New Hampshire may soon find out whether the state has a strong enough travel-and-tourism market to support a potential five-star luxury resort complex. 

In June, the new Lake Estate on Winnisquam plans to open in Tilton, complete with 96 rooms, 18 suites, a 5,000-square-foot spa and salon, two private beaches, a pool, tennis and pickleball courts, a ballroom for major functions, fine-dining restaurant and bars and other high-end amenities. 

And, if all goes well, the upscale resort hopes to earn after opening a five-star rating from Forbes Travel Guide, making it the only top-of-the-top star-rated hotel in New Hampshire. 

“I’ve had a personal dream of doing something like this,” Ed Rocco, a long-time hotel industry veteran and one of the partners behind Lake Estate on Winnisquam, said. “This is a passion.” 

Of course, there’s no guarantee Forbes Travel Guide will award Lake Estate on Winnisquam that coveted five-star rating. 

But a top rating is definitely a firm goal, if not an expectation, for Rocco, the general manager of the still-under-construction resort complex, and his wife, Patti, also a hotel industry veteran and partner in the Winnisquam venture. 

Achieving top industry status is also the aim of the other partners, Dan and Elaine Dagesse, owners of dozens of auto dealerships in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Vermont, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania and Delaware, and local hotelier Rusty McLeary and his wife Jodie. 

In all, the partnership is investing $86 million to construct the year-round, 36-acre Lake Estate on Winnisquam – and they’re adding all the details and following all the standards expected of a five-star resort hotel, Ed Rocco said. 

 Boston, NYC, National Guests Expected 

But is there a market for such a high-end resort and hotel, whose room and suite rates will range anywhere from mid-$300 to $1,900 per night, depending on seasonal demand? 

“We absolutely believe there’s a niche for this,” said Rocco. “There’s really a void. New Hampshire has avoided the luxury niche, in terms of high-end, five-star hotels.” 

The owners of other upscale New Hampshire resorts, such as the Omni Mount Washington Resort in Bretton Woods and Church Landing at Mill Falls on Lake Winnipesauke, might beg to differ that there’s a market void for upscale get-away spots in New Hampshire. 

But there’s clearly no modern, five-star resort complex to brag about in New Hampshire – not yet anyway. 

Patti Rocco, the estate manager at Lake Estate on Winnisquam and a native of New Hampshire’s Lakes region, said she sees the Boston area as a major source of future guests to the complex. 

She also expects to see many visitors from New York, Connecticut and other drive-to Northeast markets, in addition to visitors from around the nation flying in via Boston’s Logan International Airport or Manchester-Boston Regional Airport. 

As for international guests, Patti Rocco says marketing officials are in the early stages of pitching the resort to potential travelers in the U.K. 

But for now, most of the marketing emphasis well be focused on U.S. clientele, she said. 

In addition to individual guests, Lake Estate on Winnisquam expects to play host to major events in coming years. The resort has already booked 23 weddings and seven corporate functions, Patti Rocco said. 

In all, Lake Estate on Winnisquam expects to employ about 125 full- and part-time workers after it opens in late June. 

 New England Market ‘Quite Healthy’ 

Matt Enright, a Boston-based senior director of JLL Capital Markets, believes there’s room in New England for another five-star resort complex, in addition to those already located in Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Vermont. 

“The New England travel market is quite healthy,” said Enright, who focuses on the region’s hotel capital sector. 

He noted the travel industry across the nation took a huge hit after the initial outbreak of COVID-19 in early 2020, as businesses closed and people hunkered down in their homes to avoid contracting the coronavirus. 

But the travel-and-tourism industry began recovering in 2021 and 2022 – with people sticking relatively close to their homes and “rediscovering” regional travel destinations, said Enright. 

“In 2021 and 2022, it was a kind of boom-time for New England [resort] areas,” he said. “And it has stayed strong. There are more people going to resorts in New England today.” 

But that heightened demand hasn’t been matched with a corresponding surge in new supply of luxury lodgings, he said. 

“New England is a high-barrier market for new construction,” said Enright, noting the high costs of land and labor in the region, in addition to the well-known difficulties in obtaining local building permits for major projects. 

“Over the past 50 years or so, there hasn’t been a lot of new high-end products built,” said Enright. 

And that bodes well for the new Lake Estate on Winnisquam. 

Mike Somers, president and CEO of the New Hampshire Lodging & Restaurant Association, agrees there’s room for another major high-end resort in New Hampshire. 

“I think they’ll find a niche,” he said. “There’s lot of small lodgings in the state, but not a lot of large resort lodgings. [Lake Estate on Winnisquam] is also a little bit removed from other elite resorts. So, I think they’ll do OK. What they’re trying to do there is very impressive.” 

 NH Already Benefitting  

As for New Hampshire’s hotel industry in general, business is largely back to its pre-pandemic levels, though recent inflation has “softened demand a bit” over the past year, Somers said. 

This much is clear: New Hampshire has already economically benefited from Lake Estate on Winnisquam. 

At one time or another, scores of people, if not hundreds, have been employed, directly or indirectly, as a result of the massive construction project in Tilton. 

Daniel Hebert Inc. of Colebrook is the main contractor for the project, while Samyn-D’Elia Architects of Holderness designed the complex. 

Rocco, one of the hotel’s partners, described the exterior of the hotel to the classic old lodges in Vail and Aspen, Colorado, while the interior of the new facility is designed to evoke the grandeur of some of New Hampshire’s older resorts, including the Omni Mount Washington Resort in Bretton Woods. 

Other local companies involved in the massive Lake Estate project include Brown Engineering & Surveying of Ashland, Daniel’s Electric of Laconia and Mountain Plumbing, also of Laconia.