Neenah, Wis.-based Cobblestone Hotels celebrated its 15th anniversary in 2023, growing to more than 170 properties open or in development across 28 states. As the company has gained ground, it has built up both its development team and brand operations team, said Josie Kilgore, brand president at Cobblestone.
At the end of last year, Cobblestone opened its first hotel in Alabama and has expanded in Arizona, Ohio and Washington. As of press time, the company has 15 properties under construction, all slated to start opening within the next month. “It'll be one of our record years,” Kilgore said, noting that once the company gets a foot in the door in a new state, it becomes easier to expand into neighboring communities. Most of the company’s properties are new builds, with a number of conversions under the midscale Boarders brand.
Evolving Looks, Evolving Operations
The first Cobblestone property that opened in 2008 in Clintonville, Wis., looks very different from the one that opened in Cullman, Ala., in late December, Kilgore said. Over the years, the company has worked with communities to make sure the new hotels match the existing architecture and fit the neighborhood’s aesthetic. The team also has incorporated other changes to all hotels as they learned what guests tend to want. The first Cobblestone hotel was a two-story building with no elevator. Subsequent hotels did not always include pools and often had smaller public spaces. The Cullman hotel, in turn, is a four-story brick-facade building that follows the company’s Main Street design. “Those are getting more popular, but you still walk in and you know that you're in a Cobblestone,” Kilgore said. “[It’s] kind of fun to watch that evolution of what we’ve learned.”
The company also found ways to streamline operations over the years. Having a lounge area right off the front desk lets the staff behind that desk keep an eye on what guests need while they socialize or work while still checking in new arrivals, Kilgore said.
Depending on size and amenities, a Cobblestone hotel could have anywhere between seven and 15 team members, Kilgore said. The Clintonville property has only 30 guestrooms, she said, so all of the staff wear “many different hats” throughout the day. Most of the upcoming properties have between 45 and 55 guestrooms, which can help keep both development and operating expenses down.
Small Towns, Big Steps
Several years ago, Brian Wogernese, the late founder and CEO of Cobblestone Hotels, set a target of 200 hotels for the company. “That's the number that we have in our brains,” Kilgore said. “And we're definitely approaching that quickly.”
Cobblestone broke ground on its first extended-stay property, the Riverstone Suites in Chippewa Falls, Wis., in August, and the hotel is slated to open later this summer. “We haven't tapped into the extended-stay side yet,” Kilgore said, noting that the hotel was Wogernese's final project and he selected his hometown for the brand’s debut. When it opens in the summer, the first Riverstone Suites will be a corporate-owned hotel, she added, so the company can be sure it’s what they want it to be—a policy the company implemented for any new launch. “We can make sure it works,” Kilgore said.
The company also is looking to grow its portfolio into larger markets with its Main Street prototype, but Kilgore noted that “bigger markets” for Cobblestone has a very different meaning than for other brands. Green Bay, Wis., or Appleton, Wis., are two of the largest markets for the company, she said, and emphasized that small town America is “forever going to be our bread and butter, our focus.”
Wogernese first conceived of the brand when he was driving through small towns and saw how few hotels were available in and between them. “He could identify several communities that had the need for it and the want for it so that their economy could keep growing,” Kilgore recalled. But when he tried to work with existing hotel brands to fill in those gaps, the brand leaders insisted on prototypes that did not fit what the smaller communities needed. “They wanted a minimum of 60, 70 rooms,” she said.
As Cobblestone has gained ground in its target demographics, Kilgore has gone to visit properties several years after they have opened. “[I can] see how much the community was able to evolve—new stores, new restaurants, different businesses coming in, different sports groups—all of all of the reasons people need a hotel room.” When people were able to stay in the small towns rather than driving 20 or 30 miles to the nearest hotel, surrounding businesses were able to benefit and local economies could improve. “There's money in small-town America,” she said.
Jeremy Griesbach, president of development for Cobblestone Hotels, recalled people asking what the company will do when they “run out of small towns” to build their hotels. “We haven't even scratched the surface,” Kilgore said.