Google and Tripadvisor may be in partnership talks, a shoppable hotel is coming to Philadelphia, and the show goes on for drag queens in Dallas. All that and more in this week’s Five on Friday.
All the décor in this Philadelphia hotel will be for sale
Shannon Maldonado (right) with business partner Everett Abitbol, at the Deacon hotel and event space in Philadelphia; photo by Heidi’s Bridge
Designer Shannon Maldonado used to dream about opening a “modern gift shop,” as she recently explained in an interview with The New York Times. After moving from New York to her native Philadelphia she launched a small store, Yowie, in the Queen Village neighborhood. Now, working with developer Everett Abitbol (the two also collaborated on Abitbol’s hotel and event space the Deacon in Philly and boutique hotel Dye House in Rhode Island), she is moving her shop again. This time, it will occupy the ground floor of the Yowie hotel, with Maldonado as a co-owner and designer. Located on Philly’s South Street—an area that has been home to Black-owned businesses that Maldonado remembers visiting as a kid—the 13-room hotel will open this summer, with shoppable interiors and a café. “My dream was to be connected to a hotel,” she said. “I didn’t know that would be my hotel.”
Is Google and Tripadvisor’s relationship on the mend?
Photo by Julian Herzog, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Earlier this month, Tripadvisor CEO Matt Goldberg hinted at a potential partnership with Google at an investor conference, according to Skift. The online travel agency (OTA) is attempting to make a comeback after some years of declining traffic, partly based on Google’s use of its market power to direct users to sponsored ads that has undercut the free traffic Tripadvisor relied on. While Tripadvisor does, and will continue to, pay for Google ads and sponsored placements, Goldberg alluded to conversations with the search behemoth around “how we can differentiate, how we can focus on what we’re going to do best, and how we can partner there.”
The drag shows go on at Dallas’ Rose Room
Kelexis Davenport, a drag performer at the Rose Room; photo courtesy of the Rose Room
Open in the heart of Dallas’ Oak Lawn LGBTQ+ “gayborhood” for nearly four decades, the Rose Room occupies the upstairs space at dance club Station 4. It’s revered as the city’s preeminent drag venue, even hosting stars of RuPaul’s Drag Race, including Shangela LaQuifa Wadley, Asia O’Hara, Kennedy Davenport, and Alyssa Edwards, writes Amy McCarthy for Eater. But it’s the Rose Room’s permanent cast that carries the show night after night, performers who continue on in the face of waves of anti-drag rhetoric and legislation in Texas and beyond. McCarthy offers a backstage peek into a night for these entertainers, visiting the venue a week after a contingency of the performers (and others) traveled to Austin to testify against a Texas bill that would have made it illegal for anyone under the age of 18 to attend a drag show. “I have always felt like this was a safe space,” said drag queen Jenna Skyy. “But if the law changes, all it takes is one phone call, and there’s citations and arrests.”
Marriott pledges to hire 3,000 refugees by 2026
The Marriott Bethesda Downtown at Marriott HQ, designed by Rottet Studio and Marriott’s in-house team; photo by Garrett Rowland
Marriott International plans to hire 1,500 refugees in the U.S. by 2025 and an additional 1,500 in Europe by the following year, the company announced this week. To aid in its goal, reports Business Travel News, it will offer support spaces and services like onsite translators, prayer rooms, and assistance with public transportation, along with a career website that highlights U.S. opportunities for refugees. Amid recent staffing shortages for hotels across the globe, “Our focus on creating job opportunities has already led to over 970 refugees hired across dozens of our hotels in the European region,” Marriott president and CEO Anthony Capuano said in an official statement. Added American Hotel & Lodging Association president and CEO Chip Rogers in a June 2023 staffing report released by the trade group: “We need Congress to help address workforce shortages with bipartisan solutions, including those that create opportunities for more immigrants to enter the American economy.”
Submissions now open for the 2023 Gold Key Awards
The 1 Hotel Toronto, the Gold Key 2022 Luxury Hotel winner, designed by Rockwell Group and the SH Hotels & Resorts in-house team; photo by Brandon Barré
Entries are now being accepted for the 43rd Gold Key Awards for Excellence in Hospitality Design. Sponsored by HD sister brand Boutique Design, the award recognizes outstanding interior design in 22 categories, from hotel spaces spanning industry sectors, to restaurants, nightclubs, senior living, and other hospitality venues. Winning and finalist projects, along with the Design Firm of the Year, Up-and-Coming Hotelier of the Year, and the 2023 class of the Boutique 18 (nominations also open now!), will be celebrated at the Gold Key Awards gala on November 13th at Cipriani 42nd Street, in conjunction with BDNY. Submit your projects by July 28th.
