Episode 21
Watch Here:
In this episode of the BLTNT Podcast, we explore the art of hospitality reimagined with Ty Humpert, co-owner of the wonderfully unique Otis Harbor Springs, a specialty hotel in Northern Michigan. Nestled in a stunningly renovated space, Otis is where thoughtful design meets community spirit, creating an experience that’s as luxurious as it is welcoming.
Ty shares the meticulous care that goes into every detail of the hotel, from handcrafted decks to locally sourced interiors, ensuring every guest experiences a unique blend of luxury and comfort.
🎙 What You’ll Learn in This Episode:
- Guest-Centric Excellence: How Otis ensures every aspect of their service enhances the guest experience.
- Future-Focused Vision: Ty shares the plans to evolve Otis while remaining committed to their core values of hospitality and community.
- Local Partnerships: Hear how Otis collaborates with local businesses and artisans to create a destination that supports and celebrates its community.
This isn’t just a story about a hotel – it’s about building a home away from home, where every detail, from handcrafted decks to locally sourced interiors, speaks to intention and care.
Let’s dig in!!
https://www.otisharborsprings.com/
#OtisHarborSprings #BLTNTPodcast #ThoughtfulHospitality #NorthernMichigan
Transcript
(0:00) Welcome to the BLTNT podcast. I’m your host, Matt Loria, serving up real stories of business, (0:05) life, technology, and transformations. You’ll hear from interesting people about big changes (0:09) from career shifts to life-altering decisions and the innovations that help make it all happen.
(0:14) It’s about sharing those lightbulb moments, pivot points, challenges overcome, and the journeys (0:19) that inspire us to think differently. If you’re on the lookout for insights to propel you forward, (0:23) stories that resonate, or just a bit of inspiration on your next BLTNT move,(0:27) you’re in the right place. Let’s dig in.
(0:39) Welcome to our most recent episode of the BLTNT podcast. I’m Matt Loria, and here we are talking (0:44) about business, life, technology, and transformations. And I’m here with my guest, (0:49) and I’m actually your guest because we’re in your hotel here at Otis Harbor Springs with one of the (0:57) co-owners, Ty Humpert.
Thank you, Matt. Good to be here. And thank you for being here at Otis.
(1:02) Thank you. Well, you were here already, right? So this is easy for you. (1:06) Otis Harbor Springs, it’s a new name and a complete renovation and a complete rebuild, (1:13) really, of a hotel that’s been in the Harbor Springs area here for a number of years.
And (1:21) in a fairly short period of time, you and your partners have redone this to make it an amazing (1:29) retreat, we’ll call it, of a destination that is about as cozy as you can possibly imagine. (1:40) Beautifully designed, very thoughtfully put together. And it’s full to the brim on(1:47) nights like Wednesday night.
I was here on a Wednesday night in the wintertime. (1:52) It’s a blessing. (1:53) It’s just been amazing what you guys have done.
I want to tell a quick story and then (1:57) kind of hand things over to you. I’d been wanting to meet Ty. I didn’t even know who Ty was, but (2:05) my brother had told me about this location and had told me that some great people had owned it.
(2:12) And so that was kind of in the back of my head. But over the summer, a friend of mine called me (2:16) up and said, hey, I’m at Otis Harbor Springs, and you want to come and grab a coffee with me (2:22) on the deck? And I said, sure. So it’s a few minutes from my house.
And (2:26) so I drove over and first thing I noticed is that the deck is full of people. And I’m thinking, (2:33) I didn’t even know this place was open. And then we sit down and I’m sipping on a coffee.
(2:39) And I look over, we’re outside on the deck. I look to my left and there’s a bench seat that(2:44) wraps around. You guys did a fantastic job making this wraparound porch that didn’t exist prior to (2:49) that, to you building it.
And I’m looking at the boards and I’m saying, that board is routered. (2:56) Oh, wait, the whole is drilled, countersunk and wood plugs, sanded, everything stained. Oh, (3:04) by the way, this is not your common treated lumber.
This is some other species of wood. (3:10) I didn’t know what it was, but I could tell that it was, you know, that it was, (3:14) you know, something, something unique. Then I start to look to the inside boards and I’m going, (3:18) no, every board is routered.
And I’m going, man, the care and time, the extra time that went into (3:23) putting this deck together, because I’ve seen decks get put together where the, where the (3:27) guy actually stands up and he’s got a, a gun that has a three foot drill bit on it basically. And (3:32) he’s gone zip, zip, zip, zip, zip. You can’t do that when you, when you drill and countersink (3:37) and then wood plug, you know, glue and wood plug, and then sand it down, uh, to make those (3:45) screw heads go away.
So I said to my buddy, I said to my buddy, Ryan, I said, um, I got to meet (3:51) the guys that own this. I said, because this is insane, because this is one of those little (3:56) glimpses into how somebody does one thing is how they do other things. I mean, some people say how (4:01) you do one thing is how you do everything.
I would argue that, but when I see that care put into (4:06) something like that on something that doesn’t necessarily matter, when, you know, when you (4:10) really think of it in the grand scheme of things, it doesn’t, it doesn’t matter. It’s, it’s not (4:14) making the deck any more sturdy or anything like that, but it’s making it more finished and more, (4:18) um, more polished. I’m going, I wonder what else is under the hood of this bad boy.
And so, uh, (4:25) so through, uh, through a couple more connections, reached out, got to know you in Israel and, uh, (4:30) and, and here we are. So, so I want you to talk about how the heck does a guy from (4:37) Saginaw area, Michigan, you know, who’s done kind of a nice world tour or us tour of, of, (4:43) of living end up here and end up with such thoughtful, um, behaviors and putting together (4:50) a business like this. Well, thanks Matt.
And appreciate that long intro. (4:57) It’s the longest one I’ve ever given. Yeah, no, it, I appreciate the words actually.
Um, (5:03) and I’m glad that you noticed the deck because we wanted it to be, um, a feature of the property. (5:10) We wanted it to kind of activate the front of the hotel as people drive by, they’ll see (5:17) people sitting, they’ll pull in, they’ll discover Otis. Uh, they may have driven by(5:23) in previous years and wondered, wow, is that even open? Um, but we wanted to kind of activate (5:30) the front and, and get attention, have people discover property, um, and to experience it (5:42) and to experience a relaxed, um, but thoughtful environment.
Um, so it was very, (5:52) we were very deliberative about what we did and how we did it. And of course you have to be (6:00) restrained with, with, with budget and with other things. So you, you pick and choose and (6:06) you decide what you’re going to put your, your attention on, what you’re going to develop, (6:12) what you’re going to, um, maybe save for another day, um, or a future state.
But (6:19) we just thought that the deck was something that would welcome people. On top of that, (6:24) we cannot take credit for the design of it. Actually, uh, David Hocker, landscape architect, (6:31) um, out of, uh, Texas helped us design the deck, create the environment, create the, (6:38) um, the landscape around it.
So it’s, it’s, it’s kind of meant to be all encompassing. Um, (6:46) just the, the wave of the grasses and how the plantings were planted and how the deck was (6:53) constructed instead of having a railing, we wanted a platform to sit on all of those things (7:00) were thought about. Sure.
So I appreciate you noticing it, but how did I come to this point? (7:05) It’s been a long journey. Uh, I think hospitality has always been in my blood. Um, (7:12) making people feel welcomed, um, creating an environment.
Um, I come from a large family. (7:20) My family Christmas party is over 270 people these days. Oh, we got to tell my wife because (7:28) ours is ours is 65 minimum.
And we think that people think that’s a lot. So I think you’ve, (7:34) you’ve taken the cake. Yeah.
Well, my great, my great grandparents had 15 kids, (7:39) all in one marriage. All the kids grew up to have kids, excluding one couple who were not (7:45) able to have children, but tons of cousins, tons of family, always around, always cooking, (7:54) entertaining parents, inviting people over, always having a lot of fun. Oh, that’s fantastic.
(8:00) Family and friends all over. Um, but then I kind of wanted to see the world. I wanted to(8:07) experience travel.
And after college, I took a position with Morley companies out of Saginaw (8:15) township. Um, they handled, uh, very beautifully thoughtful, um, global travel opportunities for, (8:27) uh, companies, fortune 500 companies, um, and other organizations where we created experiences for (8:37) um, their employees, you know, maybe it was a particular group who hit their sales records, (8:44) sales goals. We would take them on a global trip or a trip overseas.
And we would manage all of (8:50) that and design the program, design the trip. And then I was in charge of the staff. We called them (8:57) travel staff and the travel staff would travel in, uh, whatever location it may be.
If it were in (9:03) Athens, we would travel staff into Athens and we would organize kind of the run of show or the (9:10) game plan for the project and make sure that everybody had excellent accommodations, good (9:15) restaurants to attend events, uh, entertainment and Morley companies, uh, at that time was, um, (9:23) led by, um, Lewis Furlow senior and Mr. Furlow became a mentor, um, very successful. (9:33) He was always boundless amounts of energy. He knew everyone’s name when he would come into the office (9:42) and there were, you know, hundreds and hundreds of employees.
Actually, he always would say (9:48) associates. We didn’t like using the word employee. Um, and so he, he saw something in me.
(9:59) Uh, he extended invitations to come into his office and talk, gather great ideas for programming, (10:08) suggested where I should travel to kind of suggested what books I should read, (10:12) what papers I should read one. Um, in particular, um, the service profit chain (10:19) from the Harvard business review, quite old, but he, he gave me a printout copy of it. (10:25) And it talked about creating an environment or a business where there’s a repeat business.
(10:31) You create environments where you not only sell one pizza, but you sell 50 pizzas, (10:36) or you not only sell one Cadillac to a family, you sell five Cadillacs over their lifetime. (10:42) And that’s how you ensure business success. Um, so all of that having been said, he taught me(10:51) about business travel and hospitality.
And he sent me to schools to learn, um, Disney university. (11:01) I traveled to other hotels and learned about their trainings, um, learned about their efforts with (11:08) staff development, team development, and that all of that led me to business, but (11:16) always with the idea that a hospitality property hotel, uh, small in something like that was (11:26) maybe in my future. That’s where we are.
You know, we had, we had some conversation about the, um, (11:32) the book unreasonable hospitality and, um, uh, 11 Madison park and, uh, beautiful, (11:39) beautiful restaurant. I’ve not, I’ve not been, I mean, I’m a fan of the book fan of the podcast, (11:43) but, um, um, it’s, it’s so great how the, this environment with the environment of hospitality, (11:51) um, really acts as a training ground, I think for so many other areas of business. So, uh, (11:57) what a great place for you to start even then before, cause, cause then you, you got into (12:03) the kind of healthcare services and technology, uh, business was, was that kind of, yeah, (12:09) yeah, actually it was, I would drop when I got into the business, it was called release of (12:16) information or ROI.
And I would drop the word technology. Cause at the time there was very (12:23) little technology that’s back in the day when there was still medical records in paper on (12:29) shelves with folders that had color coded, uh, uh, sequencing and numbering and lettering. (12:38) Um, and then that evolved into electronic medical records.
So that’s when technology (12:43) came into play, but yes. Um, and one of the connectors to what Mr. Frillo always, (12:50) um, suggested and then taught me to do was to write handwritten notes. And so when I got into (12:58) healthcare services at the time, I would write a lot of handwritten notes like I would have (13:03) done in hospitality.
And actually here at Otis, our team hand writes a welcome note to every (13:11) occupant of every room when they arrive. So it’s kind of come full circle. (13:18) Let me ask you this.
Was there, was there any influences in the family though? Prior to, (13:23) uh, cause to me it seems like it’s, it, it’s almost, isn’t something that was trained into (13:28) you that there was almost ingrained maybe even earlier on. Did that hospitality piece come for (13:35) me? Because to me, there’s a very thoughtful nature to, to you. Um, and you know, an eye for (13:41) detail and things like that.
Maybe when you were a little bit younger, where, where did that even (13:46) hit beforehand? So it’s a combination of Higgins Lake and a body shop. Okay. Let’s hear that.
(13:54) Higgins Lake, my grandparents, Ted and Regina, wonderful people, worked hard, very entrepreneurial, (14:01) started a body shop that was in our family for 53 years. Okay. Allowed them, afforded them the (14:07) opportunity to have a cottage in Northern Michigan at Higgins Lake.
Okay. And that’s where we would (14:12) vacation, um, in the summer year round, really. I mean, we’d go up in the winter even.
(14:20) Um, and they always made us all feel comfortable and relaxed. And there was always good food being (14:29) prepared, fire in the fireplace. It was a setting that you wanted to return to.
Um, and my parents (14:36) the same, they would do that as well at home, but it was, uh, so excited. We were always so excited (14:42) to get in the car and drive to Higgins Lake. Um, and then how that connects to the body shop is (14:47) that, I mean, the body shop that my grandfather created and then that my dad and his brothers (14:55) took over was unlike any other body shop you may have experienced.
It was beautiful. It was clean. (15:03) It was well cared for.
There was comfortable seating and furniture. There was even a courtyard (15:09) with planted flowers in the summer. And we had to mow the lawn in a, you know, in a very beautiful (15:16) way with the lines being very straight.
My grandfather liked everything really neat and (15:21) perfect and clean. Um, they would task me with washing the cars and cleaning the cars before (15:28) the customer came to pick them up. My dad or my grandfather would say, I want this car to look (15:33) better than it did when it arrived.
And I literally spent time reclaiming sometimes the (15:40) car if it needed to be, if my dad said it wasn’t good enough. And then I got good at it. But again, (15:46) making people feel comfortable, we would literally host family events at the, at the body shop.
(15:55) The family would come over and friends days before Christmas and everyone would get a free carwash (16:01) and their cars clean because you wanted a clean car for the holidays.(16:05) And that’s what we did. And then we would have food available catered in, you know, so it was (16:10) always this very hospitable environment that we had at Higgins Lake in the summers and the (16:18) winters and the falls throughout my life.
We’ve always had wonderful gatherings and making (16:27) friends and family feel comfortable and well. I love the hospitality piece mixed in with the, (16:32) the attention to detail. And, um, I’d tell you two quick stories on attention to detail for, (16:38) for us growing up, you know, we’re, we’re Italian and so we clean our driveway, we clean our cement, (16:43) you know, without, with a hose, especially after it rains because it brings up other things.
And so (16:48) you got to keep it clean. And I was talking to a friend of mine who they, they run a jewelry store. (16:52) They run the Lucido fine jewelry stores in the Detroit area.
They got three, three locations. (16:57) And, um, so, you know, beautiful places you can eat off the floor. And I was talking to Vince (17:02) Lucido, one of the owners, and I was saying, you know, man, you guys, you don’t miss a thing do.
(17:08) And we were talking about being kids and dad’s washing the driveway and things of that nature. (17:12) And my dad was big into is big into edging. The edge of the lawn has to be perfect.
And, (17:17) and, uh, his dad said, well, he says, he says, well, I got your beat. He says, (17:21) I used to have to, you know, those black marks that come around on the gutters. He said, (17:26) we had to wash the gutters and then wax them so that the, so that the black lines didn’t, (17:31) didn’t occur again.
So they’re up on ladders, waxing the gutters, but you know, the things (17:35) that that teaches you, um, that you don’t respect it exactly at the time when you’re up on the (17:40) ladder, you know, sweating or whatever, or, uh, you know, as you’re first learning how to, (17:44) how to detail a car. But I think detailing cars is a great, is a great discipline for kids to, (17:50) to try because there’s so many nooks and crannies and it’s amazing how your visibility goes from(17:58) seeing it as a, as a car to then seeing the blades of every single louver in the, in the vent,(18:06) right. And getting every one of those clean.
And it’s like, and then you can’t unsee things. (18:11) And I have a, I have this, um, feeling that behind those eyes looking out, you don’t miss a thing, (18:17) you know, as you’re, as you’re walking in. Well, Mr. Furlow, this brings up a really (18:23) wonderful story or he would always tell us when we walked into a property, a restaurant, hotel, (18:29) if we were utilizing the property or an event, you had to walk in as if you owned the property (18:36) or if you were the manager.
So if you see a piece of paper on the floor, if something needs to be (18:43) fixed, if a pillow needs to be fluffed, you just handle it. You did it. You did it.
He taught us (18:49) to do that. So I always remember walking into a lobby and I would, I still, sometimes I, (18:56) if I’m walking into a lobby in a hotel that I’m staying, I see somebody has maybe left a piece (19:01) of paper on the floor or dropped a piece of paper. I’ll pick it up and throw it away.
And it’s kind (19:05) of that. It never goes away. You always think about it.
Um, on the hospitality front, I’ve got, (19:12) I’ve got a question. Um, when you went, when you used to go to that, to that cottage, uh, (19:17) in Higgins Lake, did anybody, when you walked in the door, say, take your shoes off? (19:23) We did take our shoes off. But did somebody tell you, or did you choose to take? No, we, we, (19:27) we just knew that that’s what grandma preferred because it was very clean, very clean environment.
(19:34) We just, we knew that that’s what you did. Okay. So I want to, I want to talk about that.
(19:39) And the feeling of walking into, you know, what I know today as, as, as Otis Harbor Springs, (19:47) um, it’s a nice place. And as a, as a guest coming in, you know, you want to keep it nice, (19:52) but I don’t get that feeling that somebody’s poking at you saying, take your shoes off, (19:56) right? It’s, it’s almost like if, if the customer wants to wear their shoes, (20:02) that’s okay. Well, if, if they, if they follow suit and see that others are taking their shoes (20:08) off, that’s okay too.
Um, there’s something that is very comfortable that you’ve built here. And, (20:15) and I’ve experienced it now four or five times to where it’s, um, it’s obviously got rules. (20:22) I mean, it’s, it’s, it’s, it’s a clean, beautiful place, but also it’s very easy going.
So like, (20:29) I sat at that table, I, well, actually I sat on the chairs back in the corner the other day and (20:33) needed a third chair. And the person at this table had some coats on a chair. And I said, (20:37) does anybody sit in there? No, no, no.
And they helped me get it all together. (20:40) It’s just this very comfortable sort of thing. Um, it doesn’t feel like someone’s nitpicking you, (20:48) you know, when you come to this nice place, which can be a concern (20:51) when I’m looking at the deck and going, this guy is a fussy fussy dude.
You know, (20:57) what’s it going to feel like? Is it going to feel like somebody’s, you know,(21:00) following me with the feather duster or is it going to feel like I can plop down on this couch? (21:05) And you really said to me, this furniture is made to be used. It’s made to be,(21:12) and can you talk about that? Yeah. The first thing that comes to my mind is (21:17) anticipatory service and Isidore sharp, the founder of four seasons hotel.
Uh, (21:23) really they’re a management company. Um, now, uh, (21:28) Mr. Furlow had suggested that I read about Isidore sharp and I did and, uh, learned that, (21:36) and this was true in other beautiful hotels, you know, try to anticipate what the guests may want (21:45) or need, but don’t be so overt that you’re kind of in their face doing it or making them feel (21:51) uncomfortable. And really that’s what it’s about.
It’s making people feel comfortable. Um, (21:57) wanting people to linger, stay long, a long period of time, relax, feel like they’re at ease, (22:05) um, is the environment that we want to create here at Otis. (22:10) But if you, if you start them off too sharp though, and you say, you know, make sure you’re, (22:15) make sure you’re neat and tidy.
You know, when you walk in the door, you’ve already hit them (22:19) with something that says, uh, they’re on edge and I, and that doesn’t exist here. (22:23) Yeah. You can’t do that.
And, but, but it also means that (22:27) you have to surround yourself with great people. And one of our wonderful (22:34) members of the team who’s a huge talent, uh, is Cameron, our general manager. And he shared a (22:41) similar philosophy, uh, to service kind of that slow process of watching what the client or visitor (22:49) or customer may need kind of that anticipatory service.
He he’s very subtle in how he handles (22:56) things. He pulls people away from the main areas of the hotel to have a quick conversation about (23:03) how we want to do that differently. He doesn’t put people on the spot.
He doesn’t make people (23:08) feel nervous. He makes people feel welcome. So it’s not just me.
And it’s not just what I’ve (23:13) experienced or learned from previous books or people or mentors. It’s how do you want to be (23:20) treated and, and realizing that that’s what other people want as well. Generally speaking, (23:26) it’s kind of like the golden rule.
And then it connects to how we interact with our team. (23:32) If we interact with our team, well, they’re more likely to interact well with (23:38) our customer, our client, our visitor. So you have the choice to walk in, (23:43) see the piece of paper on the floor, you pick it up instead of yelling, pick this up.
Exactly. (23:47) Right. And so you’re not, you’re, you’re keeping it.
I’m treating everyone with respect. They’re (23:51) going to learn. They’re going to learn by watching.
They’re going to actually, (23:53) they’re going to watch me do that. And they’re going to think, gosh, I didn’t see, I I’ve got (24:00) pick up that piece of paper before Ty does. It’s not that I’m forcing it on them.
It’s that I’m (24:07) leading by an example. I’m willing to do it. I’m willing to clean the toilet in room number 12.
(24:14) If I need to, I’m willing to dust off the coffee table before the evening service. If I need to(24:25) all of us jump in and are willing to do things that maybe is not on my list of tasks. And that’s (24:35) about cross training as well.
I mean, that’s, it’s a, it’s a philosophy that we use here, (24:41) cross train all of our team members so that different people can do different tasks. (24:47) If the head of housekeeping needs to check somebody in, she can do so because she’s trained. (24:53) But she also knows that her main list of tasks is to keep the rooms clean, clean, (25:01) you know, the lobby and front areas, but she’s willing and able to check somebody in if, (25:07) if she needs to.
That’s great. Let’s talk about that. You explained to me, (25:14) and we can, we’ll, we’ll talk about this as well, but you explained to me how, (25:18) you know, when you pull up things like the sign, how the signage looks, you look, you talked about (25:23) the landscaping, you talked about the deck, the front door, and we can talk in detail about those (25:28) things.
But those things came together because you pulled together a team and actually did what,(25:35) what maybe some might, I know in the marketing world, they call it like an immersion exercise. (25:40) But you did this kind of like all hands on deck planning. And I’ll use the word retreat as well, (25:47) because you hosted it at your cottage here, where you brought everybody in, flew all of the, (25:52) flew all the designers in, flew the architects in, et cetera.
And everybody was together because (26:01) there’s a real cohesive, nice fit to everything here. And a lot of people were a part of making (26:07) that come together. Can you explain, you know, that whole immersion exercise? Because when I (26:14) first met you and you were telling me about, and the designer, the landscape designer comes from (26:19) here and the, the architect comes from here.
And I’m thinking, man, what a logistical nightmare, (26:23) but you, you circumvented a nightmare and made it, made it highly effective by bringing everybody (26:29) together. Can you talk about that? Absolutely. We decided that we wanted to bring together a group (26:35) of experts in their own respective fields, landscape, architecture, interior design, (26:42) branding, food and beverage, just that overall and create that overall experience, right? It’s all (26:49) about experiences.
It’s that you remember walking up to the deck and seeing how beautifully the deck (26:54) was built. Other people remember the scent in the air. Other people remember the great coffee,(27:00) the comfortable bed, the nice sheets on the bed, how they were fitted, how they were presented.
(27:07) All of those details are gathered knowledge. It’s really a collective of so many different(27:15) people. And so what we did was, and we had to do this in a, in a, in an efficient way on the (27:21) timeline.
And Israel and I have other business partners as well. We have investors who have (27:28) trusted in us. And then we have another couple, John and Claire Gibbs, who also share a lot of(27:35) our same philosophies.
So we gathered together at our cottage on main street in Harbor Springs, (27:44) brought Michael Hsu, who’s a really well-regarded architect from Texas, also Israel’s from Texas. (27:52) So we have a lot of really interesting connections to Texas. David Hocker, I’d already mentioned(27:57) landscape architect, Daniel Cadill, former creative director of Shinola, who we’d worked with (28:03) previously on the concept of the hotel and what we would offer.
Cameron was there as well, (28:11) our general manager that we’d already hired, brought in. And we gathered everybody at our cottage, (28:18) setting the tone was important to us, setting up the, you know, the house, fire in the fireplace. (28:25) It was cool that night.
It was wintry. We had everybody come and stay with us at the house. (28:32) We had a caterer come in and helped with the food preparation because we wanted that to be, (28:39) you know, a great experience, wanted it to not be chaotic.
We had a lot of, you know, (28:44) business strategy to discuss, details to iron out. We did that though, because we wanted to (28:51) set the tone. And what happened as a result of kind of organizing that environment was that we (28:59) got to the heart of things, right? We got to the heart of what the branding should look and feel (29:06) like.
We basically accomplished in a four-day weekend, extended weekend, what would have taken(29:14) four months or six months. Because we had everybody in the room. And then we broke away and had small (29:21) group sessions with the respective areas of highlight.
And we came back, gathered as a group (29:32) again, talked about what we had come up with in terms of thoughts and ideas. And then we broke (29:38) away again. And then we gathered for a meal.
And then we gathered for dinner. And then we certainly (29:45) had drinks and wine. And then actually, as the night kind of, you know, got longer, (29:52) we started realizing we had other ideas that were sprouting up with the group.
And it was really, (29:58) really great. And we certainly were, we were taking notes, we were gathering ideas, we had (30:02) flip boards even, and jotted down ideas, but in a kind of an informal, (30:11) creative sort of way. And it worked for us.
And we were able then to compile (30:18) a presentation actually, that we then delivered at the end of the four days to the group, but we all (30:26) had our respective areas of response and kind of responsibility. And we talked about it and talked (30:35) through it and agreed to disagree or agree on different concepts. And again, that saved us a (30:42) lot of time, because we were able to say, yes, that works.
No, that’s not going to work. Let’s (30:46) not spend any time on that. And it really set a great foundation for what now we experience.
(30:56) Well, what I like about it is, is you’ve mentioned to me that you don’t, you don’t (31:00) particularly prefer to structure this organization in your typical hierarchical corporate fashion,(31:09) nor do you really want to have it to where it’s like, this is our mission, vision, values,(31:13) core values, etc. Listed out similar. Then it feels too rigid, by the way, and it’s not going(31:18) to feel authentic when you walk in.
Especially for this organization, it would feel too contrived, (31:23) right? And so it really got to start with you, though, with a vision. But that vision really (31:31) gelled with the whole team. And so there’s a lot of ownership now that the others, you know, have (31:37) in this organization, which is really, it’s felt throughout, you know, in the times that I’ve been (31:43) here.
And I love the speed to market too, right? It’s like, you’re basically like saying, you know, (31:48) hey, we need to have a minimally viable product by X date. And so, you know, what, when, when I (31:53) look at this as somebody who drives by here, it felt like it happened overnight, right? I know you (31:58) said it was about a year and a half, but to me to accomplish all of the things you’ve accomplished (32:03) so far, the, I think that’s still faster than what, what maybe somebody else could have done or (32:11) could have done and not preserved. You know, I think you could say like a big box hotel could (32:17) have bought this and could have put up a cookie cutter unit pretty quickly.
But it wouldn’t, (32:23) it wouldn’t have the panache that this place has or the allure. And one of the, one of the (32:30) fun things that we talked about was, you know, kind of knowing what fits and what doesn’t. And (32:36) I’ll butcher this, but my brother always says this.
I don’t know what it is, but I know what (32:40) it isn’t. Right. And and, and you said to me a quote, you know we know we’re not everything to (32:49) everybody.
We, we, you know, we kind of, we, we think we know what we are, but we don’t always, (32:53) but we certainly know when it’s not quite Otis. And I thought that was a cool statement that(33:01) almost, it’s almost like you could use that as a, as a hiring tool or at least a you know,(33:07) some sort of HR tool where it’s like, if they don’t get that, they’re not going to fit. Right.
(33:13) And I think when you’re, even when you’re hiring and you say, Hey, what do you think about Bill? (33:17) Should we hire Bill? Oh, he’s not quite Otis. You know, say no more. Right.
(33:24) It’s so true. I love the essence of it. It’s partly to having restraint.
And I know that (33:32) may not resonate with people right away, but let me unpack that a moment. We had a thousand ideas. (33:42) Sure.
We had amazing ideas. We need a trampoline. Yeah.
It’s not quite Otis. (33:48) And, or not yet. Or yeah, sure.
It’s like we wanted to do things in a, yes, in a very considered way (33:58) when we knew we could do it well. And, and so we’ve decidedly introduced things, I guess, (34:09) more slowly at times. I’ll give an example.
We had this wonderful ceramicist that we found. He’s (34:18) originally from Michigan, now lives in LA. He makes these beautiful ceramics.
We commissioned him to (34:25) build a small lamp for every room and a tray. The tray was meant for, and intended to be a mini bar (34:36) tray. But there’s a lot of things that go into hosting a mini bar in every room.
When you have (34:43) 30 plus rooms, you have to have a lot of different things working behind the scenes. You have to have (34:49) glassware, stemware. You have to have, you know, accompanying things.
If you want to have a (34:58) glass of wine, are you going to chill the white wine? You’re going to have the red wine. You’re (35:03) going to have to have the opener, all these things that you have to consider. And it creates this, (35:10) this more complex behind the scenes workflow that has to take place.
And we were still building our (35:17) team. We were still literally opening. And so we decided to hold off on the mini bar.
And we’re (35:25) now introducing it slowly. We’ve just introduced for purchase snacks in the rooms. And we’re going (35:34) to slowly introduce wine.
And then we’re going to slowly introduce mixed drinks in the rooms. (35:41) So there’s things that we wanted to do right away. And we had the idea to do it, (35:45) but we had to have restraint to say, what can we do well now today? And then how do we continue (35:52) to evolve it and deliver it in a way that is, to your point earlier, it’s Otis.
It’s great. (36:00) It’s comfortable. It’s easy.
It’s beautiful. It’s tasty. Wow.
That’s memorable. That drink was the (36:09) best drink that I had. You know, that’s what we want people to experience.
And if they’re not going (36:14) to experience that right away, then we’re going to do it wrong and we’re going to fail. So we’d (36:21) rather be really restrained and consider it with what we do and when we do it. Don’t have it unless (36:26) you can do it, do it the right way.
You, you also talked about certain things with me. The, (36:38) you know, there’s some things that are a hell yes. And there’s some things that are a hell no.
(36:42) And so, um, in the restaurant, you know, the tablets, someone had suggested, you know,(36:48) you should use, you know, you should use tablets. And you said, oh, hell no. (36:53) Yeah.
Didn’t feel right. Well, let me back up. What are touch points? Touch points are those (36:59) things that are expressed and, and experienced and you, you open a door, you touch the doorknob, (37:08) you pick up the menu, you pick up that glass of wine, you decide to sit on the deck and you’re (37:22) touching the deck.
You’re feeling the wood. You, you see that it’s well built. You understand that (37:27) it’s beautiful because it was crafted that way.
An artisan, a builder built that, you know, (37:34) with considered time, um, in the menu, we just didn’t want it to be a, another screen. In fact, (37:43) we’d love it if people kind of put their screens away a bit here and relax. Sorry about this.
(37:49) That’s okay. I understand you’re doing a podcast, so you need it. But the menu is instead a piece of (37:55) beautiful walnut wood with unlacquered brass clasp at the top and a selected paper type and (38:05) quality and, and, and, and thickness.
And we print that as the menu changes or when they look like (38:14) they need to be reprinted because they’re, they’re tattered or torn. And that’s our menu. It’s not on (38:21) a screen.
We, we, we didn’t want a large sign out front that had a bold light. We wanted a dimly lit (38:30) down lit sign because we want to see the sky. We want to see the stars in the sky here on this(38:37) property.
Well, you gave a lot of credit to, um, to Cameron for the, for the experiential pieces (38:45) because he, he designed the, the flow and the layout of the shop, the Shinola shops. (38:52) Yep. The correct experience.
He was really head of experience at Vinola. He didn’t, he had a team (38:58) and Daniel Codill was, uh, the, the brain trust behind kind of the, the, the look and feel and (39:07) design of the shop. But Cameron led the experience of that customer walking into the store and what (39:16) they experienced.
He actually sold the first Shinola watch. Oh, okay. I’m told he shared that (39:21) with me.
Yeah. Um, you also, you also train certain things again, because this is, is it, (39:30) is it Otis? Is it not Otis? And you said, um, you’re very prescriptive with training, um, and (39:35) especially around touch points, but, um, you know, no eating in the front office, right? Um, (39:42) little things like that to make sure that, um, that the whole experience is, is, (39:50) it has a flow to it. Right.
And I’m, and I can see where, where, where you say things like that, (39:54) because if you walk up to a desk and someone’s eating right there, me as the guest, I’m thinking, (39:59) I’m interrupting this person. Right. It doesn’t feel like, and you want it to feel like they’re (40:05) here to serve.
Right. And it doesn’t, it doesn’t, it takes away that, that field. Absolutely.
Any (40:10) other, uh, kind of those little things that maybe, um, um, I mean, actually I should say everything (40:16) here is a little thing, uh, and very thoughtful, um, and subtle. Uh, but is there anything that (40:22) maybe that you could say in that vein that, that, that may transition nicely to general businesses (40:29) that are not hospitality businesses? I mean, I think every business, you have a customer, (40:35) you have many types of customers and how they feel about you, how they feel about your service, (40:42) how they feel about your technology really is what they’re buying. In my mind, I was taught (40:50) again by Mr. Furlow and a few others in business that you’re going to make an impression on that (40:55) person.
Yes, they may need and want your technology, but they also want to buy from you. (41:03) You know, they, they, they are going to connect to you or you need to try to connect with them(41:09) and it will be a better experience overall, more successful experience. So I think how people (41:18) are trained, how people are made to feel in your organization, do they feel like a number or do (41:24) they feel like an individual who has a name? Try to know names in your business.
If you grow to a, (41:32) to an extent where you have hundreds of team members or employees or associates, (41:38) try to know who those people are. Learn about those people who are your top managers, supervisors, (41:47) frontline people, the people that are working at your front desks. If you have a business where (41:53) you have a call center, that or a front office or a virtual front office, those are all touch (42:02) points that people are going to experience a person.
And if you know your people and if you (42:10) know how they wish to be treated, they’re going to more likely treat your customers well. (42:15) Sure. I had an experience with that, with that here.
And everything I’m looking, I’m always, (42:23) I’m always, you know, judging it through the business lens. Right. And what do we all hate (42:28) to hear? Let me ask my manager.
That’s not our policy. You know, all of us need to be empowered (42:34) to make certain decisions. Yeah.
And that’s exactly where I was going with this is that (42:39) the other day we had, we had a birthday, small, just a small little birthday. We had a dinner (42:44) here, but then, then we, we had brought a cake and asked, you know, can we, is it okay if we (42:49) bring the cake in? And our server said, of course, let me get you some plates. Let me get you, do you (42:55) need candles? It was like, it wasn’t, they didn’t say, well, let me ask my manager, let me see, (43:00) let me give you a cake cutting cost or anything like that.
It was just, it was frictionless. (43:04) And so the empowerment of the employee to be able to go above and beyond is, is noticeable. (43:11) And so I’m always looking for opportunities there in my own business or for anybody that I’m ever, (43:16) you know, consulting for to say, okay, what, how do we reduce the friction, right? How do (43:21) we empower the employee? How do we empower the frontline to be able to go that extra step? (43:26) Because real value happens when you, when you deliver value in excess of what the customer’s (43:31) paying for, right? That’s what makes you want to leave the big tip.
That’s what makes you want to (43:35) come back, whatever it may be. And so talk about that a little bit, maybe talk about how those (43:43) things can flux in and out of the hospitality business in your mind. Well, I used to, you know, (43:52) before Otis I worked in medical service and technology.
And one of the things that we (44:01) always talked about with our team, especially with when we welcomed a new member of the team (44:08) and they were going through orientation, we tried to boil it down to a very simple reality. (44:15) And that was when we processed medical record requests just for background. And that happens, (44:24) you know, millions of times a day throughout this country, people are requesting medical records (44:30) for insurance, for a legal lawsuit issue, for their own personal records to be transferred to (44:39) another physician.
They’re needing their records to take with them if they’re on a trip to mail (44:45) clinic, whatever. There’s many, many reasons why people need copies of their medical records.(44:52) And we would talk to our team at the time and made sure that they understood that if you’re (44:57) asking for your medical records, if you’re needing to request your medical records, (45:00) you’re probably not doing it for a very positive reason.
Yeah, it’s not for fun. It’s not for fun. (45:07) You’re dealing with an ailment, you’re dealing with a life-challenging situation.
So try to (45:12) have empathy for those people that are lined up to get medical records or that are calling in (45:19) to ask for status of their medical records. Have empathy for the fact that they’re (45:24) they’re seeking out something that you have control over and you need to honor that. You need (45:31) to treat them like it’s your aunt or your uncle who need those records for a life-changing situation (45:38) or a life-altering surgery.
I mean, those are the kind of, like, bring it home. It’s not just (45:46) a transaction. There’s a name behind that.
There’s another life behind that. In the IT world that I’m (45:52) in, I try to explain that they’re called tickets, right? A trouble ticket. It’s not a ticket.
It’s (46:01) a person with a problem. Well, our first mistake is that we call it a ticket. We actually engineer (46:07) so many things in our world, in our business lives that engineer a negative outcome.
We create an (46:14) environment that then spits out what we don’t want, but we do it every day over and over again. (46:20) I would say, you know, thinking about that, you know, I have a condominium in the area and (46:28) it hasn’t been figured out yet how to, you know, how to be a hospitable place. (46:35) You walk into the pool and there’s 12 rules of no ball throwing, no drinking of any kind, no (46:43) this, no that, no that.
And it basically is like if every rule was followed, you would just (46:49) stand there. And so somebody didn’t walk through that and say, you know, who’s the guest that (46:55) we’re trying to serve here, right? And so you’ve created this environment, you know, that’s (47:03) exceptionally welcoming. I feel like what you’ve also done is you’ve really wanted to make sure(47:09) that you integrate into the community here.
And so, you know, you didn’t come in like a big box (47:16) store or anything like that and kind of disrupt. You really have welcomed in and I’ve really seen (47:23) a lot of the local people, you know, flocking to this place. But in addition to just that, (47:30) you’ve done some real special work with a group called the Harbor Hall.
(47:36) Talk about what you’re doing there and how that’s integrating into the community here(47:42) and what it means for Otis and the, you know, the surrounding area here. (47:46) Yeah, absolutely. Otis needs to be a community gathering place.
We want it to be a community (47:54) gathering place. We cannot be as successful as we want to be or need to be with just (48:03) transient guests. We need to be a part of the community.
We need to be a (48:07) part of the fabric of the community. And one of the ways that we have become (48:12) a part of that community is working with an organization called Harbor Hall. It’s located (48:18) in Petoskey.
Did I call it Harbor House again? I think you called it Harbor Hall. Did I say it right? (48:22) Okay, okay. I know I’ve messed it up before, so.
And it’s a recovery center for substance abuse. (48:33) And they do amazing work. And early on in the, we had to remove so much out of the hotel to (48:42) start renovating and then start creating the environment that we wanted.
We needed a lot more (48:48) hands. Some muscle. We did muscle and a lot more hands, absolutely.
And we were able to partner (48:56) with Harbor Hall. We hired Harbor Hall residents to come here and help us with the work that we (49:09) had. We had to remove beds.
We had to remove shag carpet. We had to remove boxes from the basement, (49:15) you know, all these things. And we needed help.
And through the process, we had a prescribed (49:21) day and time during the week that we would pick up (49:25) the guys that were willing and able to work, and they would come in and work with us. (49:32) And I got to know a lot of the people. These guys were struggling with addiction (49:37) and other life challenges, but they were hardworking, (49:44) you know, people who were looking for something, struggling on so many levels, but (49:51) were good at, you know, deep down, they were just wanting to have a place and wanted to make a mark, (49:58) wanted to be a part of something, a community.
And they had their Harbor Hall community, (50:03) but they ended up establishing a great community here because week after week, we would work with (50:09) a lot of the same guys and they would help us work here at the hotel. (50:17) And what I found out was that so many of the members of our community actually volunteer (50:25) and have even been a part of the Harbor Hall services. Maybe they were addicted to alcohol.
(50:31) Maybe they had a drug addiction. And these are people that I didn’t even know (50:38) had that, but they came to me and they said, wow, we love what you’re doing with Harbor Hall.(50:44) And by the way, you know, I am a recovering, you know, fill in the blank.
And (50:53) it was really amazing to see just how many connections we had in the community with (51:01) what is largely, you know, a tough thing to deal with, a tough thing to overcome. But(51:12) it taught me that, you know, everyone has a story. Everyone has a desire to improve their life, (51:24) to become better and to do better in the most unexpected ways you can influence a life.
(51:37) And you maybe didn’t set out to do that. Maybe you just set out to (51:40) empty a basement or empty a hotel out and you end up meeting people that both give you a lot of(51:47) friendship appreciation for one another. And then you’re also helping them.
(51:54) And it’s really a wonderful exchange. That’s great. And it’s community building as well.
(52:01) Well, I’m sure they appreciate it very much. I know the community appreciates it very much. And (52:08) I’m sure you’re not stopping there.
You’re going to continue. No, we’ll continue working (52:12) with Humber Hall. We did a fundraiser here, actually, and it was well received.
And (52:19) that it’s just an excellent organization. That’s great. That’s great.
Well, (52:25) as I said before, this place is it is a retreat. It is relaxing. It’s comfortable.
It’s stylish. (52:33) And it’s the place to create memories. And you’re trying to build a place here that (52:37) people will want to come back year after year, establishing those traditions that you were so (52:43) blessed to have on Higgins Lake there.
And I think you’re just doing a fantastic job. So (52:48) great job. Thanks for for doing this with me.
Thanks for sharing your story. I think we’re (52:55) going to definitely want to connect back again and continue to get updates of what’s going on (53:00) here at Otis Harbor Springs and what’s going on in the life of you and of Israel. And (53:07) let’s keep sharing it with people.
Thank you very much, Matt. I really appreciate it. And (53:13) I appreciate you discovering Otis and and sharing it with others, because (53:19) somebody listening to this podcast may decide to take a road trip (53:23) and come on up and experience it for themselves.
And we appreciate that. (53:27) I hope so. All right.
Thank you. Thank you.