Since 2006, Bashar Wali has served as president of Portland, Oregon-based Provenance Hotels, a collection of lifestyle properties around the U.S. that emphasize genuine hospitality through meaningful, authentic interactions. Wali’s talk, titled “WTF,” was a dissection of hotel mishaps and triumphs, where he underscored the importance of listening to guests and giving them what they want.
Pay Attention
Approaching a hotel front desk at 11 p.m. with a bag in tow only to hear the question “Checking in?” can be infuriating when the scenario is so obvious, Wali says. The frustration only intensifies when, with plans to leave at 7 a.m. the next morning, the employee gives the standard amenities spiel when all that’s urgently needed is the key to the room. The solution? “We have to be emotionally intelligent,” he says. No matter the business, it’s important to read and understand the client.
Human Connection
The words service and hospitality are often interchangeable, but “it’s underselling what we do in the service industry because service is something you deliver,” he says. “The business we’re in is hospitality. It’s not about checklists, it’s about how you make people feel.” With the industry now so focused on “shock and awe and the Instagram moment,” hotels are losing sight of the important details. “Show me that you are genuinely interested in me,” he says.
The Little Things
As a joke, a guest at Hotel deLuxe in Portland made special requests for a hand-drawn, framed picture of Neil deGrasse Tyson and a love note from astrophysicist Bill Nye. He was shocked when the hotel fulfilled his zany wishes. That kind of culture is the norm for Provenance Hotels. “Ultimately, we want to make sure people feel at home when they come to our hotels,” he says.
When Wali books a hotel room (he’s checked into 178 hotels in New York alone), he says he always remembers “when someone goes out of their way [for me]. Good service demands substance.” For example, he was once welcomed with a card that noted what time and channel TV sitcom Black-ish was on that evening. From the public portion of Wali’s Facebook profile, it took 60 seconds to discover he was a fan of the show, “and that is what will bring me back to that hotel, not their Château Lafite,” he says. “We forget how [much] these little details matter.”
The Revolution Hotel in Boston, designed in collaboration with Prellwitz Chilinski Associates
The masculine-informed Bullard Restaurant in the Woodlark Hotel in Portland, designed by Smith Hanes
A muted color palette defines the lobby of the Woodlark Hotel
Street artist Tristan Eaton’s 65-foot mural marks the lobby at the Revolution Hotel
Hotel Murano in Tacoma, Washington designed in collaboration with CPH Designs
A refined bunkbed guestroom at the Revolution Hotel
