Hospitality Mentor- September 2022
We’re back with round two of Turk’s Thoughts. Thanks for subscribing and reading! This months edition is brought to you by our friends at Mad Tasty.
🛎 What's Hot in Hospitality
Fendi. Armani. Versace. These aren’t just names of fashion designers. They’re also hotels. Today we’re talking collabs: Luxury Retail x Hospitality. With travel rebounding, Business of Fashion reports that fashion-branded hotels have gained momentum, and companies like Bulgari, Armani and Fila are opening new properties. From fully branded hotels like The Bulgari Hotel in London to suite takeovers like the Dior Suite at the Regis Hotel New York, luxury fashion brands and hotels can come together to win over the same target customer and create an environment where guests can immerse themselves in the lifestyle these fashion brands portray. These collaborations create a win-win for both the luxury retailers and hotels – giving these fashion houses an opportunity to create an entirely new way to experience their brand, and the hotel operators the chance to attract an ultra-luxury audience.
Taking a page from this experiential playbook, luxury home furnishing retailer Restoration Hardware has created its own RH-branded restaurants in select stores – blending their distinctive interior design with the experience of dining in a stunning rooftop restaurant. These RH Restaurants blur the lines between indoor and outdoor, residential and retail, home and hospitality. I dined at the West Palm Beach restaurant recently, and beyond the phenomenal food, views, and service, it’s the perfect sell on the impeccably designed lifestyle Restoration Hardware wants its customers to aspire to.
As hotels continue to look for ways to attract new guests and activate their properties, it pays to partner with like-minded brands. And on the flip side, for brands looking to be discovered by travelers, you’ll often find hotels will open their doors to these opportunities.
🍷 What I'm Sipping
I’m always on the hunt for refreshing poolside drinks for your resort guests, and I recently stumbled upon Bushwacker, a Caribbean-inspired coconut rum cream with a fun history behind it that’s exploded in popularity on Florida’s panhandle. Cleverly coined “beach in a bottle,” the creamy beverage is made with natural coconut, coffee, and chocolate.
Think of it as an adult milkshake or the tropical version of a White Russian. The recipe was invented in the Virgin Islands by a bartender named Angie in 1975. She sold it to customers as a kick-butt new version of a Piña Colada and quickly named it after a bar goer’s dog, Bushwack. Visiting bartenders brought it back to the states later that year, first serving it at the Sandshaker Lounge on Pensacola Beach. It’s now considered the official drink of Pensacola, and there’s even a festival held to celebrate the drink every August. Bushwacker Spirits bottled this beachy beverage for the first time in 2020, so now you can serve it to your resort guests.
How can you use Bushwacker at your hotel? It’s a unique offering for guests who are tired of ordering the same old Piña Colada every day. This rum concoction is easy for your bartending team to pour straight up for guests to enjoy on the rocks, or they can put their own unique twist on it by blending Bushwacker cream with ice and other mix-ins for a sweet frozen treat.
📝 What I'm Working On
At Tangy Management, we’re focusing on bringing luxury hotel standards to vacation rental homes by partnering with true hotel suppliers and staff. That includes every touchpoint, from working with experienced hospitality interior designers who design luxury hotel rooms, as well as hospitality tech vendors, ensuring our guests have strong Wi-Fi, digital locks, and Smart TVs; to offering luxury linens from Globaltex and luxury kitchenware from IMPULSE; even down to hiring luxury-trained hotel staff.
Our latest project is Coral Gables Manor, when complete it will be a 14-room boutique property merging the quality and consistency of top hotels with the flexibility and ease of a short-term rental. The historic Mediterranean-style building is in an unbeatable location on Ponce de Leon Boulevard, steps from Miracle Mile, and we’re excited about transforming it into a hybrid hotel, where the history of 1920s Coral Gables will meet the modernization of today. Set to launch December of 2022.
If you’re a luxury boutique hotel partner interested in working together, reach out so we can chat!
📚 What I'm Inspired By
The Metaverse is on my mind, and I’m inspired by all the ways we can leverage virtual reality in the hospitality industry. I recently purchased an Oculus VR Quest 2, and after a quick built-in tutorial, I hopped right into a virtual world. I explored cities I’d never been to, checked out the views from the top of Mt. Everest, took a tour of my hometown Miami, and even set up my own virtual office with an ocean view.
This made me think about how hoteliers and hospitality businesses can create content to show off their properties. With virtual hotel tours, guests can explore the property or experience the destination before they even get there. Prospective guests can check out the poolside cabanas and see what amenities they’ll experience, or sit in a restaurant and explore the virtual menu to help them decide what to order when they dine there in real life.
Event planners can take 360 tours of meeting spaces with their own companies’ branding to help them envision how your hotel would bring their conference to life. Virtual reality can even be used for staff training to easily onboard new team members without taking your managers away from the floor. Next time I visit the Metaverse, I hope I’ll be able to set up my virtual office in one of my favorite hotel coffee shops, soaking up the ambience and listening to relaxing coffeehouse tunes while I work.
🎙 On the Podcast
Next up on the Podcast we have Kenroy Herbert of Leviticus Lifestyle, who plans ultra luxury travel itineraries in Anguilla and St. Barths (episode out now), and Patrick Goddard, President of Brightline Trains (episode out Tuesday, Aug. 9), who chats about the career path that led him to now run the first privately owned and operated intercity rail service in over 100 years.
Plus, don’t miss my interview with celebrity chef David Burke, out later this month. His awards and accomplishments are too many to list: internationally awarded chef and restaurateur, cookbook author, TV appearances on Top Chef Masters, owner of high-end cookware line Freiling. I’m particularly honored to have interviewed such a culinary pioneer and can’t wait to share the conversation with you.
Tune in to The Hospitality Mentor to hear about my guests’ hospitality journeys and their mentors along the way.
💼 Who's Hiring
Check out these job opportunities from our Guest Mentors on the Podcast for a chance to work with these hospitality leaders:
Now (on)boarding: Brightline has open positions in Operations, Guest Services, Marketing, and more. Learn more here
David Burke Hospitality Management is hiring experienced Executive Chefs and General Managers to join the team! Apply here
🎥 NEW: #TurksTours with @steveturk
If you’re not following me on TikTok yet, here’s a quick look at our top-viewed video tours spotlighting luxury hotels, restaurants, and the sights of South Florida. If you enjoy one of my videos, give it a ❤️️or leave a comment.
This months Turk’s Thoughts Newsletter is brought to you by MAD TASTY
MAD TASTY was founded in 2018 by Ryan Tedder, lead singer of OneRepublic, songwriter, and producer, when he was searching for the ultimate functional ingredient to help him level his mood and maximize his performance on stage and in long producing sessions. He discovered the power of the hemp plant and founded MAD TASTY, a brand that focuses on helping people zone in, not out with clean and thoughtful CBD hemp-forward formulations.
MAD TASTY is the perfect non-alcohol beverage option for people to reach for, especially while on vacation. They provide the relaxing benefits when needed poolside, mixed with a favorite mocktail recipe, or as a refreshing option in a hotel room mini bar. Increase your property wide retail beverage sales with this all-natural and refreshing offering travelers appreciate.
If you’ve read this far, send me a short reply and let me know what you enjoyed most from this newsletter. See you again in September!
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Cheers,
Steve Turk
