Ocean Point Inn, the East Boothbay resort hotel in its 124th year of operation, was sold to East Boothbay Bluebird Holdings LLC, a Maine subsidiary of Lark Hotels headquartered in Amesbury, Massachusetts on March 4.

The inn has 60 rooms and the property includes about 20 acres.

Previous owner Tony Krason told the Register in a recent interview, “We tried hard to locate the right buyer that had a sense of stewardship and would take care of the Ocean Point Inn for another 120 years. We were concerned about local people, our staff and our guests. We wanted to maintain its community relationship.”  

Krason said the research in choosing a buyer included talking with local residents who liked to visit Lark hotels.

Lark Hotels CEO Peter Twachtman explained, Lark is the umbrella hospitality company that manages and owns boutique hotels in the U.S. through its subsidiaries. According to its website, Lark provides “Acquisition and development, brand concepting and design, marketing and communications and management and operations.”

Lark Hotels has recently started managing Topside Inn and Mid-Town Motel in Boothbay Harbor.

With regard to Ocean Point Inn, scheduled to open June 10, Twachtman said, “We will run it as is...  there will be familiar faces and not a lot of radical change this year.” The menu may be cut down a bit from 68 items to make it more manageable but “the program will be close to what it was last year.”

“The majority of staff has either returned or been recommended by a staff member,” he said.

Twachtman said the inn’s team is very important to him and he wanted to make sure the staff and Lark personnel would work well together. “We truly care about the location and we recognize that we can’t operate without the people who work for us.”

“We don’t shy away from recognizing good people. We believe that if you take good care of the people on the ground and support them you can run good operations,” Twachtman added.

“We will start renovations in November and that will take place through the winter. We’ll open under the Bluebird brand in time for next year’s opening.” Twachtman said the construction schedule will determine next year’s opening date.

Asked about the hospitality industry during COVID, he said although managing during COVID was challenging and hotels shut down in March 2020, the business came back and is “robust” in 2022.

“In some ways we have the perfect business model,” he said, citing the “drive market” in New England. Lark’s portfolio includes a number of small hotels in the Northeast. “We are very fortunate to represent the places we represent,” he said.

For guests of the inn, he added a request: “These men and women are doing the best they can in challenging times. As much as we try to be gracious to all of you, please allow that for them.”