![]() And despite his ability to recognize how hospitality would need to change, it took a few years for him to figure out exactly how.Īccording to “Honest” Phil Policare, Cove Haven's "Chief Excitement Officer," Wilkins and O’Brien had their epiphany one night in 1963, when the two were struggling to cart a round hot tub down a flight of stairs. When business was slow, he’d conserve electricity by holding business meetings in the dark. Ostentatious accents replaced neutral colors the room, he believed, would become the star attraction for those seeking a reservation.īut Wilkins needed time. Wilkins and O’Brien changed the name of the hotel to Cove Haven and promptly began renovating the property so that it might appeal to the increasingly provocative tastes of 1960s couples. What was missing was a sense of levity or fun. Since the end of the war, gas shortages had led to more and more newlyweds taking the shorter trip to the Poconos-a four-county area about the size of Delaware-rather than Niagara Falls. The men believed they could do better, so they purchased an 18-room resort, the Hotel Pocopaupac in Lakeville, in 1958. Settling in as a freelancer, he and pal Harold “Obie” O’Brien were working on renovations for a Poconos-area hotel when they both noticed the accommodations were absolutely awful. Business went well until Hurricane Diane swept up his office space and equipment in 1955, leveling all of his material goods. After a stint as a submariner in World War II, the Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania native started working as an electrician. ![]() Born to Russian immigrants in 1925, Wilkins was an unlikely savior of the honeymoon hospitality industry. ![]()
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