Keith Menin

Stacy Shoemaker Rauen: Hi, I’m here with Keith Menin. Keith, thanks so much for joining us today.

Keith Menin: My pleasure. Thanks for having me.

SSR: Of course. We always start at the beginning. Where did you grow up?

KM: I was born and raised in Miami Beach.

SSR: Nice. Did you always have a love of hospitality or design? Was that part of your childhood?

KM: You know what? I wouldn’t say I’ve always had it, but I developed it when I was about 11 or 12 years old. An uncle of mine bought the Shelborne Hotel on Collins Avenue. When he bought it, we started having family dinners there and holiday dinners and just really being there. It was at that time that I really walked in the backhouse of the kitchen first and saw this big operation. Then I really realized that I kind of liked the action of it, even at a young age. Since then, I’ve been very intrigued in hospitality on every level. Then I would say after I graduated Cornell Hotel School at about 23 years old, I really got into design, which has developed a lot more obviously as I’ve grown up. So the two kind of meshed together from an early age for sure.

SSR: Amazing. What was it like working at the Shelborne? What did you learn? What was your favorite job? Did you try everything?

KM: Yeah, I started working there when I was about 16, and it was the summer. Really, every summer, I decided to work for my uncle in some capacity. That summer, I was 16 years old, and I got a job at the Shelborne to work all summer long. The goal was really to learn every department and really understand how a hotel functions from the front door to the back door and up and down. In doing that, I started out at the front desk. You can imagine a little 16-year-old kid with a vest on and the name tag in the old days, and checking guests in, checking guests out, which is really one of the hardest jobs because you get guests that come in that are either upset because they missed their flight or maybe their girlfriend or boyfriend fought. It’s just always a different personality.

What it got me to realize was that to make everybody happy, right? That’s the DNA of hospitality. I quickly learned that if people came in off their flight late, and they were stressed out, buy them a little drink card and give them two drinks to lobby bar or upgrade someone if it was something important. I really learned how to deal with every check-in differently, and that hopefully, it had them all leaving happy.

I really did every department that summer. I did front desk. I did PBX, which is the phone operator, which if you can imagine the old days was 10 phone lines ringing everywhere. Wasn’t like today when you have iPhones, and Expedia, and really online stuff. It was more phone calls, travel agents, and guests, and room reservations. I started out at PBX, which is really the phone operator. It really taught me how the building functions to front desk to bellman to pool boy to kitchen, all the way out to valet. There wasn’t a position I didn’t do that summer. That was really how I really got started really learning how a hotel functions.

SSR: So fun. Was there one experience or one story that kind of sticks out from that summer or one lesson learned?
KM: Thankfully, it was some years ago, so I don’t remember the exact story. The lesson that I left there learning was make sure every guest comes, and make them happy when they arrive, and make sure they leave happy. It’s a good first impression and the last impression that I think was really my takeaway of my summer there was you have to make people happy when they arrive and make them happy when they leave.

SSR: Exactly. The essence of hospitality. You went to Cornel, and then after that, you and your cousin, Jared, jumped right into opening the Sanctuary South Beach, right?

KM: Pretty much.

SSR: Or was there something in between?

KM: I graduated Cornell Hotel School, and I quickly came home to start work. Jared’s younger than me, so he was still in college for a few years after me. I took a building that my family owned that was an old nursing home, and I convinced them to let me turn it into my first hotel called the Sanctuary. Really, it was just me and an intern that I found through a friend and did everything from the logo to the branding to the construction to the interior design to the opening to the press. I literally did it all. I was 23 years old and living on the beach, and my sole goal was just to make this happen.

I think the Sanctuary was probably the most successful condo hotel ever done in its day. We sold at $1,200 a foot when no one ever hit those numbers before. We open and ran it very successfully. The press was huge. The reception was huge for back then. I mean I would say our opening party was probably the best parties Miami ever saw in its time.

Yeah, I opened that, and I ran that for probably around three years. Then Jared graduated and came down. I was building the Mondrian hotel at the time, partnered with Morgans, where I was more the developer and the, call it, visionary. They were the operator because I really wasn’t an operator. I had my one little hotel and that was it. Then at that time when I realized that I saw some flaws how they operate, and I was like, “You know what? If I want to be in the hospitality business, I don’t want to rely on anybody else.” It was at that point I told Jared, who his strength was operations, was, “You know what? Why don’t you build a team that can operate our hotels so we aren’t relying on anybody else?” That’s when we actually really formed Menin Hospitality and started to really be active in the business.

SSR: Got it. So Sanctuary. I mean, you’re 23. You’re in Miami. What motivated you to do that, to step out of school, and do something so elaborate, such a big undertaking?

KM: I always want to be successful. When I was in Cornell, there’s only a hundred in each class. You can imagine 100 of probably some of the smartest kids in the world are in school with you, and some are going into finance. Some are going to hotels, and I was one of those entrepreneurial guys that I didn’t really want to do any of that. I was like, ‘I want to figure out my thing in a way.’ What motivated me was really to be successful, and I knew that I was going to make mistakes. I made plenty of mistakes. I knew that I was going to make some errors, which I did, but I really was intrigued just to do my thing and just step into it instead of…look, I probably could have worked in a hotel for three years and then went back to that, but I also believe that time goes by very, very quickly, and it’s perishable. You can’t get it back.

For me, the decision was just jump into this thing, make some mistakes, have fun, but I really put everything I had into it. That’s all I did. I literally was living, breathing, promoting, opening, learning. It was all I did. When you’re 23, 24 years old, no wife, no kids, no girlfriend, you can really dedicate 10 percent of your bandwidth to something. Where nowadays, I’m older. I have a lot more going on. It was a timing thing where I had 100 percent of my time to give to my thing, and that was really what I think made it successful.

SSR: Was there something that you learned building the Sanctuary at 23?

KM: I think the biggest lesson was we did the building. My family owned it. We’re supposed to have a $5 million budget to renovate it. I didn’t really know about construction or budgets or any of this stuff. I mean I learned in school, but it was really just me just kind of guessing at it. I’ll never forget. My family was funding this themselves. We were paying for it. I had no money for it at the time.

I remember my Uncle Russel one day looks at me, and he goes, “You’re at $8 million.” He goes, “What is wrong with you?” He goes, “Keith, if you blow this deal, no one backs you again.” He’s like, “You’re only good as your last deal. This is your first deal. It’s a bloodbath.” At that point, he told me. He’s like, “You’re never making your money back as a full hotel. I don’t know what you did here.” I still wasn’t even done. I needed like $4 million to be able to finish.

That’s when I came with the solution of doing a condo hotel. I said, “You know what? I’ll figure it out.” We finished the property at $10 million. I was supposed to spend five if you can imagine. This is 15 years ago. The only way to get the money back was to sell the units off as a condo, recoup our money, and own the front desk business as a condo hotel and the restaurant. That’s when I quickly shifted to sales mode, and I did that. I sold all 30 units. I paid back all my money, and I was left with the hotel for free.

That was probably the biggest lesson that I remember of him telling me that you’re kind of only as good as your last deal. He was right. If I lost $10 million at 25 years old, no one’s giving me any more money again. That was the most important lesson was to… My takeaway was to really build a building on pen and paper first. It’s much easier, much cheaper rather than just start building and organize. That was probably the biggest lesson of that project.

SSR: Yeah. All right. You’re working on the Mondrian. You get together with Jared. What’s next? Did you guys finish the Mondrian? Did you move on? Where did you want to go once you formed Menin Hospitality?

KM: Well, I did the Mondrian, which we owned. We then went, and we managed a hotel inside Chicago called the Raffaelo, which was just a great Gold Coast Hotel where Jared was actually working at the time. We did this Chicago. We then took over the Shelborne, renovated that. We then later did the Gale hotel and the Kaskades hotel. Then in that, we also threw in food and beverage, like Bodega. We started opening Bodega Taqueria, which is very successful. That’s actually one of our biggest growth products now.

Then our most exciting one is we’re going to… I’m actually also building Natiivo outside of Menin. It’s a family project, and just our family office, the Galbut family office, and live in myself and Marissa. I’m building that outside of my hospitality business, but what’s exciting is that Menin Hospitality is going to manage that asset, and it’s a monster building, probably one of the tallest towers in Miami. Super exciting, very high energy. That’s probably our most exciting building that Menin’s ever been involved in and myself personally.

SSR: So what will it entail? What’s in the building?

KM: The reason it’s exciting is that Natiivo is a 51-story, vertical building. It’s in the heart of Miami. What’s exciting about it is it’s not just a normal building that we sell condos, and we have a lobby and a gym, and it’s just what it is. We decided to put everything that we know into one tower and really do a hospitality 2.0 building, where you’re going to have the first floor, this beautiful, Dolce Mercato market, marketplace restaurant. We then have about seven floors of office space with its own lobby, which is beautiful 14-foot high glass, matte black mullion, brick façade. It’s going to be really cool office space, just great energy.

Above that, we have what we’re calling Natiivo Social, which will be 70,000 feet of amenity space on one level, which’ll have a pool deck on the east that goes from the pool deck to a inside library, bar, restaurant, a speakeasy bar, an outside cocktail lounge, sunset bar, and then we have a 45,000-foot gym and spa, which is spectacular, boxing rooms, hammams, everything cool you can think of for those kind of amenities. There’s one nice staircase that connects the office to the amenities and the gym so you can flow without the lifestyle.

We then have a Gale Hotel, which is a 200-room hotel, which is the closest hotel to the Port of Miami. The port is one of the biggest pre-booking and post-booking nights more than any convention in Miami, where we have guests that come into Port of Miami all the time. They cruise and stay before and after. We believe being the closest hotel to the port that we’ll get tremendous business from there.

Then above that, we have 425 residential units that are spectacular. They are designed for home-sharing. Most condos don’t like home-sharing, and most hotels don’t like home-sharing. We decided to embrace it, and we’re actually going to be embracing home-sharing throughout the tower. We have four floors of penthouse designed by Restoration Hardware, which are beautiful, spectacular, RH penthouses for people to buy as well. It’s really the most energy I’ve ever seen in one building in one vertical space. We’ve done phenomenal.

LDV Hospitality is operating all the food and beverage led by John Meadow. They’re the founders of Scarpetta, and Dolce, and a lot of other brands out in New York City. Menin Hospitality’s going to manage the Gale hotel as well as the Natiivo platform for the owners that put it into the program. We’re about 80 percent sold out now. We sold, I think, 60 units in the last 45 days. We took a trip to Mexico last week and did over 20 sales. We’re anticipating being sold out by the end of the year. We’ve already broken ground on the property, and it’s just fantastic. If you have time, definitely look at the webpage. It’s a very, very special property.

SSR: Wow. That’s amazing. I’m exhausted just thinking about it all.

KM: Imagine building it.

SSR: Everything’s so integrated these days, right? Is this how you think people will live, and work, and stay with all these amenities? I mean is this how you think the next evolution of hospitality?

KM: 100 percent. I think before COVID, people always talked about this whole live, work, play thing. Now, with COVID, I think people are more into it. I think that people also realize that they’re more effective. You’re not losing an hour driving to the office there and back, plus an elevator, plus a cup of coffee. It’s like people… I mean at least the people that I deal with every day even outside my company, they’re much more effective. Zoom, all these different conference calls, Teams meetings, everyone’s doing much more.

I think the fact that somebody can either live full-time in Natiivo or rent there or come there for a season, have an office space downstairs, have the best gym in probably Miami there, have an amazing amenity floor where you can have breakfast meetings, lunch meetings, a speakeasy bar at nighttime, a cocktail or spend the day by the pool on Saturday and Sunday… Just mix being in the hub of Miami. They’re just going to be living in this big vertical building of energy. People have really been liking that tremendously.

KM: Yeah, I mean I think when we built Natiivo, we always envisioned this was going to happen, but we didn’t think there would be as much of demand for this stuff, so I think it’s been a great thing for us.

SSR: So how did you pick your collaborators, RH and then also John Meadow, who’s an amazing restaurateur?

KM: John Meadow and I went to Cornell Hotel School together, and I watched John grow his career, and he’s also one of my best friends. We’ve been best friends. We met in Cornell, and I’ve watched him grow and develop a company, so it was a natural blend to kind of nod John to kind of take over that aspect because I think he’s the best in the business in really programming, designing, and executing on such a big, large F&B scale. That was kind of a natural progression. RH, I’m a fan of all brands. What I liked about them is that they’re really investing a lot in these flagship stores they’re building, and restaurants, and really in the marketing. It was one of those things where I think it’s a global brand people know. It’s a household brand, so we were intrigued to do a deal with them. Plus, they’re nice people. They’re easy to work with. I like their style. That’s kind of why we chose RH.

SSR: Got it. Who did you collaborate on the rest of the design?

KM: Rest of the design, I collaborated with a firm I’ve been using for a long time and are very talented locally named Urban Robot and a gentleman named Giancarlo. Giancarlo is very talented. He gets the palette we’re going for. They were really instrumental, and I think they really get tremendous credit for creating such a great palette on Natiivo.

SSR: You’ve collaborated with some great designers along the way including Giancarlo. What makes for a successful collaboration for you, or what do you look for in a collaborator for your projects?

KM: I think, first, most is finding the person that gets the vision because not every designer understands every palette. I first say to myself, “Who’s the right designer? Who’s the right collaborating partner to make this vision come alive?” I think when everyone’s interests are aligned, and everyone’s super excited about something, it works. Giancarlo was beyond excited for this project, almost more excited than anyone in the room was. I love that energy. To me, I think it’s finding someone who has the right vision, who gets the palette we’re trying to execute, and has really high energy and dedication to work hard. That’s a recipe for success.

SSR: Let’s go back for a minute to your other hotels. What was it like redoing the Shelborne, something that you grew up in that was in your family? What was it like to transform it for the next wave of guests?

KM: It was great. The Shelborne needed it. It was a very old, dated hotel. It didn’t change since I was 16 or probably 11. It was exciting to look and reenvision this place. We knew it, right? We knew every inch, every corner of it, so it was somewhat easy because we knew the property, and we knew what it’s about. It was exciting to reenvision a whole new look, a whole new brand, a whole new interior to make the place great. I think we did a great job of that.

SSR: Tell us about your restaurant, Bodega Taqueria and Tequila because it’s a fun space. But you also had a hidden door behind for a cocktail place. I remember going there in Miami. Tell us about that concept and what you wanted to create that didn’t exist already.

KM: Bodega Taqueria and Tequila was one of our most exciting things that we created. What happened was we realized there was a void in the space where Miami was just nightclubs. They opened at midnight, and you’d have to wait until midnight to go out and get a drink, and then your night became very long. What we did was we decided that we found this warehouse in really a weird area, off Alton Road and West Avenue. Wasn’t high traffic. There was no tourists. I said to myself, “I want to create a cool bar that you can go to any time you want any night where there’s no promoters. There’s no sparklers and bottles in a nightclub. It’s a cool hang.”

We also felt like Miami didn’t have much Mexican food. It’s very Cuban-influenced, so we created this kind of street food Mexican, Airstream funky design of this little taqueria, which is about 500 square feet. We thought at the time it would do maybe $400,000 in business. It’s very small, right? It’s four burners. It’s a little Airstream, and it’s teeny. I think in our first year, we did 3.5 million just out of the taco stand. What we did was we designed it ourselves. There’s no designer. Just me and my little team and just creating something really cool.

Behind it, we built this really fun bar. It was inspired by reclaimed wood and by all these different elements that I thought would be cool. We decided to build this bar with no name. There’s a Porta Potti door into the taqueria with no name. The idea was that I wanted people to go there and text a friend, “Oh, come to this bar. Come to Bodega.” You pull up, and you see a taqueria, and you go “What? Where’s the bar?” It’s a little, baby taco stand. I don’t understand where everybody is, and you somehow found this door and get into the bar. That was the idea.

The problem was the first they opened it up was New Year’s Eve six years now, and I invited all my friends. I said, “You know what? Let me invite my friends. Let’s just do it. We’ll keep the doors open. Whoever shows up shows up.” Around midnight, my friend goes, “Have you been outside?” I said, “No, I’m inside.” He goes, “Go look outside, Keith.” I walked outside. There’s no windows in the bar, and there’s a line down the street. I was like, “Wow. Let everybody in.” Everyone found out about it pretty quickly, and then it became this instant thing that was just explosive. We did it cool where the doorman’s a nice guy. He gives a shot of Jose Tequila Gold. You get a shot when you come in. It’s meant to be a neighborhood bar. We really launched this Wednesday night live music, which was extremely successful. Bodega’s been around six years now, and it’s probably one of the most successful taquerias and bars and even the concept in South Florida, I think.

We recently decided to go on a very rapid expansion plan. We opened up Fort Lauderdale about three months ago, which is beyond successful, which is incredible. We’re opening up Coconut Grove, another freestanding building, but similar concept in October. We’re opening Palm Beach in November, and we’re doing just our taqueria in Aventura in the next couple months. Bodega’s just this exciting, fun concept that we’re now really rolling out all over. I’ll tell you it’s one of the most exciting accounts I’ve been a part of in the F&B space.

SSR: So fun. Are you evolving it at all? Are you keeping it kind of what it was at its roots? Are you adapting it or building it?

KM: Yeah, we’re adapting to the environment. In Coconut Grove, we’re going to do the taqueria. We’re going to do a, call it, beer-garden-ish bar behind the taqueria. So it’s an outdoor kind of hang with a rooftop, and we’re going to do about a 40-person small tequila mezcal bar on top of the taqueria because I think the Grove needs that intimate, great bar. Instead of being a bigger, call it, 400-person lounge, we’re going to go more of daytime hang and then this smaller bar.

In Palm Beach, we’re doing almost the same. In Fort Lauderdale, we did an identical footprint to South Beach because the market really wanted that, and it’s received so well. In Aventura, we’re just doing a taqueria. As we expand, we don’t just take the concept, a box, and just plug and play. We really analyze the environment, the market, and we adapt to that. They will all have the same essence, DNA, signatures, colors, palettes, and feeling as Bodega South Beach, but it is evolving and adapting as we grow.

SSR: Very cool. Sometimes the simplest concepts come out to be the best, right?

KM: 100 percent.

SSR: The Gale, it was an older building that you restored as well or older hotel that you restored as well, correct?

KM: Yes, the Gale was an old, historical hotel we restored as well, yes.

SSR: Why did that attract you? Why did you want to take that on and add that to your portfolio?

KM: It was owned by my family. It was a great, great hotel. It was across from the Delano. It’s in our backyard, so it just kind of made sense to rebuild the iconic hotel at the time.

SSR: Got it. When you say your family, were your parents also involved in development along with your uncle.

KM: It was more just my uncle, Russel Galbut, who I really started working with at a young age. I’ve really been working with his assets, and his guidance, and his partnership now. It’s not parents. It’s more overall family, but really with Russel.

SSR: Got it. He must have been a great mentor along the way.

KM: Unbelievable. There’s nobody better.

SSR: Tell us what’s next for you. Through the whole COVID pandemic, how have you had to change as a leader, or how’s your outlook changed, or what are you taking from ’20 to look forward to in ’21 and ’22?

KM: I think really what’s exciting is Natiivo. Nothing really changed in that level, but we’ve learned more about health, and wellness, and things that COVID kind of made people aware of. I think that we’re readapting how we’re building the building, making some great changes, and adding some great things for people to be happy there, especially a lot of our owners are clients. I think on the Menin front, we were always planning on expanding Bodega, and now, we’ve really put it in high gear and really going to rapidly expand that. We should have 10 or 12 Bodegas, I think, by the end of the year, all great markets, all great properties. We are doing that. I think, overall, we’re still relentlessly focused in hospitality, and learning, and growing, and making money. I think nothing really changed in that, but I think COVID taught a lot to all of us on many different levels, business, personal outlook, appreciation. I think that those lessons are also good to have as well.

SSR: How did you keep your team motivated through the last year?

KM: It wasn’t easy. The truth is I really give Jared tremendous credit because he’s really the day-to-day operator of the company, not me. It was probably the hardest time to his life, I think, especially his career operating. He really had to deal with it 24 hours a day, seven days a week and did phenomenal, but it wasn’t easy. From my standpoint, I was always thinking macro, and high level, and how to keep everything going, and what’s the next step, and defense, and offense, and more on a macro-level business. I think Jared really did phenomenal on the day-to-day with our 200-300 employees and managing everybody, which was not easy. He really gets tremendous credit for that. He did great. I know it wasn’t easy for him.

SSR: Yeah. Miami is definitely having its moment. What’s it been like to see the city grow and change and evolve over the last 15 years, call it, and especially the past year?

KM: I think Miami has been incredible. Look, I’m born and raised here, so I always said, “Why doesn’t everybody live here? Why doesn’t everybody come to Miami? We have palm trees. We have water. We have great lifestyle.” I think people are now because what’s happened in the world and different states are actually coming here, and they love it, right? They realize this place is paradise. I think it’s been great. I think it’s elevating restaurants we’re getting. It’s elevating culture we’re getting. People are getting very good here. I’m meeting a lot of great, new friends. For me, it’s been really a great thing, but not a shocking thing because I’ve thought that people should always be here.

SSR: Now, they’ve realized, so everyone’s coming there. You have your hands in many parts of every project. Is there one part of the process that you love the most?

KM: My favorite is really design. I love design, and I love construction. That’s really what I focus the most. I think even Jared will tell you, even on Bodega, we have a team that find sites, and they do leases. I don’t really focus on that. I focus at the end of where’s the site, how’s the building look, does it fit our DNA, can it check our boxes, and then I really dive into design and the energy of the finished product. That’s kind of what I love the best on everything, including Natiivo. Whatever I’m involved in, I’m really passionate for design and for the end result of a property.

SSR: After a property opens, do you sit, and watch, and see how people use it, and learn from that?

KM: 100 percent. When we first opened Bodega, I was there for the first, I would say, six months every single day from lunch to dinner to how the sun went down, and the lights were on, and the music level, and the staff, and the uniforms. I’m very OCD about all those things. Yeah, when we open a place, I don’t really focus on, call it, the operations or that stuff. I just go there as a customer, and I’ll sit there, and just watch the vibe, and see what’s going on, and really focus in on that, curating the experience because that’s really what our customers see, right? They don’t see how hard it is to build the place, how hard it is to operate a place. All the things back of the house, they don’t see. I’m really focused on what the customer sees and feels to really curate their experience.

SSR: It’s all about the details for sure. In an interview with HD a few years ago, you described the industry as 24/7 with no days off. How do you find time off, first question, and what do you do, and then how do you define success for an industry that’s always evolving and always moving?

KM: I think I have a lot of time off because I’m never really on or off. I’m always on, but my on is doing what I love to do. Whether it’s being on a boat or it’s traveling or it’s networking at dinners and different places, I enjoy what I do, so it’s never off, which is a good thing. I think success is different to everybody. I think that that’s what makes the world a great place. Not everybody wants the same thing. Really, I think when people define what makes them happy in life and what they want to be successful, I think that’s how people are successful and happy. For me, happiness is growing great properties, seeing great customers, creating great experiences, creating great buildings like the Natiivo, which will be there forever and change the skyline of Miami. Those are things that really excite me, and I think are what we justify success as. Listen, we have a great team, great people. We love what we do, and we’re just happy to grow and do more stuff.

SSR: For sure. How do you stay inspired or where do you find inspiration?

KM: Everywhere. I don’t sleep much. I sleep maybe four hours a day, maybe five. I’m up reading all about travel and the world and design. The good thing is today with internet, and even Instagram, and with all these outlets, we can get so much information that really that’s what I love to do. I constantly research, and look, and follow great people, and learn from great people. It’s really just spending time just diving into things.

SSR: Do you have a style, would you say, and does your life at home reflect that hotel-like lifestyle?

KM: Yeah, it’s funny. I also build homes for ourselves, and we live in it. People always love the style of our houses. The truth is our house are designed like we live inside a hotel. There’s a lobby area. There are all these series of events. We like comfortable, great design. My wife actually does interior design. You can look up her Instagram. It’s Menin Homes Design. You’ll see some of our houses, and inspiration, and just palette. If you really take a step back, it feels like a comfortable, great hotel. That’s kind of how we live. Yeah, I think my DNA of hospitality comes off on our house and how we live 100 percent.

SSR: Yeah. Well, it’s so amazing too to see these days, and I think at Natiivo, you’re probably see it too, is how all the different design disciplines are…they merge into each other, right? Residential feels like hospitality. Hospitality feels like residential. Office feels like hospitality. I don’t know. Are you seeing that? Is that what you’re looking at too at Natiivo?

KM: Yeah, and that was the exact thing was that all those segments all want hospitality, right? People don’t just want an office where you have a lobby, and a weird hallway, and you share a bathroom, and it’s like that’s it. They want to be able to if they have a conference order food to a meeting and not have to wait on Uber Eats or a secretary to get it. I think office wants excitement, energy, amenities, gyms, and spas, and places to meet people for cocktails after work, things like that. Hotels always drive service and amenity. I think people living in apartments also want service, right? They want room service. They want housekeeping. They want to be able to leave, and rent out their place for the summer, and get some income to travel. Natiivo is really this hospitality 2.0 of all those segments you just mentioned all need hospitality and service. So let’s create a building and give everyone what they want. I think that’s why Natiivo’s so successful and so exciting.

SSR: Yeah. How’d you come up with the name?

KM: We actually didn’t create the brand. It was a new brand that we found, and we were kind of intrigued by it, so we licensed the brand. Then we really developed it, but it’s a great brand that means to be native in a community, to develop yourself would be one. It really lent itself great to the area of Miami that we’re doing and also our clientele.

SSR: For sure, especially with the boom that Miami’s having right now in residential.

KM: Absolutely.

SSR: Tell us something about yourself that most people might not know.

KM: That’s a hard one. Everyone knows everything about me. I’m pretty transparent, open book. I would say probably my favorite thing in the world that I now experience is being a father to my two twin daughters. I would say that that’s my favorite thing I’ve ever done in my entire life, and I enjoy it more than anything else in the world is being a dad to those girls.

SSR: Aw. How old are they?

KM: They just turned two in February. They’re Valentine’s Day babies.

SSR: Oh, I have twin boys. They’re six.

KM: Oh, that’s so cool.

SSR: Yes, you’re getting there. You’re almost over the hump at two. That’s amazing. Has there ever been a travel or an experience or something either in hospitality or just in travel in general that you saw or experienced that changed or inspired you?

KM: I think a lot of my inspiration in hospitality and service come from Italy. I’ve spent a tremendous amount of time in Italy. I have a lot of great friends there, and I’ve traveled that country every way you can think about from backpacking as a kid to going back in the Salvatore Ferragamo states to really the best of the time. What I gather from the Italians is Italians by nature are very into hospitality. It dawned on me that when you have dinner at people’s houses, it’s all about the meal, and the service, and the plates, and the style, and the experience. It’s the same as a coffee shop or a great hotel there.

I would say my travels through Italy really taught me a lot about service, and quality of life, and giving people great experiences every step of the way. There’s a reason why it’s such a small country, but yet impacts so many people in so many different ways because it’s just their culture. Now, I know every culture has it from Asia… I’ve been around the world, but there’s something about the Italian way of life that really inspires me and really taught me a lot.

SSR: Yeah. That’s probably why you and John Meadow get along so well.

KM: There you go.

SSR: Given everything we’ve been through in the last year, I know you said wellness and understanding that more, is there anything else you see evolving in hospitality in particular? Anything else you all and your team are paying attention to as we hopefully get out of the pandemic?

KM: I think hospitality’s a great sector. I think there’s great hotels. There’s great product. There’s great F&B. I think I’m excited to the world to get back open, and start trying new concepts, and almost just exploring life a little more. I know people seem to think about the restaurants for six months and travel. For me, I’m just excited to see the world in a way of hospitality coming back and people getting back to that way of life. I think it’s very, very exciting.

SSR: Do you think travel will mean more?

KM: Yeah, I think people took for granted traveling, eating, going places, and these experiences. I think now people are probably more excited for these experiences, right? There’s something exciting now about traveling and trying new places. I think not that we took it for granted, but it was very accessible, either on a simple one-star scale or a five-star scale, to go and do things, right? The world was open. We had no rules. You could literally book a flight and a room and a dinner on your phone and be there the next day, which is the beauty of life. I think when that stopped, people may have taken it for granted or missed it a little bit. So I’m excited to see people actually start to enjoy it more, even myself. I always did, but I appreciate now traveling more, having dinners with friends, and just being out where I missed that for the whole COVID time, right? I didn’t have dinner with a friend for three-four months. I think people are starting to really feel that and appreciate hospitality a lot more.

SSR: Do you have a travel wish?

KM: You know where I do want to go that I haven’t gone yet is that Aman resort in Utah. I think I want to go there this summer, the Amangiri.

SSR: That would be amazing. Leave the twins at home. We always end the podcast with the title of the podcast, so what has been or are your greatest lessons learned?

KM: My greatest lessons learned are if you’re going to start a project, start on pen and paper. It’s much cheaper than concrete and building. That’s the first good lesson. My second greatest lesson is to appreciate every moment of every day and enjoy life to the fullest. My third lesson is to always try to give my guests, my customers, my friends great experiences, great hospitality, and make sure everyone’s always enjoying every single day.

SSR: Amazing. Well, thank you so much for taking the time. It was so good to catch up with you.

KM: Thank you, guys.

SSR: Yeah. Hope to see you in real life sometime soon.

KM: You got it. Have a great day.

SSR: Thanks, Keith. Talk to you soon.