Renovated Wayfinder Hotel back in operation after fire
Phil Hospod, founder of Dovetail + Co., Wayfinder Hotel, talks about the design of one of the hotel’s salon suites
“Don’t abandon the ship.”
The Wayfinder Hotel informally adopted this slogan when owner Phil Hospod discovered a blue flag bearing the phrase in a Bristol antique shop. It is a popular naval battle cry and the flag is a replica of Oliver Hazard Perry’s personal battle flag, commemorating the last words of his fallen friend James Lawrence during the War of 1812. Hospod felt the slogan was timely, purchased the flag in 2020 and displayed it in his new, recently renovated hotel.
Just two years later, the phrase took on a whole new meaning. A stray cigarette started a fire that spread within the walls of the hotel’s southernmost wing and developed into a massive Level 4 fire that took firefighters more than 12 hours to extinguish. In the end, The Wayfinder was left with a charred, collapsed roof, extensive smoke and water damage, and a slogan on the hotel’s sign: “Don’t give up the ship.”
Now, after two years of renovating the building, Dovetail + Co. announced its plans to fully reopen The Wayfinder. The company has returned the building to its pre-fire condition, with a few small changes, such as redesigning the restaurant kitchen and converting 10 of the rooms into additional space for staff and storage. The fire protection system is also brand new.
However, the hotel’s aesthetic, a style that Condé Nast described as “a mix of Scandinavian aesthetics, midcentury looks and cool coastal aesthetics,” was retained.
“When the fire started, it was basically new,” Hospod said. “It’s in our nature to always want to tweak, adapt and redesign, but at the same time we thought, ‘Why would we do that? People were already excited about it. Why not just go with what they like?'”
Half of the hotel had already announced a partial reopening in May 2023 for the part not damaged by the fire, such as the northernmost wings of the building. Then this summer, Dovetail + Co. announced that the hotel would be fully back online and that the Nomi Park restaurant would open next year.
North End has also undergone changes
The North End of Newport has gone through some changes since the Wayfinder fire, most notably the nearly completed realignment of the Pell Bridge Ramp, which removed a large overpass that allowed cars to pass right by the hotel. With the road no longer there, areas of the hotel, such as the solarium, were much quieter.
Now that the project is nearly complete, however, The Wayfinder will be able to see any developments in the area up close. Removing the old ramps freed up about 25 acres of land that the city hopes to develop, and the owners of the former Newport Grand Casino have not yet announced new plans for the property. Hospod found the original plans for Newport Grand interesting because it would have created new homes and businesses in the area, but for now he’s happy with the hotel’s lack of neighbors, leaving it surrounded by the lush greenery of the leftover land.
“I guess we’ll see which neighbor is right for us,” he said.
Hotel company expands to Hawaii and California
Dovetail + Co. has also seen some changes since 2022. While the company was remodeling its very first hotel, it opened two more in Hawaii and California. Hospod said many of the people who invested in these extensions of the Wayfinder Hotel brand were from Newport.
In fact, Hospod said, the people of Newport and Rhode Island provided great support after the fire.
“I think that speaks to the sense of community that Rhode Island has. It’s a community where people support each other,” Hospod said. “It has a little bit of an underdog personality, it has grit, it’s creative, so that outreach in the summer of 2022 – we always knew we were going to rebuild, but it gave us a little more confidence that people would come back and celebrate with us again when we reopen.”
People actually returned to the Wayfinder, Hospod said, taking advantage of the staycation hotel packages offered in honor of the reopening. Before the fire, the hotel was named Rhode Island’s Best Staycation Hotel in 2021 by Rhode Island Monthly.
That’s why Hospod The Wayfinder hasn’t given up even after COVID-19 and a devastating fire.
“To be honest, it never occurred to me,” he said. “You get knocked down, you get back up, but at the same time, I’ve seen other owners give up on the ship. They have a major incident and they just walk away. I think we were so proud of what we had accomplished here that we knew if we rebuilt it, there would be an audience for that experience, and it was something that was missing in Newport, so we were so excited to bring it back and continue the dream we had for the Wayfinder.”
