Peter Anastos, the co-founder and owner of Maine Course Hospitality Group, at the company’s office in Freeport. Brianna Soukup/Portland Press Herald

Decades after they met while baking Twinkies at a Massachusetts factory, Peter Anastos and Paul Lohnes have built something of a hospitality empire in New England.

Their company, Maine Course Hospitality Group, owns and manages nearly two dozen hotels in the region (plus a couple in Florida and North Carolina). Most are Hilton and Marriott franchises, including Courtyards near the Portland International Jetport and in the Old Port, as well as Hampton Inns in Waterville, Augusta, Bath, Freeport and Thomaston.

Now, Anastos and Lohnes are launching their own hotel brand in the hope that it will spread across the country.

Called HomeAwhile, the concept is to provide apartment-style rooms that combine the best features of Airbnbs – welcoming spaces with kitchens and sometimes laundry machines – and hotels that offer housekeeping, on-site staff and a more predictable overall experience.

“We’re trying to build something that’s a little better, a little nicer, at an affordable price,” said Anastos, 76, who lives in Yarmouth.

The first HomeAwhile is under construction on Payne Road in Scarborough and is set to open in 2026, with 109 rooms. Though it is billed as an extended-stay hotel for long vacations or business trips, the minimum stay is one night.

“It will be more like an apartment than a hotel, with services available à la carte,” said Jonathan Bogatay, company president. “If you want housekeeping services, we can provide them. If you don’t, you can be on your own.”

A rendering of an apartment-style room in the HomeAwhile hotel being built in Scarborough near The Maine Mall. Courtesy of Maine Course Hospitality Group

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The so-called aparthotel model has been trending in overseas cities like London and is gaining traction in the U.S. During the last year, Marriott International opened an aparthotel in Puerto Rico and announced plans to develop several similar properties in the Midwest.

Maine Course hopes HomeAwhile can seize on the interest by targeting travelers with low- to mid-range budgets. That’s also why the company’s leaders believe the Scarborough location can succeed at a time when hotels are multiplying in Greater Portland.

“People are looking for comfort and affordability,” said Bogatay, 60, who recently joined the company after leading a Wisconsin-based chain. “We want to get both of those right.”

HOW IT STARTED

Son of a baker, Anastos has lived in Maine since the 1980s. He left the Hostess factory to paint and renovate houses in Massachusetts, then moved north to invest in and eventually acquire the Muddy Rudder Restaurant and the Freeport Inn, both Route 1 tourist landmarks.

By the 1990s, he owned seven Ground Rounds, including restaurants in Portland, Auburn and Bangor, and he had formed the Maine Course partnership with Lohnes, who had become a rising real estate developer in the Boston area.

Anastos and Lohnes sold their restaurants and initial hotel properties in the early 2000s – including the Muddy Rudder and Freeport Inn – to build franchises under the banners of major chains. Anastos was later appointed to the Maine Housing Authority board in 2011 by former Gov. Paul LePage. He ruffled feathers by criticizing the agency’s spending decisions and pushing it to consider the per-unit cost when funding affordable housing projects.

In launching its latest HomeAwhile venture, the group said it will save money upfront by using its regular general contractor and project partner, Mark Woglom of Opechee Construction Corp., in Belmont, New Hampshire, who has built several chain hotels and knows where improvements can be made.

Maine Course also will save money because it won’t have to pay a franchise fee to Marriott or Hilton, which adds as much as 12% to monthly costs. The overall savings will allow the company to charge $115 to $125 per night instead of $160 or more.

Kevin Pagnano, corporate director of operations and Jonathan Bogatay, president of Maine Course Hospitality Group at the site where the group is building its 26th hotel, an unusual long-term stay property that may serve as a model for a national chain. Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Portland Press Herald

Lee Speronis, professor and director of the School of Hospitality, Sport and Tourism Management at Husson University, said he believes it will succeed as a practical and affordable answer to Airbnb and other online rental options.

“Maine Course has a proven track record,” said Speronis, who is also chair of the Maine Tourism Association and a Hospitality Maine board member. “They give their employees opportunities to succeed and they’ve had great success as a company that way. If you work hard, you can move up.”

The company also tries to give young people a reason to stay in Maine, he said. It provides internship opportunities for hospitality students at Husson and other schools and often hires them after graduation for management positions. CEO Sean Riley produces a podcast with Southern Maine Community College students to highlight how industry leaders built their careers.

‘BE THE BEST PART OF SOMEONE’S DAY’

The company’s executives say prioritizing employee satisfaction alongside guests’ needs is one of the key reasons the company has grown slowly and steadily since its founding nearly 40 years ago.

Riley, a former teacher who joined the company in 1992 as general manager of the Freeport Inn, still makes a point of connecting with staff members at all levels, even now that the company has 800 associates, including 70 salaried managers. He writes 50 to 70 birthday cards each month that are sent to employees and he calls each hotel every Thanksgiving and Christmas to thank the managers for working on the holiday.

“It’s a simple thing, but it shows we care,” said Riley, 68. “We believe if we take care of our people, then they will take care of our guests.”

Sean Riley, the CEO of Maine Course Hospitality Group, started working for the company in 1992 as a general manager of the Freeport Inn. Before that, he was a teacher. Brianna Soukup/Portland Press Herald

On a more concrete level, Maine Course pays competitive wages in a tight labor market and provides health benefits, paid time off, a company-matched retirement savings program and a pathway for advancement, he said.

Kevin Pagnano experienced the Maine Course approach when he was hired in 2008 to run the Courtyard Marriott in Bangor. He had worked for Marriott International for 17 years, including at hotels in Washington, D.C., Atlanta and Jacksonville, Florida.

Pagnano grew up in Maine and wanted to move back here to raise his family. He had heard about Maine Course and thought he could help the company expand. Meeting Riley was memorable.

“Our interview was about 10 minutes of work talk and the rest was about who we were as people,” Pagnano recalled. “He wanted to know who I was.”

Since 2010, Pagnano has been a corporate director of operations, overseeing direct sales and revenue management strategies for growth. But his work remains grounded in his customer service experience, starting in 1988 as a bellman at what is today the Portland Sheraton at Sable Oaks near The Maine Mall.

That’s where he got his first hands-on lessons in how to lead a hospitality team. Fresh out of SMCC’s hospitality program, he remembers watching the general manager clearing snow from guests’ cars early one morning.

“I watched him for a while, then I thought, maybe I should be out there doing that,” Pagnano said. “He never asked me. He just set the example.”

Now, Pagnano, 57, is a leader in a work culture that recognizes its employees have challenging lives. It means accommodating reasonable flex time for family needs and personal crises, he said, and holding baby showers and graduation parties to celebrate individual accomplishments.

“It’s how we build teams, but it’s also the right way to treat people,” Pagnano said. “I had a boss once who told me, ‘Never forget you could be the best part of someone’s day.’ That includes our employees.”

At the same time, he said, Maine Course has high-performance standards, especially when it comes to addressing guests’ concerns.

“We tell our teams that every problem has a solution,” Pagnano said. “If you don’t know how to solve it, find someone who does.”

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A man was arrested after crashing into another car driven by a pregnant woman in Falmouth, Maine on Saturday night.

Maine State Police say they responded to reports of a wrong-way driver on the Maine Turnpike at mile marker 43.

Authorities say they arrived to the scene of a head-on crash with a car that was driven by a pregnant woman.

The woman was evaluated at the scene and suffered minor injuries but was transported to Maine Medical Center as a precautionary measure, according to authorities.

The wrong-way driver, identified as 30-year-old Stephan Adams, of Windham, Maine, was found to be impaired during the investigation, according to police.

Adams was charged with operating under the influence of alcohol and driving to endanger.

On Dec. 21, 1924, the Portland Sunday Telegram published a festive spread about how children were celebrating the season. Click on the image to go to the full page on newspapers.com

There was a lot happening in Maine in December 1924: Christmas pageants, Hanukkah festivals, caroling through the streets and visits with Santa Claus.

Shops were decorated for the season and stocked with everything from silk scarves to mechanical toys and fancy ribbon candy. Schoolchildren adorned their classrooms with tinsel and ornaments and rehearsed songs to perform for their parents.

It was the middle of the Roaring Twenties and Mainers were in the mood to celebrate.

With a world war and deadly global influenza epidemic firmly in the rearview mirror, the nation’s economy was surging and people had money to spend on household appliances, cars and clothing. Radios were becoming increasingly popular, with people tuning in to listen to news and entertainment from around the world. A host of new consumer products hit the market: Wheaties cereal, Bit-O-Honey candy bars, Dum Dums, iodized table salt and Kleenex facial tissues.

Popular children’s toys included Raggedy Ann dolls, teddy bears, Crayola crayons, chemistry sets, Lincoln Logs, Tinkertoys and yo-yos. The holiday season kicked off with the first Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City.

A look through the archives of Maine newspapers provides an enticing glimpse at the holiday merriment 100 years ago.

PARTY TIME

The elementary schools around Portland went all in on their holiday celebrations.

A full page of the Dec. 21 Portland Sunday Telegram was devoted to describing the festivities. The spread was topped with photos of local children under the banner headline “Jolly Old St. Nicholas We’re Sure You Can’t Resist Us.”

The Morrill School held a Christmas party in every classroom “with games and stories and Christmas stories and Christmas songs and best of all ice cream for all.” Fifth-graders watched stereopticon slides illustrating Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” and the kindergarten room was “especially attractive.”

“The tree is ablaze with crystal and silver trimmings. After greetings to the parents and guests, the children told the real Christmas story and sang their songs about the Little Christ Child,” the newspaper reported. “Gifts that the children had made to give away, and gifts that they contributed for some needy families, were then distributed and after a meal with ice cream and animal crackers all went home most happy.”

At the West School, students put on a Christmas program featuring poems, songs and readings. There were piano solos and an instrumental performance of “The Desert Caravan” featuring students playing mandolins, violins and the piano. Two sixth-grade classes banded together to put on a Christmas play titled “Santa and the Dragon,” with a Santa, a woodcutter, witches and fairies, dolls for various countries and a knight named St. George.

Santa Claus visited six schools across the city – his arrival was “a gala occasion” everywhere he went.

“The very most elaborate party given for Santa was at the Oakdale School where hosts of parents came in, and where Santa’s arrival was heralded by loud honkings of automobile horns which sent the children rushing to the window. When he drove up in state with his pack just crammed with good things for small boys and girls pandemonium broke loose, albeit a teacher-regulated pandemonium,” the paper reported. “Here and at every other school which Santa Claus visited he distributed rolls of life-savers, one for each child, and the munching and crunching of these goodies accompanied the farewells to the Christmas saint.”

LETTERS TO SANTA 

Hazel Fillmore asked her letter to Santa to be read on the radio in 1924. Click on the image to go to the full page on newspapers.com

A young Portland girl’s attempt to get her letter to Santa drew the attention of the Sun-Journal. In a story published on Dec. 18, the newspaper detailed how a letter by Hazel Fillmore of Hanover Street was read by Mr. Messter, the WCBR Portland Radio Exposition announcer.

“The up-to-date child no longer depends on the slowness and the uncertainty of mail. He establishes direct communication to the Saint of Christmas thru radio,” the newspaper wrote.

Hazel used the letter to introduce Santa to her new baby brother, Philip Calvin Fillmore (“we love him very much”), and detail the Christmas wishes of her other siblings. Everett, 2, and Helen, 3, both wanted rocking horses, while 5-year-old Millard and 7-year-old Warren wanted horns and drums. Iona, 8, asked Santa for a sewing box and a sleeping doll.

“As for me, I want a pair of bedroom slippers and a Bible, and if it is not asking too much, a sleeping doll,” she wrote. “Dear Santa Claus, Mamma is in bed sick but I want you to please answer over the radio tomorrow night. My papa will tune in for me.”

FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS 

The Jewish communities in Portland and Biddeford celebrated Hanukkah starting on Dec. 21.

In Portland, the YWHAA Intermediates and Juniors prepared an evening of musical numbers and refreshments for the first night of Hanukkah, the Portland Sunday Telegram reported.

“One of the most important features of the evening will be the Chanukah pageant, written by Miss Alice Modes, in which about 10 girls take part and which will prove very interesting. The pageant is a sketch of the history of Chanukah and the scenes will be very pretty, the girls in their flowing white gowns, each carrying one of the letters that form the word Chanukah. Musical numbers will follow and refreshments will be served.”

The Biddeford-Saco Journal wrote about the “impressive services” given by Rev. Lipin at the synagogue on Bacon Street in Biddeford and printed a detailed history of the holiday.

“The feast of lights as it is sometimes called was celebrated with elaborate exercises at the synagogue on Bacon Street at sunset Sunday,” the story said. “One candle was lighted and today, two, with three tomorrow, four the next day, five the next, six the following day, seven on the next day, and eight on the eighth day.”

Ads in the Biddeford-Saco Journal on Dec. 22, 1924, detailed the food and gifts offered in local shops. Click on the image to go to the full page on newspapers.com

GIFTS GALORE

The 1920s ushered in an advertising boom and local shop owners took advantage of the trend to market their holiday season offerings.

In newspapers across southern Maine, shops advertised all manner of gifts – from slippers to kitchen appliances to custom-made suits. Toys, of course, got top billing in many ads.

The Biddeford Bargain House on Main Street had a lot of gift ideas: child’s carpet sweeper, 35 cents; little horse rocker, 35 cents; trains 50 cents to $2.50; electric toasters for $3.95; 42-piece dinner set for $7.95; dolls 10 cents to $7.50; mechanical toys 25 cents to $2.98; solid maple desks and chairs, $4.98.

Over at Mrs. S.E. Ladd on Main and Water streets in Saco, the shop offered “Interesting Christmas gift for women” – most of them involving silk. In stock were sweaters, silk underwear, silk boudoir caps, silk scarfs, underarm bags, silk bloomers, corset covers, bath robes, silk mules, silk hosiery, silk ribbons and silk blouses.

Just two days before Christmas, ads in the Evening Express targeted Westbrook shoppers looking for last-minute gifts. At the Emile Begin clothing shop, “Gifts for Him” included shirts, ties, armbands, bathrobes, umbrellas, mufflers and cuff links. Over on Bridge Street, Carr’s Shoe Store offered ladies’ and men’s Christmas slippers for 59 cents to $3.50 in “all kinds and colors.”

LaFond & Co. invited shoppers to “come to our Toyland on the 2nd floor” for last-minute gifts, including silk hosiery, silk umbrellas, rubber aprons, muslin underwear, baby crib sheets and leather pocketbooks.

WHAT PEOPLE WERE EATING

When it came time for holiday meals, local markets were ready with everything people needed.

The Andrews & Horigan Co. grocery store on Main Street in Biddeford had Christmas turkeys, ducks, geese and chickens, “all fresh killed and fancy stock” ranging from 42 to 48 cents. There were also California and Florida oranges, jumbo pecans, cranberries, squash and all the vegetables needed for dinner. For dessert, 2-pound boxes of ribbon candy were just 43 cents.

“We have everything to complete your Christmas dinner,” read the ads for Bibeau Bros., The Pure Food Market, at the corner of Alfred and Jefferson Streets in Biddeford. Their offerings included extra fancy turkeys direct from the farm, native geese, ducks, grapefruit, apples and nuts.

The grocers encouraged people to “shop early and avoid disappointment.”

To help readers expand their holiday menus, the Biddeford-Saco Journal published a cooking column called “The Kitchen Cabinet” that offered recipes for yuletide goodies, including butterscotch Spanish cream and snowballs made out of sponge cake.

In Portland, ads for Spear Folks Candy at 495 Congress St. – famous for Needhams and caramels – highlighted its “splendid gift packages for $1. There were also candy-filled cedar chests, ribbon candy, novelties, hard candies and stocking fillers ready to be packaged for shoppers.

“Remember, everybody likes candy!” the ad read.

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