This article was first published in Serviced Apartment News on December 16th 2019.

 

Jonathan Humphries of HoCoSo reveals the common denominator in all successful hospitality real estate projects – the experience community.

There is a common denominator in “successful” co-living, co-working, hotels, serviced apartments, aparthotels, branded residences, care homes, senior living, student housing, and all kinds of hospitality real estate.

What is it? AN EXPERIENCE COMMUNITY: a successful concept where people go out of their way, unprompted, to recommend, talk about, show and revisit. We’re not talking about carefully crafted social media pages, with bought in celebrities, we’re talking about the authentic real deal, where people will travel in time and distance to make an effort to visit, or stay, or work, or live.

We’re also talking about the holy grail of hospitality today – the ability to create experiences and communities.

How do you do this? Well, it’s simple really. We tap into the basic human need, for us all to enjoy our life and connect with each other, to learn something new, exchange ideas, have a laugh and more importantly give each other the limited precious time we all don’t have on this planet.

Ultimately, in today’s global mobility driven culture and environment, when we are away from our close friends, families and loved ones, most of the time: we may as well have something spectacular, interesting, engaging, invigorating and inspiring to talk about when we meet them again.

So, why don’t you decide where you are on HoCoSo’s “Experience-Community Spectrum of Opportunity”?
If you’re operating, owning, staying, visiting, working, etc. in any of the above Hospitality Real Estate entities, think about the following:

1) I have guests* plus rooms, apartments, offices, etc. only = a commodity
2) I have 1) plus public spaces = a product
3) I have 2) plus staff = a service
4) I have 3) plus Hosts = the start of a community
5) I have 4) plus I host events = the start of experiences
6) I have 5) plus I invite the local community to my events = experiences
7) I have 6) and my guests are integrating with the local community and vice-versa – I have an Experience-Community
8) We can keep going…

*Guests in this instance are meant in the broadest sense

About HoCoSo   

HoCoSo are advisors with a difference. We create tailor-made and innovative solutions for clients’ hospitality-led projects by bringing together the optimum team of sector specialists. Jonathan Humphries, Chairman and Owner of HoCoSo, and his direct team specialize in the extended-stay, co-living, and hotel-alternatives hospitality market; luxury, lifestyle and boutique hotels; and resort developments in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA). Our strengths lie in the following core services: 

  • Product & Concept Creation, for portfolio & individual asset developments 
  • Strategic Development Projects with a focus on new-market / new-concept business expansion planning, operator selection, market and financial feasibility studies
  • Transformative Asset Management for brand re-positioning, asset re-evaluation and concept re-structuring.
  • Hospitality Education for companies and academic institutions, with a focus on bespoke course development, training and teaching 
  • Workshops, Keynotes and Conference Moderating for boards, leading international conferences and incubators