Sandcastle Suites

^ ...and Castaway Bay...

Castaway bay has been getting a quiet makeover since 2015, a room by room redo. Not an overall refurb/rebranding.

Lots of speculation about Sandcastle Suites getting a one-over, but has anyone considered the possibility of more cabins at Lighthouse Point? Or replacing some of the lower-capacity cottages & standard cabins with accommodations with even higher capacities than the deluxe cabins?

The Deluxe Cabins can sleep 10, but the Kalahari has condo units with full kitchens that sleep up to 18. If management were to offer similar units, there's the possibility of leeching those customers away from the kalahari.

someone mentioned in another thread new electrical cables were being tunneled in from the marina and everyone immediately assumed the added power would be necessary for a launched rmc mean streak, but i'm convinced either more cabins will be added, or sandcastle suites is going to be expanded, thus needing more power.

well, i'd love to hear what anyone else thinks because i'm probably just rambling.

well, whether or not a sandcastle suites revamp/rebuild or a lighthouse point expansion is really in the cards, now if only the power lines along the causeway could be buried so that whenever a storm blows through the area the whole park doesn't experience brownouts...

I loved the sandcastle as a kid but wont stay there now. Between the distance, it being older, and price its no longer the best value choice. If they change a couple of variables it could be worth it. Remodel, or add a gate by ms, then the value goes up. It is a nice location for that buffer away from the noise of the park, or that getaway feeling, but since the cabins opened sc suites doesnt hold the market on that anymore. I say either upgrade, expand the cabins, or add a b&m hyper.

Sandcastle Suites just needs a good renovation like Breakers... turn Breakwater Cafe into a place you can eat for lunch, dinner and enjoy some drinks, renovate the pool area with some new lounge chairs and cabanas, then turn the beach into something like Breakers.... games, music, lounge chairs, umbrellas, beach bar, etc.

The location is amazing there... just not utilized well at all.

The room decor is dated. It's kind of a long walk to get in the park. The views are nice though. It's run down compared to the Breakers.

Spoke with a manager at Breakwater Café who said the Sandcastle will be demolished in 2 years and more cabins will be added. Of course its just a rumor, although he seemed certain. He said the cabins and cottages are far more profitable than the hotels.

Guess we shall see...

Certainly cheaper to build, anyway.

But on a profit per square foot of acreage used, hotels would still be far more profitable.

To put cabins on that spot seems like an under-utilization of the land, but like I said in another thread, we don't make the decisions and maybe they know better than us.

So if you look at the entire SS lot including parking, it's about 250,000 square feet, and has 187 suites. You would be able to fit around 80 of the newest cabins in that area. Hell, let's call it 100.

For tomorrow night, a Deluxe Cabin is $295, which would be $29,500 for 100 of them. Or $0.116/square foot.

A non-lakeview suite for the same night is $206, and for 187 of them it would be $38,522. Or $0.151/square foot.

In other words, the existing (dilapidated) Suites brings in around 30% more revenue per square foot than cabins would. A renovated or, better yet, brand new premier hotel could easily bring in far more.

I call poppycock on the Lemo-, err, Breakwater Cafe manager's claim.

djDaemon said:

So if you look at the entire SS lot including parking, it's about 250,000 square feet, and has 187 suites. You would be able to fit around 80 of the newest cabins in that area. Hell, let's call it 100.

For tomorrow night, a Deluxe Cabin is $295, which would be $29,500 for 100 of them. Or $0.116/square foot.

A non-lakeview suite for the same night is $206, and for 187 of them it would be $38,522. Or $0.151/square foot.

In other words, the existing (dilapidated) Suites brings in around 30% more revenue per square foot than cabins would. A renovated or, better yet, brand new premier hotel could easily bring in far more.

I call poppycock on the Lemo-, err, Breakwater Cafe manager's claim.

You're only looking at part of the equation though. To get the true profit margin per sqft you would need to add in the cost associated with upkeep. A hotel is likely to have a larger staff than the crew that is in charge of the cabins. While this in not a full service hotel (which is what Breakers is) it is still going to have more staff than Lighthouse Point I would think.

Does that make them less profitable than the current set of cabins, maybe. But a fully renovated/rebuilt hotel on that site would be able to command a higher price per night, and with the infrastructure for a hotel already there I would place bets on that happening rather than an expansion of LHP.

The other part of the equation that we don't know is demand.

Just because it's more profitable to plop down a hotel doesn't mean its going to be booked solid all the time. Same goes for the cabins.

The cabins are also written off as equipment for tax purposes (which is why they use the portable versions unlike Carowinds permanent ones). Property taxes would be substantially lower as well as the value of a hotel is way more than equipment that's is written off tax wise.

The post about Staffing is also correct. All the cabins get are towel exchanges during your stay. And they use the existing Lighthouse Point for the registration desk which they expanded a few years ago.

I toured the New style Deluxe cabins when the first one was delivered in the off season before it was installed, sitting in the employee lot next to Gemini.

Sandcastle is getting the CP 'neglect' treatment the last few years, that tends to come before removal.

Personally I think Sandcastle will be torn down and Lighthouse Point will be expanded...but not with (just) more cabins. I think they'll replace Sandcastle with a themed lodge that blends in with the existing resort which has that "lakeside cabin / cottage" vibe.

Isn't the new breakers expansion more or less the size of sandcastle in terms of rooms? Probably opening the replacement before they get rid of it.

jsmith7300 said:
I think they'll replace Sandcastle with a themed lodge that blends in with the existing resort which has that "lakeside cabin / cottage" vibe.

I'm thinking the same thing, something similar to Disney's Wilderness Lodge.

At the very least any makeover or replacement should come with a new theme to help differentiate it from Breakers & Express. Castaway Bay already does this with it's caribbean vibe, so a northwoods theme could certainly work if done right. I just think it might be a little hard considering there isn't really a dense forest on that part of the point.

I wish they would tear down Sandcastle Suites and move the cabins next to CP Shores and use some of that land for waterpark expansion/ lighthouse point expansion! Put in the longest watercoaster!

Given the current design style of breakers/CPShores being classic Americana Summer resort harkening back to CPs roots, I don't see a 'lodge' fitting into the overall design. If there's one thing that Mr. Ouimet seems to be bringing to CP, that was lacking before, is an overall cohesiveness to the park.

Another reason I'm skeptical of cabins replacing SS is that waterfront is quite valuable, fetching an addition $20 per room, per night. If we assume half of SS' rooms are of the lake view variety, at $20/night that adds up to more than $240,000 per season of additional revenue, just because those rooms face a certain direction. Not bad.

How many cabins can you squeeze in along the waterfront?