Some innkeepers have asked why I haven't weighed in on the coup that went on over the weekend in Waikiki.
And really, it's just because I don't think I have a whole lot to add that I haven't already said on this topic.
That said, since you asked, let's rehash just what I think of all of this. In a nutshell.
Basically, I think the whole neo-boutique movement by the fat cats is doomed. For the simplest of reasons. I do not believe hipsters will be fooled into thinking corporations are really the opposite of what they are. They are not small. They are not unique. They are not hip. They are hopelessly uncool.
Sorry, no matter how cool and modern the interior may be, it's not fooling anyone. It's a corporate property. And most hipsters are just not going to be lured in.
Folks who are looking for boutique are not looking for corporate. They are looking for the opposite of corporate. They are looking for authentic.
Is that, in my opinion, why the flagship Edition failed so miserably from the get-go? I think that's a big part of it.
No, I'm not privy to the thoughts of Ian Schrager so I can't really say why he has apparently scaled back his involvement in the Marriott line even as he continues to publicly assert that he's intimately involved.
My guess would be that after working with the corporate folks for a while now, he's learned the error of his ways. That's just a guess, though.
Ian Schrager is very cool. No doubt about that. But you can't just have a very cool hotelier come in and design your property and think that's going to make it hip and cool.
It takes more than design. Hip is an attitude. Cool is a state of mind. Hard to clone that.
While big corporations generally have a strong focus on employee training, they don't have a recruiting system set up for bringing in hipsters to staff the place. Nor do they have a training program that can teach cool. If cool is hard to define, it's even harder to program.
And no matter how many times the locks are changed, that reality will keep seeping into the booking habits of guests who want cool, hip, and boutique.
As in no big corporations need apply.
Of course, Richard Branson may prove to be the exception. In fact, I'm betting that he will. Why? Because Richard Branson isn't pretending to be cool. He is cool.
And, yes, I do think that Ian Schrager's own new line, Public, beginning with the much awaited reopening of the Pump Room, certainly could be slated for big things. It will, at the very least, be cutting edge and well-loved by its hotelier owner who thoughtfully considered guest and community needs at every step of the way.
That's the true mark of a special place and a special innkeeper. That's cool.
Can the fatcat wannabes fake that? Sorry but no, I'm just not seeing it. From any of them.
