POH – Frank I definitely have to talk to her. The Conscious Souls of Hospitality in Ibiza. Can you tell me a little bit about what happened there? What did you do? Who came together there?
Frances It just so happened that we were sitting at our Women in Travel and Hospitality conference, and one of the owners Ariela is working with on a new development project in the Southern California desert mentioned that she was selling her place in Ibiza. So, they created this retreat, and only six weeks later, it was very transformative in many ways because it was a little different. They had all the traditional wellness activities like somatic yoga flows and tea ceremonies, but they also went behind the scenes at some pretty incredible hotel properties like The Standard, B&B, and Six Senses. They got to see from behind the scenes how these hotel properties create these amazing retreats.
POH – Frank There’s so much stuff you offer for boutique hotels with your association. Do you think you will also branch out and help boutique hotels with consulting on incorporating wellness and sustainability? Is this something you want to offer them as consulting and help them with?
Frances Normally, on something like that, we bring in consultants to help, but we’re always involved. For example, we have our boutique hotel owners conference in September, and the wellness journey is definitely part of the discussion over the two days. We’ll bring in experts to discuss how to make your property wellness-focused, what elements to consider, and what the costs could be, etc.
So, from A to Z, how do you do that, and why should you do that? Sustainability is important, of course. But I don’t think sustainability is yet top of mind for consumers. I don’t think they go searching specifically for sustainable hotels. There are very few who do, maybe in the corporate world a little bit. But I think it also has to resonate with them. It has to be part of their own journey. Being sustainable, I think, is a conscious choice.
POH – Frank
I was just invited to an amazing boutique hotel in Mexico, La Joya Sayulita. They focus more on offering group sales, specializing in bringing in groups for retreats instead of just single bookings for wellness seekers. What do you think is the deciding factor for a boutique hotel to choose between group bookings and individual bookings?
Frances
Yes, because if you make your hotel just for group bookings, it’s going to be difficult to keep up with your capital expectations. In fact, I’m working with a new property right now that is having that difficulty because they’re 100% focused on booking out the whole hotel. This makes it difficult for hotel investors because they need to see that return on investment.
So you might combine group bookings with travelers who are just looking for a two- or three-night stay. I think you have to be open to being flexible and not just making it a buyout-only option, as that could be difficult.
POH – Frank
Now, I have to ask something personal. How is your own personal wellness? What do you do to maintain it? You live in this really hectic, crazy world of constantly putting conferences together and traveling. What is your lifestyle recipe for finding inner balance? And my second question is because I heard about this project you’re working on, lettersfromheaven.com. I’m curious about the spirituality aspect in your life. What do you do to stay grounded and balanced?
Frances
I try to balance work with my personal project, “mylettersfromheaven.com” which is the legacy of my family that I’m working on diligently. My daughter is really good at making sure I don’t travel like I used to; she’s doing most of the traveling these days.
But if I were to go somewhere, she would ensure I’m going to a place that has some kind of program. I’d love to go to Chip Conley’s place eventually, but right now, it’s too hot for me in both locations. I try to do daily things like meditation. I went to the gym this morning and did breathing exercises. My husband and I have studied food for the last seven years, so we rarely go out to eat because we just can’t find things that are cooked properly.
Of course, there are some really good restaurants that follow healthy preparation practices, but we love studying it. Every week we’re watching some kind of program, whether it be on mushrooms, trees, or what have you. A lot of it is instigated by Ariela.
She is such an inspiration in studying all these things. She’s getting her degree in herbology in a week or two. She went to Costa Rica a month ago. She’s going somewhere every month. She was invited on this amazing journey with her herbology class.
Sometimes you have to look past your generation and really get some reflection. I think I was also inspirational in getting her to look outside the box, particularly in the hospitality industry, because I’m a trailblazer there.
I want to do other things because I think that’s where the world is going. Just one quick story. In 2018, we started bringing people other than hotels and investors to our conference in New York. We had some incredible retail, Ariana Huffington, and amazing people in food and beverage too.
And some people said, “Why do you have them on your stage? We don’t care about them.” I said, “You do care about them because otherwise, you’ll have tunnel vision.” Just a couple of weeks ago, I went to a conference in LA, and someone said, “Why didn’t you bring back all those fabulous people you had? They inspire hospitality.”
You need to look beyond your tabletop. You need to stretch your imagination and hear the stories of these incredible people. Otherwise, you’ll be stuck forever. That was music to my ears. It’s the same with hotels and their programming, especially in the health and wellness field.
POH – Frank
Frances, thank you so much for your time. It was a pleasure talking to you. And I am looking forward to featuring more boutique hotels on Placesofhealing.com