- Hospitality Daily
- Posts
- 🍍Transition
🍍Transition
Plus: Inspiration from the Hoxton London; Accor's CEO on the financial case for lifestyle
Hello again friends 👋 I’ve been publishing this newsletter anonymously, so in case we haven’t met, I’m Josiah Mackenzie. I’ve been involved in the hospitality industry in various roles for the past 15 years and spent the past two years at a company serving private equity real estate investors (including several of the leading hotel ownership groups).
A few weeks ago, I stepped down from this role to focus more directly on the hospitality industry: building this newsletter and its sister site, HotelOperations.com. (If you’d like to work together on this, reply to this email and let’s talk!)
To mark the occasion, I took a vacation to two of my favorite cities, London and Paris. Played tourist for a bit.
But also had the chance to explore the hospitality scene…
Inspiration from the Hoxton London
I’ve written about Ennismore before, and their Hoxton brand is one of my favorites because of the attention they pay to the details. A few things that stood out to me…
#1: A great lobby. I’ll never forget the power of a great lobby from the day Ace Hotel opened in New York, and Hoxton crushes it here. Great seating, lighting, music - and just the right amount of attentive service.
#2: Art everywhere. Not just in places like this, but all over the guest reception area, in the rooms, etc.
#3: Great mugs for tea and coffee in our rooms:
#4: This radio, conveniently set to some of the most relaxing chillout music I’ve heard in a while:
#5: Last but not least, some great stationery for our use:
“All this is great,” you might be thinking. “But what’s the financial case for providing amenities like these?”
The business case for lifestyle hospitality
On the trip, I listened to sessions from Skift Forum Europe, including Accor CEO SĂ©bastien Bazin talking about the business of lifestyle hotels. I shared this on my Twitter account that focuses on investing:
Accor has 40+ brands and 5,300+ hotels.
But of all of those, CEO SĂ©bastien Bazin is most excited about the opportunity with lifestyle brands now.
It's because of the financial opportunity - not just the cool factor.
Here’s why...
— The Hospitality Investor (@HospInvestor)
10:08 AM • Apr 6, 2022
"Lifestyle has something magic,” Bazin told @rafat at a recent @skift forum in London.
“It’s that 55% of revenue is not from someone staying in a room. And of that, 70-85% of the non-room revenue is from the local community."
— The Hospitality Investor (@HospInvestor)
10:08 AM • Apr 6, 2022
We’re in the midst of a shift from working from office, to working from home, to now working from anywhere.
That means more locals than ever want to work from beautiful hotels. “That is a heaven for us” - a revenue opportunity for the hotels, said Bazin.
— The Hospitality Investor (@HospInvestor)
10:08 AM • Apr 6, 2022
It’s also more friendly for the planet because people are coming from 10 minutes away on foot.
“Welcoming someone from another town or welcoming someone from down the street is the same.”
— The Hospitality Investor (@HospInvestor)
10:08 AM • Apr 6, 2022
Hospitality Daily was started on the premise that all of us can show hospitality to others in our lives - regardless of what type of hospitality business we’ve involved with, or even if we’re not working in hospitality at all.
As I responded to Packy recently:
We are more hospitable to the people in our lives because we’ve seen and experienced exceptional hospitality ourselves
— Hospitality Daily 🍍 (@Hospitality365)
7:55 PM • Mar 25, 2022
That’s why I’m doing this. I’m excited for what the future holds for all of us who are a part of this community.