Welcome to Season Two of the unfamiliar shift with Ariela. The boutique lifestyle leaders associations hospitality show. This is a podcast about the boutique hospitality community and how its top industry executives and leaders stay up to date on the best innovative trends and boutique hotels all around the world. Each season, I bring my favorite visionaries to candidly discuss new philosophies, ideas and innovations in the hospitality industry, primarily the beauty community. I'm excited to share with you some of my intimate conversations with these extraordinary leaders as we navigate the unfamiliar shift of boutique hospitality. This episode is sponsored by Solanas, the property management solution for boutique hotels. Hey listeners, welcome to the inaugural episode of season two of the unfamiliar shift with Ariela, a BLLA production. Thank you so much to our sponsor Solonis for their incredible support of our mission to create a platform for boutique hospitality leaders to have a voice today we're journeying to the heart of Paris's Pigalle neighborhood with a truly special guest introducing Charlotte Gomez de Orozco. The brilliant mind behind HOY Hotel Paris, which stands for home of yoga and translates to today in Spanish is not just a hotel, but a transformative experience. Imagine a space where yoga pulses through its veins where every room is a blend of Fung Shui and eco conscious design, and we're dining as a plant based culinary delight Charlotte with her rich Franco Mexican heritage and deep rooted passion for hospitality has crafted oil to be the epitome of sustainable luxury drawing from her childhood memories in Mexico her family's traditional approach to hospitality and her modern vision for a more responsible hotel industry. She's reshaping the way we think about travel and wellness dive in with us today as we explore Charlotte's vision for a hotel that places both people and planet at the forefront. Let's get inspired by Charlotte's tale of innovation, sustainability, and heart. Hello, and welcome to Season Two of the unfamiliar shift. I'm so excited for our first guest of this season. Miss Charlotte, who's over in Corsica. We met a couple of years ago and I've just been loving what you've built in Paris and your mindset and your aesthetic and your values. So I'm so excited about today's conversation. So today I'm joined by Charlotte Gomez de otoscope, founder of homeboy Hotel Paris. Welcome, Charlotte.

02:44

Hello, how are you? Thank you very much for having me.

On. So what's it like in Corsica right now how hot is it?

02:51

Well, actually, it was really, really hot. In the beginning of the month, which was, like is always a bit scary, because we're not used to this sheet. And it reminds us that we have to be, you know, more conscious about what everything is happening in the world. But right now, everything just came back to normal. And, and, ya know, it's sunny outside, and, you know, with my hair all of like, like the hair and everything and super excited to be here and to be able to speak about my experience and how hoping that this can help other people or, you know, just connect to other people. So I'm super pleased to be here. Oh, thank

you. Well, let's just start off with the concept. So you have this really cool yoga hotel in Paris, can you explain to us the concept, the ethos, the values behind this hotel?

03:41

Course. So I am from a hospitality family, and always have been really interested about the, the experience of the clients and, and about, you know, having people around me and, and, and just creating a good experience for people. And I started yoga, six or seven years ago, and fell completely in love with the practice of yoga. And every time that I traveled, I was looking for a place where I could sleep where I could eat, where I could do yoga. And we can find these types of hotels in Morocco in Bali, but never in big cities. And I used to travel a lot to Berlin to Amsterdam to Madrid, with a couple of friends even for my hospitality. Like from a hospitality research where you know, I love to travel and I'd love to visit other hotels and I could never find a hotel like this. So the idea was creating the first yoga hotel so that means there's a whole floor dedicated to the yoga practice. So we have between six and eight hours of yoga a day, and we have from a Yean super slow yoga class. We're really amazing. A hot core vinyasa class, but die, or I Oh, I also wanted to put some, like spirituality there. So we created also a meditation room where we do some healing ceremonies where we host actually some Reiki classes. So we also teach Reiki there. And so that was like the heart of the project was to be able to really like the yoga was supposed to be at the heart of the hotel. And then with that yoga at the core of the hotel, I thought, Okay, so what's next. And so I said, Okay, we're going to do some rooms. And every room has to be really in a very Parisian way. Because, of course, people that come to Paris, they want to be in a in a Parisian spirit. But we thought, okay, in discontinuity of doing like the yoga at the core of everything, we're going to put some cushions in the floors where people can meditate, we took off every TV in the rooms, because, you know, I really wanted people to be able to disconnect to be able to just be comfortable with what's around, be able to enjoy what's around, and not being distracted by other things. So we only put like a stretching bar in every room so that people can come and stretch. So the idea was that everything that people see everything that people smell, reminds them to be able to slow down to be able to enjoy what what's there. And so we worked for, for a couple of months with a Feng Shui, teacher and architect to be able to build the room. So that even things that people cannot see or smell, but things that people can feel, even that was supposed to bring them back to, to what's yoga. And, of course, we are zero waste and zero plastic. So it was super fun to be able to go and speak to all those small brands that create around sustainability and be able to speak to them and, and you know, to source an amazing shampoo and amazing conditioner. But everything was supposed to be like the only things that we have in the room are super sourced, but it's not too much. Because I I really wanted to be able to bring my clients to this really fundamental thing that less is more. So not having like 10 shampoos and 10 conditioners, I did a bid with Soho House did at one point and that was really cool. For me, it was really like okay, how can I do less, but still being a super like quality type of atmosphere. And so yoga, then the was the rooms and the meditation room. And then I love flowers. And in Paris because the city is so noisy and so stressful. I wanted to create like this little, I would say like, like, like a barrier where people just come and something in the energy of the place gets out all the bad energies. And so the flowers have this amazing quality of being able to disconnect and being able to, you know, like, when you're around flowers, you just want to like smell them. And I don't know, there's like this souvenir from like, when you're small of like, you know, like the green and the, and the forest. And so for me, that was super important. So we have this amazing florist at the entrance. And then we have a palm beach restaurant. And I worked for a really long time with my chef with who ism that lives in London. Now she teaches in Bali, and she's a really creative person that brings life into the into this plant based food that sometimes can be a little bit boring or can be too healthy for some people. And since I'm Mexican and French, and that I love food and wine, it was a real challenge to be able to bring this amazing, delicious and elevated plant based food into into a world and market like Paris where food is already amazing, where the chefs already crazy and, and you know, there's amazing food all over the place. And it was a real challenge. And to end all this concept, and it's a really important part we have, we started with one and now we have three care rooms. That's how we call them. And the care rooms are three rooms that we convert, like, there were first rooms and then we converted them to these care rooms. And we have only a holistic therapy. So the idea was that in Paris you already you can have an amazing massage and in any really good place, but you cannot really have like an energetic massage or you cannot really because for me when when when the body has something like has a pain or or when the when you don't feel good in your body. It's like the body's trying to tell you that there's an emotion that is stuck there. And you're not really connecting with that emotion. And the idea with the care rooms that we created and with the therapists that we have is that they're supposed to, to read. I mean, for example, you come and you do like a copito that's like Got face massage, I want my therapist to be able to see like, Okay, I feel like here in here, there's some pain. And this is related, I don't know, to the stomach and the stomach is when you're angry. So maybe we need to work out like, with Who are you angry? Or are you like, you know, to be able to help people to understand their body to understand like, like, Okay, what's the emotion, how can I become responsible of my health and then being able to, to, with the help of the therapies and, and with the yoga and everything to be able to solve and to be a healthy person in a healthy body with a healthy mind. And, and yeah, so all these hotel like, all this concept is around like, in every, if you go to miss or if you go to a therapy, or if you go to the hotel, everything is supposed to bring you back to you. And to bring you back to, to what's healthy to bring you back to, like, my real aim with this hotel was was to open up a door, if it's the door with plant based food, if it's the door with a therapy, if it's a door with yoga to be able to open the door. So people can like enter this, this room being like, okay, there's a way that I can live better, there's a way that I can leave in a better place that I can, you know, like just move better in my life. And so that's the whole ethos of oil. And of course, the other people that work with me, when they work with me, that's always what I'm telling them. And first they have to be they have to feel good working with me. So they have three yoga classes free osteopathy, I'm, instead of giving them like, sometimes, you know, they want, they're like, Okay, shall they can I have little like, documentation of my salary. And I'm like, okay, but I give that but I also give another possibility of like paying, like, a psychology like psychology and to be able to bring them to a kinesiologist. And you know, to be like, Okay, I know that you want this. But maybe another advantage that I can give you is this. And this door is another door for you to be able to know yourself. And to be able to, to feel better. So I'm always like, I'm like testing and learning with with people that work with me. But really what what makes me happy. And what makes me passionate about what I do is like help people help people to feel better. And that I have been it's amazing love to be able to do that with oil.

Oh, that's beautiful. I mean, I'm just I'm looking at you. And it's so beautiful. Watching you shine and light up when you talk about this hotel that you've birthed into life. And I just, it makes me so happy because this is truly what passion is. And I'm seeing you embody that right now. It's like, Oh, my God, this is why I'm in this industry. You're reminding me of that. And you know, I'm very much in the wellness space. So what you're talking about very much aligns with my personal values. And I love your viewpoint, when you have someone on your team who's asking for a higher salary. And then as owners, we're like, Okay, what do we do we got to make this work, we got to, you know, do we do we want to raise your salary or not, but you also want to, you have other options for them. And I've actually never really heard of that talked about before. So thank you for bringing that up. I want to go back to kind of back to the beginning. So we have the concept of boy, which is so incredible. How many rooms is the hotel

13:21

of the room is 23 rooms,

23 rooms? And how did you find this piece of property.

13:29

So we in Paris, there's only and that's a thing that I somebody told me last year, there's only 57 Hotels a year there are sold. So there's really like it's a super, it's a big market, but only few people really sell their hotels. So it's in sometimes when they sell they sell, they sell at a super high price. So it's complicated to find. And when you are like I don't know, a big fund, or when you have like a lot of money, it's super easy. But when you're like a family business where you need to be really careful about how you invest your money with who it's complicated to find anotehr out to buy in Paris in this amazing, this amazing city. So we looked at I don't know, maybe 15 or 16 hotels. And one day I was with my mom and we were walking around, like with the matter which is an amazing Street in the heart of the ninth quarter of Paris. And my mom's sees the hotel and she tells me I since I'm small, I think 100 times my mom sees one hotel, we go into the hotel, and we start speaking with the receptionist or with with whoever is there and we're like, oh how many rooms do you have? And can we visit a room we would like to you know rent a room for a friend. And so that's how we enter that hotel and we see that there's this really old man and so my mom that has a One of instinct she's like, maybe we should ask like the girl that helped us like buy and look at the hotels, if this hotel is like for sale. And and so that's how it really started but the owner because in Paris, you have the property of the walls, like you have like the walls, and then you have the property of the commerciality of the place. So it's like two things. And so at that moment, there were two different owners one that had like the hotel, and that was the operational part and the other that had a walls. And with a little bit of research, we found out that actually the, the the person that was the the owner of the walls,

he actually mean like the owner of the land, the owner of the building, definitely the owner of

15:39

the building. Exactly. They are the walls. So how are we sending privately prints but yeah, it's the building. And so we figured out that guy wanted to sell but because the guy that was in the operations, like this old man didn't want to sell, it was super, it was complicated. Because to sell the whole thing, you have to you know, be able to own the whole thing. And so we send at that point, my grandfather, because he's, he's the one that started this whole business with my family. And she was like, Okay, let me go and speak to this old guy, maybe I'm gonna be able, you know, to tell him that we are actually a family business that we're going to take over their business but like, it's going to stay in this same family line. And so actually my grandpa is the one that convinced this old guys to sell us the the operational part. And then when we had the your personal part, we went to see the guy that had the building, and we're like, Oh, can we buy you both?

Wow, and that's okay. Yeah. what year it was like,

16:41

it was it was a I really, I mean, I truly believe that the you know, there's a destiny and there's something of course, there's a lot of work. But at one point, it's also like my mom just felt it was that building and then we visited and then we send it my grandpa, it was like a like a whole super unbelievable thing but actually worked out and and of course this this old man, when we were doing all the construction he was you know, because all man hate, you know, change. And he had this hotel for like 20 years. So he was like, Oh, are you going to change this? Or can we? There was a turtle living in the place? He was like, Can you keep the turtle? Yes. What can the turtle the turtle know? The turtle died?

Oh, oh four will

17:29

rest in peace and then a couple of months after the the old man died and and that's why he wanted also to sell because none of the children's wanted to take over the business. And so he went like well okay, so it was like that it was a coincidence and he was also work and it was also timing because timing is timing is key all the time. Like in a love story in work in in you know, it's like a couple of things mix together.

And now a word from our sponsor Solanas is an intuitive property management system powered by a business intelligence engine, offering the hospitality industry a single robust solution for managing hotels, resorts, vacation rentals and corporate housing. Its ease of use, streamline onboarding and 24/7 support make it the preferred PMS solution headquartered in San Diego Salinas is the vision of hospitality experts and technologists who believe it is time for a new era and Property Management ready to discover how they can work with you to elevate your property, visit Solanas S O L O N I s.com. To get started. And now back to the show. Wow, wait, so what year did you find the building? We found

18:47

the building in 2018. And then when did you open and then

18:54

the building was super old. So we had to close and we closed for almost two years, one year because we had to like break everything inside. And then there's like a little ingredient in the in the construction that's called annuals, which is a little bit dangerous. So nobody could enter the place for a year. And then we started working with architects and then we opened in January 2020. So Wow. years, two years after.

So what are some lessons learned between those two years of opening your first hotel? Oh my God, that's like, we're gonna be here a while.

19:31

So we're gonna we're gonna know like, I mean, it's, it's, it's, I think it's it's harder to like have a project imagine a project find time the building and it's like that those two years were longer and and harder for me than then having the hotel and then doing the operation because that's what we do in the family. So that's easy, but all the part of like having an idea because of course today it seems easy because the place is there. And I don't know how with what maging everything just falls into place. But it's super hard to have an idea and to be able to actually then work with people, with architects with construction companies and being able to exactly explain what you actually have in mind. And so for first I was I was really, I was really young kids, I was 25 years old. So working with with people that are way older and being like, because at the beginning, everybody loves the concept. And everybody loves a concept that's out of the box. But then being out of the box also demands way too much work. Because when, when I was speaking, for example, with my architects, I was like, okay, so this is a yoga Hotel. So we really have to like to think yoga to be yoga, but in every in every way. So for example, Please don't bring me industrial paintings, please, let's try to do at least 80% of the hotel, have, like, already used materials. And so all of that work that demands, of course, a lot of work and a lot of research that they're not used to do. That pretty quickly became a problem. Because there were like, No, I mean, we signed like this contract with this timing of work. And your daughter has is asking us to do things that we're not used to do. So it was always like, Okay, you knew that I was, you know, trying to think out of the box, you knew that I was trying to do a project that was different. And now you're always, you know, it's always about the money. And so they were like, no, but we need to be paid more. And, you know, so so like, weird energy. At pretty quickly, you installed in, like the relationship. So I had a really hard time with my architects that finally that we finally fired, because after a year and a half of working with them, he was on like a patchwork of like, bad, bad, bad energy. And they couldn't like never understand. For example, I was like, Okay, there's like in France, we have so many wood that is like, not like that somewhere and nobody's using it. Because it's different. Because there's like old work from old doors. And I was like, we're using a lot of wood. Let's like the money that I want to invest. Because if we have to invest somewhere, I want to invest in that. Let's go like here, I have like a, I don't know, 10 links of like, addresses where we could go speak to the guys and the guys were like, you want the wood. And we're like, yeah, I want the wood. I want this amazing, like real wood. Because what I want to do doors and I want to, they were like, oh, okay, so for nothing. We could go buy the wood. And then of course, it was like the manual work then then after people had to like work, but I'd rather invest in people working with their hands than going to aka buying some pre Dawn things. And that, for example, for them. It was like crazy. And so at one point, they did like, yeah, don't worry, we ordered like real wood. And then all false would arrive. Oh, yeah. It was like really like early in the morning. And we're supposed because we didn't have one point you have to open. So like things have to be my mom was like, Carla, you're like getting late, we have to open quickly. And I remember having all that wood, and I was like, oh my god, like, like, I cannot believe they did that. And I called the guy and I was like, you have to get everything out. I would never open an hotel with this. Things are like false food for the client. Like people will just and

it's an energy thing as well. So I

23:31

and I was like, I know that people are gonna like it, because my mom was like, but nobody's gonna see it. And I was like, No, people aren't going to see they're going to feel it. But but but you know, it's, of course, I sounded crazy. Because my mom was like, fear what? And it was like, well feel feel that it's false. He was, he was so that that was the hardest part of the two years of construction. He was first finding people that could that were really like, engaged and being like, because it's something to say like, Hey, love your project, let's work together and then having people really like, Okay, we're going to do the hard work, we're going to do the extra mile. And, you know, people that that really have like the put meaning into what they do and, and those two girls, two architects they were I guess too old. They didn't want to work as much. I don't know, but he was hell, like all over the place until I found another girl that was not an architect, but was really creative and exactly in the mood of whatever they wanted. And she was like, Okay, I know I'm an architect, but I can for sure help you. Like, get everything together. Because I mean, I love decoration and I love like putting everything together. But at one point it's a job. So I was like, I don't know if that and I was young. So I like I felt like I need like a like a partner or an associate. i My mom and my mom. She's really good with like finding buildings and everything. But then in the concept she was lost. She was like, I mean, I don't understand. So Thank God I found this amazing girl that's called Sabrina. That helped me and was really my partner and she worked with me like an associate. And thanks to our job together, we figured out how to get first all that, like the creation. And then was it was all the amazing part of like, amazing and hard part of like finding your, the people that you're going to be collaborating with. So people that are going to be working with the people that are going to be like part of your family, because that's also super important. And so pretty quickly, I was like, Okay, I'm Mexican. I know that Mexican people that are really hard working people. So I was like, Okay, I want to work with Mexican people. So I went into a Facebook group of like Mexicans in Paris, and I was like, Guys, come on, Stan. So maybe Ghana, I'm open this crazy hotel around well being, I don't know if you know about wellbeing or not. But trust me, come with me, I want to work with you, I want to be able to connect with people that are from my country, because oil is also it's really inspired from intellectual roots. It's really, it really comes from like, always my French and my Mexican part. And I really wanted both, and I didn't really good job. Now I know, because I I've hired a couple of people that are still with me that really believed in the project that really, that sell the project everyday to the clients that are super patient. And and really, it's not an OTA like every other we have so much work. And it's and I am super exigent with, with a lot of things. So So yeah, so it was, it was it was a lot of work. But I would say like the hardest part was really to, to get the project down in a paper, it was really like my, like, make people understand where I wanted to go. And that was the hard part. Because even I was like, I mean, I have an idea. But you know, like, between the idea and what you really do, there's a world of difference. Yes,

yes. It's the development process. The content, like creating. Cool it. Yes, yes, it's cool. But to actually execute on that, it's, it's a very difficult journey, especially because you're an independent, boutique hotel, and you've 23 rooms, you're under 50 rooms, it's it's a harder journey. But like how we started this podcast seeing you shine, this hotel seems to be an extension of who you are, would you say? That's correct.

27:25

Completely, completely. I mean, and that's why my mom is like, nobody, but you can really be like, behind it. And so today in in, in our evolution where I want to, like open other oils, it's really hard because I cannot be at two places in the same time. And so today's like, okay, how can I? How can I expand? How can we because I'm Mexican, so I would love to open a yoga hotel in, in Mexico. And I'm like, okay, but I just like I like we have to move there. But then we have to leave or Paris. And so it takes a lot of time to be able even the people that you work with to be able to really give them everything you have, like your passion and everything. So they're able to do that for you when you're not there. Mm

hmm. Yep. Absolutely. I want to get into so we've, you know, you were born in Mexico,

28:15

right? Yeah, I was born in Paris, but lived in Mexico until I was 13 or 14 years old.

Were in Mexico.

28:23

Mexico City.

Oh, my gosh, I'm trying to go I it's been calling me there because of all the creative energy. I feel like is just in that land right now. So it doesn't make me Yes, I have heard. But I want to ask you, how do you bring your Mexican culture into your hotel?

28:45

So first, the name, which is hoy. So always, it means today in Spanish. And of course with all this up energy, it's about being here today. So it was it's a gentle reminder of we have the present moment we have today and what are we going to accomplish today? So that was that was a really first the end it also means home of yoga in English, so it brings live with both. I bring it because I employ a lot of Mexican people. The pontics restaurant is inspired from the Mexican culture of how you eat. So we have an array of tacos. We have a lot of pan de muertos, we have a lot of, of spices in every food. And so, and the name, we have the food we have also all the communication around it. So we have a lot of talk temps and totems is a really important part of Mexico's because we have the pyramids. We have all that and it's also the balance with yoga. So I don't know how to explain but everything at one point just unfolded like okay, oh, it means today. It means home of yoga. The totality is exactly what I want. I mean, at one point in a project after, like really thinking about it. And speaking about it, and it's a lot of like speaking to people, you know, I remember pitching the project for two years, you know, and everybody was like, Okay, you get Hotel. That's weird. And it was like, Yeah, but imagine that and imagine that and people were like, yeah, it could be nice. And so I went with everything unfold and, and of course, in those two years, also, what I've learned is that there's some people that just directly understand where you want to go to just like instantly understand you instant like it, you know, the energy is good, and some others where the energy is just heavy, and it's hard. And so I know that sometimes in life, you cannot always work with people that are like in your same energy and everything but at one point when it becomes too heavy, you need to let it go. Like okay, this is not working. And it's no problem it's on you. It's not me it's just us together not working. And so for example, with my graphics that she's she's an amazing Mexican girl. At the beginning. I was like, No, I'm not sure the energy is going to be good. And then at one point everything just you know when good insurance that's exactly what I want to do. And she wrote all the all the website and so yeah, I mean, I worked with a lot of Mexican people. That's an I think that's what brings a little bit my heart into Mexico, because I live in in Paris now. Even though I go a lot to Mexico, at least one or two months per year, I have my dad living there, my sister, really the fact of even in the hotel, everybody speaks Spanish. I mean, we really, we go in the kitchen, we speak we yeah, we speak a lot of a lot of Spanish. And so even the French people that worked with us that don't speak Spanish. Now they know like couple of words. And we do a couple of private jokes in in, in Spanish. So yeah, I love that

they didn't realize like, this is also my job, and I get to learn another language. I think that's incredible. And I think that's something that we need to discuss in our industry more often is, as you're an independent boutique hotelier, these hotels are an extension of you. They're also an extension of your culture, and being open to sharing that I think is very important. And I also want to now talking about land. So the hotel is in De Gaulle, is that correct? Exactly. So I know that that area has changed a lot. Can you talk to us about how it's evolved, how you've seen it evolve even before the hotel, and then now coming and having a hotel in an area that's been gentrified completely.

32:28

So that nine is really like it's it's the Neymar of the 18th neighborhood in Paris, and in between those two neighborhoods, so there's more math, which is really touristic. And actually my I also have a wine bar in that area. What's it called? What's it called? It's called Jesus. Oh, bar and a cocktail bar that I opened when I was 2102 years ago. Yeah.

Amazing. And

32:56

that neighborhood is the neighborhood where my grandparents used to live. And at that time, it was super dangerous. It was a super dangerous neighborhood. My grandpa got shots in that street, like 1520 years ago,

oh, my God, in the same area where the hotel is and pica. Exactly,

33:18

exactly. Wow. And there's like a whole street where it was really actually known for the cabaret. So there were two or three places where there were like, need to be sexy, naked, artistic girls dancing. So there were a lot of dancing. And there were a lot a lot of sex shops. for really long time people when they're a little bit for the, for the fun and to discover, like like crazy things a little bit like in Amsterdam, you know, you have this neighborhood of I don't know, what's what's it called, but this crazy

red light district.

33:52

Exactly, yeah. And so that was an it'd be what was in that neighborhood. So in the really, like, it's really in between, there's like a big street in between the nine and the 18. And so in between, you have more marks, and that was pretty dangerous. And then but it's really neat. Like it's five minutes walk, and then you have the nine and the nine for a really long time. Well, it has always been not so touristic because it's really a part work Parisian sleep. So in the 18th you have only people that tourists and, and small coffees and everything's done. Like for the tourism in the nine part. It's really Parisian sleeping there. And that's what I liked about opening a hotel there. It's because everybody wants to open an hotel where you have the twin fail, where you have, like really touristy place because it's true that it's people come because they're near something that I want to see. But at the same time I from the beginning wanted to open this hotel to be able to bring Persians together also and to be able to say okay, the tourists or the yogi's that come to Paris, they don't want to be in a touristic hotel or in a touristic neighborhood. I mean I don't want to be in that when I go to Barcelona. to Madrid or to Amsterdam, I want to be in a place where the Madrid lens are there where the girls from Amsterdam go to do yoga. And so I really chose and that's what we loved about that street in that neighborhood. It's like, it's close from something to risk, but not really in that zone. It's we have to work a bit. But you're really in the heart of a place where people live. And that street, we bought it in 2017. So in the last in the last five years, so the street where oil is, actually has completely exploded. So a lot of old restaurants got sold, but by the new generation of hospitality people. And so now we have a lot of amazing little boutique hotels a little, like a bunch of the old grocery, biological shops that opened, if you can do a potty, you know, when you like scope things, you know, it's crazy. It's crazy, really like now the neighborhood, it's we teamed up all together to be able to create like the best neighborhood.

Wait, I love what you said there where you teamed up to create the best neighborhood because, you know, so I started off this question with a word that I think can trigger a lot of people which is gentrification. And it's something that I've struggled with being in this industry, because it's like a fact is that we do gentrify areas. But I so love that I asked you this question, because I didn't know what you were going to say. And they didn't realize that the girl was like this. But it was really community coming together and keeping that independent spirit within the area. So it's okay, everyone, are you listening? It's possible this is possible. i By the way, next time I'm in Paris, I'm so coming to visit you and

36:50

I have been waiting for you for like the last two or three years. Oh,

my God, oh, my God, I'm late. I'm so late. But I also think you have a point. Because if we look at Gen Z, and like that, in between the Gen Y Gen Z and between period, which I think you and I both are, we I don't want to stay in a city center. And so I did Europe for summer. And I'm thinking where I stayed in London was Bayswater, which I loved. Because there was like two other hotels in the area. And it was all locals everything was independently owned. You could walk you know, to Marla bone and, you know, go to Oxford, circus, Mayfair, all that. But I stayed in an area that was a little bit far, I could easily take the bus, which I loved. I think people forget in London, how lovely it is to take the bus. And then I was in Florence. And I also stayed outside of the city where I had a car coming in from Tuscany, but I could park it there. And if you know Florence, it's like you can't drive anywhere. But I was right outside of that. I would just walk down the river 10 minutes. And then I was you know where I wanted to be. But I think you're really onto something in terms of travel consumer behavior, is that we're moving towards kind of being not right in the center. But we are looking to be close, but a little bit outside.

38:11

Exactly. And there's always this thing of like taking time to like walk that river taking time because because this realistic thing. I'm like everything I want, I like in one point in one center, and you don't have to move and so people don't walk anymore, people don't look anymore. And it's always about like, the whole neighborhood, you actually walk for hours, but you go in you and you and you stop somewhere. And then it's also about taking time, you know, and that's a thing that tourism has to like go back to it's like take time to look at things take time to visit things. And it's like another form of tourism today. And I think our generation it's really what we're looking for something more authentic and less touristic. Yes, exactly.

And I think it's also we've been hearing this lawn, the industry, but it's slow travel. So instead of going to like 500 cities and like, Okay, we're gonna go everywhere, it's like, choose to places stay there. And, you know, it's through energy, we ground into the land that we're on. And I don't know if a lot of tourists think like that, but you can see behavior changing when you talk to your friends, or I think what would be such a cool study is to see the data. You know, I'm sure that we could partner with someone and figure out like the length of stay. Why that suggested? Because I think that there's a deeper root cause and we all know, like, this is a hospitality podcast, but I only have conscious souls on this podcast, where we're very aware of energy and who we are as people. And so we've changed I think after 2020 It's evidence it had been changing, but it's tangible. Now we can see it. And then I just want to end our conversation by Talking about feminine led leadership. So you are a woman owned business. And just from hearing you, it seems like you are feminine first in your approach to leadership. And what does that mean to you to be a leader?

40:18

Oh, well, first of all, I didn't like really did it on purpose. But I, I work mostly with with women in my hotel. I come from a family we're a poor girl. So my mom and my two sisters and I have a really strong relationship with with with women. I know that not all women feel comfortable around all old other women. But today I being being a feminist. I don't I mean, it's quite a complicated question. Because for example, I, I worked with a lot of girls in the restaurant, mostly, that had had horrible experiences with being girls in this industry, which more in restaurants and in hotels, yeah. But that had had really complicated experiences. And when I speak to other chefs that work and everything, it's always about what's the place of the woman in this industry that was led for so many years by men. And, and today, I'm, I've had the chance of always, first I opened my, my wine bar, and I worked only with men, but I really felt comfortable. And now I opened this yoga Hotel, where I also feel really comfortable working with women. And also for me, oh, is, and that's why there's this girl that works with me and had this horrible experience I've been, we've been following her with this psychiatrist and this Kinesiologist, to be able to, also, it's not about women being more strong than men. But it's more about everybody being at the right place. And so to be at your right place, you really have to be good with yourself with what you do. You need to feel legitimate about what you do, like be comfortable with, with your strength, and not, you know, it's about not trying to be someone else, it's about trying to be used. So for me being a feminist is, you know, just taking your place with your strength with what you don't know what to do. And that's not a problem. It's like about learning and it's, it's about teaming up. So So for me, being a leader is really about it's not about taking what others have, it's not about it's about being at ease in my place. It's it's being like, Okay, this is where I come from, this is the chance that I have having a family that's in the hospitality industry. I know that a lot of people don't have that luck. And today, it's like, okay, how can I do to bring people together, give up like, hold space for everybody to have their own legitimacy and being at the right place. And that's how I feel a leader, a leader should be it's not about taking from others, it's about putting people in the right place at the right time. And so I love working with girls, because I love giving them that energy of like, you don't need to fight against money, it's like I'm giving you that place, take it be comfortable in that. And so that's gonna be the, the mentality that I have with, with with the feminism and with the and with being a leader. And it's, I think they were always working, but it's, it's giving people their place, you know, like concept blasts.

I think that's so beautiful. I've actually never heard of it that way before. So thank you for sharing that. I agree, though, that it's what I've noticed with the women's movement, and then also specifically in our industry is like, we're so focused on gender equality. But what's happening, what I've noticed, and with my own journey, is that women who are coming into these leadership roles, they're losing, like, who they are. Like, they're as women. They're molding into, you know, how men work. And I think that it's now time to realize we work in different ways. We have different needs, x, y, z, you know, we have in Spain, right? They're giving off, they're giving menstruation leave like, governments are seeing it. And I think it's really beautiful, how it's evolving. And I have, like, one of my biggest passions in life is like helping women remember their women nests. Like let's not let's celebrate that, instead of suppressing it.

44:26

So, that's, and that's, that's exactly what I do. It's like about just giving people the right to be themselves. Yeah, and, and being like, you know, work your strength, not be ashamed of what you don't do good. And, you know, if everybody was just comfortable with what they do, instead of being compared of being like fighting against something of war that you know, we don't know, it's, it's, I mean, it's a bit how I feel comfortable with, you know, going out with being a girl in this industry with working with girls. We'd like handling conflict all the time. And so yeah,

I love that. I can't wait to meet you in person and give you a big hug. It's like you're right. It's many years too late. I can't wait to come to Paris and experience what you've built and get to meet you. And I'm just so happy to know you, Charlotte, all thank you for being on this podcast. Thank

45:16

you for having me. I'm super happy with to be able to speak to be able to communicate with people. A lot of people write me like on LinkedIn, I love to share my experience and to team up and to be able to create great projects with people. So thank you very much for having me.

Thanks for listening to the unfamiliar shift with Ariella. Make sure to subscribe and leave a review. Let us know what you think. To learn more about the world of boutique hospitality, be sure to check out our website BLLA.org. And thank you to Solanas for sponsoring today's show.