Ocean City Hospitality Founder Bianca Holloway Adds Fourth Boardwalk Hotel

Bianca Holloway, founder of Boardwalk Hospitality Partners, acquired her fourth Ocean City hotel this month, continuing a decade-long strategy of buying and renovating aging independent boardwalk properties rather than building new construction in the tightly developed resort town.

Holloway started the company by purchasing a single run-down motel near the boardwalk's midtown section eleven years ago, renovating it gradually while keeping it operating during the off-season, a model she has since repeated with each subsequent acquisition. The newly acquired property, a 65-room hotel that had operated under the same family ownership for four decades, will undergo a similar phased renovation.

"There aren't a lot of empty lots left to build a new hotel in Ocean City, so growth here mostly means finding a property whose owners are ready to sell and are willing to let it stay open while you fix it up," Holloway said. "Every one of these hotels came with its own set of deferred maintenance problems, but that's also why we could afford to buy them."

Holloway said the acquisition was financed through a combination of a regional bank loan and proceeds from the company's existing properties, which she said have posted steadily improving occupancy rates as renovations were completed. Boardwalk Hospitality Partners now employs approximately 210 seasonal and year-round staff across its four properties.

Ocean City's lodging market has consolidated significantly over the past fifteen years as aging independent motel owners have retired and sold to larger operators, a trend local tourism officials say has generally improved the town's overall room quality even as it has reduced the number of independently owned properties along the boardwalk.