.” •

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