I Bought A 130 Unit Hotel and Resort!!

Commercial Real Estate Investing
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I Bought A 130 Unit Hotel and Resort!!

Blake Dailey
Investor · Ogden, UT · Member since 2018 · 295 posts · 208 votes

So excited to announce to the community that as of last month, I acquired my largest deal to date which is a 130-Unit Hotel and Resort in the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee! I'll include all details below.

THE LOCATION: The hotel is conveniently located in the breathtaking Smoky Mountains, just minutes away from the Great Smoky Mountain NP entrance. And it doesn’t end in closing the deal; it's the beginning of an extraordinary transformation to come with a full renovation and redesign!

THE VISION: With 130 units and 8 buildings plus a wedding and event venue, our vision includes revamping this space into a dream hotel. Picture this: 3 pools and hot tubs, a dynamic game room, a versatile venue, pickle-ball courts, outdoor theater, mini-golf, and more. We are going to create a vibrant experience for our Guests!

THE NUMBERS: With a purchase price of $7M, my Investors and I put down $2.7M as the down payment on the property. With our vision mentioned above, we're allocating a whopping $3M into the complete renovation, re-brand and makeover of the hotel.

THE INVESTOR: For those of you who don't know me, I'm Blake Dailey and this is my 6th Boutique Hotel investment! My first purchase was back in 2021 with a small little 8-unit Boutique Hotel in Florida. Since then, I've documented the process as a Boutique Hotel investor and have a deep commitment to sharing my knowledge around Boutique Hotel Investing with others who are looking for a path to financial freedom, and Boutique Hotels is the best path to get there in my personal opinion. Let's connect!

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Marc RiceBusiness Member
Real Estate Agent · Columbus Cleveland Dayton, OH · Member since 2018 · 2k+ posts · 1k+ votes
2y
Quote from @Blake Dailey:

So excited to announce to the community that as of last month, I acquired my largest deal to date which is a 130-Unit Hotel and Resort in the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee! I'll include all details below.

THE LOCATION: The hotel is conveniently located in the breathtaking Smoky Mountains, just minutes away from the Great Smoky Mountain NP entrance. And it doesn’t end in closing the deal; it's the beginning of an extraordinary transformation to come with a full renovation and redesign!

THE VISION: With 130 units and 8 buildings plus a wedding and event venue, our vision includes revamping this space into a dream hotel. Picture this: 3 pools and hot tubs, a dynamic game room, a versatile venue, pickle-ball courts, outdoor theater, mini-golf, and more. We are going to create a vibrant experience for our Guests!

THE NUMBERS: With a purchase price of $7M, my Investors and I put down $2.7M as the down payment on the property. With our vision mentioned above, we're allocating a whopping $3M into the complete renovation, re-brand and makeover of the hotel.

THE INVESTOR: For those of you who don't know me, I'm Blake Dailey and this is my 6th Boutique Hotel investment! My first purchase was back in 2021 with a small little 8-unit Boutique Hotel in Florida. Since then, I've documented the process as a Boutique Hotel investor and have a deep commitment to sharing my knowledge around Boutique Hotel Investing with others who are looking for a path to financial freedom, and Boutique Hotels is the best path to get there in my personal opinion. Let's connect!

www.youtube.com/@BlakeDailey

www.instagram.com/BlakeJDailey


 Great stuff! My business partner and I are developing a 60 acre 15-unit glamping/wedding boutique resort in Asheville, NC right now and learning a lot along the way! Seems like 130 units is a beast to manage, I'd love to hear about your on-site management systems and "experience management" process to stand out amongst the fierce competition in the smokies.

[email protected]614-363-2787
Marc Rice | Investor Friendly Agent at Reafco Tailwind Team574 Reviews
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  • Hari Mann
    Investor · Atlanta, GA · Member since 2016 · 43 posts · 18 votes
    2y

    Congrats on this sick deal! Your journey since 2021 seems bonkers!

    Hotels and hospitality are a super interesting sector to me. I would love to eventually look more into hotels and perhaps the restaurant industry. I like starting small so maybe a food truck in 10 or so years :)

    I'm currently looking for investors to do what you did except focusing on commercial residential property in Kansas City. How did you first start working with investors to allow you to raise ~$1-2M?

    0Reply
  • Michael Thach
    Member since 2019 · 144 posts · 93 votes
    2y
    Quote from @Blake Dailey:

    So excited to announce to the community that as of last month, I acquired my largest deal to date which is a 130-Unit Hotel and Resort in the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee! I'll include all details below.

    THE LOCATION: The hotel is conveniently located in the breathtaking Smoky Mountains, just minutes away from the Great Smoky Mountain NP entrance. And it doesn’t end in closing the deal; it's the beginning of an extraordinary transformation to come with a full renovation and redesign!

    THE VISION: With 130 units and 8 buildings plus a wedding and event venue, our vision includes revamping this space into a dream hotel. Picture this: 3 pools and hot tubs, a dynamic game room, a versatile venue, pickle-ball courts, outdoor theater, mini-golf, and more. We are going to create a vibrant experience for our Guests!

    THE NUMBERS: With a purchase price of $7M, my Investors and I put down $2.7M as the down payment on the property. With our vision mentioned above, we're allocating a whopping $3M into the complete renovation, re-brand and makeover of the hotel.

    THE INVESTOR: For those of you who don't know me, I'm Blake Dailey and this is my 6th Boutique Hotel investment! My first purchase was back in 2021 with a small little 8-unit Boutique Hotel in Florida. Since then, I've documented the process as a Boutique Hotel investor and have a deep commitment to sharing my knowledge around Boutique Hotel Investing with others who are looking for a path to financial freedom, and Boutique Hotels is the best path to get there in my personal opinion. Let's connect!


     Wow this is very inspirational. Can you share how the deal is structured, how you got the investors on board and a more about the financials ? This is for sure an interesting journey. 

    1Reply
  • Blake Dailey
    OP
    Investor · Ogden, UT · Member since 2018 · 295 posts · 208 votes
    2y
    Quote from @Hari Mann:

    Congrats on this sick deal! Your journey since 2021 seems bonkers!

    Hotels and hospitality are a super interesting sector to me. I would love to eventually look more into hotels and perhaps the restaurant industry. I like starting small so maybe a food truck in 10 or so years :)

    I'm currently looking for investors to do what you did except focusing on commercial residential property in Kansas City. How did you first start working with investors to allow you to raise ~$1-2M?


    It’s so much in networking. Meetups, conferences, social media - connecting with as many people as makes sense and just discussing investing and what you do and if you found X would they be interested in investing with you. Then you have to stay in touch and keep them engaged. That’s the very simplified version but raising capital is always your biggest limiting factor so the more investors you can connect with the better. 

    1Reply
  • Blake Dailey
    OP
    Investor · Ogden, UT · Member since 2018 · 295 posts · 208 votes
    2y
    Quote from @Michael Thach:
    Quote from @Blake Dailey:

    So excited to announce to the community that as of last month, I acquired my largest deal to date which is a 130-Unit Hotel and Resort in the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee! I'll include all details below.

    THE LOCATION: The hotel is conveniently located in the breathtaking Smoky Mountains, just minutes away from the Great Smoky Mountain NP entrance. And it doesn’t end in closing the deal; it's the beginning of an extraordinary transformation to come with a full renovation and redesign!

    THE VISION: With 130 units and 8 buildings plus a wedding and event venue, our vision includes revamping this space into a dream hotel. Picture this: 3 pools and hot tubs, a dynamic game room, a versatile venue, pickle-ball courts, outdoor theater, mini-golf, and more. We are going to create a vibrant experience for our Guests!

    THE NUMBERS: With a purchase price of $7M, my Investors and I put down $2.7M as the down payment on the property. With our vision mentioned above, we're allocating a whopping $3M into the complete renovation, re-brand and makeover of the hotel.

    THE INVESTOR: For those of you who don't know me, I'm Blake Dailey and this is my 6th Boutique Hotel investment! My first purchase was back in 2021 with a small little 8-unit Boutique Hotel in Florida. Since then, I've documented the process as a Boutique Hotel investor and have a deep commitment to sharing my knowledge around Boutique Hotel Investing with others who are looking for a path to financial freedom, and Boutique Hotels is the best path to get there in my personal opinion. Let's connect!


     Wow this is very inspirational. Can you share how the deal is structured, how you got the investors on board and a more about the financials ? This is for sure an interesting journey. 


    Thanks man. It's structured as a syndication, 60/40 LP/GP split with a 7% preferred return. The investors are people I've made relationships with over the years and I brought on partners to help raise capital as well. We just closed in late Dec so the financials are a work in progress but we're projecting and tracking closely to a 55% expense ratio and should have about 11% CoC in year one through the renovation period as we get more renovated units online.

    0Reply
  • Jordan Ray
    Developer · Palm City, FL · Member since 2018 · 326 posts · 99 votes
    2y

    Congrats @Blake Dailey!!! I sent you a connection request. Looking forward to seeing the project updates. 

    0Reply
  • Blake Dailey
    OP
    Investor · Ogden, UT · Member since 2018 · 295 posts · 208 votes
    2y
    Quote from @Jordan Ray:

    Congrats @Blake Dailey!!! I sent you a connection request. Looking forward to seeing the project updates. 

    Thank you, I appreciate it!

    0Reply
  • Simmy AhluwaliaPro Member
    Lender · Atlanta, GA · Member since 2015 · 1k+ posts · 200 votes
    2y

    @Blake Dailey - Good stuff!  How long is the LP investor hold?  I have a similar product in NE GA, turnkey, going in 9 cap.  Needs an owner-operator to manage.  Rustic with lodges/cabins/restaurant, 117 acres.  $12.5M.

    0Reply
  • Blake Dailey
    OP
    Investor · Ogden, UT · Member since 2018 · 295 posts · 208 votes
    2y
    Quote from @Simmy Ahluwalia:

    @Blake Dailey - Good stuff!  How long is the LP investor hold?  I have a similar product in NE GA, turnkey, going in 9 cap.  Needs an owner-operator to manage.  Rustic with lodges/cabins/restaurant, 117 acres.  $12.5M.


     It's a year 3 or 4 refi to return 100% of the principal and then projecting a 10 year hold because it's great cash flow and all the money will be out of it. 

    Send me the deal. I have a few people who'd be interested to take a look.

    0Reply
  • Simmy AhluwaliaPro Member
    Lender · Atlanta, GA · Member since 2015 · 1k+ posts · 200 votes
    2y

    @Blake Dailey - Ok.  DM me your email.

    0Reply
  • Chris Magistrado
    Investor · Member since 2022 · 78 posts · 42 votes
    1y

    Great post! Going to start listening and watching your content. 

    0Reply
  • Espen Schiefloe
    Member since 2026 · 7 posts · 0 votes
    1w

    Congratulations — getting a 130-key resort across the finish line as a syndication is real work. The 60/40 split with a 7% pref is fair alignment; one question from the buy side: how did you underwrite the FF&E reserve against that 11% year-one cash-on-cash? We haircut 4% off hotel EBITDA before calling it NOI because capex surprises are where hospitality projections go to die. Also curious whether the valuation anchored to trailing NOI or pro forma — we buy at 10x verified trailing-24-month average NOI and walk when the trailing number doesn't support the price. Would love to hear how the first year tracks against the 19–20% IRR case.

    0Reply
  • Mohamed YoussefBusiness Member
    Accountant · Brea, CA · Member since 2018 · 118 posts · 62 votes
    1w

    Congratulations, @Blake Dailey. Going from an 8-unit hotel to a 130-unit resort is quite a progression.

    With eight buildings, I’d be interested in how you’re phasing the renovation to keep revenue coming in. I’d also want to track the rooms, event venue, and amenities separately so you can see what each contributes after operating costs.

    Are you planning to renovate one building at a time, or close the property for the full makeover?

    [email protected]714-684-6840
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