Hotel firm looking beyond an Atlantic presence

White Elephant Resorts is preparing to make waves by adding its first property that won’t be in a setting near waves.

The company now has four properties on the quaint Massachusetts island of Nantucket and another on Palm Beach Island, Florida, with the latter hotel marking its non-Massachusetts debut, says Elizabeth Shea, the company’s leisure sales manager.

“We went island-hopping and found another island.” she says of the 32-room Florida hotel, smallish compared to many other area hotels, which may see their room counts nearing 1,000.

“You’re not just a blur,” she says of a stay at the White Elephant Palm Beach Island. “You walk in the front door and they know immediately who you are.”

Palm Beach Island has traditionally had a somewhat mature clientele but Shea says the Palm Beach Island is attracting younger guests.

The company plans to add a hotel in 2024 that won’t be by the Atlantic Ocean, a first for it.

White Elephant Resorts began life on Nantucket, with its first property being the White Elephant Nantucket, a long-standing structure that before White Elephant Resorts’ arrival on the hotel scene had had an up-and-down financial history, prompting the hotel’s new owners to choose their company’s unusual name.

White Elephant Nantucket is open mid-April through the last weekend of October, and then reopens the week after U.S. Thanksgiving through the first weekend in December for Nantucket Noel and Christmas Stroll.

Four accommodations options are available: Main Hotel, Garden Cottages, Residences and Inn.

Shea says it’s now “hard to imagine” that there was a time when the structure that became what is now the upscale White Elephant Nantucket retreat wasn’t desirable.

She says her company offers guests upscale stays in homey settings.

Those guests will find a “stark difference” in hotels, Shea reports, adding White Elephant Resorts wants to stand apart from companies offering standard hotel stays.

“It’s designed to be as welcoming as a stay in a home, not a hotel,” Shea says. “What makes it so special is you do feel like you’re in a home away from home.”

Shea labels Nantucket a “really cool” one-time whaling community that once hosted Moby Dick author Herman Melville and today has strict zoning laws to protect its character.

Shea adds Florida was a natural fit for White Elephant Resorts, with all but its Daniel Webster House — part of the Jared Coffin House — on Nantucket closing during winter, with the Florida retreat enabling those who want a White Elephant warm weather winter stay to be able to do so.

Those wanting more information can access WhiteElephantResorts.com.