(Folks, welcome to the 20th Tuesday with you on writing about how we craft places and why we do it).
This week I wanted to talk about that Plug-and-play policy you see in any pitch deck. Plug-and-play doesn’t match with hospitality as we build it.
The problem with most concepts is that they’re designed to fit everywhere.
Which means they belong nowhere.
The place that could be in Paris, London, or Lisbon. The hotel lobby that feels copy-pasted from your Pinterest board...
I told my buddy the other day, we should trademark the SSF stamp --> Safe, Scalable, Forgettable.
The best places? They only make sense where they are.
Because if your place works everywhere, it doesn’t actually mean anything anywhere.
I spent my Sunday crafting some toolkits regarding this topic (yes this newsletter is crafted on Sundays when my daughter sleeps…I wrote all the topics at the beginning of the month and go deep the Sunday before sending it)
Belonging beats replication
If your concept can be lifted from one city and dropped into another without changing a thing, it doesn’t actually belong anywhere.
Belonging comes from context like the street, the history, the local stories at the bar, the way the light falls in the morning.
The best places feel like they couldn’t exist anywhere else in the world. They belong.
And belonging creates loyalty. Guests need to be attached somewhere.
Chains replicate or kill. Great places root.
