Innovative Strategies: Empowering Boutique Hoteliers to Compete with Global Chains

Episode Transcript

Ariela Kiradjian: I’ve always been a slow traveler, but when I lived in London, I was going to university there, and then there would be all these study abroads coming from the States. And I was like, “okay, so like, let’s learn London culture”. And all of them are like, “no”. Every weekend they were somewhere else. And I was like, “do you even know London?” And they’re like, “No, but like, we wanted to travel”. And I was like, “well, then why did your parents invest all this for you to study abroad, stay in London and don’t leave?” To actually get to know the ability to feel like a local, that is the once in a lifetime experience, to truly be immersed where you know the neighborhoods. You know how you did a great job when you slow travel? when you’re walking and someone asks you for directions.

Robin Trimingham: Welcome to the Innovative Hotelier podcast by HOTELS magazine, with weekly, thought-provoking discussions with the world’s leading hotel and hospitality innovators.

Robin Trimingham: Welcome to The Innovative Hotelier, brought to you by HOTELS magazine. I’m your host, Robin Trimingham. One of the more interesting trends throughout the hotel industry this year is the very successful recovery, and indeed, outperformance, of many boutique and independent operators in comparison to the big brands. The predictable response to this situation has global brands racing to absorb or replicate boutique hoteliers and independents, some even launching new sub brands before a name has even been agreed. If you are a boutique hotelier or independent operator, the question becomes: how do you maintain your competitive edge as we head into 2024? My guest today, Ariela Kiradjian, is the co-founder and COO of The Boutique & Lifestyle Lodging Association, and she’s here today to offer ideas and insights regarding remaining competitive. Join me now for my conversation with Ariela.

Robin Trimingham: FOH is a global food service and hospitality company that manufactures smart commercial-grade solutions. Headquartered in Miami, the company designs and manufactures all their restaurant and hotel products. They have showrooms and distribution centers located throughout the globe, and their products are always in stock and ready to ship from any of their distribution centers worldwide. Robin Trimingham: Welcome, Ariela. It’s great to get a chance to meet you.

Ariela Kiradjian: Oh my gosh, it’s such a pleasure meeting you, Robin. So excited to be here.

Robin Trimingham: Well, I was really interested when I read about the Boutique Lifestyle and Lodging Association for our listeners, why don’t you start us off by explaining a little bit about what your organization is and give us an idea of who the members might be?

Ariela Kiradjian: Yeah. We are The Boutique Lifestyle Lodging Association. We’ve had some name changes, we started as lodging, we went to leaders and now we’re back to lodging, and really our focus is in the hotel world again. We’ve been around since 2009. This was started by my mom, Francis Kiradjian, who was also my mentor. She has a really long history in the travel industry, especially with distribution and travel advisors. She started this really back in 2002 or even before that, but she had a consortia and she sold that to build her dream, which is BLLA. And what you see today, we are a hospitality association. We have a hotel membership with around 200 independent boutique hotels around the world. Our biggest reach is in the US and in Europe, but we are a global association. We also have a program for vendors and suppliers that have a proven track record with independent boutique hotels. We always ask for references and we have a marketplace for approved suppliers for independent boutique hotels. But all in all, BLLA is really the backbone of the independent boutique hospitality industry. So, if you take hospitality as a whole and then you look at true independent boutique hotels, and when I say true, I think a lot of other hotels have taken inspiration with boutique and I think that’s so incredible.

Ariela Kiradjian: But your boutique inspired, I don’t think everyone has to be a boutique hotel and that is now our mission, is bringing back the original essence of what a boutique hotel is, and we do that through education and research, and we’re really most known for our events. So, we have the Boutique Hotel Investment Conference, which is like the NYU or the ALIS conference filter down. It’s a rule. We only talk about independent boutiques in terms of investment. No soft brands, nothing, because that’s all talked about at every other investment conference. We have an owners’ conference, and then my mom and I are super passionate about women in this industry just because of our struggles that we continue to have today. But we’ve created this space for women in the industry as a whole to come together and to thrive. So that’s BLLA in a nutshell.

Robin Trimingham: Okay, so help us out a little bit here. What would be your definition of an authentic boutique hotel? What does that look like?

Ariela Kiradjian: Yeah, great question. Boutique can be very subjective. But as an association what we say under 200 rooms for sure. There will be 1 or 2 exceptions, but intimacy is very important. I think boutique is really different in different parts of the world, and room boutique hotel in Europe isn’t going to really work. It’s really more like under a hundred rooms in Europe, but in the US specifically, under 200 rooms not affiliated with a brand in any way, shape or form. That means I love Autograph Collection, Curio, and I love how the big brands have been able to support these properties. We consider that boutique inspired. They saw how incredible boutique is, they’ve taken things and then they’ve created that collection. But by BLLA standards, that is not a boutique hotel. It is a boutique-inspired hotel. So, for boutique it has to be independently owned, operated and with any distribution help, not getting support from the big chains and then other things that we it’s not standard across the board. We look at each hotel, they go through a pretty rigorous application process, but there are things that are important food and beverage outlets, actually technology. Having a really seamless technology experience. What type of wellness offerings do you have? What type of immersive experience offerings do you have? Is design an important component? Because design is a very important component. It’s not everything. I think we’ve gotten a little carried away with design. There’s been this misunderstanding that, oh, because it’s really pretty, this hotel is really pretty, it’s boutique and we’re just going to market it like that. And that’s design is like 1/100 of what makes a boutique hotel boutique.

Robin Trimingham: Yeah. I think you’re making a lot of good points because just because we stick a label on it doesn’t mean that’s what something really is. So, in terms of the demographic characteristics of the type of guest who would like to stay at a boutique or lifestyle property, what would that look like for you?

Ariela Kiradjian: That’s a great question. I think when the boutique hotel movement really its rise had 14 years ago with the launch of BLLA, it used to be, oh, it’s the Millennials, and then it was the Gen Z. Boutique is like, it’s for all ages, but it is for a very specific traveler, and I want to take a step back. And I love explaining it this way. You have to look at the lifestyle. The lifestyle is that they, these customers are looking for the independent spirit in different types of experiences, whether they’re getting a coffee, the traveler going to a boutique hotel is not getting like a Starbucks or a Costa Coffee. They’re going to the independent roaster down the street. They’re usually not shopping at like major retailers, they’re, I think a lot of them are probably like the new age thrifters, or they’re going to smaller designers where they still own their label or even grocery stores. They like to invest in those more niche, smaller markets. It’s this lifestyle. They go to the art galleries and they go to independent boutique hotels. So, it’s all the same customer going to all of these boutique, independent-spirit businesses. And that can be at any age. But it’s definitely people who value investing in experiences. A boutique hotel traveler values entrepreneurship, I think, and that’s the underlying. They understand the journey that a boutique hotelier has had. And the traveler demographic, I think, are more of like the adventurous-minded. They’re not looking for a deal. I will tell you that something that we’ve seen, those that are attracted to boutique hotels, they understand the investment. If you’re looking for the cheapest possible rate, that’s probably not in alignment with the boutique hotel.

Robin Trimingham: I love how you say that they value entrepreneurship. I don’t think I’ve heard anybody express it that way and I think you’re absolutely right, because everything that you’re talking about is the profile of somebody who really wants a bespoke experience, and they want it sliced and diced a whole bunch of different ways from the moment that they walked through the door. So I think that’s a great way of explaining it. Obviously, as you already pointed out, when you are a boutique brand, a real one, you don’t have a big marketing department or PR agency supporting you by and large. What would you say are a couple of the typical challenges that these boutique properties are facing when they try to compete with the brands?

Ariela Kiradjian: Yeah, for a really long time it’s been distribution for a long time. That’s the big change, really had the dominating power, but because of the incredible innovation and technology that’s becoming less and less because there’s all these new companies that are solving these issues, and it’s more about strategy than about how much money you have in the bank and how much you have to spend. It’s really about that strategy now. Utilizing AI is huge. We’re still on that journey. So it is distribution. It is a really huge thing when we look at the major OTAs, Expedia, Hotels.com, because they penalize if you’re independent and you’re not part of a big chain, they’re going to charge you the most crazy commission. So it’s like they’ll take 15 to 30 or even more percentage of a booking because they’re independent and they don’t have the buying power with big chains. So that’s huge. However, I really think over the next few years I do believe OTAs will always have a place, always. Because especially for business travel, especially those looking for the deal, they do an incredible job of giving them, giving the traveler that resource.

Ariela Kiradjian: However, there is less power in the major OTAs because I myself am like the lifestyle of those that go to boutique hotels. And it makes sense that I also own and operate a boutique hotel association. But when I look at my friends, I just, I look at tastemakers. They’re not booking it on OTAs. They’re, you know what it is? It’s like a disconnect. Because being on Expedia, Expedia controls, you know, the profile all the hotel guests get is like, here’s two guests and there’s going to be a dog and they’re going to pay this. That’s it. It’s such a disconnect. But when you’re booking with the hotel it gets to interact with you the second you get to book with them, they get to ask you more questions. It’s more personal. It can be a more intimate relationship between hotel and traveler. So I do believe that buyer behavior is shifting away from the major OTAs. But that has been a struggle is how much commissions the OTAs take. I think it’s also another big challenge independent boutique hotels face is the lack of data, because it doesn’t exist in the industry at all.

Robin Trimingham: You’re absolutely right.

Ariela Kiradjian: It does not exist. If anyone is looking to invest, we really would love to solve this. It doesn’t exist. So when you’re looking, they can only see reports about the industry as a whole where like and most independent boutique hotels do not report to these major agencies. So again, they’re only getting data on like what the big chains are doing. And it’s so funny because every report I see published like “Boutique Hotels report” and I’m like, oh my gosh, finally, so cool. And then it’s all the soft brands and I’m like, “okay, well that didn’t help at all. Thank you”. So that’s another big issue. The third thing is buying from vendors and suppliers because they’re paying more, because again, they don’t have the buying power with major chains. I think hiring as well, because with the big chain, a lot of the employees will go through the company from hotel to hotel and with independent boutique hotels, a lot of them it’s just a one-off property. Sometimes it’s a collection, but a lot of the times it is a 1 or 2 property type of hotel collection.

Ariela Kiradjian: And it’s really hard onboarding new employees because there’s no like big handbook and we know that people are the Gen Z we move jobs like every three months. It’s at a crazy rate. So that’s been a huge issue with independent boutiques. I think the industry as a whole, but independent boutiques just have less resources on that. However, I will say the advantage, though, of being independent and boutique is the flexibility and it’s where creativity thrives and flourishes. It’s where soul comes in to building a hotel and marketing. And independent boutique hotels are always more open to innovation. They are always the first ones to try a new product. They are always the first ones to be okay with failure because guess what? They’re into experimentation. They look at their business as a laboratory. They are the innovators. Which is why I say no wonder the industry was like, everyone wants to be a boutique hotel, which I think is really cool, and there’s a place for every hotel out there. But the BLLA is now so focused on supporting the true boutique hotels.

Robin Trimingham: I think you’re making a lot of excellent points, so let’s break some of these down one at a time here. A few minutes ago, you were talking about boutique hotels and immersive experiences. Now I completely agree with you. There’s been a tremendous surge in the importance of immersive experiences for travel, particularly for Millennials and Gen Z. That’s been documented across the board. And it doesn’t really matter if we’re talking hotels or cruise ships for that particular point. Give us an example. What is your definition of an immersive experience for a boutique hotel, and how important is this? How seriously should incorporating things like this be for a boutique hotelier?

Ariela Kiradjian: Like you said, I think that this is across the board. In any business that is customer facing and within person experiences. I want to give an example. So, I just got back from Hawaii and one of my favorite hotels, I think it’s like seven rooms total, It’s called Starseed Ranch. It’s on a farm. And Kenny Loggins built this for Y2K as his like the world is ending. Let me go build a house. And then owners took it over and made it into like an inn boutique hotel type. But everything is so tailored for them, it’s very organic. There was very little investment needed because it’s on a farm. So the immersive experience is that you’re surrounded by orchards and active farmers, and you live on this farm and be a part of it, and you can talk to the farmers and what are they doing? Another example, I was in Bali and I went to a hotel called Capa Senses. It is French owned, 77 suites, absolutely beautiful, but actually similarly it’s on a rice field. It was so cool. Every morning I went for breakfast. There’s no wall in between the breakfast room and the rice fields, and I was there for a while. So like the rice brokers started like recognizing me. We would start this conversation every morning while I had my morning cup of coffee, and I just felt very immersed in the culture. So I think immersive experiences are a huge part of it, is being immersed in the local culture. That is the exact experience that they want. Localization has been a very hot topic in hospitality.

Ariela Kiradjian: Very rarely do I think it’s been done executed very well. Honestly, we talk about it a lot, but the execution, it’s just, it’s like you’re trying too hard. And I think energetically I know that’s a new word, but thank God it’s becoming more mainstream. But with energy, the guests can feel when it’s not authentic, when it’s forced, it’s trying to be a trend, a checklist showing that you’re like quote unquote diverse or inclusive, especially Gen Z. They are so sensitive to this. And because they can look up anything and everything is review-based and referral-based, people are going to see where something is not authentic. So when it comes to immersive experiences. First of all, the word immersive. It’s like a 360 type of experience. You’re using all your senses. So I think like an example that I think would be so cool is like having an immersive experience could be like the local food market and bringing in small businesses where small restaurants into the hotel or doing like a little passport of like where to go in the local neighborhood where it’s not big chain restaurants, where the headquarters is like in another country, but it’s like owned by the locals. It’s these types of experiences that guests are absolutely willing to invest in, which I think is so beautiful to be in this industry now, because values have shifted. Since 2020, people are buying less things and they’re investing in experiences. And always the number one experience is travel. So we are in the right industry.

Robin Trimingham: Established in 2002, FOH is a woman-owned global food service and hospitality company that manufactures smart, savvy commercial-grade products including plateware, drinkware, flatware, hotel amenities and more. Driven by innovation. FOH is dedicated to delivering that wow experience that restaurants and hotels crave, all while maintaining a competitive price. All products are fully customizable, and many are also created using sustainable, eco-friendly materials such as straws and plates made from biodegradable paper and wood, and PVA free drinkware. FOH has two established brands: Front of the House, focused on tabletop and buffet solutions, and Room 360, which offers hotel products. Check out their collections today at fohworldwide.

Robin Trimingham: You’re making a great point. And I loved your example of the ranch and the rice field, because one of the challenges when you hear that word boutique hotel. And if you can’t tell I’m an old person to me if I don’t check myself. Boutique hotel means croissants and chocolates because back in the day, if you went to a boutique hotel, there was like this little tick box list of things you could expect to encounter. And those two things would be fairly close to the top of the list. But it’s an immersive experience is about getting out of your comfort zone, trying something new and being surrounded by local culture, a different air. So, yeah, it’s huge what you can do if you really employ some creativity.

Ariela Kiradjian: Yeah, and something I just wanted to add to that, we were we just had an owners conference a month ago and a big thing we were talking about is a very taboo subject in our industry. But it is a reality and it is gentrification. We make an impact on the local community when we build, and so it’s about respecting the people that live there. When you’re building your hotel, do not dominate that community. You are respecting them and you’re assimilating into the culture that already exists there. And I think that this is the future. I hope it’s the future of hotel development, but I know it’s the future of independent boutique hotel development, because that’s the world that I’m in. And it’s something that’s very important to these independent boutique hotel developers, which I think is so beautiful when they walk into the hotel, the boutique type of traveler. Not all travelers are built the same, but the traveler for independent boutiques. They don’t want to walk into this hotel and be like, “oh, I can expect to see 500 more of these all around the world and always have that same experience”. There’s a need for that, but not for this type of traveler that we’re talking about today. They want to feel. So if you’re in New Orleans, it should really be about the culture of New Orleans.

Ariela Kiradjian: When they walk into that hotel, they shouldn’t be transported to like wherever the headquarters of the hotel, corporate offices. They should still be in New Orleans. Like, I think a great example of that is Hotel Peter and Paul. It’s owned by Natalie Jordy, and she was just talking about having the support of the community when she took over. It was an old church that they turned into boutique hotel. The design, by the way, is incredible. The design was by Ash NYC, who also developed it. I think it’s a really big sign when you’re a developer, which I know communities can be really difficult. I understand that, but I also think that when you’re building in this community, if you’re telling them “We want to assimilate into this culture, we don’t want to dominate, change it, take it over. We want to help you thrive”. And I think that’s when you can get the support of the city to build, because we all know the zoning and permitting world is like a nightmare. But I’ve been hearing more and more stories of when developers are going in with this mindset of supporting local community. Truly, more times than not, they will actually end up getting that support. But when you’re coming in with this, like Domination Money center, the locals just don’t want it.

Robin Trimingham: You’re right, there’s an ocean of difference between embracing a culture and creating a theme park. The theme park thing. It might be fun for a day, but it just never really rings true in the long run. Let’s change the conversation a little bit here. When you are a boutique operator, you can be more significantly impacted by the arrival of the off-season. And you know, sometimes you’re casting your mind around, “okay, how are we getting bookings today?” You’ll get tempted to step outside your typical traveler profile. What do you think of Bleisure travel? Is this a viable thing for boutique operators?

Ariela Kiradjian: Yes, 100%. I even think with business travel, though it’s been the last two habits come back from the pandemic in terms of that particular type of traveler. More and more, they actually do want the boutique experience, but it’s that balance of budget, of course, and the experience. And there’s the other side of it: work from home. I work from home. I actually have always worked from home. I tried having an office in New York. My entire team was like, we want to work from home. And I was like, okay, why am I spending all this money on rent? So we’re back from work, from home. Anyhow, we all know that is like the biggest trend ever to come out of. Money. Now people travel and work at the same time. So Bleisure is now also the digital nomad. It is the person who works from home. So with the off season, because obviously rates are going to be discounted, that’s a huge opportunity for those who are working from home to have this new home base, and they can stay longer. Leisure. When you put into the two categories the work from home category, they’re going to be there a lot longer than those just going for like a business meeting XYZ. I also think for off season too, we never talk about this, but sometimes it’s actually nice to close. It’s nice to close. I’m just thinking of oh my gosh, the Hotel June, that they close in the off season. And it’s actually quite from a marketing perspective. Like people are waiting for them to come back and then they just have this like long wait list of reservations. I just wanted to put that option that I’ve been seeing more and more, or to only have it for buyouts in the off season. There’s different types of structures that I always recommend with small, more like under 50 rooms is more what I’m talking about. But because a work from home boutique hotels in the bleisure category, there’s been more alignment these last few years.

Robin Trimingham: Yeah, it’s very interesting to see how things are shifting. Let’s talk about social media. And to my mind, when you’re boutique hotel, there’s a difference between having social media where you’ll take any old mention you can get and what I’m going to call the right kind of social media. Let me give you an example of what I’m thinking about. You can have an absolutely spectacular Inn and they’re specializing in quiet weekends for two. Maybe you’re in wine county, something like that. And all of a sudden, thanks to social media, you have accidentally become the drinking hot spot on Friday night. Is that good or is that a challenge? What’s your thoughts on all of this?

Ariela Kiradjian: I think that’s a good point. It’s like, what kind of reputation do you have on social media? Which is why I don’t take social media lightly. I do think agencies or smaller, I feel like agency es in terms of marketing, we used to think like these huge agencies where it was like starting at ten K a month to work with them. That exists and that is great. But there’s also so many small business, social media agencies that what they’re doing, because you can quickly create a reputation that you never wanted. And then with social media, I think it’s being very consistent. And it’s also like we were talking about the reputation. How do you want your viewers to view you? So are you the wedding destination? Are you the one where there’s like lots of programming? So you’re always having like a local yoga teacher and a local chef and this and that. But social media is essential. It has absolutely leveled out the playing field in terms of digital marketing, which I actually think is a really beautiful tool for hotels to use. I will say with influencers, I do have an opinion, which is, by the way, I was one of the first, I know this, I was one of the first supporters of influencers for a hotel in 2016. No one understood what I was talking about, but now everyone gets it. And I do believe you need to be very particular with how you use influencers and macro, especially for independent boutique hotels, macro influencers are great, but I actually think that you can get a lot more power with the micro influencers like 10 to 30 K followers, even 5 to 30 K followers who have that very specific niche. They’re incredible to work with. And also, I am a strong component that the best travel influencers in the world are travel advisors because they have their own reach and they truly know the best properties. So I wanted to drop that in there.

Robin Trimingham: You’re making a very valid point because in the age of OTA, sometimes people forget, you know, that that there actually is a value to asking an expert who’s very familiar with a huge number of properties and can really help you sort through what it is you’re looking for, what you would enjoy.

Ariela Kiradjian: And hotels. Also, I think with this newer generation of hotels, they totally forget about travel advisors. It’s just like skip over them. We think it’s like we don’t use them anymore. They’re having such a surge and such a comeback in a different way. Again, budget travel. Well, you’re not using a travel advisor. That’s where Expedia and all the big OTAs are such an incredible resource. But when you want a tailored experience, because I think also with Gen Z and millennials, we understand how valuable our time is. So it’s not only who do we trust, but how long it takes to find the right property. And then you’re gambling. Because you don’t know if it’s good.

Robin Trimingham: I’m also going to add to that what you’re going to do with your time while you’re there.

Ariela Kiradjian: Yes, exactly.

Robin Trimingham: What’s interesting to me is with younger travelers, how careful they are to pack in as many experiences as possible into this trip that they’re planning. One of the interesting things that makes older travelers different is they’re much more open to, “oh, well, we’re researching where we’re going, we’re researching where we’re staying. But, you know, when we get there, we’re going to explore and figure it out”. It’s interesting how the mindset is different, and I wonder sometimes whether Millennials and Gen Z are going to transform their behaviors as they themselves get older, or whether this is a thing for life. It’ll be interesting to see how it plays out.

Ariela Kiradjian: Yeah, I also think that there is actually this trend of slow travel, and it’s because of the work from home movement where if you were like, “okay, I was going to take four days off to go to Paris”, you take four days off and you don’t even look at your laptop, but then you’re like, “oh, I work from home. I’m going to extend this three days a week, whatever it is, I’m going to be on my laptop 9 to 5, but before nine and after five I’m going to be in Paris and exploring it. And I’ll have like my morning croissant and espresso”. So I also think it’s this slow travel. I actually think that the behavior is moving. Okay. Let’s say you have 20 days took this time off 20 days. I’m going to explore Europe. I think it used to be I’m going to go to ten cities and like pack in as much. I actually know that it is happening now. I think it’s like, okay, they’re going to say, I’m going to go to three cities and I’m going to feel like a local. You cannot feel like a local in two days. I travel so much. So I think I always say it takes me at the fourth night. I’m like, “oh, okay, another best coffee shop. I know where to go. Like I know the streets. I don’t need Google Maps anymore”. They want to be able to feel like a local, but that just takes time.

Ariela Kiradjian:  So, I think slow travel is actually coming up where it’s doing less. But the word you were saying before, truly being immersed in the culture of where you’re traveling, because I remember I was always a big proponent of this. I’ve always been a slow traveler, but when I lived in London, I was going to university there, and then there would be all these study-abroads coming from the States. And I was like, “okay, so like, let’s learn London culture”. And all of them are like, “no”. Every weekend they were somewhere else. And I was like, “do you even know London?” And they’re like, “No, but like, we wanted to travel”. And I was like, “well, then why did your parents invest all this for you to study abroad, stay in London and don’t leave?” To actually get to know the ability to feel like a local, that is the once in a lifetime experience, to truly be immersed where you know the neighborhoods. You know how you do you know you did a great job when you slow travel? when you’re walking and someone asks you for directions.

Robin Trimingham: Yeah, that’s a good point. Yeah. You talked earlier about the challenges of hiring people boutique properties because, let’s face it, you wear a lot of hats. And you’re right. And as you said yourself, there really isn’t a whole lot of training. You have to be that. Figure it out for yourself. Unfeasible mindset that’s going to just deal with whatever comes through the door.

Ariela Kiradjian: Exactly.

Robin Trimingham: What are your thoughts? How in the world do you hire for that?

Ariela Kiradjian: Oh boy, that’s really the golden question.

Robin Trimingham: Give me the micro.

Ariela Kiradjian: I think of like me because we’re a small business. We’re a boutique business that represents boutique hotels. I think it’s like loyalty. I think that’s loyalty and attitude, which is really hard to find with Gen Z, I am so I am both the Gen Z and Millennial. I’m the cutoff. So I am generation wherever it works better for me

Robin Trimingham:.I can relate to this.

Ariela Kiradjian: You don’t know what generation I am because I’m always going to move because I’m like that offline. But Gen Z, we really struggle with loyalty and like the attitude like of how we handle stressful situations. It’s like everyone is so sensitive that they will just leave a job so quickly. I think that there’s a change in the workforce where we have to treat our employees better, and I’m so passionate about that. But I also think that loyalty within a business and growing with that company is such a special experience that so many people are missing because they move jobs so quickly. So with boutique hotels, it’s definitely incentivizing them. It’s investing, if you can, in higher salaries, if possible, but it’s also flexibility. So one thing when I build a team is the flexibility. When they’re like, “oh, can I change my hours or this and that”. Yes. And that’s how I’ve had people stay for quite a long time. It’s because I’m as flexible as I can, because I know that is such a big perk. And it is so important for Gen Z. The number one thing is flexibility. If they feel too much structure, they will run for the hills. So that is like a very big obstacle that I think hotels are facing today. There’s also really good resources out there, like mobile recruiter Alex Mirza. He wrote a book that is behind me about he doesn’t like calling it labor. He calls it talent and talent disruption, I think is the name of his book.

Ariela Kiradjian: But it’s really interesting. So that is a very valuable resource. His company is Mogul Recruiter and then his book, I think it’s called Talent Disruption. It’s such a difficult issue that is getting better with baby steps. I think it’s just the general business things. You have to have incredible SOPs. Owners and GMs really need to take advantage of AI and technology for onboarding. So we use a software called Tango. It takes the onboarding process and use it and mixes it with AI. And it is such an incredible tool when we onboard. So there’s all this new technology, but it’s really getting to the foundation of each role, and especially for a boutique hotel. Another big issue they have is that what works as a front desk manager for like a big chain does not mix with the front desk agent for a boutique hotel. The foundation is the same, but they’re going to be wearing many more hats. I think it’s really rare to boutique hotel where it’s like they’re just the front desk agent. They’re always wearing multiple roles. I think another big thing, though, is creating this mentality within the leadership of the hotel, to not just be their boss, but to be mentors. Because I also believe that Gen Z and the Gen Alpha that’s coming up, that is so important to them is that whether or not they stay at the hotel, that they always leave with that mentor. And that is also like another incentive and something that is very important to them.

Robin Trimingham: You’re right. Mentorship really is the key to developing people. And it’s interesting because the further you go, the more that you learn, the more you realize a how much you don’t know, and the more you can develop a passion for just wanting to learn forever. It’s that moment when you stop seeing the thing that gets you a paycheck as a job, and you see it as this kind of cool learning opportunity. You think about it and you react to it entirely differently. But that is definitely a change in mindset that a lot of people I think are struggling with at the moment.

Ariela Kiradjian: Yeah, absolutely.

Robin Trimingham: So, we’ve got a minute or two left here. Boutique hoteliers, hey, hoteliers from brands all over the world may very well listen to this podcast. What’s your key piece of advice for anybody who comes across our conversation?

Ariela Kiradjian: A key piece of advice is be an artist. So, one of my favorite books, and I’m laughing because I, at our the last event, I was very passionate. Rick Rubin, the music producer, wrote a book called The Creative Act, and my number one advice is reading that book. It is just random thoughts that The Incredible Rick Rubin wrote, and it is about being an artist. And when I read it the whole time, I went, “oh my gosh, these are boutique hoteliers, or these are just hoteliers that are creating experiences and who are hosts, and it’s for the mind that’s not afraid to fail”. And my favorite line in the book, I don’t remember it word by word, but it’s “when you create something great, it’s going to alienate as many people as it attracts”. And so, it’s not being fearful of, “Oh, I’m not for everybody”, but it’s being like, “Wow, I have this strong community that’s a niche” and that’s the future of business is creating, not doing something for everyone, but it’s creating your niche and creating this community where people feel really seen and heard. And I think that those are party hotels as well as travelers feel seen and heard. So my biggest advice is buying that book because it’s also beautiful aesthetically, and it’s a great coffee table book. But also being artisan, your hotels are laboratories. Experiment with different things. Don’t be afraid to fail. Yeah.

Robin Trimingham: Well, you have a fascinating perspective on everything boutique hotel. I’ve really enjoyed chatting with you. You’ve been watching The Innovative Hotelier, join us again soon for up to the minute insights and information specifically for the hotel and hospitality industry.

Robin Trimingham: You’ve been listening to the Innovative Hotelier podcast by hotels magazine. Join us again soon for more conversations with hospitality industry-thought leaders.