Silicon Valley is the world’s undisputed leader when it comes to identifying, attracting and investing in top IT talent.
Arguably, the peninsula is also gifted with the best climate for enjoyable living. But there’s one thing Silicon Valley doesn’t do so well today, and I mean it really sucks at that - it’s hospitality.
NB: This is an opinion by Sergey Samusev, a business analyst for Google in Silicon Valley.
If you recently have been on a visit to Silicon Valley, you’ll hardly need any additional explanation.
If not, don’t take my word for that.
No room at the (tech) inn
Go and try to find a hotel within 30-minute drive (walkable distances don’t exist) from let’s say office of Apple, Facebook, Google or Linkedin.
You’ll most likely enjoy a location nearby a lively highway/freeway, unobstructed view on ample parking lots and no people or decent food places within an eyesight or walkable reach.
And I am not even talking about the look and feel of the most properties, which do a pretty good job of blending with an overall low key appearance of the Valley.
A friend of mine, who stayed in the area many times, gave it what I see as the best summary:
"Most of them are more like motels, rather than hotels."
Not much to add, unfortunately. I do have to except a couple of places from that generalization, like recently opened The Epiphany Hotel in Palo Alto downtown.
But chances are, if you are flying economy, you aren’t staying there.
Luckily, San Francisco provides an escape.
And even at the cost of spending two to three hours each day in a bus or car and frankly not much better hotels, there are many who are willing to trade the lonely and boring vibe of the valley for an ability to find variety of people, food and activities within reach.
But does hospitality here provide a fair reflection of the place itself?
Gold rush, but nowhere to sleep
It seems hospitality in Silicon Valley is still stuck in the gold rush ages, when all you cared was providing the tools to work with, and you didn’t really worry about making people comfortable where they are.
That made sense during the gold rush, since in doing so you motivated people to work harder to better their situation and to make investors richer.
But given increasingly global markets for talent and flexibility of doing business regardless of location, modern day ‘gold miners’ long ago adopted new ways of doing business.
Eric Schmidt, executive chairman and former-CEO of Google, wrote in his latest bestseller How Google Works:
"The best way for businesses to succeed is to attract smart-creative people and give them an environment where they can thrive at scale."
This is exactly what tech industry has been doing in Silicon Valley and elsewhere, creating workplaces and culture that became as distinguished as actual products the companies build.
But when it comes to hospitality, hoteliers missed this shift completely in Silicon Valley.
And it’s even more surprising to see it happen in a place which has been attracting a bulk of y-generation talent in the form of both residents and travelers.
New kids on the block
The new young generation has been getting so much attention from travel industry since they bring with them new preferences for working and living.
Empowered by internet, Millennials postpone "settling down" to have more diverse, mobile and increasingly independent careers.
They also tend to drive less and increasingly rely on emerging sharing economy to get things and meet people. And unlike tech companies in the Valley, local hotels have really made no visible attempt to take advantage of those trends.
Most hotels here still exist to offer a place to park & sleep, but hardly a place to work, meet, experience and share. And it’s a shame not only for hospitality, given how many interesting things could happen if you bring some amazing people living and visiting the area under one roof.
But what about hotels elsewhere?
As Hilton is about to open another cookie-cutter style Garden Inn in Palo Alto with complimentary internet and Starbucks and Walgreens nearby, cities like Berlin, London, New York, Los Angeles and Seattle continue seeing great new brands emerge on the hospitality scene.
No longer driven only by their design and locations, new hotels offer unique culture and experience that often make their properties destinations in cities.
Part coworking space, part cocktail den, part music lounge, Ace Hotel lobby in New York offers a perfect example of that.
Describing it as a "place to congregate, socialize, work or wind down", hotel also mentions "free wifi is available to all and our doors are always open, to the neighborhood and the rest of the world".
You are also unlikely to meet lots of people wearing suits there, which is rare for New York, and which is probably why Mark Zuckerberg checksin there too.
Interestingly, hospitality in San Francisco and the Bay Area also had it’s "boutique period".
It was started here by Chip Conley, who in 1987, at the age of 26, acquired his first decrepit motor lodge and turned it into a hip rocknroll style hotel.
Phoenix Hotel became almost instant hit in San Francisco and Chip Conley’s company, Joie de Vivre (meaning "joy of life"), went on to open over 30 properties in cities from Palm Springs to Chicago.
The portfolio was described as "most delightfully schizophrenic collection of hotels in America".
JDV Hotels also renovated a few properties in Mountain View and Sunnyvale.
What do we want?
Today JDV's hotels clearly stand out as being more comfort oriented, playful and hip.
But they still lack a number of important factors, like a good mixture of guests and locals, variety of events to attract them, and most importantly, cultural identify that appeals to the millennial generation of tech workers and entrepreneurs.
Also, today JDV hotels are operated by larger Commune Hotels, while Chip Conley went on to join Airbnb as its chief of global hospitality in 2013.
All these make any chances for hospitality renaissance even less likely to come from local brands.
But is there a hope for Silicon Valley hospitality to break free from domination of cookiecutter roadside "park-and-sleep" hotels and inns?
Obviously this place has it’s own challenges when it comes to real estate, such as exorbitant rents, car oriented streets, and lack of old good quality buildings.
But there are also some very unique advantages few other place can offer, like globally connected entrepreneurial community, high concentration of young creatives, and lack of any places that seem to care to make a difference.
And if all the bleak and decrepit hotels here can afford to exist, I have no doubts that a place which saves on parking lots, makes a good use of it’s public space and makes things that local community comes to enjoy will have a blast.
It’s only a matter of understanding local advantages and building a brand and community around it, while also adapting to more modern ways of providing the service (and I don’t mean introducing cute robot butlers).
NB: This is an opinion by Sergey Samusev, a business analyst for Google in Silicon Valley. Follow him on Twitter at @hotelsnomad.
NB2:Silicon Valley map image via Shutterstock.