April 19, 2025 • 53 mins
In this episode of our Small Town-Big Luxury series, host Terrie Dean is joined by Natalie Payne, Vice President of Hospitality Sales at Calliope Collective.
Dive into the world of luxury properties as we explore how Calliope Collective curates and brings together the finest vetted luxury accommodations into one exquisite collection. Discover the secrets behind creating unforgettable luxury experiences in small towns and learn about the meticulous process that ensures each property meets the highest standards.
Dive into the world of luxury properties as we explore how Calliope Collective curates and brings together the finest vetted luxury accommodations into one exquisite collection. Discover the secrets behind creating unforgettable luxury experiences in small towns and learn about the meticulous process that ensures each property meets the highest standards.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is a Lifeless Ordinary, the travel show and podcasts
from your friends at the wishing Well two forty three,
f Avenue and Harshmer and online at the wishing Well
dot This. The wishing Well is your ultimate luxury concierge,
travel agency and a Lifeless Ordinary is a travel show
and podcast hosted by Terry Dean, bringing her over forty
years of experience in the travel industry to help guide
(00:21):
you to great experiences in your travel, whether it be
around the block, around the country, or around the world.
Let's bring in Terry Dean and say hello.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Chris, how in the world are you. This is a
great weekend.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
We had great weather yesterday and I'm hopeful for Easter
tomorrow that the weather is going to be equally.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Yeah, so do I, so do I, And you know,
I know this is a very special time of year.
I hope that we are enjoying families together this weekend.
We're enjoying lots of good meals. I'm sure there's a
lot of bunnies that are making their way across America
today and probably a lot of hiding of Easter eggs.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
If I can offer any advice, remember where they're all hidden,
especially if you're using real.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Eggs, yes, exactly, or chocolate ones, because that could get bad.
In July, my mom left one under the couch.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
We found it in the middle of summer as.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
It Yeah, oh yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
It was reminding us it was there.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
I'm sure it was. I'm sure it was. So if
you had a good week so far, yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
Yeah, I got nothing to complain about.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Yeah. And you know, I was so excited because we
are continuing a series here and we do have another
special guest joining us today, So we are going to
forego the sales and the news as we typically do
because I really want to devote the entire hour to
(01:47):
our guests that join us, and I think that's always important.
We are continuing our series of Small Towns, Big Luxury.
Thank you to all of you out there who continue
to enjoy the show join us here every Saturday. We
do so appreciate it, and I love it when you
give me that feedback that you are listening to the show,
(02:09):
you are liking what we're covering. As a matter of fact,
we are covering the topics that we are right now
with Small Town, Big Luxury because you ask me to
do that. So I really do love it. When our
listeners call in, they let us know it the wishing
well exactly what you want to hear about. So I'm
hoping we've got a pretty good audience today for this
(02:29):
show and to catch you up if you've missed any
of our previous episodes. In the last two weeks, we
have looked at how you can avoid the hustle and
the bustle of the big cities and still find luxurious accommodations,
culture and community, and Chris, I know in our very
first episodes that we started many weeks ago, we talked
(02:53):
about those five c's and those are culture and community
are a part of that. They certainly are in small
towns big luxury and we took our looking glass into
some beautiful small towns in our previous episodes like Sedona, Arizona,
Carmel by the Sea, and Monterey, California, as well as
(03:14):
Bar Harbor Main Those were great shows. I enjoyed them.
I enjoyed researching and putting those togethers. But we learned
that in that first episode how you can find a
great small town location and then actually build your travel
experience around that with luxury as your goal. And last
(03:34):
week after I returned from a Virtuoso Travel advisory training
session in Farmington, Pennsylvania, of all places, I had the
privilege of interviewing the vice president of Sales and Marketing
of NEMA Colon Resort, SPA and Casino. Now, my stay
at this property was, I said on the air, Then
I'll say it again. It was nothing short of magical,
(03:58):
and I just had to share that experience with you
here on a lifeless ordinary I hope you enjoyed that.
I certainly enjoyed talking to them and stretching out that experience,
just getting a little bit more gusto out of it.
It was good for me, so we know, and we've
certainly been able to conclude that small towns can be
full of great, big surprises and certainly great big luxury.
(04:23):
We are continuing our small Town, Big Luxury series today
and this time we're going to look inside a company
that specializes Chris in bringing a lot of these vetted
luxury properties together into a collection, better known as Calliope Collective.
(04:44):
Now joining me today is Natalie Paine. She's vice president
of Hospitality and Sales for Calliope Collective. First of all, Natalie,
welcome to a life less ordinary, yes, and thank you
for joining me. The whole idea of luxury hotel tell
collections might be a little bit of a grey area
for a lot of our listeners today. So if you
(05:06):
can explain in everyday terms what Calliope Collective is what
you do to assist with luxury accommodation reservations, and why
should our listeners want to know and understand what it
is that you do.
Speaker 3 (05:21):
Well, we thank you very much for having me. First
of all, really feel very honored. We are really educators,
you know. I love and I call on high end
travel advisors virtuoso, just like yourself. And that's what I've
done for the last twenty five years. And I love
when we go into a meeting and you don't know
(05:43):
something about, you know, one of my properties, several of
my properties, and by the end you're like, oh my goodness,
I have five people I need to tell this to,
you know, And that's really where these opportunities for shows
like this are so important, because it's getting the word
out what Calliope does. And biopy, just to give you
a little bit of background, literally means beautiful voice. My
(06:04):
voice isn't so beautiful today because it's the pollen I'm
a little rass to you today, but literally means beautiful voice.
He was one of the muses in Greek mythology over
the finer things in life, you know, what we all
love to enjoy. And then the little coliope hummingbird is
one of the smallest birds in the world that flies
thousands of miles to migrate. And so as independently owned properties,
(06:26):
which all twenty one hotels that I represent are independently owned,
we have to work harder than the larger chains. You know,
we're the hidden gems that this show is perfect for,
and it's our goal and our job is to get
the word out and tell people so that they want
to come experience the properties.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
Yeah, so how do you go about vetting these properties
that are within your collection that you represent.
Speaker 3 (06:51):
It's a really, really good question, and you know, we
do a lot of vetting because my reputation I've worked
to build with my clients who are high end luxury
travel advisors and high end consumers. I've worked on this
for twenty five plus years. So I don't want to
sell a product that I can't stand behind wholeheartedly. So
we're really visiting them. You know, we're experiencing them ourselves.
(07:15):
We're looking at reviews online, We're looking at Travel Advisor
reviews and consumer reviews and just making sure that you know,
they may not always be to be honest, the taj Mahal,
it might not be the highest hotel in the in
the area, but it's going to have something really unique.
It's going to have amazing service and a really great
product and kind of fulfill a cool niche. You know that,
(07:38):
And I think that's what people are really looking for
today is something different. It's all about the experience. It's
not necessarily I want to be in this hotel that
I could be anywhere. They want to experience where they are.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
You know, you're absolutely right. And as we have progressed
through some of the Luxury series of information that we've
been sharing with our audience here on a Lifeless Ordinary, Natalie,
we have talked a lot about that about how personal
these experiences when people are traveling anymore are. It's not
(08:11):
just all about the points that you're going to get
from ABC hotel chain. People want more, they crave more,
They want those memorable experiences that you can only get
sometimes from those boutiques, from those very specialty type ends
(08:32):
and small luxury properties that are across this wonderful country
of ours and even internationally. And we're going to touch
on that too a little bit here today. But I've
been reading a lot in our trade magazines and all
of the information that comes across my desk, a plethora
of that, by the way, every single day. Kind of
hard to keep up anymore with the amount of information
(08:55):
that comes through. But there is one common denominator and
that that is exactly what we just covered, and that
is these experiences that people want. What do you believe, Natalie,
are the single most important features and offerings that luxury
hotels must do for their customers.
Speaker 3 (09:16):
Well, we always say, you know, people are going to
remember how you make them feel. Right when I walk
into a property, I want to have a feeling. I
want to feel. When I'm at Jamalind Castle in Ireland,
I feel warm, I feel the years of history that
date back to the fifteen hundreds. When I'm at the
end at Perry Cabin that I think we're going to
(09:38):
talk about today, I mean it goes back to the
eighteen hundreds. So you're feeling the history and you're feeling
the warmth of the people. And for us, you know,
it's really important with our properties that like at Sea
Island and Georgia, they have over one hundred and fifty
employees that have been there for more than twenty five years.
And when you walk in the door, you feel that loyalty,
(09:59):
you feel that pride, you know. And that's what we're
looking for, is people put in our hands their very
precious time and they have very little of it. And
it's very hard with everybody being so busy to get
your multi generational family, your kids and your grandkids together,
it is. And when you get them together, you just
want to connect. Yeah, you know, so I think that's
(10:20):
what we're hoping for at all of these properties, is
that we can create an environment where you can connect
with your loved ones and create memories, because that's what
travel is all about. It's about the moments, it's about
the experiences.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
Yeah, and I want to harken back if I can
for just a minute to our show last week where
we had on the vice president of sales and marketing
there at the nemicol And yeah, yeah, one of the
things that I shared on that show that really struck
me my own personal experience being there was. I remember
(10:54):
just walking down the hallway one day and having probably
had just this dumb look on my face, big question mark,
you know, because honestly, I was thinking about work and
I had all kinds of wheels that were spinning in
my head. But some great service staff member have no
(11:15):
idea where they worked in the hotel, but they were uniformed,
and they stopped me and said, you look like you
have a question. Is there something I can help you with? Man,
I'm going to tell you something, Natalie. That was a
moment for me because not just one person did that.
I had two people stopped me on my way to
my destination who just thought, again this dumb look on
(11:39):
my face, said this woman needs some help. She probably
needs some direction. And I think these features that we're
talking about, these offerings and features, in my opinion too,
like you, I think that comes from a lot of
years of experience, but it also is the need to
(11:59):
continue you a reputation, a reputation of service. In our industry.
We kind of slid off the slopes a little bit
after COVID. I don't know if you would agree with
me about that or not, but I think we absolutely.
Speaker 3 (12:13):
Yeah, I was just about to say, I don't want
to say the C word, but you know, I think
COVID unfortunately gave a lot of excuses and properties can't
use that excuse anymore. You know, if we're charging the
prices that we are for these luxury products, and people
expect amazing service, but you want it to be authentic.
And in this world of AI and everything that's coming in,
(12:37):
you can't replace the human touch. You just can't.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
Yeah, And it's not you know, it's not even just
about that. But I think in the seat that I
set in, travelers are more demanding about the amount of
service and the kinds of service that they want and
what they're willing to accept. That doesn't come across and
(13:00):
I think more than ever, that is why properties like
these luxury properties in small towns are sort of becoming
the trend. They're very much in vogue. I will say
that because I had some folks call me today who
heard the show last week. And by the way, again,
(13:21):
I want to remind you if you missed that last week,
please do turn in to a Lifeless Ordinary. You will
find that on the wishing Wells front page under the
word more. You just go under there you will find
all of the past recordings for a Lifeless Ordinary. And
the Mouse that Roared was the name of last week's show.
(13:44):
You'll find that there. But I mean, these are just
all of the special features and offerings. I think that
luxury hotels have to do Natalie in order to and
I don't want to say any more compete, because I
think their competition is narrowing. I think that luxury, small
luxury hotel properties are actually the ones too be judged
(14:07):
against all other hotels.
Speaker 3 (14:08):
Now they are, and people don't want they don't want
generic anymore, you know, as I said before, they don't
want to feel like they could be anywhere. I was
just I just came back yesterday from Nashville, and let
me tell you Nashville one. That's part of my voice too.
But I always have a great time in Nashville. Oh yes,
but we probably represent the Hermitage Hotel there. And this
(14:28):
hotel was Tennessee's first million dollar hotel. It was built
in nineteen ten. It was named a National Historic Landmark
in twenty twenty because of the significance of the nineteenth
Amendment being ratified there, the women's right to vote and
in all the beautiful branding that they've brought back with
the renovation at that hotel, Like you walk in and
(14:50):
it's significant. I mean when you just think that the
pro and anti suffrage forces for the women's right to
vote we're headquartered there, Like that's important to me.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
You know.
Speaker 3 (15:00):
When I was younger, my parents drugged me to all
these historic places, and I didn't really care. But now
that I'm older and I care about our history and
it's fading. I mean, we need to care. We need
to recognize and a lot of the properties we're going
to talk about today, you know, focus on that, And
I think that's a big piece of it too, is
making it relevant, making the history relevant with the modern
(15:22):
amenities and the service expectations that travelers have today.
Speaker 2 (15:26):
Yeah, and it's so interesting you mentioned Nashville, So I
have to relate to you an experience that I had
just today. This is how I'm seeing things change, modify
the way in which we do what we do behind
our desk as travel advisors. I had a client call
me who said, I'm interested, Terry, in going to a
(15:50):
really nice property somewhere within driving distance of where I
am right now. So how that's changed. So let's turn
the clock back about ten years. What would have happened
before would have been somebody would have called me and said, Terry,
we're going to Nashville. Do you know of any great
(16:11):
places to stay? Now people are changing their pointer and
they're putting it toward these properties. So very interesting question
I want to pose to you. How much of an increase, Natalie,
are you seeing in travelers gravitating two luxury properties within
small cities and what do you attribute that to.
Speaker 3 (16:35):
The drive market? Definitely, obviously during COVID that even since
has remained really strong. People have again very little time,
but they still want to get away. They want an
amazing experience. So yes, you know, once a year you
might go to Africa or Italy, or once every few
years if that's on your bucket list and have a
bigger trip. That people want to get away for a
(16:57):
long weekend. And that's what we're seeing is that more
and more, you know what's within my three to five
hour drive market that I can just go for three
or four nights and have a little staycation, vacation and
get away. It's very very popular and it's just continued
to be since COVID and now you know, things are
different politically and all of that. So some people don't
(17:20):
want to fly, some people do want to fly, So
it just kind of depends on where they're at. But
I do think a lot of people are saying domestic.
You know, a lot. We're seeing a lot of North
Americans stay domestic right now.
Speaker 2 (17:33):
So I want to now get down into the real
grit of the features of really all of these properties,
because I believe there are some consistencies I think you'd
agree with that you and I have talked before. There
really are consistencies that offer clients some of the very
best values, but some that they may not be entirely
(17:53):
aware of that they're even getting when they stay at
some of these luxury properties small towns. They're getting, as
you mentioned before, those unique guest experiences, and they have
certain expectations. So we know that our guests are choosing
luxury hotels in small towns often because they want to
(18:14):
prioritize their experience over just an amenity. I think that's
in a nutshell, the summary of what the first part
of what you and I have talked about is. But
a lot of travelers, yeah, they're unaware that you can
have both of those things, Am I right?
Speaker 3 (18:30):
Absolutely? And first and foremost we're selling the destinations first.
You know, I have to talk you into wanting to
come to Saint Michael's, Maryland, or Charlotte'sville, Virginia, or Nashville
or these places that you might not have been before.
You know, yes, do we have an amazing hotel there
tooy that really fits the environment, absolutely, with great service.
(18:51):
But why why do you want to go to that area?
And I think you know, as travel advisors, that's what
our job is is to help you educate your clients
on that first, and talked them into Okay, let's get
away from you know, New York and kind of all
the main big areas. Let's try something different.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
I agree with that. And there's this whole concept anymore
about balancing a personal experience with engagement in a community,
which again is what I think brings us into these
small town areas. I mean, I had to tell you
I've lived in Virginia my whole life. I've been in
the travel industry for forty five years. I've talked about
(19:31):
that here on a lifeless ordinary. I had never heard
of Farmington Pennsylvania until a couple of weeks ago. Yeah,
I mean it was just an anomaly. I just had
no idea where If somebody said there's a fabulous place
to go a destination and it's called Farmington, Pennsylvania, I
(19:52):
would not have known what they were talking about. But
the minute I knew, I was going to Nemicol And
I've heard about that for years, I think ever since
they broke ground, but I just never knew where it was.
But people today they are looking for that small town
experience without sacrificing anything, and they also want that community engagement.
(20:16):
So we know that successful hotels in small towns they
engage with their local community, they support local businesses, they
employ local staff, and respect local traditions. Talk to me
about that a little bit. With these properties that you know.
Speaker 3 (20:34):
Well, I mean them, mccolan is a perfect example. They
are the number one employer in all of that area.
I mean for miles and miles around, like I would say,
even all the way to Pittsburgh. They're probably one of
the biggest employers. So same with in a Perry Cabin
in Saint Michael's, Maryland and Keswick, and they're giving opportunities
(20:54):
and even we have a property you know in Costa
Rica that employees sixty five staff that on property that
to be honest, their homes probably have dirt floors, you know,
but we're giving them the opportunity to work at a
luxury hotel and to understand kind of that we're training
them and giving them a skill with that extra level
of service. So I think most of these properties that
(21:18):
are in smaller areas, you have a limited work pool
to work with. And yes they do bring in you know,
maybe h two be like one of my properties brings
in Jamaicans every summer, and we've had to work with
some international but most of it they're training the local
people up to the level that they need them to be.
And that's a huge where you know, some of these
(21:39):
people probably didn't go to college, they didn't have that
opportunity financially, so it's really giving them an opportunity to
improve their life. Mimical and also just built a thirteen
million dollar employee housing complex with a market with a
bar with a gym so that their employees are comfortable
and that they have a nice place to live and
(21:59):
they can ford it.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
Yeah, I mean, it's a wonderful give back program. I
think that they have and they certainly are the ones
who are I think leading the ground breaking on a
lot of that. Let's talk about sustainability a little bit.
This is a word that I think where it's going
to go to the very top of Webster's list in
(22:20):
twenty twenty five. So talk to me about that, Natalie
and your hotel properties. What are you seeing?
Speaker 3 (22:27):
Well that you took the words out of my mouth,
because I was about to say, that's really becoming not
only important for the hotels as part of their ethos,
as part of their culture is the sustainability and really
you know, giving back and preserving our planet and caring
about the environment. And obviously our hotels li like in
Costa Rica are that, But like the K Club, for example,
(22:49):
which is thirty minutes outside of Dublin in Ireland, their
new owner just brought back the turbine on the River
Liffey to provide sixty percent of the power to the hotel.
You know, back in the eighteen hundreds, that's how the
resort was powered and that's how the home was powered.
But then they got on the grid. But it was
so important to him that they get back to sustainability
(23:13):
and that they get off the grid and that they
produce their own power. And we're seeing that at a
lot of our hotels, Ra Marris and Sorrento that just
open last April has a soller field panel on the
back of the hotel and it's so beautifully done you
wouldn't really even notice it, but you know, it's beautiful,
and they're caring about that. The single use plastics, you know,
(23:35):
need to go away, and a lot of our hotels
are adapting to that. They're composting all of their food waste.
So we see I mean, just depending on the property,
we're seeing it a lot more, but the travelers are
demanding it. Especially. We're seeing it with like corporate groups
and incentive groups, you know, bigger groups that are really
concerned about like the carbon impact that they're making, which
(23:59):
is great to see. But I think especially wealthy travelers,
you know, travelers that are lucky enough to visit the
properties that we're talking about, they're concerned about the environment.
They want to feel like they're giving back, they want
to be part of the community, and that's a huge,
huge trend.
Speaker 2 (24:15):
That we're seeing absolutely, and I think that all of
that's great, great news. We love we love good news,
I mean, especially now, everybody likes to hear good news
rather than bad news. But you and I both know
the travel industry is it's not a perfect industry, is it.
I mean we've we we kind of are the bumper
pad for everything, both good and bad, and with the
(24:37):
goods sometimes come potential challenges. So we know that staffing
and training have been a problem since as you said
this C word, we've got infrastructure and logistics sometimes even
managing expectations. Talk to me about that a little bit.
And Natalie, insofar as you've had any inner actions or
(25:01):
talks with these hotels that you represent, how are they dealing,
what are they doing, what are the what are the
secret sauces that they're using to overcome these obstacles?
Speaker 3 (25:14):
Well, I think the big question, you know, after COVID,
it's like where did everybody go? You know, we had
we had all these people, and it's like they chose,
you know, other career paths, I guess, and got out
of hospitality. So the pool has been small. So obviously
our hotels are having to pay more and compensate more
and add extra benefits and all of that. But again,
(25:34):
I think it goes back to finding employees that are
aligned with your values and with your culture and with
your vision. And that's where I just spoke to the
managing director this week at the Hermitage Hotel. You know,
she said, this is my vision and our people need
to get on board, and if they don't, then they
don't last very long if it's just a job to them.
(25:57):
You know, I think when we're talking about these luxury
properties that are unique and in these smaller towns especially,
they really have to kind of buy into it and
just be loyal and be a part of it. They
want to have to make it successful. It can't just
be a job. And that's hard. And I think, as
I have a nineteen and twenty one year old, so
(26:19):
I know what I'm talking about. You know, I'm nervous
for the future generations. They don't have the same work
ethic that you and I were necessarily raised talents.
Speaker 2 (26:28):
Right, You're exactly right, So, you know, And again.
Speaker 3 (26:32):
As we get into more of this AI and everybody
has their heads and their phones, like, it's even more
important that we get away and we disconnect. We need
to disconnect, and we need to truly experience and be
present with the people that we're with in the places
that we are.
Speaker 2 (26:47):
Yeah, I agree with you one hundred percent. We're going
to take a break here and we're going to come back,
and when we do, we're actually going to drill down
into some of the very specific properties that Natalie represents
with Calliope Collective and that you can book through the
wishing Well. We are a virtuoso agency and we're going
(27:09):
to tell you all about these properties, kind of give
you something to point your own arrow too, and we'll
be back in just a few minutes.
Speaker 4 (27:18):
Protect your vacation investment with guidance from a travel professional.
The wishing Well knows travel and helps you avoid pitfalls
that can spoil your hird earned vacation. We'll plan your
trip and have your back as you travel. All of
this without support or so called convenience fees. We're on
the web at the Wishingwell dot viz or call us
at five four zero nine zero eight two three three
(27:40):
three a's five four zero nine zero eight two three
three three. The washing Well really does make dreams come true.
Speaker 2 (27:48):
Well, welcome back to a life less ordinary. We are
having a great time today talking about small town's big
luxury again. The name of our show today is called
Luxury collect Collections and I am joined today by Natalie Payne.
(28:08):
She is the vice president of hospitality for a company
called Calliope Collective. And I have been enjoying this Natalie
very very much. I said to you off air that
it's great for me because when I have guests, because
I learn as much as our audience does in many
of these things when we have guests. Yeah, it's wonderful.
(28:32):
And you know, as I told you before, I've been
around for a long time, longer than the dust under
my desk, I can tell you that. And I enjoy
this industry so much. I often say I would happily
do it for no money. I'm just glad that I
get paid for my hobby. So thanks for joining me
on my little hobby today. And we want to actually
(28:55):
jump in now to some very specific properties, now that
we sort of have a better lay of the land.
What you do, People already know what I do, so
we want to take them literally inside the doors of
some of these hidden gems. And Natalie, I'm going to
let you kind of run with this because we had
sort of mentioned at the beginning of the show. Four
(29:17):
of these properties that we want to kind of unearth
for our listening audience, many that they might know about,
some that they may not have ever heard of. But
I can tell you right now these are very special gems.
So take it away for us, Natalie, tell us what
you can.
Speaker 3 (29:35):
Thank you, Thank you so much for having us and
for this opportunity again. And I just want to remind
your listeners, like the value that you have. You know,
if you're booking a luxury hotel, use a travel advisor.
And I know that a lot of people don't think
about using an advisor unless they're going you know, across
far across the sea and foreign places. But for these
(29:59):
local properties, if you're getting such a value, you're getting
the complimentary breakfast with virtuos, so you're getting the one
hundred dollars at least resort credit, you're getting the upgrades
because of our relationship. You know, we're going to be
ip then because we want to make you look good.
And so I just want to remind people of that
because a lot of times they think, oh, there's a middleman.
(30:19):
You know, it's going to be more. It can't be
like the best value, but it truly is because you're
using your buying power to negotiate with hotels like us.
Speaker 2 (30:28):
You're so right, thank you. Yeah, could they book these
properties on their own shore, but why would you want to?
You're leaving money on the table that belongs to you.
All you have to do is reach out to the
wishing Well, who is a Virtuoso agency. Those particular benefits
are only tied to Virtuoso agencies, of which we are one.
(30:51):
And while we are at it, I want to just
quickly give everybody a way in which they can reach us.
We're easy to find well. First of all, we're located
at two four forty three and f Avenue in Harsenberg
in the Valley Center. You can call us at five
four zero nine oh eight two three three three, or
you can look us up on the web at the
(31:12):
Wishingwell dot biz. So there's really no reason for you
to ever travel without the extra benefits that Virtuoso provides you.
And Natalie, thank you so much for that shameless plug.
We appreciate it so very much, but it really it
really is important, you.
Speaker 3 (31:31):
Know, it is absolutely and so we're very proudly part
of Virtuous. So in the Hotel's pay to be part
of Virtuous because we know that you have influence and
when a client comes to you, you could say a
million places, but we want you to say our place.
So I want to start with the Init Perry Cabin.
And if you guys aren't familiar with the Init Perry Cabin,
this is in Saint Michael's, Maryland. Back in two thousand
(31:54):
and five, there was a little movie films here called
The Wedding Crashers. Oh yeah, so this was the location
that they went to after And when I arrived at
this property, I just say, you have an Adirondack attitude.
You grab your glass of voos clickot and you sit
and you overlook the Chesapeake and really all this property
is all about the water. We have a fleet of
(32:15):
six boats that come in from about April to November,
so you can learn how to sail. You can get
out on a sunset cruise on the yacht. It's all
about getting on the water for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
You can have that amazing Maryland crab, crab cakes and
crab benedict and every crab every way that you want it.
Seventy yes, they have seventy four beautiful rooms that are
(32:39):
very kind of country cottage cheek. You know, they've all
they're very kind of white bright, just really relaxing, but
multiple dining outlets and then pretty significant if you're a golfer.
They have the last golf course that Pete and Alice
died designed before he passed away, no kidding, so know, yeah, yeah,
and so you know we call them the diabolical golfers.
(33:02):
I don't want to play every peat, dickhorse and so
in at Perry Cabin it is perfect for that. There's
also a new if you want to skip the bridge,
because during the summer the bridge over to Saint Michael's
can get a little backed up. You can park at
the Annapolis Yacht Club and we can pick you up
on a yacht with champagne and charcooterie and bring you
over to the property. But Saint Michael's is such a
(33:24):
cute little town, talk about like an undiscovered like Americana
hidden gym. It's the town that fooled the British and
so back in the War of eighteen twelve, they hung
lights past the city so that the British would overshoot
the city and it ended up saving the town, so
I really enjoyed, like my biking tour when I was there. So,
(33:46):
you know, just a lot of American history, a lot
of breweries and antique shops and art galleries. So highly
suggest in it Perry Cabin to be on your list
if you're kind of in that area. We're about an
hour and twenty minutes from the Baltimore Airport, about a
three hour drive even from New York three three and
a half hours. You know, obviously Pennsylvania DC great feeder
(34:06):
markets for that area. Also kind of in that area,
we have Keswick Hall, which this property dates back to
eighteen twelve. It's in Charlottesville, Virginia, and Charlottesville is very
well known right now as a huge wine area. It
was just named by Wine Spectator last year and like
the most popular up and coming wine area. There are
(34:27):
sixty wineries within thirty thirty miles of this hotel, so wineries, sideries, breweries,
also Thomas Jefferson's home Monticello, James Madison's home Montpellier. Obviously
the University of Virginia, so we get a lot of
college tours. But Keswick underwent a massive renovation over the
(34:48):
last like three years, two hundred plus million dollars and
now it's eighty rooms. They also have a peat Die
golf course called Full Cry for your diabolical golfers, Full
New Spa, and they've partnered with John George for their
signature restaurant, Marrigold. And when I tell you the Krispy
Sushi and the Tuffle pizza are to die for, I
(35:10):
dream about them. They're really really good. So Keswick's also
another one. I really just I love Charlottesville for again
the wineries that too, the history.
Speaker 2 (35:19):
Yeah, well and I actually in a previous life, I
was the marketing director at the Charlottesville Albumoral Airport and
now way uh huh absolutely, and so I held a
lot of events out at Keswick Hall during that time,
and it was a beautiful property even then. I can
only imagine with all of the renovations and the millions
(35:42):
of dollars that have been spent, Natalie, just what a
new palace this really is. Because Keswick Hall is just
in a very picturesque part of our Virginia, and it
is beautiful.
Speaker 3 (35:56):
It used to be, you know a little bit more
kind of Lord and Laura Ashleys and a lot of
antiques and they really have brought it just more elegant,
very upscale. It's it's really really stunning. It's one of
my favorites, to be honest. It's one of those that
you walk into and you're like, oh, I wish my
house felt like it. You know, the design and there's
(36:17):
a there's a pool, table room, and there's a library,
and there's just so many places by the sunrise pool
and sunset pool as well to have a great cocktail.
So that's really a favorite right now in the collection.
Speaker 2 (36:29):
Yeah, well, full transparency. I am a closet interior decorators,
so I will actually often go through some of these properties,
like the ones that you're talking about, you know, the
inn at Perry Cabin or Keswick Hall. I'll go through
with my camera, take pictures and go I could do that,
knowing full well there's no way I could. But the
(36:52):
dream is there.
Speaker 3 (36:54):
It's like a it's like an in person Tenris board.
Speaker 2 (36:57):
Yes it is. Yes is if they if they get
it right, and they did, then why can't I copy that?
Speaker 3 (37:03):
You know? Yeah? And then you know I want to
We talked about the Laurel, which is kind of a
little sleeper hotel down in Auburn, Alabama, And I always
joke during my sales calls, I'm like, I know your
phone is ringing off the hook for Auburn, Alabama. So
thank goodness, we now have a five diamond hotel there.
(37:25):
But the Laurel is a twenty six room hotel. It's
all club level, so when you arrive, you're greeted by
the butler downstairs and you're taking up to your room.
The lobby area, you know, meal displays throughout the day, breakfast, lunch,
or Durves Happy hour. But this is part of the
Horse sualt See School of Hospitality. He's the man that
started Risk Colton back in the day, so amazing for service.
(37:49):
But the School of Hospitality at Auburn is named after him,
and this is part of the university. Wow, you know,
there was just yeah, a lot of people don't know that,
but there was a need for an upscale hotel when
alumna come in and just a luxury hotel in Auburn.
And so this is really fulfilling that niche. And if
you have clients in say Atlanta, which is an hour
(38:11):
and a half away, maybe Birmingham, this is a real
foody destination. Their signature restaurant, eighteen fifty six, has an
ongoing chef in residence program, so they have a celebrity
chef every quarter that comes in. What's really been popular
recently are their specialty tees. So they have like a
(38:31):
Harry Potter tea, They've had.
Speaker 2 (38:33):
Some swifty teas.
Speaker 3 (38:35):
They've had a Bridge Orton tea, so they've had all
these unique teas. So, yeah, don't just think of Auburn
four obviously the college there, but again another really cool
Americana town. It's on the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail,
so if you have those golfers that are doing the
golf trail, it's the luxury product that you can stay in.
(38:57):
But still because it's an Auburn, you know, amazing rate.
But their general.
Speaker 2 (39:02):
Yeah, this is another reason why I chose this property
was because of some of the added activities that are
so unique that they do. Yes, you know, the golfers
have something to do there, but Natalie, if you will
address some of these other really unique things that this
(39:22):
particular property has.
Speaker 3 (39:25):
I was very impressed with their spa, you know, to
be just a twenty six room hotel. They have a
beautiful spa. They've just added a Himalayan salt room, Oh wow,
which is really cool as well. They also have a
gourmet food hall, and so I love that you have
the interaction with the university students and the polity students.
But yeah, it has like this vibrancy, you know, always
(39:48):
because they're so eager. They're looking to get into the
business and learn, and so as we talk about that
service piece earlier, that's a really big part of it.
And this gourmet food hall is so cool. It's got
like a pokey area, a homemade ice cream area. They
have their own micro brewery, they have their own coffee roastery.
So anything that you may think of that people would
(40:08):
be learning in school for hospitality and for chefs and
culinary you're getting to experience it at this hotel too.
I went around Christmas time. The gingerbread house displays was insane.
Speaker 2 (40:20):
Oh wow.
Speaker 3 (40:21):
So the holidays are also a really good time to visit.
Just don't call me for a football.
Speaker 2 (40:25):
Weekend exactly, and that would be probably impossible. But a
couple of the other things I wanted to point to
if I could, that they do that I find remarkably interesting.
You don't find this at other chain type hotels. So
I love that about the uniqueness of this property, and
(40:45):
that is that they do cooking lessons, they do something
called yoga on the rooftop.
Speaker 3 (40:52):
They do their rooftop is amazing. They have a pool
that's just for guests up there, but they also have
an organic garden. Yeah, and every Thursday, Yeah, every Thursday
they do chef activation. So when I was there, the
chef was making you know, smashburger sliders and he was
using some of the herbs from the garden. They do yoga.
On the weekends, they do tea up there and brunch.
(41:14):
So yeah, the roof is definitely and it has such
a beautiful view of Auburn University as well, and there's
some really beautiful parks like biking and hiking and Auburn
as well as art museums you know as well that
you could you could combine with.
Speaker 2 (41:30):
Yeah, and I think the Laurel Hotel and Spot even
has e bikes on property that you can they complimentary. Yeah,
I mean, where are you going to get that? And
picnic experiences and the whole epicurean experience that you have
an even Friday night music series that they have that,
(41:51):
you know, is really puts them almost like a destination
onto themselves, because why would you ever need to leave
and go out out of that Again, it harkens back
to my week at NEMA Colan. Why would you ever
need to even leave because they have everything that you
could possibly want right there, I mean there and there.
(42:14):
Talk to me about their ideal clients. Who do you
think their ideal clients would be?
Speaker 3 (42:20):
Well, definitely, you know, most of what we get is
affiliated with the university. However, I think girls' weekends, you know,
romantic couples weekends, foodies. For sure. They have the top
some lia and the entire state of Alabama. Josh Head,
the general manager, was just named the general Manager of
the year, you know, for all of Alabama. So when
(42:44):
you talk about service, it is completely five star service.
And I think it's just such a perfect little staycation.
Have a spa treatment, have some amazing dining, walk through
the cute Americana town. I got a few. I love
a good boutique, you know, a good dress. It's different
that no one else is going to get. So yes,
(43:05):
a lot to do in Auburn that you might not
think of for sure.
Speaker 2 (43:09):
Now, what other hotels do we have that we can
give a nod to.
Speaker 3 (43:14):
Today, we wanted to talk about Amrit Ocean Resort and Residences, which.
Speaker 2 (43:19):
Is down in West Palm Beach.
Speaker 3 (43:21):
On Singer Island in Florida. So this property was a
long time in the making, and I was very fortunate
enough to meet Dyla, who is the owner. He is
from the same village as Gandhi. And I said, Yla,
why did you want to build this property? And it's
a wellness resort, you know, it's a beautiful ocean front
(43:41):
that mainly wellness resort. And he said, I love my
wife so much and I want her to live as
long as possible, and I want to live as long
as possible to love her. And I want everybody to
be able to live their best life. And so Amrit
in Sanskrit means the elixir of life. And a lot
of the different names of their restaurants and the spa
(44:04):
areas are all in Sanskrit. So there's a real meaning
of this property. But it's one hundred and fifty five
rooms ocean front on Singer Island. It's about ten minutes
from the West Palm Beach Airport, an hour from the
Fort Lauderdale Airport, So an amazing location. You can visit
Jupiter and del Rey and Boca, you know, all of
those great little cities that are down in the West
(44:25):
Palm area. They also have some condos, like they call
them wellness condos that are two bedrooms, and all of
these are available to your virtuoso clients. But really the
gem of this property is the one hundred and three
thousand square foot Wellness Center. And it is all ocean
front on four different stories, and so they have six
(44:47):
different studios with over thirty complementary fitness classes and wellness
classes a day. You can go and just have a
nice weekend and a spa treatment and sit by the pool.
Or they have three five days a month long wellness
packages that focus on the five pillars of wellness and
those are nutrition, relaxation, sleep, movement, and fitness. I was like,
(45:11):
sign me up for them.
Speaker 2 (45:12):
Oh, I'm ready for that right now myself exactly.
Speaker 3 (45:18):
And they I have been so impressed with the specialists
that they have hired. So can you sign up for
one of like these three or five day retreat packages.
You're going in, you're meeting with a nutritionists, you're meeting
with a sleep specialist. When I was there, I did
a sound bath, you know, they did my BMI and
kind of said all of that and then they lay
out a whole plan. They're talking to you before you arrive,
(45:41):
they're with you while you're there, and then they follow
up with you after as well. And because Dylup is
from India and has kind of that background, they have
a traditional mom and some of the traditional you know,
more treatments, but they also have combined it with the
very modern hypiberic oxygen chamber, red light therapy, IV therapy,
(46:03):
float tank therapy, you know, cryotherapy, so all of this
new treatment too. So we're also seeing people come that
are recovering from cancer and recovering for surgeries. This is
a great place to come and heal. Their restaurants are
very plant forward and very irvetic, so you know, you're
(46:24):
you can definitely get a nice steak or a piece
of fish, but you're going to see some really creative
uses of fruit and vegetables in their menus as well.
Speaker 2 (46:33):
I love that. Talk to me a little bit about
Singer Island itself. What do you know about that?
Speaker 3 (46:40):
Well, Singer Island itself is not very big and to
be honest, there hasn't been a whole lot of luxury there.
There's definitely some time shares, and it's more residential. Somebody
told me recently, I think Oprah had a house there. Well,
you know, so that whole area in general West Palm
when you look at Boca and Del Rey and kind
of the expanded area and the marinas that surround have
(47:03):
huge yachts. I love just going out at night and
having a cocktail and walking around, you know, looking at
my new yacht that I'm picking out.
Speaker 2 (47:11):
A new one, right, Yeah, upgrading.
Speaker 3 (47:15):
And last time when I was there, actually, and I've
lived on the beach, I've lived near the beach for
the last twenty something years. I had never seen a
turtle hatching. And the last time I was on Singer Island,
which was in May, was I think it was, excuse me, September.
They lay the eggs in May and then they hatched
in September. I was there in September, and so we
(47:37):
saw this commotion down on the beach and we were like,
what is that And we run down and it was
a turtle nest and we got the baby turtle, Yeah,
making their way. So Singer Island is known as a
big turtle nesting beach as well, and in fact the
hotel has to pull their curtains and be really mindful
at night of the additional light. So as we talk
(47:58):
about like sustainability and being you know, good stewards of
nature and the environment, that really is applicable on Singer
Island because you get huge fines if you don't pull
your drapes because the turtles can get disoriented.
Speaker 2 (48:13):
Oh wow, and I didn't know.
Speaker 3 (48:15):
Yeah, yeah, And so we have naturalists that you can
walk with in the morning, you know, and dull sye,
are there any new nest late or they might sit
on a nest at night if they think that it's
going to be happening, and our guests can be involved
in that, which is really cool.
Speaker 2 (48:30):
Wow. Well, Natalie, we've got about five more minutes left
on our show, and I'm sad about that. Honestly, I
feel like I could talk to you for another two hours.
But we know that small towns are not just a
feature in the United States, but that's also internationally as
well anymore, so I wonder if you could just talk
us through a few more of your favorite international properties
(48:51):
where they can be found and what would you want
to highlight about those I did.
Speaker 3 (48:57):
Before I go international. I did want to mention just
as we've talked so much about you know, history and
heritage and really special places. We've just added Canoe Place
in which is in the Hamptons. Oh this is It's
in Hampton Bays in New York and it is the
site of the original the first inn in America back
to sixteen ninety seven. Oh nice, and the owners have
(49:21):
reimagine and reopened this hotel in twenty twenty two and
it's just such a cute, little kind of vintage feel
in twenty room in and then they have thirty seven
new boat houses on the canal. So just wanted to
mention that if you have any listeners up in kind
of the you know, New York tri state area, I
really think this one's going to be hugely popular this
(49:42):
coming summer. It's the closest Hampson resort to the city.
It's about ninety minutes to the city. They're talking internationally,
One of my favorites right now is to newt to
Demurlo and this is in Umbria, and you know Umbria
is really up and coming. If you've had clients that
have gone to They've kind of been there, done that
with the Italy one oh one places. I'm sure you've
(50:05):
had these calls here where people are like, they want
to be Diane Lane right, like they want to be
they want a villa in Italy absolutely rick exactly with
a hot with a hot guy called on it, exactly,
but they don't want to be in the middle of nowhere.
It's like, once you get this villa, you don't want
to be in the middle of nowhere. So Tanusa de
Merlo in Umbria. This is a fourteen thousand acre resort estate.
(50:29):
It's about twenty five minutes to Perugia, forty minutes to
a cz which I fell in love with, an hour
to Siena. But it's been in the same family for
three hundred years and there's over eighty abandoned villas on
the property and this couple is lovingly and thoughtfully restoring
(50:50):
them one by one. So so far they have nine
villas that are so beautiful. I would highly encourage that
you look at them on Instagram, but they have like
five hundred thousand followers, but book it for you for sure.
And they're two to ten bedrooms the ten bedroom has
its own church, medieval church that will hold up to
fifty people. And so I just think it's places like
(51:13):
this that are family owned. They have their own farm,
they have two vineyards, you can truffle hunt on property,
you can ride horses, you can ride bikes and hike.
But then to be so close to these other cities
that you can kind of take day trips and base
yourself there. We're seeing that that's becoming really popular. People
want to stay longer. They're calling it slow travel. That's
(51:36):
really been in addition to sustainability, slow travel and solo
travel and history and heritage travel are some of the
new trends that we're seeing kind of over the last
couple of months. We also have a new one, Ramris,
which is in Sorrento, Italy, and it's really fulfilling a niche.
It's a family owned property as well, and it's only
(51:57):
forty nine rooms, but it's more contemporary. You know, most
of the Hodpels and Currens who are a little bit
kind of older, more traditional, so this one's contemporary, has
a really sexy rooftop bar, beautiful pool, and it's ten
and up. So for those that you know, don't want
a faders and kids running around. It's really great. And
who does not love Leomon Fellow Well, no, ken, amen
(52:21):
and amen and amen.
Speaker 2 (52:24):
And I want, I want to continue this conversation on
and on and on, but the clock is telling me
that we are simply out of time, and I am
sad about that, Natalie. But it has been a delight.
It has been a joy. I can't wait to talk
to you real time about some of these properties. I
know the one that you mentioned in Tuscany. I'm probably
(52:46):
going to be booking very quickly because I just talked
to families about that area just yesterday, So that one
I'm definitely going to put on my list of places
to contact you about. We do want to remind our
audience that we can be joined here every Saturday at
ten am on a lifeless Ordinary. If you are interested
in booking any of this with the Wishing Well, we
(53:07):
are easy to find. We are located at two forty
three nef Avenue in the Valley Center five four oh
nine oh eight two three three three or contact us
at the Wishingwell dot biz.
Speaker 1 (53:19):
This has been a life less ordinary. The travel show
from your friends at the Wishing Well at two forty
three neph Avenue in Harrisonburg.
Speaker 2 (53:26):
If you have any.
Speaker 1 (53:26):
Questions on topics discussed today, please reach out to the
wishing Well online at the Wishingwell dot biz or five
four oh nine oh eight twenty three thirty three. Past
episodes are available on the iHeartRadio app. And we'll see
again next Saturday morning at ten for a life less
ordinary from the wishing Well
This is a Lifeless Ordinary, the travel show and podcasts
from your friends at the wishing Well two forty three,
f Avenue and Harshmer and online at the wishing Well
dot This. The wishing Well is your ultimate luxury concierge,
travel agency and a Lifeless Ordinary is a travel show
and podcast hosted by Terry Dean, bringing her over forty
years of experience in the travel industry to help guide
(00:21):
you to great experiences in your travel, whether it be
around the block, around the country, or around the world.
Let's bring in Terry Dean and say hello.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Chris, how in the world are you. This is a
great weekend.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
We had great weather yesterday and I'm hopeful for Easter
tomorrow that the weather is going to be equally.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Yeah, so do I, so do I, And you know,
I know this is a very special time of year.
I hope that we are enjoying families together this weekend.
We're enjoying lots of good meals. I'm sure there's a
lot of bunnies that are making their way across America
today and probably a lot of hiding of Easter eggs.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
If I can offer any advice, remember where they're all hidden,
especially if you're using real.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Eggs, yes, exactly, or chocolate ones, because that could get bad.
In July, my mom left one under the couch.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
We found it in the middle of summer as.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
It Yeah, oh yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
It was reminding us it was there.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
I'm sure it was. I'm sure it was. So if
you had a good week so far, yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
Yeah, I got nothing to complain about.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Yeah. And you know, I was so excited because we
are continuing a series here and we do have another
special guest joining us today, So we are going to
forego the sales and the news as we typically do
because I really want to devote the entire hour to
(01:47):
our guests that join us, and I think that's always important.
We are continuing our series of Small Towns, Big Luxury.
Thank you to all of you out there who continue
to enjoy the show join us here every Saturday. We
do so appreciate it, and I love it when you
give me that feedback that you are listening to the show,
(02:09):
you are liking what we're covering. As a matter of fact,
we are covering the topics that we are right now
with Small Town, Big Luxury because you ask me to
do that. So I really do love it. When our
listeners call in, they let us know it the wishing
well exactly what you want to hear about. So I'm
hoping we've got a pretty good audience today for this
(02:29):
show and to catch you up if you've missed any
of our previous episodes. In the last two weeks, we
have looked at how you can avoid the hustle and
the bustle of the big cities and still find luxurious accommodations,
culture and community, and Chris, I know in our very
first episodes that we started many weeks ago, we talked
(02:53):
about those five c's and those are culture and community
are a part of that. They certainly are in small
towns big luxury and we took our looking glass into
some beautiful small towns in our previous episodes like Sedona, Arizona,
Carmel by the Sea, and Monterey, California, as well as
(03:14):
Bar Harbor Main Those were great shows. I enjoyed them.
I enjoyed researching and putting those togethers. But we learned
that in that first episode how you can find a
great small town location and then actually build your travel
experience around that with luxury as your goal. And last
(03:34):
week after I returned from a Virtuoso Travel advisory training
session in Farmington, Pennsylvania, of all places, I had the
privilege of interviewing the vice president of Sales and Marketing
of NEMA Colon Resort, SPA and Casino. Now, my stay
at this property was, I said on the air, Then
I'll say it again. It was nothing short of magical,
(03:58):
and I just had to share that experience with you
here on a lifeless ordinary I hope you enjoyed that.
I certainly enjoyed talking to them and stretching out that experience,
just getting a little bit more gusto out of it.
It was good for me, so we know, and we've
certainly been able to conclude that small towns can be
full of great, big surprises and certainly great big luxury.
(04:23):
We are continuing our small Town, Big Luxury series today
and this time we're going to look inside a company
that specializes Chris in bringing a lot of these vetted
luxury properties together into a collection, better known as Calliope Collective.
(04:44):
Now joining me today is Natalie Paine. She's vice president
of Hospitality and Sales for Calliope Collective. First of all, Natalie,
welcome to a life less ordinary, yes, and thank you
for joining me. The whole idea of luxury hotel tell
collections might be a little bit of a grey area
for a lot of our listeners today. So if you
(05:06):
can explain in everyday terms what Calliope Collective is what
you do to assist with luxury accommodation reservations, and why
should our listeners want to know and understand what it
is that you do.
Speaker 3 (05:21):
Well, we thank you very much for having me. First
of all, really feel very honored. We are really educators,
you know. I love and I call on high end
travel advisors virtuoso, just like yourself. And that's what I've
done for the last twenty five years. And I love
when we go into a meeting and you don't know
(05:43):
something about, you know, one of my properties, several of
my properties, and by the end you're like, oh my goodness,
I have five people I need to tell this to,
you know, And that's really where these opportunities for shows
like this are so important, because it's getting the word
out what Calliope does. And biopy, just to give you
a little bit of background, literally means beautiful voice. My
(06:04):
voice isn't so beautiful today because it's the pollen I'm
a little rass to you today, but literally means beautiful voice.
He was one of the muses in Greek mythology over
the finer things in life, you know, what we all
love to enjoy. And then the little coliope hummingbird is
one of the smallest birds in the world that flies
thousands of miles to migrate. And so as independently owned properties,
(06:26):
which all twenty one hotels that I represent are independently owned,
we have to work harder than the larger chains. You know,
we're the hidden gems that this show is perfect for,
and it's our goal and our job is to get
the word out and tell people so that they want
to come experience the properties.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
Yeah, so how do you go about vetting these properties
that are within your collection that you represent.
Speaker 3 (06:51):
It's a really, really good question, and you know, we
do a lot of vetting because my reputation I've worked
to build with my clients who are high end luxury
travel advisors and high end consumers. I've worked on this
for twenty five plus years. So I don't want to
sell a product that I can't stand behind wholeheartedly. So
we're really visiting them. You know, we're experiencing them ourselves.
(07:15):
We're looking at reviews online, We're looking at Travel Advisor
reviews and consumer reviews and just making sure that you know,
they may not always be to be honest, the taj Mahal,
it might not be the highest hotel in the in
the area, but it's going to have something really unique.
It's going to have amazing service and a really great
product and kind of fulfill a cool niche. You know that,
(07:38):
And I think that's what people are really looking for
today is something different. It's all about the experience. It's
not necessarily I want to be in this hotel that
I could be anywhere. They want to experience where they are.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
You know, you're absolutely right. And as we have progressed
through some of the Luxury series of information that we've
been sharing with our audience here on a Lifeless Ordinary, Natalie,
we have talked a lot about that about how personal
these experiences when people are traveling anymore are. It's not
(08:11):
just all about the points that you're going to get
from ABC hotel chain. People want more, they crave more,
They want those memorable experiences that you can only get
sometimes from those boutiques, from those very specialty type ends
(08:32):
and small luxury properties that are across this wonderful country
of ours and even internationally. And we're going to touch
on that too a little bit here today. But I've
been reading a lot in our trade magazines and all
of the information that comes across my desk, a plethora
of that, by the way, every single day. Kind of
hard to keep up anymore with the amount of information
(08:55):
that comes through. But there is one common denominator and
that that is exactly what we just covered, and that
is these experiences that people want. What do you believe, Natalie,
are the single most important features and offerings that luxury
hotels must do for their customers.
Speaker 3 (09:16):
Well, we always say, you know, people are going to
remember how you make them feel. Right when I walk
into a property, I want to have a feeling. I
want to feel. When I'm at Jamalind Castle in Ireland,
I feel warm, I feel the years of history that
date back to the fifteen hundreds. When I'm at the
end at Perry Cabin that I think we're going to
(09:38):
talk about today, I mean it goes back to the
eighteen hundreds. So you're feeling the history and you're feeling
the warmth of the people. And for us, you know,
it's really important with our properties that like at Sea
Island and Georgia, they have over one hundred and fifty
employees that have been there for more than twenty five years.
And when you walk in the door, you feel that loyalty,
(09:59):
you feel that pride, you know. And that's what we're
looking for, is people put in our hands their very
precious time and they have very little of it. And
it's very hard with everybody being so busy to get
your multi generational family, your kids and your grandkids together,
it is. And when you get them together, you just
want to connect. Yeah, you know, so I think that's
(10:20):
what we're hoping for at all of these properties, is
that we can create an environment where you can connect
with your loved ones and create memories, because that's what
travel is all about. It's about the moments, it's about
the experiences.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
Yeah, and I want to harken back if I can
for just a minute to our show last week where
we had on the vice president of sales and marketing
there at the nemicol And yeah, yeah, one of the
things that I shared on that show that really struck
me my own personal experience being there was. I remember
(10:54):
just walking down the hallway one day and having probably
had just this dumb look on my face, big question mark,
you know, because honestly, I was thinking about work and
I had all kinds of wheels that were spinning in
my head. But some great service staff member have no
(11:15):
idea where they worked in the hotel, but they were uniformed,
and they stopped me and said, you look like you
have a question. Is there something I can help you with? Man,
I'm going to tell you something, Natalie. That was a
moment for me because not just one person did that.
I had two people stopped me on my way to
my destination who just thought, again this dumb look on
(11:39):
my face, said this woman needs some help. She probably
needs some direction. And I think these features that we're
talking about, these offerings and features, in my opinion too,
like you, I think that comes from a lot of
years of experience, but it also is the need to
(11:59):
continue you a reputation, a reputation of service. In our industry.
We kind of slid off the slopes a little bit
after COVID. I don't know if you would agree with
me about that or not, but I think we absolutely.
Speaker 3 (12:13):
Yeah, I was just about to say, I don't want
to say the C word, but you know, I think
COVID unfortunately gave a lot of excuses and properties can't
use that excuse anymore. You know, if we're charging the
prices that we are for these luxury products, and people
expect amazing service, but you want it to be authentic.
And in this world of AI and everything that's coming in,
(12:37):
you can't replace the human touch. You just can't.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
Yeah, And it's not you know, it's not even just
about that. But I think in the seat that I
set in, travelers are more demanding about the amount of
service and the kinds of service that they want and
what they're willing to accept. That doesn't come across and
(13:00):
I think more than ever, that is why properties like
these luxury properties in small towns are sort of becoming
the trend. They're very much in vogue. I will say
that because I had some folks call me today who
heard the show last week. And by the way, again,
(13:21):
I want to remind you if you missed that last week,
please do turn in to a Lifeless Ordinary. You will
find that on the wishing Wells front page under the
word more. You just go under there you will find
all of the past recordings for a Lifeless Ordinary. And
the Mouse that Roared was the name of last week's show.
(13:44):
You'll find that there. But I mean, these are just
all of the special features and offerings. I think that
luxury hotels have to do Natalie in order to and
I don't want to say any more compete, because I
think their competition is narrowing. I think that luxury, small
luxury hotel properties are actually the ones too be judged
(14:07):
against all other hotels.
Speaker 3 (14:08):
Now they are, and people don't want they don't want
generic anymore, you know, as I said before, they don't
want to feel like they could be anywhere. I was
just I just came back yesterday from Nashville, and let
me tell you Nashville one. That's part of my voice too.
But I always have a great time in Nashville. Oh yes,
but we probably represent the Hermitage Hotel there. And this
(14:28):
hotel was Tennessee's first million dollar hotel. It was built
in nineteen ten. It was named a National Historic Landmark
in twenty twenty because of the significance of the nineteenth
Amendment being ratified there, the women's right to vote and
in all the beautiful branding that they've brought back with
the renovation at that hotel, Like you walk in and
(14:50):
it's significant. I mean when you just think that the
pro and anti suffrage forces for the women's right to
vote we're headquartered there, Like that's important to me.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
You know.
Speaker 3 (15:00):
When I was younger, my parents drugged me to all
these historic places, and I didn't really care. But now
that I'm older and I care about our history and
it's fading. I mean, we need to care. We need
to recognize and a lot of the properties we're going
to talk about today, you know, focus on that, And
I think that's a big piece of it too, is
making it relevant, making the history relevant with the modern
(15:22):
amenities and the service expectations that travelers have today.
Speaker 2 (15:26):
Yeah, and it's so interesting you mentioned Nashville, So I
have to relate to you an experience that I had
just today. This is how I'm seeing things change, modify
the way in which we do what we do behind
our desk as travel advisors. I had a client call
me who said, I'm interested, Terry, in going to a
(15:50):
really nice property somewhere within driving distance of where I
am right now. So how that's changed. So let's turn
the clock back about ten years. What would have happened
before would have been somebody would have called me and said, Terry,
we're going to Nashville. Do you know of any great
(16:11):
places to stay? Now people are changing their pointer and
they're putting it toward these properties. So very interesting question
I want to pose to you. How much of an increase, Natalie,
are you seeing in travelers gravitating two luxury properties within
small cities and what do you attribute that to.
Speaker 3 (16:35):
The drive market? Definitely, obviously during COVID that even since
has remained really strong. People have again very little time,
but they still want to get away. They want an
amazing experience. So yes, you know, once a year you
might go to Africa or Italy, or once every few
years if that's on your bucket list and have a
bigger trip. That people want to get away for a
(16:57):
long weekend. And that's what we're seeing is that more
and more, you know what's within my three to five
hour drive market that I can just go for three
or four nights and have a little staycation, vacation and
get away. It's very very popular and it's just continued
to be since COVID and now you know, things are
different politically and all of that. So some people don't
(17:20):
want to fly, some people do want to fly, So
it just kind of depends on where they're at. But
I do think a lot of people are saying domestic.
You know, a lot. We're seeing a lot of North
Americans stay domestic right now.
Speaker 2 (17:33):
So I want to now get down into the real
grit of the features of really all of these properties,
because I believe there are some consistencies I think you'd
agree with that you and I have talked before. There
really are consistencies that offer clients some of the very
best values, but some that they may not be entirely
(17:53):
aware of that they're even getting when they stay at
some of these luxury properties small towns. They're getting, as
you mentioned before, those unique guest experiences, and they have
certain expectations. So we know that our guests are choosing
luxury hotels in small towns often because they want to
(18:14):
prioritize their experience over just an amenity. I think that's
in a nutshell, the summary of what the first part
of what you and I have talked about is. But
a lot of travelers, yeah, they're unaware that you can
have both of those things, Am I right?
Speaker 3 (18:30):
Absolutely? And first and foremost we're selling the destinations first.
You know, I have to talk you into wanting to
come to Saint Michael's, Maryland, or Charlotte'sville, Virginia, or Nashville
or these places that you might not have been before.
You know, yes, do we have an amazing hotel there
tooy that really fits the environment, absolutely, with great service.
(18:51):
But why why do you want to go to that area?
And I think you know, as travel advisors, that's what
our job is is to help you educate your clients
on that first, and talked them into Okay, let's get
away from you know, New York and kind of all
the main big areas. Let's try something different.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
I agree with that. And there's this whole concept anymore
about balancing a personal experience with engagement in a community,
which again is what I think brings us into these
small town areas. I mean, I had to tell you
I've lived in Virginia my whole life. I've been in
the travel industry for forty five years. I've talked about
(19:31):
that here on a lifeless ordinary. I had never heard
of Farmington Pennsylvania until a couple of weeks ago. Yeah,
I mean it was just an anomaly. I just had
no idea where If somebody said there's a fabulous place
to go a destination and it's called Farmington, Pennsylvania, I
(19:52):
would not have known what they were talking about. But
the minute I knew, I was going to Nemicol And
I've heard about that for years, I think ever since
they broke ground, but I just never knew where it was.
But people today they are looking for that small town
experience without sacrificing anything, and they also want that community engagement.
(20:16):
So we know that successful hotels in small towns they
engage with their local community, they support local businesses, they
employ local staff, and respect local traditions. Talk to me
about that a little bit. With these properties that you know.
Speaker 3 (20:34):
Well, I mean them, mccolan is a perfect example. They
are the number one employer in all of that area.
I mean for miles and miles around, like I would say,
even all the way to Pittsburgh. They're probably one of
the biggest employers. So same with in a Perry Cabin
in Saint Michael's, Maryland and Keswick, and they're giving opportunities
(20:54):
and even we have a property you know in Costa
Rica that employees sixty five staff that on property that
to be honest, their homes probably have dirt floors, you know,
but we're giving them the opportunity to work at a
luxury hotel and to understand kind of that we're training
them and giving them a skill with that extra level
of service. So I think most of these properties that
(21:18):
are in smaller areas, you have a limited work pool
to work with. And yes they do bring in you know,
maybe h two be like one of my properties brings
in Jamaicans every summer, and we've had to work with
some international but most of it they're training the local
people up to the level that they need them to be.
And that's a huge where you know, some of these
(21:39):
people probably didn't go to college, they didn't have that
opportunity financially, so it's really giving them an opportunity to
improve their life. Mimical and also just built a thirteen
million dollar employee housing complex with a market with a
bar with a gym so that their employees are comfortable
and that they have a nice place to live and
(21:59):
they can ford it.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
Yeah, I mean, it's a wonderful give back program. I
think that they have and they certainly are the ones
who are I think leading the ground breaking on a
lot of that. Let's talk about sustainability a little bit.
This is a word that I think where it's going
to go to the very top of Webster's list in
(22:20):
twenty twenty five. So talk to me about that, Natalie
and your hotel properties. What are you seeing?
Speaker 3 (22:27):
Well that you took the words out of my mouth,
because I was about to say, that's really becoming not
only important for the hotels as part of their ethos,
as part of their culture is the sustainability and really
you know, giving back and preserving our planet and caring
about the environment. And obviously our hotels li like in
Costa Rica are that, But like the K Club, for example,
(22:49):
which is thirty minutes outside of Dublin in Ireland, their
new owner just brought back the turbine on the River
Liffey to provide sixty percent of the power to the hotel.
You know, back in the eighteen hundreds, that's how the
resort was powered and that's how the home was powered.
But then they got on the grid. But it was
so important to him that they get back to sustainability
(23:13):
and that they get off the grid and that they
produce their own power. And we're seeing that at a
lot of our hotels, Ra Marris and Sorrento that just
open last April has a soller field panel on the
back of the hotel and it's so beautifully done you
wouldn't really even notice it, but you know, it's beautiful,
and they're caring about that. The single use plastics, you know,
(23:35):
need to go away, and a lot of our hotels
are adapting to that. They're composting all of their food waste.
So we see I mean, just depending on the property,
we're seeing it a lot more, but the travelers are
demanding it. Especially. We're seeing it with like corporate groups
and incentive groups, you know, bigger groups that are really
concerned about like the carbon impact that they're making, which
(23:59):
is great to see. But I think especially wealthy travelers,
you know, travelers that are lucky enough to visit the
properties that we're talking about, they're concerned about the environment.
They want to feel like they're giving back, they want
to be part of the community, and that's a huge,
huge trend.
Speaker 2 (24:15):
That we're seeing absolutely, and I think that all of
that's great, great news. We love we love good news,
I mean, especially now, everybody likes to hear good news
rather than bad news. But you and I both know
the travel industry is it's not a perfect industry, is it.
I mean we've we we kind of are the bumper
pad for everything, both good and bad, and with the
(24:37):
goods sometimes come potential challenges. So we know that staffing
and training have been a problem since as you said
this C word, we've got infrastructure and logistics sometimes even
managing expectations. Talk to me about that a little bit.
And Natalie, insofar as you've had any inner actions or
(25:01):
talks with these hotels that you represent, how are they dealing,
what are they doing, what are the what are the
secret sauces that they're using to overcome these obstacles?
Speaker 3 (25:14):
Well, I think the big question, you know, after COVID,
it's like where did everybody go? You know, we had
we had all these people, and it's like they chose,
you know, other career paths, I guess, and got out
of hospitality. So the pool has been small. So obviously
our hotels are having to pay more and compensate more
and add extra benefits and all of that. But again,
(25:34):
I think it goes back to finding employees that are
aligned with your values and with your culture and with
your vision. And that's where I just spoke to the
managing director this week at the Hermitage Hotel. You know,
she said, this is my vision and our people need
to get on board, and if they don't, then they
don't last very long if it's just a job to them.
(25:57):
You know, I think when we're talking about these luxury
properties that are unique and in these smaller towns especially,
they really have to kind of buy into it and
just be loyal and be a part of it. They
want to have to make it successful. It can't just
be a job. And that's hard. And I think, as
I have a nineteen and twenty one year old, so
(26:19):
I know what I'm talking about. You know, I'm nervous
for the future generations. They don't have the same work
ethic that you and I were necessarily raised talents.
Speaker 2 (26:28):
Right, You're exactly right, So, you know, And again.
Speaker 3 (26:32):
As we get into more of this AI and everybody
has their heads and their phones, like, it's even more
important that we get away and we disconnect. We need
to disconnect, and we need to truly experience and be
present with the people that we're with in the places
that we are.
Speaker 2 (26:47):
Yeah, I agree with you one hundred percent. We're going
to take a break here and we're going to come back,
and when we do, we're actually going to drill down
into some of the very specific properties that Natalie represents
with Calliope Collective and that you can book through the
wishing Well. We are a virtuoso agency and we're going
(27:09):
to tell you all about these properties, kind of give
you something to point your own arrow too, and we'll
be back in just a few minutes.
Speaker 4 (27:18):
Protect your vacation investment with guidance from a travel professional.
The wishing Well knows travel and helps you avoid pitfalls
that can spoil your hird earned vacation. We'll plan your
trip and have your back as you travel. All of
this without support or so called convenience fees. We're on
the web at the Wishingwell dot viz or call us
at five four zero nine zero eight two three three
(27:40):
three a's five four zero nine zero eight two three
three three. The washing Well really does make dreams come true.
Speaker 2 (27:48):
Well, welcome back to a life less ordinary. We are
having a great time today talking about small town's big
luxury again. The name of our show today is called
Luxury collect Collections and I am joined today by Natalie Payne.
(28:08):
She is the vice president of hospitality for a company
called Calliope Collective. And I have been enjoying this Natalie
very very much. I said to you off air that
it's great for me because when I have guests, because
I learn as much as our audience does in many
of these things when we have guests. Yeah, it's wonderful.
(28:32):
And you know, as I told you before, I've been
around for a long time, longer than the dust under
my desk, I can tell you that. And I enjoy
this industry so much. I often say I would happily
do it for no money. I'm just glad that I
get paid for my hobby. So thanks for joining me
on my little hobby today. And we want to actually
(28:55):
jump in now to some very specific properties, now that
we sort of have a better lay of the land.
What you do, People already know what I do, so
we want to take them literally inside the doors of
some of these hidden gems. And Natalie, I'm going to
let you kind of run with this because we had
sort of mentioned at the beginning of the show. Four
(29:17):
of these properties that we want to kind of unearth
for our listening audience, many that they might know about,
some that they may not have ever heard of. But
I can tell you right now these are very special gems.
So take it away for us, Natalie, tell us what
you can.
Speaker 3 (29:35):
Thank you, Thank you so much for having us and
for this opportunity again. And I just want to remind
your listeners, like the value that you have. You know,
if you're booking a luxury hotel, use a travel advisor.
And I know that a lot of people don't think
about using an advisor unless they're going you know, across
far across the sea and foreign places. But for these
(29:59):
local properties, if you're getting such a value, you're getting
the complimentary breakfast with virtuos, so you're getting the one
hundred dollars at least resort credit, you're getting the upgrades
because of our relationship. You know, we're going to be
ip then because we want to make you look good.
And so I just want to remind people of that
because a lot of times they think, oh, there's a middleman.
(30:19):
You know, it's going to be more. It can't be
like the best value, but it truly is because you're
using your buying power to negotiate with hotels like us.
Speaker 2 (30:28):
You're so right, thank you. Yeah, could they book these
properties on their own shore, but why would you want to?
You're leaving money on the table that belongs to you.
All you have to do is reach out to the
wishing Well, who is a Virtuoso agency. Those particular benefits
are only tied to Virtuoso agencies, of which we are one.
(30:51):
And while we are at it, I want to just
quickly give everybody a way in which they can reach us.
We're easy to find well. First of all, we're located
at two four forty three and f Avenue in Harsenberg
in the Valley Center. You can call us at five
four zero nine oh eight two three three three, or
you can look us up on the web at the
(31:12):
Wishingwell dot biz. So there's really no reason for you
to ever travel without the extra benefits that Virtuoso provides you.
And Natalie, thank you so much for that shameless plug.
We appreciate it so very much, but it really it
really is important, you.
Speaker 3 (31:31):
Know, it is absolutely and so we're very proudly part
of Virtuous. So in the Hotel's pay to be part
of Virtuous because we know that you have influence and
when a client comes to you, you could say a
million places, but we want you to say our place.
So I want to start with the Init Perry Cabin.
And if you guys aren't familiar with the Init Perry Cabin,
this is in Saint Michael's, Maryland. Back in two thousand
(31:54):
and five, there was a little movie films here called
The Wedding Crashers. Oh yeah, so this was the location
that they went to after And when I arrived at
this property, I just say, you have an Adirondack attitude.
You grab your glass of voos clickot and you sit
and you overlook the Chesapeake and really all this property
is all about the water. We have a fleet of
(32:15):
six boats that come in from about April to November,
so you can learn how to sail. You can get
out on a sunset cruise on the yacht. It's all
about getting on the water for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
You can have that amazing Maryland crab, crab cakes and
crab benedict and every crab every way that you want it.
Seventy yes, they have seventy four beautiful rooms that are
(32:39):
very kind of country cottage cheek. You know, they've all
they're very kind of white bright, just really relaxing, but
multiple dining outlets and then pretty significant if you're a golfer.
They have the last golf course that Pete and Alice
died designed before he passed away, no kidding, so know, yeah, yeah,
and so you know we call them the diabolical golfers.
(33:02):
I don't want to play every peat, dickhorse and so
in at Perry Cabin it is perfect for that. There's
also a new if you want to skip the bridge,
because during the summer the bridge over to Saint Michael's
can get a little backed up. You can park at
the Annapolis Yacht Club and we can pick you up
on a yacht with champagne and charcooterie and bring you
over to the property. But Saint Michael's is such a
(33:24):
cute little town, talk about like an undiscovered like Americana
hidden gym. It's the town that fooled the British and
so back in the War of eighteen twelve, they hung
lights past the city so that the British would overshoot
the city and it ended up saving the town, so
I really enjoyed, like my biking tour when I was there. So,
(33:46):
you know, just a lot of American history, a lot
of breweries and antique shops and art galleries. So highly
suggest in it Perry Cabin to be on your list
if you're kind of in that area. We're about an
hour and twenty minutes from the Baltimore Airport, about a
three hour drive even from New York three three and
a half hours. You know, obviously Pennsylvania DC great feeder
(34:06):
markets for that area. Also kind of in that area,
we have Keswick Hall, which this property dates back to
eighteen twelve. It's in Charlottesville, Virginia, and Charlottesville is very
well known right now as a huge wine area. It
was just named by Wine Spectator last year and like
the most popular up and coming wine area. There are
(34:27):
sixty wineries within thirty thirty miles of this hotel, so wineries, sideries, breweries,
also Thomas Jefferson's home Monticello, James Madison's home Montpellier. Obviously
the University of Virginia, so we get a lot of
college tours. But Keswick underwent a massive renovation over the
(34:48):
last like three years, two hundred plus million dollars and
now it's eighty rooms. They also have a peat Die
golf course called Full Cry for your diabolical golfers, Full
New Spa, and they've partnered with John George for their
signature restaurant, Marrigold. And when I tell you the Krispy
Sushi and the Tuffle pizza are to die for, I
(35:10):
dream about them. They're really really good. So Keswick's also
another one. I really just I love Charlottesville for again
the wineries that too, the history.
Speaker 2 (35:19):
Yeah, well and I actually in a previous life, I
was the marketing director at the Charlottesville Albumoral Airport and
now way uh huh absolutely, and so I held a
lot of events out at Keswick Hall during that time,
and it was a beautiful property even then. I can
only imagine with all of the renovations and the millions
(35:42):
of dollars that have been spent, Natalie, just what a
new palace this really is. Because Keswick Hall is just
in a very picturesque part of our Virginia, and it
is beautiful.
Speaker 3 (35:56):
It used to be, you know a little bit more
kind of Lord and Laura Ashleys and a lot of
antiques and they really have brought it just more elegant,
very upscale. It's it's really really stunning. It's one of
my favorites, to be honest. It's one of those that
you walk into and you're like, oh, I wish my
house felt like it. You know, the design and there's
(36:17):
a there's a pool, table room, and there's a library,
and there's just so many places by the sunrise pool
and sunset pool as well to have a great cocktail.
So that's really a favorite right now in the collection.
Speaker 2 (36:29):
Yeah, well, full transparency. I am a closet interior decorators,
so I will actually often go through some of these properties,
like the ones that you're talking about, you know, the
inn at Perry Cabin or Keswick Hall. I'll go through
with my camera, take pictures and go I could do that,
knowing full well there's no way I could. But the
(36:52):
dream is there.
Speaker 3 (36:54):
It's like a it's like an in person Tenris board.
Speaker 2 (36:57):
Yes it is. Yes is if they if they get
it right, and they did, then why can't I copy that?
Speaker 3 (37:03):
You know? Yeah? And then you know I want to
We talked about the Laurel, which is kind of a
little sleeper hotel down in Auburn, Alabama, And I always
joke during my sales calls, I'm like, I know your
phone is ringing off the hook for Auburn, Alabama. So
thank goodness, we now have a five diamond hotel there.
(37:25):
But the Laurel is a twenty six room hotel. It's
all club level, so when you arrive, you're greeted by
the butler downstairs and you're taking up to your room.
The lobby area, you know, meal displays throughout the day, breakfast, lunch,
or Durves Happy hour. But this is part of the
Horse sualt See School of Hospitality. He's the man that
started Risk Colton back in the day, so amazing for service.
(37:49):
But the School of Hospitality at Auburn is named after him,
and this is part of the university. Wow, you know,
there was just yeah, a lot of people don't know that,
but there was a need for an upscale hotel when
alumna come in and just a luxury hotel in Auburn.
And so this is really fulfilling that niche. And if
you have clients in say Atlanta, which is an hour
(38:11):
and a half away, maybe Birmingham, this is a real
foody destination. Their signature restaurant, eighteen fifty six, has an
ongoing chef in residence program, so they have a celebrity
chef every quarter that comes in. What's really been popular
recently are their specialty tees. So they have like a
(38:31):
Harry Potter tea, They've had.
Speaker 2 (38:33):
Some swifty teas.
Speaker 3 (38:35):
They've had a Bridge Orton tea, so they've had all
these unique teas. So, yeah, don't just think of Auburn
four obviously the college there, but again another really cool
Americana town. It's on the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail,
so if you have those golfers that are doing the
golf trail, it's the luxury product that you can stay in.
(38:57):
But still because it's an Auburn, you know, amazing rate.
But their general.
Speaker 2 (39:02):
Yeah, this is another reason why I chose this property
was because of some of the added activities that are
so unique that they do. Yes, you know, the golfers
have something to do there, but Natalie, if you will
address some of these other really unique things that this
(39:22):
particular property has.
Speaker 3 (39:25):
I was very impressed with their spa, you know, to
be just a twenty six room hotel. They have a
beautiful spa. They've just added a Himalayan salt room, Oh wow,
which is really cool as well. They also have a
gourmet food hall, and so I love that you have
the interaction with the university students and the polity students.
But yeah, it has like this vibrancy, you know, always
(39:48):
because they're so eager. They're looking to get into the
business and learn, and so as we talk about that
service piece earlier, that's a really big part of it.
And this gourmet food hall is so cool. It's got
like a pokey area, a homemade ice cream area. They
have their own micro brewery, they have their own coffee roastery.
So anything that you may think of that people would
(40:08):
be learning in school for hospitality and for chefs and
culinary you're getting to experience it at this hotel too.
I went around Christmas time. The gingerbread house displays was insane.
Speaker 2 (40:20):
Oh wow.
Speaker 3 (40:21):
So the holidays are also a really good time to visit.
Just don't call me for a football.
Speaker 2 (40:25):
Weekend exactly, and that would be probably impossible. But a
couple of the other things I wanted to point to
if I could, that they do that I find remarkably interesting.
You don't find this at other chain type hotels. So
I love that about the uniqueness of this property, and
(40:45):
that is that they do cooking lessons, they do something
called yoga on the rooftop.
Speaker 3 (40:52):
They do their rooftop is amazing. They have a pool
that's just for guests up there, but they also have
an organic garden. Yeah, and every Thursday, Yeah, every Thursday
they do chef activation. So when I was there, the
chef was making you know, smashburger sliders and he was
using some of the herbs from the garden. They do yoga.
On the weekends, they do tea up there and brunch.
(41:14):
So yeah, the roof is definitely and it has such
a beautiful view of Auburn University as well, and there's
some really beautiful parks like biking and hiking and Auburn
as well as art museums you know as well that
you could you could combine with.
Speaker 2 (41:30):
Yeah, and I think the Laurel Hotel and Spot even
has e bikes on property that you can they complimentary. Yeah,
I mean, where are you going to get that? And
picnic experiences and the whole epicurean experience that you have
an even Friday night music series that they have that,
(41:51):
you know, is really puts them almost like a destination
onto themselves, because why would you ever need to leave
and go out out of that Again, it harkens back
to my week at NEMA Colan. Why would you ever
need to even leave because they have everything that you
could possibly want right there, I mean there and there.
(42:14):
Talk to me about their ideal clients. Who do you
think their ideal clients would be?
Speaker 3 (42:20):
Well, definitely, you know, most of what we get is
affiliated with the university. However, I think girls' weekends, you know,
romantic couples weekends, foodies. For sure. They have the top
some lia and the entire state of Alabama. Josh Head,
the general manager, was just named the general Manager of
the year, you know, for all of Alabama. So when
(42:44):
you talk about service, it is completely five star service.
And I think it's just such a perfect little staycation.
Have a spa treatment, have some amazing dining, walk through
the cute Americana town. I got a few. I love
a good boutique, you know, a good dress. It's different
that no one else is going to get. So yes,
(43:05):
a lot to do in Auburn that you might not
think of for sure.
Speaker 2 (43:09):
Now, what other hotels do we have that we can
give a nod to.
Speaker 3 (43:14):
Today, we wanted to talk about Amrit Ocean Resort and Residences, which.
Speaker 2 (43:19):
Is down in West Palm Beach.
Speaker 3 (43:21):
On Singer Island in Florida. So this property was a
long time in the making, and I was very fortunate
enough to meet Dyla, who is the owner. He is
from the same village as Gandhi. And I said, Yla,
why did you want to build this property? And it's
a wellness resort, you know, it's a beautiful ocean front
(43:41):
that mainly wellness resort. And he said, I love my
wife so much and I want her to live as
long as possible, and I want to live as long
as possible to love her. And I want everybody to
be able to live their best life. And so Amrit
in Sanskrit means the elixir of life. And a lot
of the different names of their restaurants and the spa
(44:04):
areas are all in Sanskrit. So there's a real meaning
of this property. But it's one hundred and fifty five
rooms ocean front on Singer Island. It's about ten minutes
from the West Palm Beach Airport, an hour from the
Fort Lauderdale Airport, So an amazing location. You can visit
Jupiter and del Rey and Boca, you know, all of
those great little cities that are down in the West
(44:25):
Palm area. They also have some condos, like they call
them wellness condos that are two bedrooms, and all of
these are available to your virtuoso clients. But really the
gem of this property is the one hundred and three
thousand square foot Wellness Center. And it is all ocean
front on four different stories, and so they have six
(44:47):
different studios with over thirty complementary fitness classes and wellness
classes a day. You can go and just have a
nice weekend and a spa treatment and sit by the pool.
Or they have three five days a month long wellness
packages that focus on the five pillars of wellness and
those are nutrition, relaxation, sleep, movement, and fitness. I was like,
(45:11):
sign me up for them.
Speaker 2 (45:12):
Oh, I'm ready for that right now myself exactly.
Speaker 3 (45:18):
And they I have been so impressed with the specialists
that they have hired. So can you sign up for
one of like these three or five day retreat packages.
You're going in, you're meeting with a nutritionists, you're meeting
with a sleep specialist. When I was there, I did
a sound bath, you know, they did my BMI and
kind of said all of that and then they lay
out a whole plan. They're talking to you before you arrive,
(45:41):
they're with you while you're there, and then they follow
up with you after as well. And because Dylup is
from India and has kind of that background, they have
a traditional mom and some of the traditional you know,
more treatments, but they also have combined it with the
very modern hypiberic oxygen chamber, red light therapy, IV therapy,
(46:03):
float tank therapy, you know, cryotherapy, so all of this
new treatment too. So we're also seeing people come that
are recovering from cancer and recovering for surgeries. This is
a great place to come and heal. Their restaurants are
very plant forward and very irvetic, so you know, you're
(46:24):
you can definitely get a nice steak or a piece
of fish, but you're going to see some really creative
uses of fruit and vegetables in their menus as well.
Speaker 2 (46:33):
I love that. Talk to me a little bit about
Singer Island itself. What do you know about that?
Speaker 3 (46:40):
Well, Singer Island itself is not very big and to
be honest, there hasn't been a whole lot of luxury there.
There's definitely some time shares, and it's more residential. Somebody
told me recently, I think Oprah had a house there. Well,
you know, so that whole area in general West Palm
when you look at Boca and Del Rey and kind
of the expanded area and the marinas that surround have
(47:03):
huge yachts. I love just going out at night and
having a cocktail and walking around, you know, looking at
my new yacht that I'm picking out.
Speaker 2 (47:11):
A new one, right, Yeah, upgrading.
Speaker 3 (47:15):
And last time when I was there, actually, and I've
lived on the beach, I've lived near the beach for
the last twenty something years. I had never seen a
turtle hatching. And the last time I was on Singer Island,
which was in May, was I think it was, excuse me, September.
They lay the eggs in May and then they hatched
in September. I was there in September, and so we
(47:37):
saw this commotion down on the beach and we were like,
what is that And we run down and it was
a turtle nest and we got the baby turtle, Yeah,
making their way. So Singer Island is known as a
big turtle nesting beach as well, and in fact the
hotel has to pull their curtains and be really mindful
at night of the additional light. So as we talk
(47:58):
about like sustainability and being you know, good stewards of
nature and the environment, that really is applicable on Singer
Island because you get huge fines if you don't pull
your drapes because the turtles can get disoriented.
Speaker 2 (48:13):
Oh wow, and I didn't know.
Speaker 3 (48:15):
Yeah, yeah, And so we have naturalists that you can
walk with in the morning, you know, and dull sye,
are there any new nest late or they might sit
on a nest at night if they think that it's
going to be happening, and our guests can be involved
in that, which is really cool.
Speaker 2 (48:30):
Wow. Well, Natalie, we've got about five more minutes left
on our show, and I'm sad about that. Honestly, I
feel like I could talk to you for another two hours.
But we know that small towns are not just a
feature in the United States, but that's also internationally as
well anymore, so I wonder if you could just talk
us through a few more of your favorite international properties
(48:51):
where they can be found and what would you want
to highlight about those I did.
Speaker 3 (48:57):
Before I go international. I did want to mention just
as we've talked so much about you know, history and
heritage and really special places. We've just added Canoe Place
in which is in the Hamptons. Oh this is It's
in Hampton Bays in New York and it is the
site of the original the first inn in America back
to sixteen ninety seven. Oh nice, and the owners have
(49:21):
reimagine and reopened this hotel in twenty twenty two and
it's just such a cute, little kind of vintage feel
in twenty room in and then they have thirty seven
new boat houses on the canal. So just wanted to
mention that if you have any listeners up in kind
of the you know, New York tri state area, I
really think this one's going to be hugely popular this
(49:42):
coming summer. It's the closest Hampson resort to the city.
It's about ninety minutes to the city. They're talking internationally,
One of my favorites right now is to newt to
Demurlo and this is in Umbria, and you know Umbria
is really up and coming. If you've had clients that
have gone to They've kind of been there, done that
with the Italy one oh one places. I'm sure you've
(50:05):
had these calls here where people are like, they want
to be Diane Lane right, like they want to be
they want a villa in Italy absolutely rick exactly with
a hot with a hot guy called on it, exactly,
but they don't want to be in the middle of nowhere.
It's like, once you get this villa, you don't want
to be in the middle of nowhere. So Tanusa de
Merlo in Umbria. This is a fourteen thousand acre resort estate.
(50:29):
It's about twenty five minutes to Perugia, forty minutes to
a cz which I fell in love with, an hour
to Siena. But it's been in the same family for
three hundred years and there's over eighty abandoned villas on
the property and this couple is lovingly and thoughtfully restoring
(50:50):
them one by one. So so far they have nine
villas that are so beautiful. I would highly encourage that
you look at them on Instagram, but they have like
five hundred thousand followers, but book it for you for sure.
And they're two to ten bedrooms the ten bedroom has
its own church, medieval church that will hold up to
fifty people. And so I just think it's places like
(51:13):
this that are family owned. They have their own farm,
they have two vineyards, you can truffle hunt on property,
you can ride horses, you can ride bikes and hike.
But then to be so close to these other cities
that you can kind of take day trips and base
yourself there. We're seeing that that's becoming really popular. People
want to stay longer. They're calling it slow travel. That's
(51:36):
really been in addition to sustainability, slow travel and solo
travel and history and heritage travel are some of the
new trends that we're seeing kind of over the last
couple of months. We also have a new one, Ramris,
which is in Sorrento, Italy, and it's really fulfilling a niche.
It's a family owned property as well, and it's only
(51:57):
forty nine rooms, but it's more contemporary. You know, most
of the Hodpels and Currens who are a little bit
kind of older, more traditional, so this one's contemporary, has
a really sexy rooftop bar, beautiful pool, and it's ten
and up. So for those that you know, don't want
a faders and kids running around. It's really great. And
who does not love Leomon Fellow Well, no, ken, amen
(52:21):
and amen and amen.
Speaker 2 (52:24):
And I want, I want to continue this conversation on
and on and on, but the clock is telling me
that we are simply out of time, and I am
sad about that, Natalie. But it has been a delight.
It has been a joy. I can't wait to talk
to you real time about some of these properties. I
know the one that you mentioned in Tuscany. I'm probably
(52:46):
going to be booking very quickly because I just talked
to families about that area just yesterday, So that one
I'm definitely going to put on my list of places
to contact you about. We do want to remind our
audience that we can be joined here every Saturday at
ten am on a lifeless Ordinary. If you are interested
in booking any of this with the Wishing Well, we
(53:07):
are easy to find. We are located at two forty
three nef Avenue in the Valley Center five four oh
nine oh eight two three three three or contact us
at the Wishingwell dot biz.
Speaker 1 (53:19):
This has been a life less ordinary. The travel show
from your friends at the Wishing Well at two forty
three neph Avenue in Harrisonburg.
Speaker 2 (53:26):
If you have any.
Speaker 1 (53:26):
Questions on topics discussed today, please reach out to the
wishing Well online at the Wishingwell dot biz or five
four oh nine oh eight twenty three thirty three. Past
episodes are available on the iHeartRadio app. And we'll see
again next Saturday morning at ten for a life less
ordinary from the wishing Well
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