Dec. 15—Decades after they met while baking Twinkies in a Massachusetts factory, Peter Anastos and Paul Lohnes have built something of a catering empire in New England.
Their company, Maine Course Hospitality Group, owns and manages nearly two dozen hotels in the region (plus a few in Florida and North Carolina). Most are Hilton and Marriott franchises, including Courtyards near the Portland International Jetport and in the Old Port, as well as Hampton Inns in Waterville, Augusta, Bath, Freeport and Thomaston.
Now Anastos and Lohnes are launching their own hotel brand in the hope that it will spread across the country.
Called HomeAwhile, the concept is to offer apartment-style rooms that combine the best features of Airbnbs – welcoming spaces with kitchens and sometimes laundry machines – and hotels that offer housekeeping, on-site staff and a more predictable overall experience.
“We’re trying to build something that’s a little bit better, a little bit more fun, at an affordable price,” said Anastos, 76, who lives in Yarmouth.
The first HomeAwhile is under construction on Payne Road in Scarborough and is expected to open in 2026, with 109 rooms. Although it is billed as an extended stay hotel for long vacations or business trips, the minimum stay is one night.
“It will be more like an apartment than a hotel, with services available a la carte,” said Jonathan Bogatay, president of the company. “If you want housekeeping services, we can provide them. If you don’t want that, you can be on your own.”
The so-called aparthotel model is popular in overseas cities such as London and is gaining popularity in the US. This past year, Marriott International opened an aparthotel in Puerto Rico and announced plans to develop several similar properties in the Midwest.
Maine Course hopes HomeAwhile can leverage the interest by targeting low- to mid-budget travelers. That’s also why company leaders believe the Scarborough location can be successful at a time when hotels are proliferating in Greater Portland.
“People are looking for comfort and affordability,” said Bogatay, 60, who recently joined the company after managing a chain in Wisconsin. “We want to get both right.”
HOW IT STARTED
Anastos, the son of a baker, has lived in Maine since the 1980s. He left the Hostess factory to paint and renovate houses in Massachusetts, then moved north to invest in and eventually acquire the Muddy Rudder Restaurant and the Freeport Inn, both tourist attractions on Route 1.
By the 1990s he owned seven Ground Rounds, including restaurants in Portland, Auburn and Bangor, and had formed the Maine Course partnership with Lohnes, who had become an emerging real estate developer in the Boston area.
Anastos and Lohnes sold their restaurants and early hotel properties — including the Muddy Rudder and Freeport Inn — in the early 2000s to build franchises under the banner of major chains. Anastos was later appointed to the Maine Housing Authority board in 2011 by former Governor Paul LePage. He ruffled feathers by criticizing the agency’s spending decisions and urging the agency to consider unit costs when financing affordable housing projects.
In launching its latest HomeAwhile venture, the group said it will save money upfront by using its longtime general contractor and project partner, Mark Woglom of Opechee Construction Corp., in Belmont, New Hampshire, which has built and operated several hotel chains knows where improvements are possible. be made.
Maine Course will also save money because it won’t have to pay a franchise fee to Marriott or Hilton, which adds as much as 12% to monthly costs. The overall savings allows the company to charge $115 to $125 per night instead of $160 or more.
Lee Speronis, professor and director of the School of Hospitality, Sport and Tourism Management at Husson University, said he believes it will succeed as a practical and affordable answer to Airbnb and other online rental options.
“Maine Course has a proven track record,” said Speronis, who is also president of the Maine Tourism Association and a board member of Hospitality Maine. “They give their employees opportunities to succeed and that’s how they’ve had a lot of success as a company. If you work hard, you can move up.”
The company also tries to give young people a reason to stay in Maine, he said. It offers internship opportunities for hospitality students at Husson and other schools and often hires them for management positions after graduation. CEO Sean Riley produces a podcast with Southern Maine Community College students to highlight how industry leaders have built their careers.
‘BE THE BEST PART OF SOMEONE’S DAY’
Company executives say prioritizing employee satisfaction in addition to guests’ needs is one of the key reasons the company has grown slowly and steadily since its founding nearly 40 years ago.
Riley, a former teacher who joined the company in 1992 as general manager of the Freeport Inn, still makes a point of connecting with employees at all levels, even as the company has 800 employees, including 70 salaried managers . He writes 50 to 70 birthday cards each month that are sent to employees, and he calls every hotel every Thanksgiving and Christmas to thank managers for their work during the holiday.
“It’s very simple, but it shows that we care,” says Riley, 68. “We believe that if we take care of our people, they will take care of our guests.”
On a more concrete level, Maine Course pays competitive wages in a tight labor market and offers health benefits, paid time off, a company-tailored retirement savings program and a pathway for advancement, he said.
Kevin Pagnano was introduced to the Maine Course approach when he was hired to run the Courtyard Marriott in Bangor in 2008. He had worked for Marriott International for 17 years, including at hotels in Washington, D.C., Atlanta and Jacksonville, Florida.
Pagnano grew up in Maine and wanted to move here to raise his family. He had heard about Maine Course and thought he could help expand the company. Meeting Riley was unforgettable.
“Our interview was about 10 minutes of work talk and the rest was about who we were as people,” Pagnano recalls. “He wanted to know who I was.”
Since 2010, Pagnano has served as director of operations, overseeing direct sales and revenue management strategies for growth. But his work remains grounded in his customer service experience, starting in 1988 as a doorman at what is now the Portland Sheraton in Sable Oaks, near The Maine Mall.
There he received his first practical lessons in leading a hospitality team. Fresh out of SMCC’s hospitality program, he remembers watching the general manager clear snow from guests’ cars early one morning.
“I watched him for a while and then I thought, maybe I should do that,” Pagnano said. ‘He never asked me. He just led by example.”
Now Pagnano, 57, is leading a work culture that recognizes that its employees lead challenging lives. It means devoting enough free time to family needs and personal crises, he said, and holding baby showers and graduation parties to celebrate individual achievements.
“It’s the way we build teams, but it’s also the right way to treat people,” Pagnano said. “I once had a boss who told me, ‘Never forget that you can be the best part of someone’s day.’ This also applies to our employees.”
At the same time, he said, Maine Course has high performance standards, especially when it comes to addressing guest concerns.
“We tell our teams that every problem has a solution,” said Pagnano. “If you don’t know how to fix it, find someone who does.”
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