Hotel Brand Tiny Urban Escapes Taps Into Micro Luxury and Sustainability

25.08.2023 - 13:58 / skift.com / Leslie Barrie

A boutique hotel opening in July in the historically Black neighborhood of Haughville, Indianapolis, aims to tap into a few trends percolating in hospitality broadly: helping guests feel a sense of place and reducing the carbon impact of hotel operations. Tiny Urban Escapes will strive to bring a small, green oasis into the middle of a bustling Indiana city with luxury touches.

Founder and CEO Robin Staten-Lanier has tapped four upcycled shipping containers to create suites, a courtyard, and a glass pavilion, creating a green space near Belmont Beach, a historical site for African Americans near a swimming hole.

“It was the only place they were allowed to swim in the city,” Staten-Lanier said.

Despite the innovations, Staten-Lanier wasn’t born into the hotel business, technically speaking.

“I’m not a Hilton, so I don’t come from a family of hoteliers or anything,” Staten-Lanier said.

Instead, Staten-Lanier was inspired to leave her role in higher education and launch a boutique hotel brand thanks to her grandmother, Ira J. Staten.
 
“Some of the fondest memories I have as a child all centered around her home and the space she created — a tiny, four-room bungalow-style home,” Staten-Lanier said. “But it seemed much larger than life as a child, and the spirit of hospitality she embodied every day inspired me to — years later — start on this journey.”
 
Staten hopes to embody that same level of hospitality with Tiny Urban Escapes, a wellness hotel and retreat. She’s looking to not only tell the community’s story — it is, after all, the same city she grew up in — but also bring locals into her project, whether through on-site yoga events or gatherings.

Beyond the launch, Staten seeks to expand her boutique brand in other cities.

When crafting the Tiny Urban Escapes concept, Staten-Lanier knew she wanted to do something forward-thinking and sustainable. So when she came across a Canadian brand upcycling shipping containers by incorporating lots of glass, she immediately asked for advice on creating her concept.

“They were instrumental in the visual imagery that I wanted for Tiny Urban Escapes, and their use of glass and the concept of bringing the outside in and maximizing micro-spaces,” said Staten-Lanier.

She then hired a team of architects, civil and structural engineers, construction managers, and an interior design team and got to work sketching out the physical spaces and pavilion surrounding a green courtyard.

“Any time you are saving material, it’s more sustainable, and I’m very intentional about the host space, and keeping it as close to its natural environment as possible, and our shipping containers go on piers [which are metal screws], so there is less damage done to the local environment,”