Sage Hotel owners buy Guadalupe Inn
Dec. 25—A San Francisco Bay-area boutique hotel chain with a dozen properties is expanding in Santa Fe.
Redwood City, Calif.,-based Concept Hotel Group bought the Guadalupe Inn bed and breakfast at 604 Agua Fría St. on Dec. 14.
The chain first entered the Santa Fe market in 2017 with the Sage Hotel. It acquired the Super 8 in late 2019 and remodeled it into Coyote South, reopening in June 2020, and then acquired the Inn at Santa Fe a year ago.
"As we continue to look at ways to grow in Santa Fe without cannibalizing ourselves, the Guadalupe Inn is different," said Bimal Patel, CEO or, as he prefers, "head of household" at Concept Hotel Group. "The Guadalupe Inn was in the same family for centuries. We want to preserve the previous owners' legacy."
Guadalupe Inn was built and opened in 1992 by siblings Pete Quintana, Dolores Q. Myers and Henrietta Quintana, who owned it jointly until Myers died seven years ago. Henrietta took on Myers' ownership shares and Quintana bought out his sister three years ago.
Pete Quintana said the 604 Agua Fría property has been in the Quintana family since the mid-1500s. The siblings grew up on the property. The Guadalupe Inn stands on the same plot where their grandfather had a grocery store, house and six apartments and their father had a construction company.
"We just got to that point that my wife and I are just getting old," said Quintana, who is 72. "It just got to be a little much after COVID. We had to go in and work harder. You just get to that age that it's time."
The Quintana siblings created a 12-room B&B. Each room is different and each room has a name, among them Zozobra, El Caballa, Abuelita and The Chef's Apartment.
"I had so much construction materials from houses I built, I just incorporated it into the inn in a Northern New Mexican style," said Pete Quintana, who is retired from construction.
Quintana listed the Guadalupe Inn with some brokers and then turned to business brokers Sam Goldenberg & Associates, which garnered a number of offers but he looked favorably upon Concept Hotel Group.
"I think they are good stewards of Santa Fe," Quintana said. "They are keeping my staff. They just sounded like good people. They are keeping the flavor of Santa Fe. They weren't turning it into something else."
Concept Hotel Group has 11 hotels with four in Santa Fe, six in the Bay Area, one in Branson, Mo., and two more coming in Palo Alto and Paso Robles, Calif. Santa Fe emerged as a next destination for their brand of boutique hotel.
"We were looking for a destination market where value-conscious travelers would choose a boutique hotel," Patel said. "There are not really that many markets for that."
Santa Fe has grown into an eastern base for Concept Hotel. The company has even set up Santa Fe sales and operations teams with about 100 total employees in summer, Patel said.
Guadalupe Inn is just a few blocks from the larger Sage Hotel with its Social Kitchen + Bar. Patel envisions some potential economies of scale between the two properties. Guadalupe Inn's laundry could be done at Sage and catering from Social Kitchen could bolster the breakfast menu.
"There are basic things you don't need at a 12-room hotel [if you have a bigger hotel nearby]," Patel said.
Patel renamed Super 8 to Coyote South because he reckons its guests are "forever travelers" that are "value-conscious" and in search for quirky quarter at reasonable prices. Inn at Santa Fe carrying the Best Western brand "lends itself to corporate business," while the Sage is "close to downtown and value-based."
The Guadalupe Inn is "more intimate."
"We want to keep things in place for now," Patel said. "We want to wait and see what customers like or don't like."
