Boutique Hotel Brand Wayfinder to Ride Experiential Hospitality Wave in Waikiki
25.08.2023 - 13:47
/ skift.com
/ Leslie Barrie
When Phil Hospod started his hospitality firm, Dovetail + Co, back in 2018, he was coming off some pretty big wins as part of the Sydell Group, helping launch the Freehand New York and The Line DC. Still, he knew he wanted to go out on his own.
“It was more of a matter of when than if I started my own company,” said Hospod. “I wanted to do something personal and something for the long term, and I really see this as my forever business.”
Dovetail + Co’s latest property, Wayfinder Waikiki, will officially open at the end of May — just in time for the U.S. Memorial Day holiday. It’s a bigger gamble for the brand, considering it’s a larger property — with 228 rooms — and in a larger leisure market.
The brand’s first location launched in Newport, Rhode Island, in 2020 with 197 rooms and a fresher, more playful take on traditional hotels in the area — which tend to feel stuffy, inspired by the town’s Gilded Age roots. Unfortunately, a fire broke out at the Newport hotel in the spring of 2022. The property is now under reconstruction, and Dovetail + Co. hopes the hotel will be able to “soft open” this summer.
Over in Waikiki, Hospod is hoping that a lack of boutique hotels with a quirky, relaxed vibe will enable his brand to stand out. He’s betting on “experiential hospitality,” or offering original experiences for guests rather than adhering to a big chain’s “brand standards” and “standard operating procedures.”
“It felt like we had an opportunity in Waikiki to lean into the playbook of boutique hospitality, and carve out our niche within the space,” said Hospod.
Take a look at any image of Waikiki, and you can visibly see the hotel competition in the city. Even so, Hospod and his team saw a gap in the market.
“When we looked at the Waikiki landscape, it really did feel like out of the tens of thousands of hotel rooms that are there, there really weren’t that many hotels that were trying to tell more interesting stories or provide more unique experiences,” Hospod said.
At the Wayfinder in Newport, Hospod created experiential programming that lets guests go a little deeper. He claims it resonated with guests.
“Yes, we’ll help guests play polo and sail in the bay, but we’ll also give you an inside look into an oyster farm and how you actually do oyster farming or cultivating sea salt,” Hospod said.
Wayfinder Waikiki will follow a similar formula, only with experiences tailored to the island of Oahu. They expect guests will want to spend time on Waikiki’s beaches, but they also want to help them experience something unexpected.
“Go to the Windward side of Oahu, and we’ll hook you up with a farm that does regeneration of taro patches, which is one of the keystone starches in the Hawaiian culinary