Bridgeton’s Boutique Hotels Embrace Quirks Rather Than Erase Them
Photo Caption: The cabins at Dawn Ranch, a new boutique hotel concept from Bridgeton Holdings. Source: Dawn Ranch
Skift Take
Atit Jariwala is willing to risk creating hotels that some people hate as long as enough guests love them. After doubling the value of his Montauk hotel in five years, Jariwala is going bolder with his next project, Dawn Ranch.
One of the more interesting U.S. innovators of boutique hotels had humble origins. Atit Jariwala is today the founder and CEO of Bridgeton, a New York real estate development group managing $1 billion in assets, including hotels. But Jariwala got his first taste of the hospitality industry living in an EconoLodge motel that his parents managed in Bridgeton, Missouri.
“Like a lot of folks who live in motels, I helped my parents clean rooms and do every kind of chore you can growing up,” Jariwala said. "I was kind of born into it, and I haven’t been able to shake it."
Even though Jariwala’s early background was in franchise hotels, he’s pivoted his career toward boutiques by creating Walker Hotels in Tribeca and Greenwich Village and Marram Montauk, in the Hamptons.
In late May, Jariwala will open his next boutique property, Dawn Ranch, in Sonoma, California. As with all his properties, his goal is to create hotels that not everyone likes.
