Ocean House: Evoking the Gilded Age

May 16, 2010 12:00 am • Last Updated: May 16, 2010 7:33 am

By Joe Wojtas
Night City Editor

“We want the locals to feel as though they can come down and have dinner in the restaurant and not have to worry about wearing a suit and tie.”<p><b>Daniel Hostettler, managing director for the Ocean House</b>

Westerly — When it opens to the public Monday, the rebuilt Ocean House in Watch Hill will boast a level of luxury not seen anywhere else in the region.

With a manicured croquet court, afternoon tea on the veranda, a food forager who scours local farms and docks for fresh ingredients and guest rooms with deep soaking tubs that look out over the Atlantic Ocean, the stately Victorian-style hotel hopes that it will soon be considered one of the country's finest resort hotels.

"Our goal is to be the finest resort on the Eastern Seaboard," said Daniel Hostettler, the hotel's managing director. "We want it to feel like you're staying at a grand estate on the beach and you're our guest for a few days."

And while the hotel wants to anticipate its guests' needs before they ask, Hostettler said it doesn't want to be stuffy.

"We want the locals to feel as though they can come down and have dinner in the restaurant and not have to worry about wearing a suit and tie," he said.

Hotel guests can lounge under small cabanas on the hotel's 650-foot-long stretch of private beach, where they can receive spa treatments and be served drinks and food from the nearby Dune Cottage.

Guests and the public who use the hotel's 12,000-square-foot OH! Spa can relax in robes after their treatment and gaze out over the ocean to the sound of a small fountain behind them while art lovers can enjoy the $1 million art collection that graces the grand staircase.

When they arrive, guests will pull into the driveway made from Westerly granite pavers where a valet will take their car. A guest relations manager will greet them and escort them to their rooms without waiting in line to check in.

Key cards automatically open the rooms as a guest gets within a few feet of the door. Children get wristbands that open the door the same way.

And when guests are done with room-service food, they don't have to worry about their unsightly dishes piling up in the hallway. That's because when they place their cart outside their room, it activates a sensor that alerts the kitchen to pick it up.

Each floor also has a butler who can help guests with anything they need.

"We really wanted to make everything as easy as possible for our guests," said Dinah Saglio, the hotel's communications director. "We want it to be fun and relaxing."

With summer room rates ranging from $495 to $1,195 a night, Hostettler said the hotel will attract guests from the New York-Boston-Connecticut area who traditionally summer on Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket or in the Hamptons.

Knowing that, he and his staff visited many of the best hotels in those areas and incorporated some of their practices into the Ocean House, then looked to improve them.

Hostettler said the Ocean House staff has undergone intensive training that will continue on a daily basis because he said that is the key to attaining a coveted five-star rating from Forbes. Only 54 U.S. hotels attained that rating for 2010.

"It's about attitude and taking care of your guests in a nonstuffy way," he said.

A return to glory

The original Ocean House opened in 1868 and welcomed guests until 2003. Situated high on a bluff overlooking a breathtaking stretch of beach, its bright yellow clapboards and rooftop flagpole could be seen from miles away.

The Ocean House was among a number of majestic seaside hotels that welcomed affluent summer guests during the 19th and early 20th centuries. But by the end of its life, it had fallen into disrepair and was open only a few weeks each summer.

Between 2001 and 2004, two developers floated plans that ranged from restoring the hotel to tearing it down and building luxury homes. Neighbors opposed the plans, and when the Ocean House closed, only about a third of its 154 rooms were being used because of fire code issues and other concerns.

A year later, Chuck Royce, a part-time resident who owns Royce Mutual Funds, formed a group of investors to preserve the hotel and bought the property for $11.5 million from the Brankert family, which had owned it since 1938. After engineering studies showed it would not be possible to restore the hotel, the group decided to knock it down and build a historically accurate replica with modern amenities. In all, the investors have spent $146 million.

Although the grounds have undergone extensive landscaping, the new property has kept much of the native beach grass and plants that sit between the hotel and the ocean.

One change is that a ravine to the west of the hotel has been filled in to build the emerald green croquet court and adjacent lawn that will host outdoor events. Behind the hotel is an herb garden that will provide ingredients for the restaurants and host classes for guests.

The old beach shack where guests could get chairs, bodyboards and other items has been replaced by the Dune Cottage. While most of the property's 950 feet of beach is reserved for guests, 300 feet of it will remain open to the public.

"This hotel was rebuilt to be part of the community," Saglio said.

When guests enter the new hotel, they will see an almost exact replica of the old lobby, complete with the original front door and desk.

Through the lobby is the living room, which features a baby grand piano where Roomful of Blues legend Al Copley will play on Friday and Saturdays during the summer.

Ahead is Seasons, the main restaurant and bar, which is open to the public and serves classic New England fare. With a mix of dark and light wood, a large fireplace and a wall of windows that look out over the beach, it seats 90. Guests can also eat and drink on the adjacent veranda, which was a popular gathering place at the old Ocean House.

"It's a memorable spot that people identify with," Saglio said.

There's also the private Club Room for guests and residence owners, which offers a country club feel with dark wood, brass light fixtures and a classic grille menu of steak and seafood. The bar is made from zinc.

Rooms with a view

The guest rooms range from 450 square feet with a harbor view to the 5,000-square-foot Presidential Suite, which offers sweeping ocean views from its 2,500 square feet of outdoor decks at an in-season cost of $10,000 per night.

All rooms have water views, fireplaces, high-definition televisions, plush towels and linens, huge soaking tubs and glassed-in showers with floors made from smooth beach stones. The rooms all have framed historic photographs of Watch Hill.

Saglio said the goal is to have people feel like they are staying in the guest room at a friend's summer home.

Last week Hostettler said the hotel took 400 room and restaurant reservations, up from 150 a week last month, while weddings are booked through November.

"As people have seen our ads and read press accounts of the hotel, our phones have been going crazy," he said.

The large fitness area, with its machines and free weights, also offers water views and has a yoga studio, daily fitness classes and on-demand 24-hour virtual instruction.

A large room contains a 20-meter indoor lap pool that has windows and doors that open out onto the Seaside Terrace, which serves a menu of paninis, salads and smoothies and is open to the public.

The spa has six treatment rooms, including one for couples, locker rooms, an herbal steam room and a menu of services that will change depending on the time of the year.

The Seaside Ballroom, which seats 200 for a wedding, can be divided into smaller spaces while the nearby drawing room can host smaller events such as rehearsal dinners. The hotel also has different-sized spaces for corporate meetings.

So far, the hotel has sold 10 of the 23 residential units, which offer owners all the amenities of the hotel. Hostettler said he expects more of the units to sell as people begin staying and dining at the hotel.