Interview: Joe Collier, President

Joe Collier

President Mainsail Lodging & Development

What new developments are you working on in Tampa Bay and the surrounding area?

We are expanding Epicurean Hotel. We have acquired the property across the street and we plan to start building an additional 51 suites in 1Q21. The AdventHealth Sports Arena, which encompasses nearly 100,000 square feet of indoor space, is now open, and we are building a Residence Inn hotel adjacent to the sports complex with a rooftop bar that should open in the fall of 2021.

Which segments of the travel industry do you expect to recover quickest?

Small gatherings, both for leisure and business, will likely continue to take place. Weddings are back, and while limited, we see this segment exploding due to pent-up demand for Q3 and Q4. People still want to get together, and it’s difficult to form strong personal bonds over video calls, so corporate travel will eventually come back once the vaccines are further distributed.

What impact will the minimum wage increase have on the industry?

In general, I am not a fan of the government becoming directly involved in these market issues as it could stifle the development or hiring of young workers. However, it will help to increase standards of living, so I have mixed feelings on the issue.

What are the company’s near-term goals?

First and foremost, we are looking forward to moving away from the COVID landscape and beginning the next chapter. Given our planned growth and hotel openings, we expect to double our staff so we will be looking to bring exciting young talent on board. Our investors and lenders have provided great support throughout the year. The Super Bowl was a big opportunity for Tampa this year. Our Epicurean Hotel was chosen to host the block of vaccinated healthcare workers who were able to attend the game as guests of the NFL. That was a huge honor for us and a memorable moment for the country.

Tampa Bay’s sports scene is in position for a strong rebound as vaccine distributions ramp up and restrictions on venue capacity are increasingly lifted.

And it wasn’t just the Bucs lifting hardware as Super Bowl champions. Hockey’s Tampa Bay Lightning won the NHL’s Stanley Cup, and baseball’s Tampa Bay Rays won the American League title, although the team fell short in the World Series.

Despite the highlights, COVID did put a damper on the overall sports landscape in 2020. The USL Championship Final between the Tampa Bay Rowdies and Phoenix Rising FC was canceled in October due to positive COVID-19 tests. In fact, all professional sports leagues faced delays and shortened seasons, as well as revenue losses due to lower-capacity venues amid the pandemic, if fans were let in at all.

Looking ahead The year 2020 was a tough year for tourism, leisure and the arts all across the world but in Tampa Bay’s case, it looks like the worst is over and the bounce back is happening quicker and stronger than in other regions. If 2020 was about the small wins, in 2021 it looks like there is much more to celebrate. Thanks to its ability to adapt, visitors can now continue to flock to Tampa Bay in a way that makes everyone safe, and efforts to attract tourists back to the region already seem to be paying off. Not only this, but new innovations such as a partnership between Visit Tampa Bay and Entrada Insights will allow the region to track the sector much more closely, providing more scope for future growth.

There is certainly plenty to look forward to in 2021, with the U.S. Travel Association set to host its board meeting in Tampa, prevailing business-friendly policies that support a return to normalcy and innovations at Tampa International that allow more contact-free travel.