Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 67

perspectives

chip
conley

interview

Photography courtesy of Airbnb

1

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UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL
The hotelier brings his expertise to Airbnb

With 500,000 listings in more than 200
countries, Airbnb-an online community of
unique accommodations-is transforming the
way travelers think about hospitality. Helping
illuminate this groundbreaking and intimate
alternative to traditional hotels-which the
AvroKO team finds fascinating because "the
paradigm of hospitality becomes transient,
personal, and changeable"-is Chip Conley,
the newly minted head of global hospitality.
Best known as the longtime CEO of Joie de
Vivre hotels, Conley brings a fresh, seasoned
approach to the brand. Here, he talks
psychology, disruptive innovators, and the
power of chicken soup with AvroKO's
Kristina O'Neal.

You are one of the few people in the
hospitality world who shows such an
interest in the blend of psychology and
hospitality.

I think everyone has an interest in psychology
because we're all humans, but I think I've been
more intentional about my focus.

This is a question that you've been
asked one hundred times, but just to
kick us off, what got you started in the
hospitality business?

When I was twenty years old I was studying in
England. As is true for anybody who's a college

1+2. This summer
cottage, in the middle of
south Iceland's Golden
Circle route-one of
the options in Airbnb's
community-is spacious,
features natural light, and
blends seamlessly with the
lush landscape.

student in Europe, you get to travel around the
continent frequently. One particular week I
was traveling in Germany and I was sick. I had
some kind of parasite and I was on the side
of the Autobahn trying to hitchhike-which
is a futile effort-but it's even harder when
you're really, really sick and it's one hundred
degrees outside. Finally, somebody picked me
up. He could tell I was sick and took me to the
closest town. He deposited me in a three-room
bed and breakfast and a woman named Maria
spent the next three days nursing me. The
first twenty-four hours I just slept, and then
she would bring chicken noodle soup. I would
wake up and there was a hot bowl of soup next
to my bed every afternoon and sometimes
in the evening, and I didn't get out of bed for
three days. And then she took me to her little
village called Bad Ems. I fell in love with her
little town because she was in love with her
little town, and when I left four days later I was
physically better. I had this feeling like, 'My
God, I was just taken care of by an angel.'
I guess for me hospitality is a noble

profession. It means that we're in the business
of taking care of people when they're far away
from home. Why that's relevant to me with
Airbnb is because we are literally providing
a home away from home for these people. It's
not a hotel away from home; it's a home away
from home. Seventy percent of the people who
stay in an Airbnb establishment are foreign,
so it's cross-cultural and we're helping to
create a bridge from one country to another.
At the end of the day what Airbnb does-and
what is relevant to my story-is that it's all
about the personal. Yes, it was wonderful that
Maria took care of me, but honestly the thing I
remember the most is the last day I was there,
when we walked down the little alleyways and
nooks and crannies of her village, and she had
such pride. I saw things I wouldn't have seen
otherwise, which is what happens when you
are staying with someone in their home. In
this case, it was her home and it was also a bed
and breakfast.
That's when I was twenty. Six years later I
started Joie de Vivre, buying my own motel. I
was not a hotelier at first; I was a motelier.

hospitalitydesign.com November 2013

067


http://www.hospitalitydesign.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Hospitality Design - November 2013

Table of Contents
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - Intro
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - Cover1
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - Cover2
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 1
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 2
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 3
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 4
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 5
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 6
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 7
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 8
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 9
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 10
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 11
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 12
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 13
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 14
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 15
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 16
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 17
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 18
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 19
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 20
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - Table of Contents
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 22
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 23
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 24
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 25
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 26
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 27
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 28
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 29
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 30
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 31
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 32
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 33
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 34
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 35
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 36
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 37
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 38
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 39
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 40
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 41
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 42
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 43
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 44
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 45
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 46
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 47
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 48
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 49
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 50
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 51
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 52
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 53
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 54
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 55
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 56
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 57
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 58
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 59
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 60
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 61
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 62
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 63
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 64
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 65
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 66
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 67
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 68
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 69
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 70
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 71
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 72
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 73
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 74
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 75
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 76
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 77
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 78
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 79
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 80
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 81
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 82
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 83
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 84
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 85
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 86
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 87
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 88
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 89
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 90
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 91
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 92
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 93
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 94
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Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 96
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 97
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 98
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 99
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 100
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 101
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 102
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 103
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 104
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 105
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 106
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 107
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 108
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 109
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 110
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 111
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 112
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 113
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 114
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 115
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 116
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 117
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 118
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 119
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 120
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - Cover3
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - Cover4
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/hd/201805
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/hd/201803
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/hd/201802
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/hd/201801
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/hd/201712
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https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/hd/201612
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https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/nielsen/hd_201312
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https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/nielsen/hd_20130102
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/nielsen/hd_201212
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https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/nielsen/hd_201204
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https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/nielsen/hd_201112
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/nielsen/hd_201111
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/nielsen/hd_201110
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/nielsen/hd_201109
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https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/nielsen/hd_20110506
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/nielsen/hd_201104
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/nielsen/hd_201103
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https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/nielsen/hd_200912
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https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/nielsen/hd_200909
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/nielsen/hd_200908
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/nielsen/hd_200907
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/nielsen/hd_20090506
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/nielsen/hd_200904
https://www.nxtbookmedia.com