The Woodstock Inn and Resort, the town’s flagship hotel, recently bought a 12-room motel in town to house some of its staff.
“We have been providing employee housing for many years for year-round and seasonal team members,” Judy Geiger, the inn’s director of human resources, said in a written statement. “The low unemployment rate and shrinking labor force in Vermont make it difficult to attract and retain employees, and when we do find them, finding affordable housing is very difficult for them.”
The inn purchased Braeside Lodging — a motel on Route 4 less than 2 miles away — for $1,090,000 at the end of October, according to property records provided by the town of Woodstock. The sellers were Patricia Ploss and her husband, Richard, who owned the motel for 32 years, Ploss said.
Not all Woodstock Inn employees receive housing, Geiger said, but buying Braeside “will help us to maintain our staffing levels and provide the service people expect.” The inn — which also owns the recently renamed Saskadena Six Ski Area — plans to renovate some of its other employee properties, she added.
Woodstock, a popular tourist destination, has sought to create more affordable housing for the people who work there. This summer, the town launched several programs intended to ease the housing crunch, including paying landlords to build or renovate accessory dwelling units and providing financial incentives for landlords to convert short-term rentals to long-term, affordable rentals for qualified tenants.
“We don’t have enough housing that people who earn a local salary can afford to rent or buy,” Jill Davies, a member of the Woodstock Economic Development Commission working group on housing, told VTDigger in August. “We want everybody to be able to live in the community. We want our teachers, our retail assistants, hospitality industry people, our writers, everybody.”
The 142-room Woodstock Inn sits on the village green and features multiple restaurants, a spa, cross-country skiing and a golf course.
Jon Spector, chair of Woodstock’s Economic Development Commission, called the inn’s motel purchase a “very clever strategy.”
“The inn is the premier hotel in the Upper Valley and finding housing for staff is critical to their continued success,” he said. The purchase “should strengthen their ability to attract and retain the staff they need.”
Yet when an employer provides housing for employees, it creates the possibility of an “imbalanced power dynamic,” according to Michael Redmond, executive director of the Upper Valley Haven, a food shelf, temporary shelter and social services nonprofit.
“What if the tenants aren’t satisfied with repairs and services? Will they believe they can complain without repercussions affecting employment?” he said. “With all that, I’m sure that the employees of the Woodstock Inn will gladly sign up for this housing if offered because the choices are so limited.”
