TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

BACK from the EDGE

Photo by SUSAN GREEN

The owners of Postcard Inn on the Beach say they made a few upgrades to the former Swigwam, a popular beach-side watering hole, but kept the decor of vintage license plates.

ADVERTISEMENT

By SUSAN GREEN

Tribune correspondent

Published: November 6, 2009

Updated: 11/06/2009 09:22 pm

ST. PETE BEACH - Remember when a day at the beach was just that - a day at the beach?

The owners of a newly remodeled, 1950s-vintage motel are banking on vacationers rediscovering the simple charms of a shady courtyard with cozy seating, shuffleboard, chairs around a fire pit, and hundreds of yards of white sand stretching toward the Gulf.

The Postcard Inn on the Beach opened last month with an eclectic decor that hints at the 1960s and '70s, when people didn't feel lost without an Internet connection and a BlackBerry was something your grandma made into jam.

The $5 million reincarnation of Gulf Boulevard's former Travelodge is the brainchild of New York restaurateur Stephen Hanson. It opens in a vexing economic climate for the lodging industry, with many neighbors on St. Pete Beach's tourist strip slashing rates and looking for ways to lure business.

The Postcard is offering $99-a-night specials for certain rooms on specified days this winter. The deal includes free breakfast.

"I like what they've done," said St. Pete Beach Mayor Mike Finnerty, one of several Pinellas County dignitaries to turn out for an opening ceremony last month.

The basic theme is relaxation, although guests can still get wireless Internet service, access to fitness rooms and some other 21st century frills, said Donna Rodriguez, who led a tour of the revamped motel.

"You just want to kick off your shoes," she said.

Murals of surfers and real surfboards or skateboards decorate the 200 rooms, and lamps and other knickknacks discovered at flea markets ensure that each has its own ambience. Hammocks swing outside many of the poolside rooms.

"There are no two rooms really alike," Rodriguez said.

The remodeling is a far cry from the estimated $150 million condominium project that was proposed for the same seven-acre spot a few years back. But it's welcome news for a tourist town that's seeing approximately 50 percent occupancy during a season accustomed to hotels about 80 percent full, Finnerty said.

Hanson said his goal was to provide an inviting look that's "keeping the spirit of the beach and the surfer community" while appealing to people on a budget. With a beach-side snack shack and open-air bar, and Hanson's own Wildwood BBQ & Burger adjacent to the lobby, guests don't have to leave the grounds at all.

Eileen Lemmerbrook and Manuel Valverde, both longtime residents of Treasure Island, were among the first paying customers to check out Wildwood. They said they had dined a number of times in the same spot when it was a Shells restaurant a few years ago.

"I like the look of it," said Lemmerbrook. "I think they did a good job."

Condo plan abandoned

Ironically, the aging property, built in 1957, was saved from the wrecking ball by the very sagging economy its owners seek to weather with this facelift.

The owner, Starwood Capital Group, with whom Hanson is in partnership, bought the Travelodge a few years ago with plans to tear it down and put up a high-rise condo tower. Community disagreements over redevelopment plans for St. Pete Beach and the sour economy combined to stall the plan, and the Travelodge continued welcoming guests until it was shut down about five months ago for the renovation.

Hanson said he hopes to open another Postcard Inn in the Florida Keys in the near future.

Plans for St. Pete Beach's Postcard Inn include booking DJs for parties on the sundeck by the large heated pool and encouraging guests to spread blankets on the courtyard lawn for old-fashioned picnics.

Anchoring the lobby is a "library" with plush sofas in front of a long wall of shelves holding such diverse titles as "World of Matisse" and "The Japanese Influence in America." A room off the lobby holds a video game arcade.

The second-floor meeting room, which can accommodate more than 150 people, is being remodeled. Rodriguez said Postcard hopes to start booking garden or poolside weddings.

Will nostalgia and quirkiness be enough to compete with newer, swankier neighboring properties? Drive down the tourist strip that is Gulf Boulevard and the signs of hunger - spelled "vacancy" on one marquee after another - are tough to miss.

New hotel a rarity

"Get a suite for the price of a room" promises a sign in front of the nearby Alden Beach Resort.

A Web check of pricing for other lodging on the strip shows a number of properties offering rates of $99 or less per night. The upscale Tradewinds Resort is offering some rooms for $129 a night on weekdays, $156 on weekends, with a mandatory $25 a night amenities fee tacked on per room.

Pinellas County tourism director D.T. Minich could not think of any other beachfront motels in the area trying quite the same approach as the Postcard. Developers last summer transformed a former Knights Inn in St. Petersburg into a mecca for gay customers called the Flamingo Resort, he noted, adding the concept appears to be a success.

New beach hotels are few and far between, Minich said. He could think of only one other this year - a Hyatt property - anticipated to open in December in Clearwater.

Minich said lodging owners managed to hold on during 2009 by reducing rates. He said he was "cautiously optimistic" about next year.

"I think 2010 is going to be better than 2009," he said, adding that early reports of "cold, nasty weather" up North, coupled with some anticipated airline promotions, should drive tourists to Florida.

INFORMATION

Postcard Inn

on the Beach

WHERE: 6300 Gulf Blvd., St. Pete Beach

CALL: (727) 367-2711 or 1-800-237-8918

ON THE WEB: www.postcardinn.com

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT