Reputation Redo

Every seaside town in Florida has a hotel like the Lani Kai in Fort Myers Beach: It's where everyone goes to drink at the beachfront bar, the rooms are cheap and the party goes on well into the night.

The Lani Kai Island Resort is where prankster guests have been known to dismantle toilets and move them to the patio. Every spring break, the Cincinnati firefighters delight the college crowds with a bawdy show of manly flesh. Hookah pipes are on display in the window of the gift shop. One recent morning, a police detective quizzed the front-desk staff with photos of criminal suspects while guests were checking in.

So it's news when the Lani Kai recently announced plans to broaden its appeal and move upscale.

But balancing the hotel's reputation as a 24/7 party destination and turning it into a more upscale accommodation on Fort Myers Beach will be a marketing challenge. Fortunately, 28-year-old marketing director and “Survivor” reality show contestant Jaime Huffman is up to the task.

Lest you be worried that the Lani Kai's party days are numbered, Huffman will reassure you. “We never want to change the Lani Kai,” she says. “It's not that they're doing the renovation because business was bad, but it's time for the Lani Kai to get a facelift.”

It would be impossible to undo decades of reputation, but the 82-year-old owner of the hotel, Robert Conidaris, affectionately known as “Mr. C,” has already spent $500,000 on a new restaurant inside the hotel called the Island View. He says he's spending another “couple hundred thousand” to renovate the 100 rooms on five floors, the first time the property has undergone a renovation since he built the hotel more than 35 years ago.

The Island View restaurant is the hotel's first attempt to appeal to a broader audience. The 169-seat restaurant with a breathtaking view of the Gulf of Mexico offers a wide-ranging menu, from $5 pizzas out of the woodfire oven to pasta dishes in the $15 range and filets of beef with crabmeat for $26.

“We can offer something a little more upscale,” says Larry Puccia, the hotel's general manager. “That's where the marketing comes in.”

And he offers this insight into whom the hotel is targeting: “Locals pay our bills.”

Food with a view
You might not know you're inside the Lani Kai when you enter the Island View restaurant on the hotel's top floor. The shiny chrome raw bar, a long granite counter for cocktails and wide windows that offer sweeping views of the Gulf create a luxurious ambiance.

Although it's been open only 10 weeks, many local residents have become regular customers in part because they don't have many options for upscale dining on Fort Myers Beach. (The Beach Doggie Dog hotdog shack is a popular dining option nearby.)

“Our bar is full of locals every day,” Huffman says. “Fifty percent of the customers are local.”

The opportunity to create a new restaurant drew 15,000 applications from chefs around the country, Puccia says. Chicago chef Jason Smith-Agate was selected and offers Italian specialties, a raw bar and Asian and American-influenced seafood.

But the restaurant has its own entrance with a new canopy and even its own glass elevator so diners don't have to walk through the hotel's noisy lobby to get there. There are plans for valet parking, too.

No bathing suits are allowed in the restaurant, either. “This is dinner only,” Huffman says.

Puccia won't discuss restaurant revenues or disclose any financial information about the hotel's operations. But he says the Island View restaurant is designed to be profitable as a standalone business.

Huffman says she promoted the restaurant at a food festival on Fort Myers Beach recently and in local newspapers with buy-one-get-one coupons. The restaurant also benefited from positive restaurant reviews in three local publications. Within three weeks of opening, the restaurant's Facebook page got 700 “likes,” Huffman says.

Spring breakers still welcome
Spring break is a golden egg for the Lani Kai. You don't want to kill the golden goose: the thousands of college students who descend on Fort Myers Beach each spring.

For example, the Lani Kai was booked solid during spring break, with college students paying $225 a night for a standard room and $315 for a suite. In February, the average daily rate for a hotel room in Lee County was $172, according to Smith Travel data shared by the Lee County Visitor & Convention Bureau.

But Huffman, who hails from Fort Lauderdale, says the hotel could attract a better-behaved crowd when it institutes a stricter damage policy. For example, the hotel only requires a $100 deposit now for damages. But if it had a stricter policy and charged more for damages, it might prevent some of the more boorish behavior, she says.

Although the Visitor & Convention Bureau doesn't track spending by college students on spring break, their spending is significant. “That's what gets everyone through the rest of the year,” Huffman says. “That's hundreds of thousands of kids.”

Outside of spring break, the Lani Kai wants to keep its rooms filled. Weekday rates are $89 now for a waterfront room with an expansive view of the Gulf of Mexico, which helps it boost occupancy rates more than 60% during the slower summer months when many hotels are less than half full.

The Lani Kai could charge more once the rooms are renovated, Huffman acknowledges. It might be able to boost the $89 rates as much as 40% to $125 a night, she says. “We haven't decided if the rates are going to go up or not,” she says.

If Conidaris decides to renovate the banquet rooms, Huffman says the hotel might be able to charge more for weddings, reunions and corporate meetings. “We want options,” she says.

Huffman is a Survivor
While she was a student at the University of South Carolina in 2007, Jaime Huffman was invited to be a stand-in for a movie that was being filmed in Charlotte, N.C.

Huffman had no acting experience and was studying marketing. But she was an athlete, playing sports such as golf and softball. In addition, she'd been a Girl Scout for 13 years.

A casting director on the set suggested she audition for the reality television show called “Survivor” and she made the cut, joining the cast of “Survivor China” in 2007. Born Jaime Dugan, she met husband Erik Huffman on the set of the show.

After the episode ended, Huffman remained with CBS helping cast actors for three years on subsequent shows before starting her own marketing firm and moving to Fort Myers Beach.

Executive Summary
Business. Lani Kai Island Resort Industry. Hospitality Key. Changing a business reputation takes years.