Motorcycle Dreams Led the Way Toward Adventures in Experience-Forward Hospitality

Robin Brown, Principal of Spot On Ventures, emphasizes the importance of authenticity and attention to detail in hospitality design, highlighting how deeply researched and unique elements can create memorable guest experiences that drive brand success and ROI.

Please describe your introduction to hospitality, and what initially drew you to the industry. 

Robin Brown (RB): The desire to own a motorcycle, at the age of 16, and to get a motorcycle driver’s license — that was the aspiration. It led me to a hotel job as a dishwasher while in high school: two years working five nights a week washing saucepans and having sauté pans thrown at me by angry chefs! I observed a lot about human nature and the Fawlty Towers version of English hospitality. 

When considering the brand experience and design for a new hotel property, what specific elements or touchpoints are most critical in your approach?  

RB: Authenticity — unique, deeply researched, and meticulously implemented. This means that the guest experience is truly one of a kind. It has true authenticity to either the history or the vision. For example, at the Omni Boston Seaport Hotel, be it the transistor radio, the original piece of equipment that created the morse code, the telephone, the Polaroid camera (all designed and built at MIT) — we took those pieces and found a jewelry manufacturer and sculptor who embedded those original, authentic pieces in acrylic. Then, we were able to slice them like thin slices of bread. For the hotel guests, seeing what was inside [these devices] is a mind-bogglingly interesting, futuristic museum-like experience.

Another example at the Omni was the [music experience] wall in the lobby. Instead of traditional photography and traditional artwork, we wanted to make it modern and exciting yet be respectful. So, the art wall (that took a year or more to create), was allowed to happen through the generosity of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. We were given permission to use Beethoven’s score that was played on the opening night of the symphony. We recreated that music score into a perforated metal wall across the entire lobby and backlit it. So, we have memorabilia and artwork — one-of-a-kind pieces that talk to the brand. We feel that we try to push that far more than any other hotel company does, and we’ve been blessed to be successful as a result. 

How has your approach to the brand experience and design of hotel properties changed over time? 

RB: I don’t think it has too much. When you’re in a Four Seasons environment, I think the consumer would say that the general manager there would focus on bringing in a restauranteur from Paris to do a champagne tasting. That wasn’t of interest to me, personally. So, luxury and hospitality are not always the obvious [solution]. To me, it’s always been about the basics. We still buy Four Seasons beds and pillows, no matter what. We believe in the best night’s sleep, the hottest, fastest cup of coffee, and the enormous welcome and genuine smile from whoever greets you when you arrive. So, there are just a tiny handful of the basics. It just goes back to where I started, and what I’ve always believed was important: how people interact and how the service and the product is delivered. In my years of starting in the 1970’s as that dishwasher, my approach hasn’t changed. 

How have the expectations of your guests changed, and what role does brand strategy play in answering these changing expectations? 

RB: Time is a luxury to everyone. Speed equals value and success. So, without question: speed of service. That doesn’t mean being rushed in and out. However, waiting for a hostess, waiting for the menu, waiting for somebody to come by your table with water, waiting for your first course, waiting for your check, waiting to check in, waiting for more than three phone rings is horrendous. Technology is helping. We do a deep dive into our competitors, and we try to stay relevant. We have strong convictions about what we know works and doesn’t work with the consumer. 

How does brand strategy influence your bottom line in terms of ROI? 

RB: We study every single one of the hotels within several miles [of a property] and deeply analyze their design, their amenities, the number of swimming pools, the size of the guest rooms, the length of the bathroom vanities, the showers, the decor, and when the hotel was renovated. Then we shop the room rates in high season and low season. We estimate occupancies, and then we target a STR report to [both] an aspirational set and a direct set. At the very beginning, we start defining the hotel, the experience, the brand, and the finishes to achieve a certain targeted RevPAR, which is the all-important Holy Grail of a hotel. So, you look at the competition, and then you design your experience. You build the hotel, renovate or convert it into what you believe can outdo the market.  

What do you see as the next frontier within the hospitality landscape, and how can an integrated brand strategy respond to this evolution? 

RB: Unfortunately, I think there’s going to be a lot of distress in the next two years. A lot of hotels are underwater right now because they’re going to need to refinance. The banks have been pushed to the wall with Covid. Lenders are going to have an undue amount of stress on their plate, and owners are not going to be able to afford to refinance.  

I think there’s going to be some stress in the industry. We see that opportunity to acquire hotels (branded or unbranded) and find a way to refinance, reestablish, and reset the parameters around the asset. We’ve got our eye on markets now that we think are going to grow. We are looking to find assets where we can improve performance by enhancing the customer experience. It’s very hard to build a new hotel today with interest rates and construction costs. There’s a huge opportunity for us to be creative. 

This article originally appeared on Boston University Hospitality Review.