Episode 60 – Creating Connection: The Power of Unique Overnight Stays in Dispersed Hospitality

The Redemptification Podcast

Creating Connection: The Power of Unique Overnight Stays in Dispersed Hospitality with host John Marsh and special guests Ash Marsh and Ty Maloney

Welcome to “The Redemptification Podcast,” where we delve into the creation of meaningful, transformative experiences in small towns and communities. Hosted by John Marsh, with guests Ash Marsh and Ty Maloney, this episode explores how “Unique Overnight Stays” can transform brief visits into immersive, memorable experiences and is an important part of the Dispersed Hospitality concept.

In today’s episode, we explore the art of crafting environments that resonate deeply with people. John Marsh shares how their team discovered the profound impact that a well-thought-out experience can have, even in the smallest of towns. The idea that a single restaurant in a town of 3,500 could become a cornerstone of connection led to the development of the “minimum viable experience.” This concept, introduced by Ty Maloney, emphasizes creating weekend-long experiences centered around great meals, intentional design, and thoughtful hospitality—turning a short visit into a cherished memory.

Ash Marsh, with her deep understanding of hospitality, challenges the impersonal nature of traditional service models. She advocates for a more personalized approach, one that makes guests feel as if they are being welcomed into a home rather than processed through a system. The essence of hospitality, as Ash sees it, is about anticipating needs, creating comfort, and fostering a sense of belonging, whether in a home or a unique overnight stay.

Through this series, you’ll gain insights into how to create spaces that not only serve but also invite people to be part of something special—whether it’s a community, a story, or a transformative experience. Join Ash, John, and Ty as they explore how to build places that leave a lasting impression, turning visitors into lifelong friends in the world of Dispersed Hospitality.

Insights & Inspirations

• John Marsh (01:00): the whole team started realizing if we built these things in a small town, even a town of 3,500, a restaurant could make a huge difference. But we were limited. If people had to drive in, have this experience and drive out their stay was really short. And Ty, you kind of, I think were the one that brought up the idea of this MVE minimum viable experience where you go into a town, you have a great meal, you stay overnight, you have a great day, another meal, and go home the next day, kind of like a Thursday to Saturday thing.
• Ty Maloney (02:04): what we did realize is that most people, a lot of people travel not only around experiences they’re seeking out but around meals. And so really once you have three great meals at this point, you are at a point where hey, you have to have somewhere to stay. And so we have worked with a number of communities to start thinking about that. How do you create an experience that’s really a weekend long and you can drive a lot of economics around a weekend experience, especially one that’s integrated with intentionality.
• Ash Marsh (04:37): Like you said, I tried to think of a specific hotel or a specific place I had been or experience I attached that to and I kept coming back to the best hospitality experience is in my home, or it’s in the home of someone that just is caring for you and is aware of you and serving and loving you. And so I believe that that’s the best definition that we have in hospitality as I thought of you before you got here. And that is what I try to do in my home is what I want to do in any of the areas that we’re serving in our community. You’re just waiting for your turn and they’re clicking all the information in the computer and it seems like they’re hacking a major mainframe. It takes a while. There’s a lot of clicking and moving and I mean, I don’t know what they’re doing, but once they find your registration, you could be 10 minutes from actually getting a key.
• Ash Marsh (05:44): It seems like you’re confirming, and you asked me this, you’re like, what are they doing? I’m like, well, they’re confirming your information. You’re like, but why even go through all the trouble of giving you the information ahead of time to be served that way? To only have to continually reconfirm it? And there’s something about that that doesn’t happen to you when you go to someone’s home. If I invite you to my home, I’m not going to open the door and say, are you so-and-So okay, and here’s your list that you filled out for me. Can we go through these before I let you in the door? And before I tell you what room you’re in, can we verify your bed and your type and your this and your that? When you’re leaving, when you’re, and it’s like we make it so impersonal, we take the individual out of that and we make it about the system becomes the priority. And it’s like that’s what we’re having to serve at that moment. And it’s like how do we make our experience here with unique overnight stay different from that? And why do we believe that that transaction has turned into the norm whenever we get most places, even the best places? We even talked about that,
• John Marsh (06:52): Right? I mean, we think about this as if that was a Marriott property and she clicked and clicked and clicked and I could feel the heat of the six people behind me wishing I would get my key and get there. And I’m turning around going, sorry guys, I’m standing here. I want to go as fast as you want me to. And we even talked about Blackberry Farms, which we’re talking about at the very top of the food chain here. You pull in there, everything’s going good. Hey, Mr. Marsh, Mr. Marsh, hey Mr. Maloney, Mr. Go in. But you still sit down and they’re going to go through some paperwork with you. And one thing I was wondering, Ash, it just came to me one, I don’t think I felt that way at the high line in New York when we went to that 40 room hotel there, they came up to us, remember it was a little cubby kind of in the foyer. They didn’t have enough room for you to stay very long. Hey, it was an armoire in the foyer and they pulled their iPad out and click, click sign.
• Ash Marsh (07:48): Maybe it wasn’t, but they were like, we need to get out of the way. That’s right. But I was actually thinking when you were asking me why they were able to develop a check-in system whenever I was with Diane at the CTCA, that was so easy. And that was for cancer treatments and it was literally the kindest interaction and we were so overly prepared for the whole gamut that you knew you were going to have to do. Do you have your paperwork? Did you have your card? Are you, but we didn’t have to have it. And we’re like, oh, we didn’t even know what to do, then it’s like we have free time now to actually go do something. And so I think about those things and that’s when you’re talking about the minimum viable experience, what do we actually offer that is just amazing that people see that it’s not just we thought about you before you got here. It’s not that we’re not going to feed you well and entertain you well, but it’s like when you value your time, your time is precious
• John Marsh (09:20): I mean if you want to know what we want to build is land-based cruise ships.
• Ty Maloney (10:47): Well, it’s funny you guys, I mean I do think the guest has to be prepared. That’s one thing I do think in any hospitality organization, whether it’s a restaurant or a resort, a hotel, is that in order to have a great experience with the guests, the guest has to play a part, the guest has to be prepared.
• John Marsh (12:08): Ty, I think you experienced this in Italy and you brought it into our world of vocabulary. There’s a difference in hospitality and entertainment. And there’s another one about an invitation. I love the way you frame that. It really is like we want to invite you into something that’s been loved dearly and we want to love on you. We want to treat you with the utmost respect and try to meet every need we could conceive of.
• Ash Marsh (13:51): And so one of the things that I’m trying to do now in our home and what I want to do here on our campus is how do I invite you into not just the story we’re trying to create, but how do I invite you into the lifeline that we’ve already created to where when you come into our home, you should feel free to say, Hey, where are the cups? And when I tell you, you can help yourself as much as you want, not because I’m not being attentive to you, not because I will not take care of you, but because I want you to feel like this is your home.
• John Marsh (17:04): And you know what we realized? What we love about overnight stay is when overnight stay can be hooked with great food. And if we’re going to be outside, which we want to be around a pool or water that you can have great service
• Ty Maloney (18:10): There’s an expectation scale that is generally set by wherever you’re staying. If you think about even a full service hotel in whether it’s a mid-market or a larger market, those hotels are built for a certain client, even a Four Seasons.
• John Marsh (19:11): I spoke with the national town builders this past week, and one thing they kept saying is how much access to the capital drives development, whether it’s the number of parking spaces, number of this or that. If you’re going to get their capital, you’ve got to align it with their proposed strategy that they think will make it easier to sell in the market, which changes the product completely
• Ty Maloney (21:06): And so we want people to feel planted, not necessarily transient. So the rooms themselves have a different purpose.
• Ty Maloney (21:36): We get the answer of generally it’s in somebody, the home of somebody who loves you. It’s actually shocking how many times that comes up and how many people actually go there quickly without any prodding. The second one is generally not too far from that. It’s actually going somewhere with somebody who loves a place and they want you to experience that place with them
• Ash Marsh (25:01): I think that bedrooms are to sleep in and they should be comfortable and spacious enough to move around and not feel like you’re in a closet. They should definitely be beautiful, but at the end of the day, they are to have a good night’s rest. And when you think of that, it’s like what do you really need in your bedroom to have a good night’s rest? It should be the right temperature, it should have the right lighting, it should have the right bedding. It really gets pretty simple at the most complex moments of itself I guess you could say. But I think that the gathering spaces are where we want to be. We want to be able to meet new people. We want to be able to be with our people.
• Ash Marsh (35:20): Well, I think a lot about being an introvert, for example. I love having a place I can go and get away from everyone. So being in a hotel, a high rise hotel with long corridors where I can go hide in a little room somewhere is amazing to me. But yet even being an introvert, I hate being stuck in my room for every single thing that I want to do, but there’s nowhere for me to go and do, I can go down in the lobby and work on my computer and it’s just not inviting or there’s nothing fun or encouraging about that. There’s not enough things offered. But sometimes the offerings that are in the room available to me are inappropriate. And so I think that when I think of staying at a place, it’s like finding that balance of what is appropriate to have in a room. And again, it goes back to my house. What do my guests really need in their room for them to be comfortable and for them to feel like they don’t have to ask for one thing more? And one of the things that I want them to come out of their room and experience. And so I think that that’s what we’re trying to touch on is getting to the place where what we really love to be a part of is an experience that has a room that you can stay in, whether it is something that, a place that you’re going to experience or a restaurant that you’re going to eat at or whatever that might be. And then you get to stay the night because you are just having so much fun that you just want to stay.
• Ash Marsh (38:07): If you look at the amenities that are in most hotel rooms, the big box hotel rooms and the mini bar, whatever, you could be an idiot and have a few drinks out of that and you’ll have a larger tab than if you went to the nicest restaurant in town and the drinks won’t be as good. Seriously. And so I’m like, why wouldn’t we have a grander place for people to want to come out of their room and experience that and not have such jacked up prices in the room for them to have to experience it?
• Ty Maloney (43:16): I think there’s a longing for more than just, and I think it comes down to that dichotomy between entertainment and hospitality where people are not just looking to be entertained anymore. They truly want to be transformed. They want transformational experiences that actually make them become something or move them, or you see this, I mean, people want to be interesting.
• John Marsh (45:32): And now even thinking our place is somewhat, again, a land-based cruise ship, but cruise ships are restaurants with rooms, restaurants and pools and venues with rooms. And the key is to be able to put all this together.

Information & Links

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