How We Started
Mainsail was created through a strategic partnership with a national accounting firm. Our relationship with an iconic hotel brand quickly diversified in the corporate furnished housing industry and subsequently positioned us as a leader in lifestyle branded hotels and resorts. We found our niche, and it’s comfortable.
Mainsail Development Group opened its first lodging complex in 1999, just one year after incorporating. The Mainsail Suites Hotel & Conference Center, located five minutes from Tampa International Airport, was developed under a master lease and served as a $50 million corporate training facility for PricewaterhouseCoopers.
In 2002 Mainsail began to acquire Marriott ExecuStay® franchises in the Southeast. In 2012 Oakwood acquired ExecuStay from Marriott. In September 2013, Oakwood® expanded its relationship with Mainsail Lodging & Development by signing the company as its first Oakwood® brand franchisee, after which Mainsail managed the Florida, Georgia, Alabama and Tennessee markets for Oakwood Worldwide under both its ExecuStay® and Oakwood® brands. Today, Mainsail operates corporate housing throughout the U.S. under its Mainsail Corporate Housing brand, Stay Sojo, where it procures, furnishes and manages luxury apartments under leases to corporate, government and leisure clients that require temporary housing.
In June of 2009, Mainsail purchased a luxury beachfront condominium, a 50-slip marina, and the surrounding acreage on Anna Maria Island just south of St. Petersburg, Florida. Presently, Mainsail operates the luxury condominium as the Mainsail Beach Inn, which is consistently recognized by TripAdvisor® with its ‘Certificate of Excellence’ year after year.
In February of 2010, Mainsail opened a $110 million boutique resort in the British Virgin Islands. In 2011, Scrub Island Resort, Spa & Marina became the first Autograph Collection® hotel in the Caribbean, and Marriott International’s first property in the British Virgin Islands. Three years later, Epicurean Hotel opened its doors in South Tampa, Florida as the first new-build Autograph Collection® hotel. You may have gathered we like being “first”.
We’ve discovered our expertise and imagination are used to full advantage in the lifestyle brand category of hotels and resorts. We approach each project as a rare opportunity to create one-of-a-kind experiences for guests and locals alike. As enthusiastic storytellers, we celebrate independently branded concepts and take pride in assuming stewardship of the community and environment in which we work.