Last week, Hanley Wood hosted its 2nd HIVE Conference and its Top 50 industry Innovators in Los Angeles at the spectacular Hotel InterContinental. Hive helps to bring the residential, commercial ,design and construction industry from multi-unit buildings to the luxurious, into the 21st century.
The InterContinental Hotel, Los Angeles, CA. The Lobby is on the 57th Floor! And yes, the view is spectacular.
HIVE 2017
Innovation in the industry was the thrust and top innovators and thought leaders were inspiring about it. Notably, Steve Case with his Third Wave and Chip Conley, founder in the late 1980’s of what he would build into the 2nd largest lifestyle boutique management chain in the United States – Joie de Vivre; and who for his next encore, has helped guide AirBnB’s disruption of the hospitality and travel industry, in its rocket-ship expansion across the world.
Chip Conley, Strategic Advisor for Hospitality and Leadership, AirBnB and Isabel Maxwell
Steve Case who co-founded the iconic AOL, talked with Sheryl Palmer, CEO & Chair of Taylor Morrison about the early days and vast lessons of AOL and now about how he is concentrating on democratizing venture capital beyond Silicon Valley and New York, as Start-ups are the key to more construction and more jobs across the country. He really is ‘a case’ of thinking outside-the-box!
Sheryl Palmer, CEO and Chair of Taylor Morrison interviewing Steve Case at HIVE
Steve Case Signing 3rd Wave at HIVE
The Luxury Travel Market
But turning now to Luxury, I was able to sit down briefly with Chip at HIVE 17 to talk about the segue of AirBnB into the Luxury Travel Market this year and how Wellness taps into that, as well as get a glimpse into his present and immediate inspirational future as a “Modern Elder”.
A quick snapshot of AirBnB: AirBnB was founded in August of 2008 by Brian Chesky, Joe Gebbia and Nathan Blecharczyk, and its HQ are in San Francisco, California. AirBnB has indeed disrupted the hotel industry on a global scale.
As it deservedly proudly claims, whether an apartment for a night, a castle for a week, or a villa for a month, by marrying innovative hospitality to technology, it has redefined hospitality by connecting people to unique travel and home experiences, at any price point, in more than 65,000 cities and 191 countries.
AirBnB in 2017: credit Chip Conley
As former full time Global Head of Hospitality and Strategy for four years at AirBnB, in addition to blowing out the Hospitality sector with his AirBnBOpen for Hosts, Chip was materially involved in the expansion of the company into the Luxury market, with AirBnB’s acquisition of Luxury Retreats from Canadian entrepreneur, Joe Poulin, who says Chip, “a second Brian Chesny”.
The Charm of staying in Castle thru AirBnB
“The secret source of Luxury Retreats for AirBnB is not so much for all the extra listings, says Olivia Zaleski of Bloomberg Technology, “but really the excellent job it has done of managing all the extra little amenities that you might want on a luxury vacation, such as a masseuse, or a bar-tender” and I say things like a ballooning experience, that are actually very, very difficult to manage at scale, particularly in exotic locations when you are managing effectively what is a small business locally.
Private Charm on the Seine in the heart of Paris, France on a Houseboat
“Luxury fits very well into our global vision,” says Chip. “But the days are gone when the money you pay [for luxury] goes into the Chandeliers.”
He went on, “Some part of the luxury experience is the crucible of creating a deeper connection whether it is with yourself or the people you are with. I think it’s less about the actual facilities, and more about the actual facilitation.”
Chip Conley
“Time and Access are the most prized things now,” he says. “And, Wellness fits into that very well.”
Another interesting fact Chip notes, is that the age range for Luxury is the full range today, and that they are noticing that luxury is multi-generational. “A lot of times for example, you are doing a family reunion so that can be 3 or 4 generations. For our luxury product it is not so much a couple taking a place to themselves, it’s really more groups of people and quite often, it’s families too.“
“Part of the luxury experience is the crucible of creating a deeper connection, whether it is with yourself or the people you are with.”
In his own thought leadership, Chip has stepped back from four years of guiding the AirBnB rocket ship, to devote time to authoring more books and promoting “Modern Elders” – his coined term for people who are “breaking the tyranny of the three stage life” – where you learn, you earn and then you retire – a model that doesn’t work anymore because you learn and then you earn and then you may go back to earning again and then you may retire and then go back to learning again, and so on.
Chip is on the cusp of opening up a residential retreat he is building in Mexico to help C-Suite Executives and Senior Social Entrepreneurs embrace becoming Modern Elders.
With his own imparting of wisdom, of learning and simultaneously earning at AirBnB, Chip Conley is an inspiring and thoroughly engaging example of how to be constantly growing and learning and giving back, in his own fifth decade of life on this earth.
Hopefully once this retreat is up and running, you will be able to find out more about it and experience it here on We Blog The World!
Isabel Maxwell is a Tech Pioneer of the World Economic Forum, and president emerita of Commtouch Software (Nasdaq:CTCH). She Co-founded Magellan, an early online search engine, acquired by Excite in 1996.
Isabel is highly active in the social enterprise space. She was former Senior Adviser to Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus’ Grameen America which makes micro-loans to very poor entrepreneurial women. Isabel was a highly active director of Israel Venture Network and built up their pioneering Social Entrepreneur program in Israel from 2004-2011. She has also been an International Governor of the Peres Center For Peace & Innovation since 1999, and currently continues to advise Israel non-profits and a New VC platform out of Malta, Israel and London.
Isabel also had a long career in TV & Feature Film /Documentary production in the UK and US. She passionately believes in the power of individuals to make a difference in the world. French-born and Oxford-educated, Isabel has divided her time between Silicon Valley, Israel and LA for the past 18 years.
