Odom Hotelz will own and operate six new hotels in Okaloosa, Walton and Bay counties in Florida, said Jay Odom, president of The Jay Odom Group, an integrated real estate company in the Florida Panhandle for more than 30 years. The hotels are in development with IHG, Hilton and Marriott, and will open starting in 2024.
“Odom Hotelz will offer a level of service that is not typical of the brand,” Odom said in a statement. “We’ve stepped outside the traditional paradigm of brand owners and hotel owners to create a non-formula franchise.”
Odom Hotelz will be defined by a service-minded culture, according to the release. To underscore the importance of passionate, service-oriented individuals, Odom Hotelz is committed to staffing the hotels with the highest paid employees in the market.
More paradigm changes include unexpected hotel exterior color palettes, lush landscapes and spacious full-service bars, with more to come as the management team looks at each hotel’s business and social communities to fill gaps not answered by the long-standing franchise models.
“Our first hotel is in a community that holds large conferences, so we’re building 4,500-square-feet of meeting space which is probably five times more than the brand would normally offer,” said Odom. “We’re determined to make our standard the new standard.”