A Business Vibes Case Study: The Maker Hotel

IN THIS EMAIL:

📭 A quickie reminder of WTF the vibes of your biz are and why you need to make this a top priority in 2024
🪩 CASE STUDY: I’m gonna take you through a ton of examples [with pics⬇️] of how another business, The Maker Hotel, is creating some kickass biz vibes
✍️ TO DOs for you to implement to start working on upleveling your own biz vibes

CHECK IN PROCESS:
The check-in process was very intentionally PERSONAL at The Maker.

Truth time: It was a teensy bit confusing when we first walked into the hotel [which is something I would suggest they address and update, cause those first few moments COUNT. And mine were spent unsure what to do or where to go].

You enter The Maker through their cafe which is on the main drag in Hudson called Warren Street. The cafe is beautiful space, but it’s obvs not a hotel lobby. That is, however, where they also have their hotel office.

I would later learn that that we enter through the cafe because the door you would walk through to enter the central space of the hotel remains locked from the outside.

This means that as a guest your privacy and experience there is truly looked after.

Anyway, we were checked in by a wonderful woman named Joanna. Coincidentally, Joanna moved from Mexico earlier this year to Hudson [WHAT are the chances!? We took that as a sign].

We were told to leave our bags in the cafe so that they could be brought up to our room and we moved into one of the lounge-y areas in the hotel.

Joanna then took us through all the information we might need about the hotel: the restaurants, hours, etc and then gave us a tour.

She also explained their turn down service and morning service and asked about our preferences.

For their turndown service at night they offer tea, and this was by far my fave, CBD gummies to help you sleep [and for the record, they were amazing].

In the morning they bring coffee and the NYT times newspaper so she asked how we liked our coffee.

She then showed us to our room [They actually upgraded us—another amazing touch—and took us to Room #7].

SOME VIBE-Y THINGS I NOTICED RIGHT AWAY DURING THIS PROCESS:

➡️ I absolutely loved the personal tour so that I could better understand the layout of the hotel and where everything was [including the most incredible retro gym next door].
➡️ I was able to see and hear about fab touches around the hotel [like hand painted wallpaper and the curated art collection].
➡️ I was also able to hear more about the hotel’s history and the renovation of the space. This connected me to the hotel immediately and gave me a feeling of ownership and understanding.
➡️ All of the fireplaces in the hotel were on [it was not a particularly cold day when we arrived but I absolutely loved this and would have done the same if it were my space].
➡️ Asking about our preferences [re: the morning coffee and turndown service] showed us a level of care and attention that was immediately being paid to us that was over the top.
➡️ There was care and thought put into all of the hotel’s decor and furniture [down to the color coordinated giant bookshelf you can see above]. As an interior designer, this is something that I am always paying way closer attention to than most, but it’s especially amazing for me when I see a space like The Maker because I know how much time and planning went into literally every single corner of the space.
➡️ Think about the “vibes” you create in your biz simply by offering [or not offering] particular things: I was IMMEDIATELY won over with CBD gummies. That is a level of detail and forethought that you almost never see in a hospitality experience.
➡️ Fab vibe-y Jazz music was playing in the hotel and a diff fab, vibe-y jazz station was playing in our room already when we walked in.
➡️ There was an ipad on the bedside table with a homescreen that immediately gave you wifi info. I cannot TELL you how often I have to ask about the damn wifi passwords when it’s legit one of the easiest and obvious things to solve for. Also, the iPad said: we’re hip and cool [an Apple association is kind of everything for me].
➡️ Every single staff member we passed during the tour [and there were a LOT of them] all said “good afternoon” or “welcome” when they walked by while smiling.
➡️ There was an “ah-ha” factor walking into our room and I knew [cause I had been stalking the hotel for awhile now] that each room in the hotel was different. Again, even THAT fact says volumes to me. It’s way the hell easier to create a space where you just order 10 of the same pieces of furniture, use the same paint color, rugs etc…there was intentional care and thought put into the design, layout and decor of EACH ROOM.

DINNER IN THE HOTEL RESTAURANT:
We had an incredible meal in the solarium room of the restaurant

I don’t remember the name of the restaurant [or if it even had one] but we had a delish dinner there on the day we checked into the hotel.

SOME VIBE-Y THINGS I NOTICED RIGHT AWAY:

➡️ The space was incredible…it looks amazing during the day for sure, but there is a special vibe in there at night too when you’re basically sitting and eating underneath the stars.
➡️ I asked for a Rusa [which is my fave drink in Mexico: salted rim, fresh lime juice and sparkling water]. They happily prepared it for me, put it in a gorgeous glass and made it feel special.
➡️ They have an additional menu for their cocktail lounge in the back of the space [which looked INCREDIBLE, by the way even though we did not go], and they happily allowed us to order off of that menu too [there is no bigger pet peeve than all sorts of weird random rules like “you can do this with this menu, but not that with that menu” type of shit.
➡️ The menu was interesting, elevated, but not super ridic [I KNOW you know the sorts of menus I’m talking about]. And the food was incredible.
➡️ We ordered the truffle fries to start as we just felt like some comfort food, and they honestly changed my life. They were that good. Now there is only life before the truffle fries and life after…and I don’t wanna think about life before. 🤣 
➡️ Our waiter was so fab…he just seemed like a cool dude. He was dressed well [but not like a waiter…in his own clothes], had great recommendations, and just the right amount of humor.
➡️ We didn’t have a reservation and they were super nice to accommodate us anyway. But! They also said: our reservation is for 7:30 so we will need you to skedaddle before then. And even that was so helpful [we were done way before, for the record].

MORNING COFFEE DROP:
Our morning coffee was left in a beautiful bag hanging on our door.

Reminder: we were asked the day before at check-in exactly what our preferences were, and in the morning we were left the most fab, chic bag of goodies [which you can see above].

SOME VIBE-Y THINGS I NOTICED RIGHT AWAY DURING THIS PROCESS:

➡️ All of the elements of our goodie bag were carefully sourced, curated and thought out. Nothing in the bag was an “accident.”
➡️ There was a logo on the thermos [and it wasn’t a janky thermos either]. ➡️ Our oat milk was clearly labeled [otherwise I’d be left wondering, did they actually remember I wanted oat milk and would be feeling uncomfortable] and it was in a fab little glass bottle with a stopper.
➡️ There was sugar options [even thought I wasn’t asked about them…I love sugar and was worried I forgot to mention that] as well as napkins in a glassine bag.
➡️ There were two beautiful ceramic mugs wrapped in wax paper.
➡️ Even the bag itself was chic.
➡️ And I’d like to add that this chic morning goodie bag was hanging on a specific knob on the door that was put there intentionally [this was not the doorknob…this was a knob put on the door just for the purpose of holding the morning goodie bag]. This knob on the door also ensured that: we would not be bothered by this delivery AND that it would look a certain way and be presented to us in a certain way [smartly hanging on the door].
➡️ Giving us an actual newspaper was a pattern interruption…most of us don’t read actual newspapers anymore. And it was FUN AF. I loved going through the paper with my morning coffee: it made me feel smart.

HERE’S YOUR HELLA IMPORTANT TAKEAWAY: 

After only spending 24 hours in this hotel, I was able to write you this 4,764 essay on exactly what the vibes of this business represented for me.

And your community’s doing this EXACT SAME THING with you every single day.

If you’re not approaching your biz with the same type of strategy and intention as I am…and as the Maker Hotel is…it’s a problem. 🤷🏻‍♀️

YOU ARE SLEEPING ON THE #1 THING THAT CAN IMMEDIATELY SET YOU APART IN YOUR INDUSTRY & ESTABLISH YOU AS A CATEGORY OF ONE

Look, it’s gettin REALLLL crowded out there in this online biz space RN. And I need to understand why it’s YOUUUUU I should be spending my money with…hiring…learning from…listening to…connecting with.

And right now, that ain’t at alllll clear, homie. So we gotta switch things up.

I’m done watching you do all the things you need to be doing in order to build your biz empire…but then seeing you realize that it’s JUST NOT CUTTING THROUGH THE NOISE.

I’m telling you: it’s because you need to intentionally and strategically be creating the vibes of your biz in a way that me saying yes to pulling out my wallet and hiring you…or buying your product…is a no brainer.

I’ll be going into the nitty gritty details about alllllll of the diff ways you can intentionally create the vibes of your biz [cause trust me: you’re missing the strategy behind all this stuff RN].

I’ve legit never seen anyone TALK about this shit before, much less teach a class on it.

In this 90 minute masterclass, you’ll learn:

➡️ All of the different vibe “categories” I focus on as an [almost!] 7-figure online business. We’ll go into detail about what you should be paying attention to and what you should skip.

➡️ How to create your own biz “vibe formula”…cause as I say again again again: you can either A. commit to intentionally creating your own biz vibes OR B. let your community decide what your vibes are for you.🥴 Unsurprisingly, I think option B is unacceptable.

➡️ What fashion “style cues,” “brand catch phrases” and “threads” are when it comes to your biz vibes [and no, I’m not talking about the new Instagram platform that we all went gaga for week one and haven’t logged into since].

➡️ All of my fave Vibe-y resources, apps, links and platforms for you to steal and use so that you can immediately start taking action on reinventing your own vibes with intention and strategy.

And sooooo much more.

This will be a webinar style masterclass that includes 60 minutes of live teaching as well as 30 minutes of answering your specific vibe-y questions about your own business.

💡 How to Create the Vibes Of Your Business Masterclass is going down on Thursday, November 16th @ 10am PT, 11am MT, 12pm CT and 1pm ET. You can grab your spot HERE for only $67. And yep, there will be a replay.

I know I’m biased but, dude: I’m gonna lay it all out on the line and say: you can’t afford NOT be in this thing. 🤷🏻‍♀️

**If you’re a current 1:1 client of mine or a client of the Icon Agency, woo hoo: you get into this masterclass for free! Message me for your 100% off coupon.

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