Earlier this week I was invited by the GM of Bungalow Hotel in Pier Village to take a tour of the property as its still under construction. The property has been under construction since 2007 and didn’t seem to be one of the high priority projects that the Applied Companies were working in within the Pier Village complex. Last year I even spoke to the manager of the complex who said Applied wasn’t even sure if they would be opening Bungalow in 2009 due to the economy..

Well, it will be opening in 2009 – first week in May if all goes well – and surprisingly, (or maybe not) it will initially be a seasonal hotel, closing in late October until the following May. If interest in the hotel is there for the winter, perhaps it will stay open year round. Pretty soon their website will be up and running at http://www.bungalowhotel.net

Bungalow Hotel Lobby Bar

Bungalow Hotel Logo

Bungalow Hotel Check-In Desk

Bungalow Hotel "Sail"

Bungalow Hotel Main Entrance

Bungalow Hotel Outside Seating/Lobby Area

(Wow. I really need a new digital camera – sorry for the colors being so off)

From the outside the Bungalow Hotel looks almost like an aloft – the sail over the front of the building is very reminiscent of the swoosh that is the signature architectural element of aloft hotels, but I can assure you that it was absolutely a coincidence. The design of the Bungalow building has been around since 2004, whereas aloft was only introduced in 2005, and images renderings released the following year.

Bungalow’s logo is reminiscent of what you’d expect to find in South Beach – and the room designs also follow that, but officially its a design based on an “international surf-hotel”.. Except for the sex-wax on the shelves and surfing pictures on the walls of the rooms, I don’t really see that. Then again – if someone were to ask me to describe what a “surf hotel” is.. I wouldn’t even know where to start.

Bungalow is a true boutique hotel – a total of 24 rooms over three floors, with a lobby on the ground floor with a check-in desk that is not the center focal point. The lobby has a lobby bar and will be open to the public, in addition it will have a 1950’s authentic pool table and foosball table and during the summer there are garage roll-up doors which will be opened allowing the lobby to flow outside.

There is no room service available in the hotel – but the other restaurants within Pier Village will all provide menus in the rooms and offer a delivery service, which means that guests can get everything from a steak dinner, sushi, to pizza or in the morning a gourmet breakfast.  All the rooms offer wet-bars and mini fridges (pretty substantially sized mini fridges) which is a hold over from the original plans of the hotel being a condo-hotel. All the rooms have gas fire places which are surrounded by marbles instead of logs, a pretty unique and modern spin on a fireplace. Unfortunately there is only one room that would be considered an “ocean view” room – and wow, it is an ocean view. The position of the hotel within Pier Village blocks all the other ocean views – but you still will get the full ocean experience while you’re there. The sun shone in so brightly in one room that it was difficult to not squint.

Below are some of the “official” images that will be used to showcase the rooms.

Room rates should start in the $300 per night range, and for the larger rooms – one bedrooms, and two bedrooms, they will obviously be higher.

Even in a down economy I think this hotel will do great.. There is only 24 rooms to fill and it fills a niche that is very under served int he Jersey Shore market – a high end boutique-like hotel. Right next door to Pier Village is the Ocean Place Hotel, formerly a Hilton which is located right on the ocean front, but its a hotel that’s showing its age and is extremely expensive for the condition and quality of the rooms.

I’m really looking forward to seeing the reception that the finished hotel will get from the public its really a one of a kind hotel in this area, and hopefully will be a launching pad for other new hotels to be built. The Jersey Shore is a famous and very popular vacation destination – but there are very very very few nice hotels located within the shore towns.

andrew@alconic-inc.com

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