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I love hotels.

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I love hotels because they're
living, breathing enterprises.

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A hotel holds the promise every day
of adventure and romance,

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intrigue, mystery, betrayal,
affairs of the heart, dangerous liaisons.

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Where else can you find that
but in fiction or in film?

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Today, I want to speak to you
about the challenge of creating a hotel

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that has both life and adventure,
and also is a place with a soul.

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I think we've all been to a hotel
that didn't have a soul.

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It may have been a hellish experience,
or it may have been that, perhaps,

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it just didn't live up to the expectations
you had for this wonderful getaway,

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and you were disappointed.

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I've been a part of building a hotel
that didn't have a soul.

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It's no longer part of our collection,

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but it wasn't for a lack of effort,

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but things happened in the process,
during the design,

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during the development
we made compromises,

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and at the end,
the hotel just didn't capture

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the imagination and the magic
of the setting,

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and I was bitterly disappointed.

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Taking that to heart,
I've become a student of hotels.

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I vowed that would never happen again,
if at all possible.

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I've grown up around hotels,

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and we've built a number of hotels
from the ground up -

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by that I mean from the very first idea
of what a hotel might become -

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through design, through construction,
through opening and operation.

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Today, I'd like to share
those ideas with you

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about how to create a hotel with a soul.

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A soul is defined as something
intangible, not physical.

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It also suggests a connection
to a greater spirit.

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So if a hotel has a soul, it would have to
have a life beyond its physical walls.

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Let's call that soulfulness.

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We've identified four elements
of soulfulness:

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great design,

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a sense of place,

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a connection or being a part
of the community

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in which the hotel is located,

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and finally and most importantly,

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that the hotel inspires
great affection or love

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through and for the people working there.

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What do we mean by great design?

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Great design can be big, it can be small.
It can be luxury, not luxury.

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It could be modern,
it could be not modern.

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In the best of possible worlds,
the hotel fits in with the surroundings.

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It lives in concert with a natural
landscape or the cityscape;

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it feels like it belongs there.

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A hotel that feels like it belongs
in its surroundings

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also typically would feel
that has qualities

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that are almost human-like.

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It can be charming, it can be intimate,
it can be charismatic.

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Those things are the things that make it
feel a part of the destination,

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like it belongs there.

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When we did our first hotel
from the ground up,

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we were in Los Cabos, Mexico,

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and I stood on this piece of ground
overlooking the ocean.

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You could see the fish swimming down

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and the tropical fish
swimming below and the reef.

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The seabirds were circling overhead.

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My first thought was,
"Please, can't mess this up."

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How to enhance the natural setting here

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to make this hotel feel
like it belongs here?

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They say that the door handle
is like the handshake of a building.

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We naturally gravitate to those hotels
that have a human scale,

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that feel like they embrace you,

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that sometimes you feel at home,
but other times not at home.

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Because you can leave your worries
and your checklist behind you.

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Ideally, think about the possibilities.

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Think about changes
you may want to make in your life.

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Think about how you might
become a better person.

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All that's inspired by the warmth,
the beauty, the character

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of the hotel in its surroundings.

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In an ideal setting,

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a hotel also is efficient.

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The designer Philippe Starck said,

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"A great hotel combines intelligence,
culture, efficiency, comfort,

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and always a touch of poetry."

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Hemingway famously stated,

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"The requirement for a great hotel
is a bar somewhere on the premises."

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(Laughter)

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Our next topic is sense of place.

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What do we mean by sense of place?

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That the hotel becomes somehow identified
with the culture, the region or the city.

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Take for example the Ritz in Paris,

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the Oriental in Bangkok,

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The Peninsula Hotel in Hong Kong.

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These are hotels that in their grandeur
command your attention

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and have defined luxury
at the highest level

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in those destinations, in those cities.

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Or it may be a tree house lodge
in Costa Rica that brings you closer

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to one of the richest and most diverse
ecosystems on the planet.

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Today, one of the most talked about
trends in travel is immersion

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into the destination, into the culture,
into the environment.

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The role of the hotel
has really been transformed

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into that of a guide to the destination.

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In the best instances,

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the hotel staff curates
and creates unique experiences

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that bring the guests
closer to the destination

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and closer to themselves.

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I have an example
from our property in Costa Rica.

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There we have a number
of adventures and activities,

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including flying in an ultralight
over the mountains and the ocean,

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taking a horseback ride up to an organic
coffee cooperative in the mountains,

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hiking in a nature preserve
along a pristine stream,

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or picking produce from an organic farm.

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When I rode in this ultralight,

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we're skimming over the tops
of the waves on the ocean

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and coming back up
to the hacienda up in the mountains,

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the pilot of the plane, Don Alberto,
the owner of the hotel,

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pointed out these little tufts
of clouds in the distance,

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and you're in an open-air cockpit,

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and he says, "Mark, reach out
and touch those clouds."

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What do we mean by a hotel
becoming a part of the community?

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Today, building hotels
can be about building community,

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in much the same way
that hotels in the past

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were traditionally places
for gathering, for work and for play.

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Today - that paradox
of digital connectivity -

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we're becoming more and more disconnected.

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Hotels offer a space to connect us all.

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In some cases, the most innovative
and urban hotels

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have begun to define their neighborhoods.

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Take, for example, the ACE hotels
in New York and Portland.

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They've woven into the social fabric
and the local community.

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In the best instances,
they bring people together

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through art, through music,
and through content.

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We had an opportunity in Aspen, Colorado,

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to renovate the hotel Jerome
several years ago.

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The hotel was originally built in 1889,
and it needed a renovation.

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We were fortunate enough
to be tasked with doing that.

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In the process of doing that,
we took this hotel,

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which was built in the height
of Aspen's silver boom,

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it opened in 1889
and had become an important part

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of the business and social life
of the community.

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We went back to every period
of the hotel's history.

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We took artifacts and photographs
and flags and objects,

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even a whiskey flask
from Hunter S. Thompson,

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who was the sheriff in Aspen
in its wilder days,

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and combined all those things in sort
of a modern, contemporary environment

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that we loved because
it brought back the character.

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What was most exciting
was that we were in a position

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where the town embraced
our revival of this landmark and said,

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"Thank you for bringing back
periods of the hotel's history

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and important periods
of the town's history as well."

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The hotel Jerome
was a wonderful experience,

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and what the most important element
of creating a hotel with soul

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will always be is having a staff
that creates those stories

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that bring you closer to the destination

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and create the moments
that connect all of us.

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Ultimately, the inspired acts of the staff

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are the things that bring us
closer together,

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and they're most responsible
for creating soulfulness.

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If hospitality is defined as the act

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of being generous, friendly,

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and bringing in guests and strangers,

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then what better paradigm
for us as hoteliers

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to be known as warm,
generous and hospitable?

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The important ways that we bring together
these elements of soulfulness

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are as follows.

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First,

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we create a culture of possibility

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for the staff, for the people
who work there.

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Second, listen to the designers,
the creators who can inspire, create

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these transformative places,

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that bring artistry and poetry
into the design of the hotel.

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Use natural resources
and use local resources, local artisans.

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Work harder to create
sustainability for the property.

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But above all, create
this culture of possibility

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for the staff, for the people
who work for you,

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and allow them to create the stories
that brings us closer together.

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Hire for passion and commitment,

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embrace and allow and encourage
your people to tell those stories

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that bring the guests closer to themselves
and closer to the destination.

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The desired result is that the lives
of those people who are the guests

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and those that are
the people working there

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and of course the community
are enriched.

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I'll leave you with this final thought.

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Why shouldn't all places of business
strive to be soulful?

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Thank you very much.

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(Applause)