By Tom Ayres, Senior Staff Writer
The 14-room-and-suite Jackson House Inn in West Woodstock has changed hands.
A trio of new owners — Saxton Sharad of Revival Hotels, based in New York and Florida, and David MacKay and Jeff Glew of Turnstone Ventures of Boston, the current owner-operators of The Shire on Pleasant Street in Woodstock Village — closed on the purchase of the historic inn on July 31. The inn continues full operations as a luxury bed-and-breakfast while the newly minted owners seek a new innkeeper to manage the property.
“Dave and Jeff found the property and asked me to join them,” Sharad said in a phone conversation Monday afternoon. “They love the market in Woodstock and I absolutely love it, too. When we see an older inn with all its history such as the Jackson House, we’re really pleased to be able to have that property in our portfolio. It’s such a great opportunity.” Revival Hotels presently has eight luxury inns in its ownership or property management assemblage, Sharad noted, including the Sunset Hill House in Sugar Hill, N.H., which the company owns, and the Groton Inn in Groton, Mass., which it manages under contract.
“We anticipate continuing to run the inn and offer guests an amazing experience,” Sharad enthused. “You have these beautiful, manicured gardens and that beautiful little bridge in the back that goes over to the pond — it’s just spectacular and a real hidden gem. We want to be able to enhance that outdoor area so that guests are fully able to enjoy it throughout their stay.” Sharad also said a plan is in the works to expand dining options beyond the sumptuous breakfasts currently offered at the inn. “We’re exploring different food and beverage partners to have added food and beverage offerings available to our guests. As soon as we find the right partner on that, we’ll hopefully be adding a a great food and beverage complement to the property,” the Revival Hotels CEO offered. “I love the luxury breakfast idea, right? But we’ve had some conversations with people who love being in the Woodstock market – either locals or other restauranteurs — and what we decide to do on the food and beverage front will be the very best complement to the inn itself,” Sharad added.
Sharad said that the acquisition of the Jackson House Inn fits perfectly with Revival Hotels’ steadily expanding portfolio of both owned and managed luxury inns. “The problem with small, independent hotels and inns is that you find one, it’s great — and then when you go back to Woodstock the next time, it’s kind of a roll of the dice in terms of consistency and quality, gaining confidence that a guest can stay in those kinds of properties,” Sharad commented. “Our goal with Revival is to have a variety of properties throughout New England where people can stay at those properties with confidence, time after time. We’re really looking at bringing that into cross-marketing so that guests going to Groton or Sugar Hill or some of our other properties can have confidence that they are going to have a Jackson House experience there as well. These small hotels and inns — these independent properties — they have history, they have beauty, they have charm and stories to tell. Too often, you’re seeing a lot of these properties bought by developers and torn down or not activated as a hotel anymore and turned into a private residence. And that deprives the masses of the opportunity to experience these historic places
“I used to have a consulting firm and I consulted for all the big brands around the world,” Sharad concluded. “I would live on the properties, I’d be working, and at the end of the day, I’d be tired and I open the shades or find the weird guest concierge book to understand where I was because all the rooms looked exactly the same. That’s not what travel is about. Everything shouldn’t be the same. There should be differentiated experiences, uniqueness, and authenticity.”
The Jackson House Inn was sold to Revival Hotels and Turnstone Ventures by former owner James Steward on July 31. At Steward’s request, seller’s agent White Stone Brokers of Reno, Nev., declined to disclose the sale price. The last time the property changed hands in 2018, Kathy and Rick Terwhelp, who operated the inn for eight years beginning in 2010, sold the Jackson House to Steward for $1.5 million.