Okay I’m back. I’ve realised that its been 11 months since my last journal entry- what can I say but it’s end of October 2020- and the world has changed so much more drastically since then. For one- I turned 40 in March having celebrated a huge soirée in Palm Springs, California with 40 of my closest and dearest friends. The trip was EPIC- and completely worth it as a the last trip before a Global Shutdown. Oh and the other thing that happened since the last entry- a Worldwide Pandemic (see: Global Shutdown)- with each country under the threat of COVID-19. Some novel coronavirus made up of bat DNA infects humans in Wuhan- and made its way all over the world causing a lot of sickness and deaths associated with its infection. Hardest hit are countries like the United States, India, Italy, Brazil, - well you get the point. And because these countries had many cases and deaths- of course we couldn’t travel- with countries closing their borders from non-essential travellers- hence a shutdown in terms of travel. While in the last two years I travelled somewhere maybe on average twice a month- which is a lot of travelling- for pleasure and work- this year, besides California- I travelled nowhere. At the very least there was never an official quarantine in Hong Kong where I live, because HK Citizens have learned from the trauma of SARS in the late 2000’s (Severe Acute Resperatory Syndrome) and are fine with shelter-in-place and wearing masks- but there were definitely some scary moments. Hotels closing all floors and restaurants except maybe one or two, airlines letting go of workers or reducing pay, restaurants closing, and tons of empty retail and commercial spaces - and this is just from what I have observed in Hong Kong. In the process I’ve learned to hike, discover the beaches again in my city, made better bonds with friends in my home city, and really found a new bond with family members far and away with Zoom. Our business - the design studio- is fine. We have amazing clients and projects that have lifted us this year- that said, most of what we design is for restaurants and hospitality- so we are definitely feeling for our industry and our community in this yearlong crisis.

The Retreat at Blue Lagoon (Grindavik, Iceland) From “Checking In- Bringing The Hotel Home”

Which brings me to the work of friends in media and publishing, Kissa Castaneda and Alexandra Seitz. These two women - whose jobs include covering and writing about Travel and Lifestyle all around the world- came together and actually authored this wonderful E-Book titled “Checking In: Bringing the Hotel Home” (Download Link Below) to help a very troubled sector affected by the travel industry shutdown all over- which is the embattled Hospitality sector and everyone associated- the communities built around it, the people working for it, and the eco-systems built and supported by these businesses. We are talking not just the properties of course, but the people who support their families because of travel and tourism, and the communities established around tourism, and the ecological and environmental efforts being financed by tourist tax dollars and fees. There’s so much going on behind the scenes that we as front end tourists and business travellers do not see that are severely affected.

Hotel de Paris (Monte Carlo, Monaco) From “Checking In- Bringing The Hotel Home”.

With this E-Book, Castaneda and Seitz have curated 35 of their most favourite properties and categorised them in various thematic chapters. The first chapter, “Inspire”, we meet personalities like Andre Fu and Bill Bensley, as they talk about the things that they do in their hotel concepts that we can consider incorporating at home. The second chapter, “Entertain”, offers music playlists, reading lists, and movies based on the hotels featured. In “Indulge”, each property offers a taste or a sip with iconic recipes of dishes and cocktails they are famous for that one can make at home. The “Connect” chapter highlights properties that bring guests right into nature in the middle of nowhere and interviews the visionaries who run and operate these hotels. The final chapter, “Relax”, highlights hotels with a healing and spa component- offering workout, meditation, and beauty tips to readers. However the most important thing about the book is that each download of the E-Book comes with a suggested Donation and proceeds from the Donations go to the four charities featured; Hospitality Action, Unite Here, Saira Hospitality, and Wild Philanthropy. According to the website for the book, Castaneda and Seitz have so far raised 4,000 GBP in donations. Amazing.

Bill Bensley’s Hotel Shinta Mani Wild in “Checking In: Bringing The Hotel Home”.

In terms of my favourite properties featured in the book, I’d love to visit the Hotel Il Pelicano in Italy, Bill Bensley’s Shinta Mani Wild in Cambodia, the Desa Potato Head in Bali, Claridge’s in London, Hotel De Paris in Monaco, and the Blue Lagoon designed by Peter Zumthor in Grindavik, Iceland. But I think travelling via the book will do for now.

This blog post was made possible with SquareSpace, all on the iPhone 11 Pro Max and the iPad Pro 2020. All images in this post come from the e-book, “Checking In: Bringing the Hotel Home”.

FOLLOW Kissa Castaneda @kissacastenda

FOLLOW Alexandra Seitz @lexseitz

DOWNLOAD Checking In: Bringing The Hotel Home

JJ.