A Carpenter’s $1M Secret
Then, a devastating blow hit. His wife, pregnant with their first son Ethan, was rear-ended at a stoplight by a drunk driver going over 50 mph. Miraculously, she and their…
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Isaac French
57 posts
Hospitality is the Ultimate Craft
craft is care Craft is about doing things that don’t scale. In a world where everything is engineered to scale, this kind of care is precious. Care is the cornerstone…
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Why We Sold Live Oak Lake
But the timing just wasn’t ideal—six months of operating history is far less appealing to buyers than a full year. Plus, our broker didn’t specialize in unique hospitality assets, and…
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Design Matters More Than Ever
Every Saturday morning, usually coffee in hand, I open my friend Hans’ Differentiated Design newsletter. Hans Lorei never misses. But this week, after the California fires, his words hit differently.…
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The Remarkable Story of the Dunlap Hollow A-frame & Cave
Amy’s a stay-at-home mom—they have 3 kids. Bryant’s an engineer by trade, but his 9-to-5 was unfulfilling. In 2018, they started searching for a slice of Hocking Hills, and just…
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A Denim Adventure (and lessons from experiential retail)
But what struck me most was the warmth and care of each staff member. They weren’t just selling clothes—they were both passionate about their craft and genuinely welcoming. This was…
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My Favorite Hotel In The World
Its 42 guest rooms are nestled within over 1,000 breathtaking acres. Inside one of the forty-two accommodations Let’s do some napkin math here: From my research, the ADR is $2,000/night(+/-),…
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This Brand Has Taste (and is going places)
Everything feels deeply personal. For every guest, hinter plants 10 trees through a non-profit partnership ($1/tree). Genius marketing, for just $10/stay. They’ve started writing and curating the hinter planet, a…
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Thanksgiving Is Here…
This intensity and drive has a double edge. Passion for details on the one side—impatience and frustration on the other. Like all of us, I battle this tension every day.…
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The Future of Hospitality: Commodity vs Experiential
This week, I found myself talking with an Airbnb arbitrage operator—let’s call him Gary. Great guy, but his approach to hospitality is a world apart from mine. We debated the…
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