California has a reputation for sunshine, beaches and palm trees – but that’s only part of the picture.
25.08.2023 - 13:24 / skift.com / queen Anne / Leslie Barrie
The founders of Urban Cowboy opened their first boutique hotel in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, in 2014 without a real plan. Little did they know they were starting a minor hotel empire.
“I kind of just designed my dream house, and I didn’t know what I was going to do with it,” said Lyon Porter, co-founder.
Porter, a former professional-hockey-player-turned-real-estate-broker partnered with his now wife and co-founder Jersey Banks to convert the freestanding townhouse, built in the 1880s, into Urban Cowboy, a five-room boutique hotel. They say it was only the second boutique hotel in Brooklyn at the time, other than the Wythe Hotel, which opened in 2012.
“When we first opened, I didn’t have a way to take payments,” said Banks. “I didn’t have a credit card processor at first.”
Things began simply. Banks, for example, would respond to email inquiries instead of relying on direct booking systems, and hand each guest a welcome cocktail on arrival.
Almost a decade on, the founders are trying to retain that homey community while they expand and, of course, use all the tech tools. They have two more Urban Cowboy locations — one in the Catskills and another in East Nashville — with a fourth set to open in Denver this winter.
Their Williamsburg location has since been turned into offices for their tandem business Cowboy Creative — a design studio and hotel management company. They also own the Instagramable Dive Motel & Swim Club in Nashville.
Banks and Porter ventured to Nashville six months after opening in Williamsburg. After an hour of chatting with locals at a dive bar, they were tipped off about an old B&B set in an eight-room Victorian Queen Anne mansion. They knocked on the door, met the owner, and she agreed to sell.
The two hadn’t been to Nashville before, but soon the city became a second home.
“We’ve done two projects there now, and we’ve gotten a lot more tattoos,” said Banks.
When creating the Public House bar, they wanted to create a local fixture on the scene, not just a place for hotel guests.
“I watched the first season of , and I tried to make my dream bar,” Porter said.
Reflecting on what they also wanted in Nashville at the time — a hotel with a pool — Porter and Banks opened the 23-room Dive Motel, partnering with TDK Holdings, in the summer of 2019.
The retro motor inn hosts frequent events — the Black Keys just DJ’d “Dive Fest,” a kickoff to summer — and has “party switches” in every room that turn on a disco ball. Guests can choose from one of the hotel’s four radio channels: Sex, Drugs, Rock ‘n Roll, and Sleep.
While Nashville was admittedly fun, the couple also wanted a more relaxed, back-to-nature retreat. They found it with their 28-room Catskills Urban Cowboy property (partnering
California has a reputation for sunshine, beaches and palm trees – but that’s only part of the picture.
This summer has seen a surge in the highest end of luxury across the world. Some of it is about revenge travel and increased global mobility: A lot of the Middle Eastern market parked closer to home in Covid and are now shipping their Bugattis to the streets of London and other haunts in Europe. The palaces of Paris, the best hotels in Europe, and five-stars in the U.S. did brisk business at eye-watering rates.
UNWTO will work with the Municipality of Thassos in Greece to help the island rebuild its tourism sector in an inclusive way.
More than London at the moment, Bristol seems to encapsulate the contradictions, energy and frustrations of the British nation. This city, which straddles the River Avon, is small (the population was just under 500,000 in 2019) but it punches well above its weight when it comes to politics and art. When a group of activists threw the statue of Edward Colston in Bristol harbour in June 2020, it focussed attention on Britain’s historic role in the slave trade. (Colston, who had endowed schools, almshouses and hospitals in Bristol had, in the 17th century, been instrumental in the transportation of at least 84,000 enslaved people during his involvement with the Royal African Company). Nowhere in Britain voted more fervently to remain in Europe (62 per cent versus 38 per cent voting to leave).
Grand Cayman has long been a popular destination for travelers in search of white-sand beaches, excellent snorkeling and diving spots, and well-heeled accommodations. Just 22 miles long and eight miles wide, the island is the largest of the Cayman Islands and has a reputation for providing travelers with a quiet, low-key getaway. And with most of the action happening near the famous Seven Mile Beach, only 15 minutes from the Owen Roberts International Airport, travelers can start their vacations minutes after landing.
Russian River Boutique Hotels support one another to meet the rise of tourism in up-and-coming destination.
When guests walk into Jams Music Hotel in Munich, Germany, they encounter a floor-to-ceiling mural of Prince and a chance to pick out albums from the hotel’s vast collection of vinyl to play on the record player in their room.
Earlier this month, Roseate Hotels and Resorts said it is buying yet another luxury hotel in the United Kingdom — this time, a five-star boutique called The Dunstane Houses located in Edinburgh, Scotland. As with the three other UK properties Roseate has acquired, the brand will attempt to keep the decor and service practices localized.
Big banks are making a bold statement in travel and will increasingly become the first place — at the top of the proverbial trip-planning funnel — where customers look to book their trips.
Skift Megatrends Defining Travel in 2023: Here are 16 travel industry trends for the new year and beyond that we hope will help you navigate your businesses through increasingly uncertain and opportunistic times.
Good morning from Skift. It’s Wednesday, January 18. Here’s what you need to know about the business of travel today.
When international travelers visit Portugal, some may look for a big chain you’d find in, say Phoenix. But AlmaLusa, a boutique hotel brand founded in 2016, is banking on travelers looking for something more authentic.