tommie hotels brand book
TRANSCRIPT
TABLE OF CONTENTS
2 WHAT DEFINES US
9 WHO DEFINES US
12 THE EXPERIENCE
19 DESIGN PHILOSOPHY
22 DINING PHILOSOPHY
25 OUR FUTURE
28 OUR LEADERSHIP
42 CLOSING
tommie was created as much by what we leave out as by
what we put in.
Designed not only for rest, but to ignite the imagination.
Dedicated to the power of ideas. Beyond noise and clutter,
a space to explore for those whose visions change culture.
In every square foot, tommie is an opportunity to meet and
be inspired. Where art and atmosphere seep in from the
surrounding neighborhood, and collaborations seep back out.
Understanding that less but better is not the lack of
something. It’s simply the perfect amount of something.
THE STORY
3 WHAT DEFINES US
4 WHAT DEFINES US
“DESIGN SHOULD NOT DOMINATE THINGS, SHOULD NOT DOMINATE PEOPLE. IT SHOULD HELP PEOPLE. THAT’S ITS ROLE.”
- Dieter Rams
To the youthful and open-minded, tommie is a micro-lifestyle hotel designed to unleash the potential of every interaction, every moment, and every square foot.
THE PITCH
5 WHAT DEFINES US
EDITED
Voluntary simplicity means that here, less is not more.
This is a choice not of economy, but of desire.
PERSONALIZED
The ability to author your own experience.
Providing ingredients for connection. This guest focuses
on considered choices.
INSPIRED
A shift in point of view that opens new possibilities,
sparked by a community of like-minded, passionate
individuals. It might become a call to try something a
different way, to see a new angle, or incubate an idea.
THE BELIEFS
7 WHAT DEFINES US
“DON’T WORRY ABOUT COOL, MAKE YOUR OWN UNCOOL. MAKE YOUR OWN, YOUR OWN WORLD.”
- Sol Lewitt to Eva Hesse, 1965
tommie is built for The Essentialist. A way of life
for the individual who views the expenditure of time
as a series of small choices that, if made carefully,
result in a personal story filled with purpose and
achievement. A traveler who seeks to maximize the
value of each moment and each dollar spent. A guest
who understands more about what they don’t want
than what they do and take pleasure in missing out
on what’s cool rather than having a fear of it.
Essentialists know they have the ability to create
their own cool.
Navigating the stay, these youthfully-spirited guests
appreciate thoughtfulness, intention and creativity in
what they are offered. They consider, explore and try
ceaselessly to calibrate their taste. They understand
there is potential in everything, but only find value in
the right thing. More so, they believe that community
and collaboration will lead them to their next great
discovery.
Always aware of their potential to shape the world we
live in. Never wasting and continually refining. You
will find them in the cultural and creative centers of
the world. You will find them at tommie.
THE ESSENTIALISTS
10 WHO DEFINES US
“VOLUNTARY SIMPLICITY MEANS GOING FEWER PLACES IN ONE DAY RATHER THAN MORE, SEEING LESS SO I CAN SEE MORE, DOING LESS SO I CAN DO MORE, ACQUIRING LESS SO I CAN HAVE MORE.”
- John Kabat-Zinn
11 WHO DEFINES US
Service at tommie enriches the power of the tommie
community in creative circles, encourages discovery and
facilitates intuitive problem solving when called upon.
Team members should support guests in exploration
and discovery, offering guidance as needed. All team
members should have expert knowledge of the immediate
neighborhood. They should know what is available to
guests within the area, while offering a highly personal
and unique point-of-view on the broader market. They
should understand the underground local culture and be
aware of indie aspects of the market. They should also
be excited to share personal recommendations and offer
customized ideas based on their interactions.
All team members are expected to bring a relational
approach to their roles and serve as a friendly host, not
the more formal, systematic servant. We pride ourselves
on responsiveness that is organic, not scripted. We
should empower guests to help themselves.
OUR SERVICE
13 THE EXPERIENCE
OUR SIGNATURES
YOUR STAY, YOUR TOMMIE
Author your own tommie experience by browsing a
complimentary selection upon check-in. Here you’ll find
opportunities to bring color and flavor into your room.
Find an inspired set of aesthetic elements to customize
your space to suit your desires... posters, flowers,
curios, blankets.
THE GENERAL STORE
Carefully selected bites and drinks from local purveyors,
artisan goods from craft makers, indie fashions and
exclusive tommie collaborations. All available for
purchase to enhance your stay or to take with you.
Refreshed regularly to ensure new discoveries surface
on your next stay.
THE WORD
tommie engages with indie brands, thinkers and artists
to share their cultural finds and perspectives, including
inspired photos, videos, articles, events, talks, debates
and gatherings. tommie interprets creativity broadly,
and our Indie at Large influencers join us from cutting
edge and experimental artistic, scientific, philosophical,
philanthropic, entrepreneurial and arts worlds.
15 THE EXPERIENCE
TOMMIE NOW
We organically inspire community by connecting our guests
through intriguing digital data captures. Guests offer
their data by opting-in through the mobile web either
at booking or on-property. Prompts to weigh-in on polls
or contribute recommendations and creative thoughts
are sent via email or text in real time and answers
aggregate into visual representations displayed in-room
on TV screens where they can be viewed by all guests.
The concept will encompass crowd-sourced data of all
kinds: ideas, votes, favorite drinks, songs, etc. that
tell the tommie story as it happens and help us shape
preference-based offerings on the fly.
THOUGHT STARTERS
Crowd-sourced art features bring people together to
share a point of view on the Post-It Wall or contribute
an individual vision to an on-going art project like
music, stories, art pieces, code, etc. Known makers and
achievers will be called upon to submit their own Thought
Starters as prompts to the tommie community. These
projects will come to life both on-property and online
meaning you can participate both during and outside of
your stay.
16 THE EXPERIENCE
SPACE AT TOMMIE
Also known as tommie’s meeting spaces, they are designed to
provide a home to entrepreneurs and project teams. Spaces where
intimate groups of inspired collaborators huddle to share ideas.
COMMUNAL SPACE
Communal experiences may take place in a library or listening
lounge, but their form doesn’t matter as much as what
happens inside each space. Through subtle messaging, frequent
programming and word-of-mouth whispering, tommie’s communal
space will be known as the place to go for conversation with
other guests, moments of serendipity and unplanned discovery.
Locals will be equally welcome in this inclusive environment
where deep thinking is the norm and the excitement of what might
happen is intoxicating.
THE TOMMIE TAP
Adhering to our commitment to personalizing the guest stay,
aesthetically pleasing and unexpectedly fun multi-tap drink
walls will exist at each tommie. Appearing most often as an
extension of rooftop bar outlets, these touch-screen operated
stations will allow guests to control their intake by purchasing
a rotating selection of locally made craft beers, wines and small
batch cocktails directly from their room key or mobile phone.
You can even pre-load your credits before arrival.
17 THE EXPERIENCE
“GIVE POWER TO THE [GUEST] TO CONDUCT HIS OWN EDUCATION, FIND HIS OWN INSPIRATION, AND SHAPE HIS OWN ENVIRONMENT, AND SHARE THAT ADVENTURE WITH WHOEVER IS INTERESTED.” - Stewart Brand
DESIGN ETHOS
Our approach melds aesthetics and functionality.
Materiality is simultaneously raw and refined. This
materiality is part of what makes tommie unique. We
were inspired by the spirit of academic culture and
spaces, creating an allusion to modern day intellectual
space. The aesthetic sweetspot is approachable, casual,
smart and functional.
THERE ARE THREE HALLMARKS OF DESIGN:
LESS IS DESIRABLE; THIS IS A CHOICE, NOT OF ECONOMY BUT OF DESIRE.
PURPOSE-DRIVEN LUXURY.
AN EDITED AESTHETIC ROOTED IN THE EXPERIMENTAL AND FUNCTIONAL SPIRIT OF MID-CENTURY DESIGN.
20 DESIGN PHILOSOPHY
RESTAURANTS & BARS
Restaurants and bars are incorporated throughout the
hotel public spaces, driving an energetic sense of
community. It’s about the pleasure of unexpectedly
finding the perfect thing for you, whether that perfect
thing is a bite on the run, a 3-course-meal or a
conversation over cocktails.
While guests are free to help themselves, employees
are trained to anticipate when to offer an unobtrusive
hand. The experience is atypical, but intuitive.
Partners are proven and acknowledged for their craft,
they are edited, passion-driven, and approachable. They
avoid passing trends and are on the culinary rise.
23 DINING PHILOSOPHY
The success of existing competitors has proven
that the consumer is willing to stay in a micro
hotel room at comparable pricing to hotels with
larger guestrooms and less character.
The tommie concept, aesthetically and
operationally, may become the blueprint for the
next evolution of hotels in gateway cities. We
will step outside of the standard star-rating
system with a hotel that sets new standards,
rather than following old ones. T his is a new
way to look at hotel living—combining form and
function with a true sense of value by providing
a comprehensive lifestyle hotel experience with a
micro scale guest room. It’s a platform designed
for established and emerging cosmopolitan cities
worldwide where cost of land and barriers to
entry are high.
The economic benefit of placing tommie hotels in
urban gateway cities involves a simple formula —
by driving the key count, the tommie brand will
deliver higher revenues and profits per square
foot than a traditional hotel.
THE GROWTH
26 OUR FUTURE
“VOLUNTARY SIMPLICITY MEANS GOING FEWER PLACES IN ONE DAY RATHER THAN MORE, SEEING LESS SO I CAN SEE MORE, DOING LESS SO I CAN DO MORE, ACQUIRING LESS SO I CAN HAVE MORE.”
- John Kabat-Zinn
Journeys of a lifetime can manifest unexpectedly
in a single moment, turning ordinary trips into
transformative experiences. At Commune, we anticipate
ways to make an indelible stamp on the lives of our
guests, employees and communities; one that inspires
the human spirit and morphs trips into journeys.
Our commitment to creating these transformative
experiences lies in a very special place - the hearts
and hands of our nearly 5000 team members.
Every employee plays a part in Commune’s approach
to creating and operating our diverse portfolio of
celebrated, highly distinct and boldly innovative
global hotel and resort brands. Our brands stand
on their own with rock-solid identities, unwavering
purpose and loyal followings; together, they span
the lifecycle of travelers all over the world. This,
combined with the visionary leadership of renowned
industry veterans John Pritzker and Niki Leondakis,
has created passionately loyal guests, motivated and
fulfilled employees and sustainable value for investors,
developers and owners.
OUR FAMILY
29 OUR LEADERSHIP
With John Pritzer and Niki Leondakis at the
helm, Commune brings visionary leadership and
a commitment to highly profitable returns for
our developers and owners.
OUR LEADERSHIP
30 OUR LEADERSHIP
JOHN PRITZKER, Chairman of the Board
A 25-year veteran of the hospitality industry,
John Pritzker’s private equity firm, Geolo Capital,
acquired a controlling interest in Joie de Vivre
Hospitality in June 2010, one year after purchasing
and re-imagining the iconic Carmel Valley Ranch in
California. In 2011 Pritzker organized the merger of
Joie de Vivre Hotels and Thompson Hotels, a lifestyle
hospitality company, forming the parent company
Commune Hotels & Resorts. John joined his family’s
company, Hyatt Hotels Corporation, in 1972, where
his passion for the guest experience took flight.
When he departed Hyatt in 1988, Pritzker became
a founding board member of TicketMaster, Inc. and
continued on to form Mandara Spa.
31 OUR LEADERSHIP
32 OUR LEADERSHIP
NIKI LEONDAKIS, Chief Executive Officer
Niki joined Commune in 2012 to lead the global
expansion for the Commune brands. Previously,
she was President and Chief Operating Officer of
Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants, where she grew the
company from xx hotels to 50. Three times during
her 19 year-tenure at Kimpton, the company was
named one of Fortune Magazine’s 100 Best Companies
to Work For. Niki was cited as one of the “100
Most Influential Women” by the San Francisco
Business Times yearly from 2002 to 2010 (in 2011,
she was inducted into its honor roll), recognized
as one of “30 Women Power Players” by Nation’s
Restaurant News, and named one of the “Most
Powerful Women in Travel” by Travel Agent Magazine.
Prior to Kimpton, Niki held various leadership
roles at The Ritz-Carlton.
33 OUR LEADERSHIP
“GOOD DESIGN IS MAKING SOMETHING INTELLIGIBLE AND MEMORABLE. GREAT DESIGN IS MAKING SOMETHING MEMORABLE AND MEANINGFUL.”
- Dieter Rams
SALES, MARKETING AND REVENUE MANAGEMENT BACKBONE
Commune’s approach to sales, marketing and revenue
management is as simple as it is sophisticated. We
marry world-class technology with the industry’s
best talent to offer efficient, effective and
personalized solutions to create demand. We believe
in being early adopters of new systems, but we
put as much stake in good old-fashioned boots-on-
the-ground deployment methods. Our model results
in a sales, marketing and revenue management
organization that goes head-to-head with major
brands, yet at a lesser cost.
OUR PEOPLE-POWERED SALES FORCE IS AT THE HEART OF PROFITABILITY
Commune’s comprehensive global sales program is
comprised of highly-trained and deeply-networked
talent, located across the globe to match customer
buying needs, and armed with scalable technology
solutions for highly effective hotel-to-hotel
cross-selling and maximum profitability.
34 OUR LEADERSHIP
COMMUNE’S MARKETING FUNCTION GENERATES DEMAND FOR OUR HOTELS THROUGH LEADING EDGE, PROVEN, MULTI-CHANNEL PROGRAMS
Our powerful public relations program delivers highly
credible earned media by influential journalists.
Leveraging the latest in e-commerce, content, mobile
and SEO, we synchronize industry-leading websites,
e-mail marketing campaigns and magazine-quality
hotel blogs to drive engagement. Our innovative
Community Management Program enables greater guest
personalization through social media. Combined,
these efforts ladder up to strong traffic, positive
brand awareness, epic guest engagement and enhanced
booking conversion rates.
35 OUR LEADERSHIP
“A DEGREE OF CHAOS IS ESSENTIAL TO DISCOVER WHAT WE DON’T KNOW WE’RE LOOKING FOR.”
- Unknown
OUR REVENUE MANAGEMENT DEPARTMENT BRINGS THE BEST PEOPLE AND TECHNOLOGY RESOURCES TO BEAR FOR YOUR BOTTOM LINE
Commune’s approach to pricing and inventory-management
is enhanced by our partnership with industry-leading and
award-winning Sabre Hospitality Solutions for cutting-
edge CRS and distribution technology. We maintain direct
connections and strategically partner with all major
Online Travel Agencies. Our global reservation call
center has earned industry-setting guest satisfaction
scores and is available to guests 24/7. We manage search
engine marketing investments closely to produce high
return on ad spend.
COMMUNE TAKES LOYALTY FURTHER
Commune’s leadership has worked with hotel guests,
employees and top minds in customer experience to
develop a portfolio-wide loyalty program, set to debut
in 2015. The program will turn brand loyalty status quo
on its head with a truly refreshing, unique approach
to recognizing and rewarding customers and generating
return stays from our best guests.
36 OUR LEADERSHIP
“DESIGN MUST REFLECT THE PRACTICAL AND AESTHETIC IN BUSINESS BUT ABOVE ALL... GOOD DESIGN MUST PRIMARILY SERVE PEOPLE.”
- Thomas J. Watson
“With a trio of edgy lifestyle brands under its umbrella, Commune Hotels & Resorts has carved its niche in the industry as something of an avant-garde hospitality company.”Hotel Business Design
“John Pritzker wants to develop his line of boutique hotel brands at a measured pace, allowing him and his team to do things really well and have fun along the way.” Hotels Magazine 2013
“Commune Hotels & Resorts is quickly building a hospitality empire...going full speed ahead to grow its footprint globally.”San Francisco Business Times
“Today, as CEO of San Francisco-based Commune Hotels & Resorts, [Niki] Leondakis has become one of the country’s most prominent women in the leisure and travel business.” San Jose Mercury News
Commune named among “Gay Travel: 22 Companies We’re Proud Of”Travel & Leisure
Joie de Vivre wins “Best Single Social Media Promotion”Travel & Leisure’s Social Media in Travel & Tourism Awards
EDITORIAL REVIEWS
38 OUR LEADERSHIP
ACCOLADES
Conde Nast Traveler’s Hot ListThompson Chicago, Belgraves Hotel
Conde Nast Traveler’s Readers’ Choice AwardsCarmel Valley Ranch - One of the Best Resorts in Northern California and One of the Top 121 Golf Resorts in the World
Thompson Chicago - One of the Top 25 Hotels in the US; One of the Top 100 Hotels and Resorts in the World
Hotel Vitale - One of the Top 100 Hotels and Resorts in the World
Conde Nast Traveler’s/Traveller’s Gold ListVentana Inn & Spa, Thompson Toronto
Travel & Leisure World’s Best AwardsCarmel Valley Ranch - One of the Best Family Resorts in the US
Hotel Vitale - One of the Top City Hotels in the US
Ventana Inn & Spa - One of the Top 100 Hotels in the World
USA Today’s 10 BestBelgraves Hotel - One of the 10 Best Boutique Hotels in London Galleria Park Hotel - One of the 10 Best Pet-friendly Hotels
Harper’s Bazaar UK Travel Hot 100Belgraves Hotel, Hotel Vitale
39 OUR LEADERSHIP
Approximately 90% of Commune’s portfolio earned 4+ starsTripAdvisor
11 hotels ranked “Top 10” list in their respective citiesTripAdvisor
Thompson Chicago named to “It List,” “100 List” and “Best Urban Hotels of 2014” listTravel & Leisure, Departure Magazine, Wallpaper
Hotel Lincoln voted one of “Chicago’s Best Boutique Hotels” Travel & Leisure
Galleria Park Hotel named “One of the 10 Best Family-friendly Hotels”USA Today
Ventana named “500 Best Hotels List”Travel & Leisure
Hotel Vitale ranked as one of “The Best Business Travel Hotels in the US” Conde Nast Traveler
ACCOLADES
40 OUR LEADERSHIP
We’re lovers of inspiration — the stuff that makes
new happen.
Our hotels are born from the surrounding
neighborhoods as incubators of ideas, collaboration
and exploration. It’s the spaces’ deft mix of
curated economy and personal touches that provides
room for our unique guests to reveal (and revel
in) their potential.
These Essentialists are not bound by the
traditional notion of what’s cool. And we love
that. These are guests who make their own way,
thoughtfully, purposefully and efficiently.
It’s only by fully recognizing the needs of
this unique customer and meeting them with the
philosophies outlined in this guide, that we
can help evolve the tommie presence and inspire
experiences that truly break new ground.
CLOSING
43 IN CLOSING