Margaritaville Is Launching a Boutique Hotel Brand: Compass

By the Caribbean Journal staff

Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville is launching a new hotel brand.

The company, which has been rapidly expanding in the Caribbean, has announced plans to debut the new COMPASS by Margaritaville Hotels and Resorts, an “upscale boutique” brand.

“Over the last forty years, Margaritaville has evolved from a song about paradise into a dynamic business capturing the attention of millions of consumers around the world,” said John Cohlan, chief executive officer of Margaritaville Holdings. “COMPASS by Margaritaville Hotels and Resorts presents a compelling competitive advantage to developers, giving them the unique opportunity to leverage the power of our time-tested lifestyle brand in the thriving boutique select-service space.”

A rendering of a room at a COMPASS by Margaritaville hotel.

The new brand is the product of a year of “extensive customer research and market analysis,” according to Margaritaville, with COMPASS aiming for an “economically efficient select-service model that connects travelers with the original lifestyle brand in a personalized, welcoming boutique hotel setting.”

The design concept is specific: a five-story, 131-room, 83,000-interior-square-foot building on a three-acre site.

COMPASS will offer specific standards to guide developers, the company said, while allowing for a flexible design plan “reflecting each property’s local surroundings and unique architectural or site plan needs.”

The company said COMPASS was a model that would work for new-build properties, adaptive reuse buildings and conversions alike.

“Incorporating Margaritaville’s signature ‘casual-luxe’ design, each COMPASS by Margaritaville Hotels and Resorts property will welcome guests with an open-concept living lounge and bright, airy atmosphere, bringing a taste of the outdoors inside,” the company said.

While the first COMPASS will be located on Anna Maria Island in the Gulf of Mexico, it’s not hard to imagine a Caribbean outpost for the brand in the future.

“new upscale boutique, select service brand of hotel is designed for college towns, urban and leisure destinations,” the company said on its Facebook page.

Indeed, the traditional Margaritaville brand has already expanded with a new resort in Cayman, along with a major new planned Margaritaville project in downtown Nassau.

Margaritaville also recently announced a partnership with Karisma to launch all-inclusive properties in the Caribbean.