Hospitality & Place-Based Experience
The company acquired a boutique hotel property prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Though architecturally unique and rich in regional character, the asset was not being fully leveraged under its incumbent brand partner, a mid-tier national chain. The property was perceived as a peripheral location within that system and received limited strategic attention.
Recognizing the untapped potential, ownership committed to revitalizing the property—investing in major renovations including a new guest wing, expanded culinary programming, and elevated design standards. In parallel, the team initiated a rebrand under a new, more premium soft brand affiliation known for its lifestyle-driven guest experience requirements.
Conducted a competitive assessment to define emotional whitespace and experience-based differentiation.We began by closely analyzing the brand positionings of leading boutique properties in the region—without directly naming them, the first inspired guests through provocation and modern art installations, but often felt more challenging than welcoming. The second promised a polished escape but lacked grounding in place or purpose, delivering what was effectively a genericized luxury. These comparisons clarified the strategic gap—and the opportunity—for this property to be something different: a site of passage, where guests could cross a symbolic threshold into a world that was both emotionally warm and sensorially transformative. This foundational insight set the tone for every brand action that followed.
Defined a layered system of symbolic anchors to elevate the property's narrative structure.Building upon the competitive assessment, we explored deeper narrative motifs beyond the obvious architectural centerpiece. While the core identity of the hotel was rooted in a singular historic feature, we recognized that true resonance would require a richer symbolic framework—one that could carry emotion, movement, and meaning across every guest touchpoint. We identified multiple, interconnected physical and conceptual elements across the property that, when reframed through the lens of transformation, formed a cohesive symbolic system. These narrative anchors—some architectural, some elemental—allowed us to build a brand identity with both timelessness and storytelling potential, preparing the foundation for future phases of creative and experiential development.
Conducted immersive on-site exploration to unlock latent experiential storytelling opportunities.While narrative strategy had begun to take shape through architectural plans and existing visual motifs, it was only through an on-foot exploration of the property and grounds that critical layers of the guest journey revealed themselves. This physical walk-through enabled us to surface a previously unrecognized symbolic opportunity—a thematic echo that could unify the guest experience through a recurring elemental motif at key transitions across the property’s vertical axis. This insight led to an architectural design update that extended the property's core narrative into a third, pivotal zone, amplifying the emotional impact of arrival, transition, and destination. Additionally, this exploration deepened our sensory approach, evolving one symbolic element from a purely visual anchor to one with sonic and spatial resonance—rooting the brand not just in sight, but in sound and movement as well.
Crafted and submitted an emotionally resonant narrative letter—rather than a standard brand deck—as the pre-read for Hilton’s brand review process.Recognizing the uphill challenge of introducing an unconventional brand narrative into a structured corporate framework, we chose to lead not with data, but with emotion. In lieu of a traditional PowerPoint or technical brand summary, we authored a deeply personal letter—written from the imagined voice of a father to his daughter—inviting the Hilton brand team to feel the soul of the property before evaluating its technical merits. This unexpected storytelling device translated abstract brand elements into emotionally grounded symbols, making the hotel’s core themes of memory, transformation, and place not just intellectually understandable, but viscerally felt. By humanizing the property’s promise through narrative, we helped redefine what it meant to ‘present’ a hospitality brand—and positioned ourselves not just as compliant brand builders, but creative partners capable of elevating the entire Tapestry experience.
Received top-tier brand validation from Hilton’s VP of the Tapestry Collection following first brand checkpoint.
The emotional narrative letter and accompanying draft brand narrative were met with unanimous praise from Hilton’s branding team. The VP of the Tapestry Group explicitly stated the submission “made [her] love the direction even more,” positioning the project as fully aligned with the expectations and aspirations of Hilton’s brand leadership. This feedback, earned at the first official checkpoint, affirmed not only the creative direction of the work, but also the deeper brand positioning strategy behind it—demonstrating that the hotel concept could deliver both emotional distinctiveness and strategic coherence within the Tapestry system.
Inspired by the moonlit atmospheres of Maximilien Luce, this scene captures the Mill as both relic and beacon—its waterwheel turning under twilight, its windows aglow. Like the property itself, the artwork honors stillness and movement, history and possibility. It invites transformation not through spectacle, but through presence.
