Boutique Design - June 2017 - 30
PONTCHARTRAIN HOTEL, NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA KEVIN ROBINSON A-GAMER The sTarT-up: "I have never been able to personally become content with a process, close your eyes and run an assembly line, I get bored with that. When I found a way to fill a void with something I was good at doing and enjoyed, I jumped on it with everything I had," says Robinson, who found that "something" working at the Westin in Denver as a college student, doing overnight shifts and learning how not to take "good enough" as an answer for work or life. "So many people saw me are restricted by the same limitations as they had or limited by my resume and experience but I always valued by potential, whether myself or others." Fortunately, Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts and Langham Hospitality Group saw Robinson's ability and drive, as did Aparium co-founder Mario Tricoci. Why the world needed another hotel company: "Based on the evolution of life around mobile technology and social media and how it has influenced the Millennial generation, it was obvious to me what the future of hospitality would look like. This was nearly eight years ago when I built this business model and independent hotel brands just started to pop up and show great success. At the time, I was spending a lot of personal time in smaller markets around the Midwest and missed the unique experiences I would have had in gateway cities. Research further proved it was a good idea. These markets were more stable through the recent recession and over time have a lot less dramatic peaks and valleys with their economies. I had put together target markets that were secondary cities with great history and character, stable economies and in the Midwest because there were plenty of them that were easy to get to for a new business. Once we let the cat out of the bag after we got our first deal, all kinds of entrepreneurs in smaller markets started calling and asking for help." Why taking a risk pays off (and when to do it): "For me to start this company was a huge risk. I had a very cushy corporate role, making good 30 boutiquedesign.com june 2017 money, with a company that really cared about me and provided me with many opportunities and many more to come. I put everything I had personally, professionally and financially into starting this company. But, worst case scenario, I knew I could fall back on a good job running a hotel. It was Mario that encouraged us to hold off launching the company until we had our first signed management contract, so we would know that at this point we would have a steady stream of income, even if nothing else happened at least I could put food on the table until I found the next opportunity. Even my wife, who's normally the balancing force when I want to do something crazy, said 'go for it' with this. It was certainly a risk but we always had a back-up plan. When we bought our first building in Detroit and the city had just declared bankruptcy, that was my next big risk. Additionally, it never occurred to me that the plan would not work out, 'cause I just had confidence that we would find a way to make it work." How far, how fast, how much: We grew our business with our success, we reinvested everything, so we spent years working hard, looking for more growth and when we could have kicked back we instead remained on edge because we kept growing. It was so stressful. Always trying to make sure we could make payroll, pay bills, etc. Plus, a lot of our clients/owners can't pay on schedule, which made managing cash flow really tough. Being exposed firsthand to all of this and trying to run and grow the business was so difficult. Naysayers loved our idea but thought we could not build a real company, that our concept was a one-off, but today we have 10 open in less than five years and six financed and under development with a huge pipeline. Our Kansas City hotel is under construction, as is our Montclair, New Jersey project, which is a new-build. We'll have new openings in Des Moines, Iowa; Tampa, Florida; Tempe, Arizona, Chicago and Birmingham, Michigan. The latter will be different for us as it's farther up the luxury scale and it's a new build. C O U R T E S Y O F A PA R I U M H O T E L G R O U P ( R O B I N S O N ) ; C H R I S T I A N H O R A N P H O T O G R A P H Y ( P O N C H A R T R A I N ) Kevin Robinson | co-foundeR and coo | apaRium Hotel GRoup | cHicaGo
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