The Unfamiliar Shift with Ariela – Details, episodes & analysis

Episode Summary:

In this episode, Diana Stobo, a pioneering chef and advocate for wellness and healthy living, shares her transformative journey from a raw food advocate to a wellness real estate pioneer in Costa Rica. Diana discusses the challenges and triumphs of building a wellness hotel focused on healing modalities and the philosophy of "slumming it in luxury" in the hospitality industry. Joined by Ariela, they dive into the importance of staff retention, leadership in hospitality, and the personal journey of self-discovery and overcoming Imposter Syndrome.

Episode Time Stamps:

• 0:00 - Introduction to Diana Stobo and her journey in Costa Rica
• 2:09 - Building a wellness hotel with a focus on healing modalities
• 7:13 - Overcoming challenges in Costa Rica: Staffing, regulations, and growth
• 11:29 - Luxury hotels in Costa Rica and Bali: Personalized service and unique experiences
• 18:21 - The challenges of building and leading a team in the hospitality industry
• 22:25 - Self-discovery and leadership: Overcoming Imposter Syndrome and finding self-worth

Episode Highlights:

• Diana's transition from a raw food advocate to a wellness real estate pioneer
• The concept of building a wellness hotel starting with food and expanding to include various healing modalities
• The decision to build in Costa Rica over Thailand and the associated challenges
• "Slumming it in luxury" and the importance of unique experiences in luxury travel
• The significance of staff retention and creating an authentic, intimate guest experience
• Ariela's insights on leadership, balancing compassion with effective management
• Overcoming Imposter Syndrome and the journey of self-discovery and personal growth

Episode Conclusion:

Diana and Ariela highlight the transformative power of wellness, not just in the context of a hotel or travel experience, but as a personal journey of growth, leadership, and authenticity. They stress the importance of knowing oneself, being direct, and maintaining integrity in both personal and professional life. This episode serves as an inspiration for anyone looking to make a meaningful impact in the hospitality industry or seeking personal transformation through wellness.

Stay tuned for the next episode of The Unfamiliar Shift with Ariela for more insightful discussions on the boutique lifestyle lodging industry. Thank you to our sponsor, Solonis!

Keep connected with BLLA for the latest updates and explore BLLA.org for more resources. Follow us on Instagram and LinkedIn to keep up with the pulse of boutique hospitality.

In this riveting episode of The Unfamiliar Shift, Ariela engages with Audrey Laurent and Sergio MacLean, the visionary principals of Mac&Lo Hospitality. The duo dives into their unique approach to curating immersive and impactful guest experiences, drawing from their diverse cultural backgrounds and deep artistic roots. From initiating operations from the ground up to spearheading custom hospitality projects, Audrey and Sergio share insights into their exemplary service ethos, molded by industry icons like Ian Schrager and Andre Balaz.

• 00:00:00 - Introduction to hospitality industry insights with Mac&Lo principals
• 00:02:46 - Discussion on luxury hotel design and approachability in Detroit through the Shinola and Bedrock partnership
• 00:11:51 - Insights into the hospitality industry backgrounds, training, and the art of storytelling in service
• 00:18:25 - Exploration of hotel management and operations with a focus on culture and design

• Hospitality Industry Insights: Audrey and Sergio share their journey in creating bespoke hospitality experiences, highlighting their diverse cultural backgrounds and artistic influences.
• Luxury Hotel Design in Detroit: The episode sheds light on their partnership with Shinola and Bedrock, revealing their commitment to celebrating Detroit's culture and heritage while providing a luxury experience. Ariela, Audrey, and Sergio discuss the evolving trends in hotel service, emphasizing the importance of approachability and personalized service.
• Backgrounds and Training: The episode takes a deep dive into the backgrounds of Audrey and Sergio, showcasing how elements from acting, arts, and service industries blend to create a unique approach to hospitality, focusing on storytelling and meticulous service.
• Hotel Management and Operations: Audrey and Sergio recount their experiences in managing hotels in NYC, their meeting at the Mercer hotel, and their journey in building a company that thrives on a blend of culture, design, and exceptional operational standards.

Wrapping up this episode of The Unfamiliar Shift, Ariela highlights the passion and dedication of Audrey and Sergio in redefining hospitality through their unique blend of culture, design, and impeccable service. Their journey from the grassroots in the industry to leading bespoke hospitality projects serves as an inspiration and a testament to the power of innovation, personalized service, and a deep understanding of guests' needs. This episode not only sheds light on the intricate workings of luxury hotel management but also celebrates the diverse backgrounds and creative approaches that drive the industry forward.

Stay tuned for the next episode of The Unfamiliar Shift with Ariela for more insightful discussions on the boutique lifestyle lodging industry. Thank you to our sponsor, Solonis!

Keep connected with BLLA for the latest updates and explore BLLA.org for more resources. Follow us on Instagram and LinkedIn to keep up with the pulse of boutique hospitality.

Kevin O’Shea is the Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer of Salt Hotels. After graduating from the prestigious Rhode Island School of Design, Kevin pursued a career in the corporate hotel design world. From working with Starwood Hotels and Resorts to Morgans Hotel Group, he strengthened his passion for interior design with every project that came his way. In 2009, he founded a full-service interior design studio called Kevin O’Shea Designs. Specializing in hospitality and residential projects, his studio worked on a range of properties including an executive office at Sony World Headquarters in New York, The Martin House, which has been featured by This Old House and The New York Times, and even his own home.  In 2011, Kevin turned Salt House Inn into Provincetown’s most stylish hostelry, leading the property to numerous design awards and serving as the launchpad for Salt Hotels. This spurred the launch of present day properties such as Eben House in Provincetown, Massachusetts, The Chequit in Shelter Island, New York, Hutton Brickyards in Kingston, New York, and Hotel Greystone in Miami Beach.

What You Will Hear:

• How Kevin built his career in the hospitality industry
• Working with partner David Bowd and opening their first hotel
• Salt Hotel Ethos
• Funding process.  Self funding and lenders
• The importance of experience
• The entrepreneurial spirit
• Newest project in Hollywood
• Rules and breaking rules
• The essence of hospitality and importance of attention to detail
• How do you stay uniquely boutique even through scaling
• What boutique means to Kevin

Quotes:

“We are super passionate about service and we are super passionate about getting rid of a lot of the silly rules of the hotel world.”

“We’re building an inclusive club.”

“It's about just being hospitable and coming from a place of empathy and understanding that

travel is stressful, it's long, it's arduous. We gotta get you unplugged as soon as you get here.”

“For us the common thread is our service standards and that's how we built from.”

“Our employees are as important as the people coming through the door.”

Mentioned:

Salt Hotels

Le Meridien 

Starwood

The Aster

Salt School

Sponsored by Solonis

BLLA

Carolyn grew up in sunny Los Angeles and graduated from New York University. After working in New York City nightlife and restaurants, it was not long before she fell in love with hotels and started managing Events at Ace Hotel New York.

 From there, she joined the team at Vikram Chatwal Collection in New York, bringing her sales and marketing skills to the forefront. 

When Ace Hotel Group decided to open in Downtown LA, Carolyn was recruited to head on back to the West Coast to build accounts from the ground up in a culturally emerging landscape. 

 Her experience did not stop there. From her work with Proper Hospitality to Sydell Group to even co-founding a consulting company for emerging hospitality companies, Carolyn was a champion of the boutique lifestyle.     

 Fast forward to the present day, Carolyn is with Casetta Group and is furthering her passion for hospitality, management, and revitalizing small boutique properties.

What You Will Hear:

• How Carolyn established her career in hospitality
• Building Casetta Group
• Casetta Group’s mission statement
• Working in a partnership with Montecito Venture Partners
• New project in Silverlake
• What is Los Angeles culture to Carolyn?
• Being an artisan. Curating art for properties.  
• Being a woman owner in the hospitality industry
• Advice for up-and-coming hotel owners
• The importance of understanding all of the aspects of how a hotel runs
• What boutique means to Carolyn

Quotes:

“LA is very iconic visually, and it's all just little postcards everywhere. The scenery is just so beautiful. You really remember how incredible just nature even in this city is, that you can go to Griffith Park or go to Malibu and have such a totally different visual.”

“I'm not the one painting the portrait, but I definitely have a lot of excitement around bringing artists together and making that experience for people and setting the scene.”

“I think it's all about relationships, honestly. It's not just making friends, but making a good first impression, keeping in touch, and always looking for what else is out there.”

“Hospitality is about human connection. Technology enhances it.”

“Boutique is definitely about personalization.”

Mentioned:

Casetta Group

Casa Cody

Sponsored by Solonis

BLLA

Katherine “Kat” Lo is the Founder & President of Eaton Workshop.

Born in Hong Kong, Kat Lo is a next-generation leader, driven by her moral compass and committed to reimagining the future of hospitality for the betterment of the people and the planet.

In 2011, Kat joined her family business in hospitality, and just a few years later, her father appointed her President of Eaton Workshop.

It was in 2014 when Kat founded Eaton as a global hospitality company with a mission “to uplift the human spirit” and “to transform hospitality into a force for creativity and social and environmental impact.”

Building upon her creativity and passion for the arts, Kat and her team launched Another World is Possible in 2020, which is an online multimedia festival featuring innovative panel discussions and original short films produced by Eaton, itself.

 Now, fast forward to the present day, and Kat Lo is officially the Chair of Eaton Workshop, with an emphasis on progressing Eaton’s storytelling and sharing impactful pieces of thought leadership with the world.

What You Will Hear:

• How Kat built her career in the hospitality industry
• Creating Eaton Workshop
• Eaton’s ethos
• Los Angeles culture
• How boutique hotels can be a vehicle for progression in local communities 
• Stress points for boutique hotel owners today
• Creating and retaining a familial environment with your team
• Creating a brand that transforms an established industry
• Intergenerational mentors and teachers
• Advice for boutique hotel ownership
• What boutique means to Kat

Quotes:

“It's really about reimagining a hotel space as a cultural and community center.”

“LA, for me, is music, art, and wellness.”

“Boutique hotels can really be a vehicle in local communities, reaching out to make those connections and working with people who are embedded in the communities.”

“I think an important thing is for our mission, vision, and values to not only be reflected for the guests, but also for everyone that works there.”

“We can get caught up in the disruption and these exciting, big picture things, but it is also important to remember just how to take care of people when you're in hospitality.”

Mentioned:

Eaton Workshop

Pioneertown Motel

Sponsored by Solonis

BLLA

Sarah Sklash is a passionate Motelier and Co-Founder of The June Motel.

 You may recognize Sarah as half of the iconic duo who starred in Motel Makeover, a Netflix series that followed their renovation of The June Sauble Beach. Through light-hearted and sincere episodes, Sarah and her Co-Founder, April Brown, painted a beautiful picture of how their brand came to be and why boutique concepts are here to stay.

 Before Sarah became a full-time Motelier, she spent a decade working in public service, focusing on vital statistics and creating customer-centric processes. She finds her years of government experience to be especially useful in navigating all the government interactions required as an entrepreneur.

 When away from her desk, Sarah is a passionate traveler who believes that “the moment you first open the doors to a new hotel room is the best feeling in the world.”

What You Will Hear:

• How Sarah built her career in the hospitality industry
• Career shift and first property purchase
• Motelier
• Disadvantages and advantages of no formal hospitality industry education
• Being unique and individualistic
• Ethos of The June Motel
• Advice on maintaining good partnerships
• Importance of communication
• Business models
• Obstacles and lessons in property ownership
• What is success to Sarah?
• Understanding risk
• Motel Makeover on Netflix
• What does boutique mean to Sarah?

Quotes:

“So much of The June actually comes from just our personal desires as travelers.”

“The June Motel is really all about being a throwback to the good ol’ days and enjoying the simple pleasures.”

“Communication is such a key part.”

Mentioned:

The June Motel

April Brown

Motel Makeover on Netflix

Sponsored by Solonis

BLLA

Based in New York City, Ernest Lee has an extensive range of business experience in investments, real estate, finance, strategy, and even operations. It’s safe to say, in the bustling “City That Never Sleeps”, he is truly doing it all.

As the Chief Growth Officer for the famous citizenM Hotels, Ernest is responsible for implementing new growth initiatives, products and programs, pursuing strategic partnerships, and developing long-term commercial strategy in collaboration with citizenM’s Chief Commercial Officer. And, to top it off, he is recognized for guiding the complex, multi-regional expansion of citizenM’s North American portfolio. These luxury properties or “proud misfits of traditional hotels,” are satisfying the modern traveler’s desire for affordable luxury and brilliantly shifting the status quo of hospitality as we know it.

What You Will Hear:

• How Ernest built a career in the hospitality industry
• Chief Growth Officer explained
• Learning by looking at other industries
• citizenM Ethos
• Creating a new category, Affordable Luxury, in the boutique hotel industry
• Building a boutique hotel portfolio based on transparency
• The 360 experience. Advice and tips on owning and operating a boutique hotel
• Authenticity and the importance of listening
• Choosing locations
• What boutique means to Ernest

Quotes:

“I've always had the ambition to become more well-rounded as a hotel owner and hotelier and get much closer to our guests.”

“Protecting the customer experience was the number one goal for us, and in order to do that, that requires a significant amount of control. For us, it means that we want to play developer, play owner, play designer, play operator, and play brand all at the same time.”

“When you focus less on a tangible thing, but you focus more on capturing a feeling, then that is when the execution becomes more heartfelt, and it actually feels real and authentic.”

Mentioned:

citizenM

Cushman and Wakefield

Sponsored by Solonis

BLLA

Brian began his career with Ritz-Carlton but quickly transitioned into boutique lifestyle hotels as a manager with The James brand in Miami.

After launching the re-branded James Royal Palm property, Brian then made his way to New York to manage The James Hotel in Soho NYC. His experience in the New York Market was growing by the day, and Brian was eventually given the opportunity to move over to the iconic boutique lifestyle brand - none other than GrandLife Hotels.

Most recently, Brian teamed up with Generator Hotels to create a Global Sales team overseeing their newly developed US properties, in addition to their newly acquired brand, Freehand Hotels. 

What You Will Hear:

• How Brian entered the hospitality industry
• Ethos and mission of both Generator and Freehand
• Hostel revolution
• The authenticity of New York culture
• The Django at The Roxy. Entertainment centered.
• Sales strategies for boutique hotels. Rights and wrongs.
• Investing in boutique hotels and cross-marketing and business alignment
• What boutique means to Brian

Quotes:

“Generator really was the leader in what we called the hostel revolution. They know community better than any other kind of hotel.”

“They really know how to infuse the energy of the neighborhood into the energy of the 

property and seamlessly where you're not necessarily taking away from the guest experience because it's so infused into the neighborhood.” 

“I love New York because everyone is welcomed. Everyone's embraced, and everyone is very authentic in their own light.” 

“When you're in a hotel, you're experiencing a brand's culture. You're using all five senses, mostly to experience what the brand's mission, their ethos, their culture is. You can't do that in any other type of business except for a hotel, and you're just engulfed in it.”

“Authenticity is key.”

Mentioned:

Freehand

Ritz Carlton

James Brand

Generator 

Queensgate

New York Is Dead

Three Lives and Company Bookstore  

Life Stories; Profiles from the New Yorker

Django at the Roxy Hotel

Nomáde Tulum

Sponsored by Solonis

BLLA

Raul Leal is a seasoned professional in the boutique hospitality industry who understands and embodies the boutique lifestyle to a T.  Forward thinking and self driven, Raul is an influential executive with a successful track record of creating powerful brands that infuse character, sophistication and excitement in every element from unique design to lively operations.  With robust entrepreneurial tactics under his belt, he is highly proficient in nurturing deep relationships, going above and beyond customer, employee and investor expectations and transforming innovative ideas from a vision into reality.   

What You Will Hear:

• How Raul built his career in the hospitality community
• Ethos, the mission statement, the concept of the SH Hotels collection
• Holistic well being and wellness in hospitality 
• Where boutique hotels originated
• What is hospitality?
• Mentors and Raul’s passion for people
• Investing in experiences and the ROI
• Teams and tips on leadership
• Current hospitality culture in Miami
• What is a boutique hotel?

Quotes:

“The brand ethos is do all the good that you can.”

“There's real lifestyle hotels, and then there's pretenders.”

“The best hoteliers are the ones that create their own dinner parties and they enjoy entertaining people.”

“The most important thing today is for organizations to have a purpose and leaders to be purposeful.”

Mentioned:

SH Hotels

W Lexington NY

Delano Miami

Sponsored by Solonis

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Welcome to The Unfamiliar Shift with Ariela, the Boutique Lifestyle Leaders Association Hospitality show..  This is a podcast about the boutique hospitality community and how its top industry executives and leaders stay up to date on the best innovative trends in boutique hotels all around the world.  Each season Ariela will bring her favorite visionaries to discuss new philosophies, ideas and innovations in the hospitality industry, primarily the boutique community.  Ariela will share intimate conversations with these extraordinary leaders as they navigate the unfamiliar shift of boutique hospitality.  This podcast is brought to you by Solonis, the intuitive boutique hotel property management system.

What You Will Hear:

• Ariela’s story
• BLLA
• BLLA conferences
• The Unfamiliar Shift Webinar

Quotes:

“Our industry is vastly changing and I hope this show helps bring clarity in your approach to hospitality.”

Mentioned:

Solonis

The Boutique Hotel Investment Conference

Women in Travel Hospitality Conference

Boutique Hotel Owners Conference