How To Build A Sneakerhead Hotel

Photo by DJ Impulse

[note: We're at a place where many players have been the same from post to post. Feel free to use context clues for the ones whose jobs and roles I don't explain or check out previous pieces where I do.]

As we sat in the Friday Evening Room at Revival reviewing our event calendar for the next few months, we touched on March For the first time. It was early January 2021 at this point. COVID-19 restrictions were still very much a consideration. But, we suspected that they'd begin to be relaxed as we got into the Spring months: "Women's History Month… let's do a virtual talk. Definitely." "Saint Patrick's Day…how about Donal [former F&B Director, proud transplant from Ireland] hosting an Irish Coffee lobby activation for hotel guests and folks from the community? Yes." "What about Air Max Day?!"

There's a diverse range of personalities and backgrounds in these meetings. So, any niche ideas that are thrown into the room typically get a variety of reactions. "What's Air Max Day?" It was an entirely fair question and indicative of likely responses from some members of our audience. Besides being yet another very effective idea that I'm sure traces back to the marketing geniuses over at Nike, it's a day that excites tons of people. And some folks in the room saw it as unquestionably aligned with our brand. It was my turn to speak. Some background here is needed. Growing up in DC in the 80s and 90s means you are, by default, a member of a sneaker culture that's unique and intense (The Air Force 1 is overrated and Foamposites are the greatest sneakers ever created. Don’t debate me.). Like many folks in Baltimore, we didn't even call them sneakers back in the day. To us, they were tennis shoes or just "tennis" regardless of the sport meant to be played in them. I wasn't able to participate in this much as a kid. Anything with a Nike or Reebok logo would keep me off the radar of the bullies and classroom comedians. But, as Michael Jordan's star power put the Nike swoosh (and sales) in the stratosphere, the prices went along for the ride. They were out of reach. But, one day, Grandma saw fit to bless the kid with some heat. They weren't Jays. But, Nike had just dropped a signature shoe for the closest thing tennis has ever had to a rockstar, Andre Agassi. That white shoe with the lime green zig zags will always hold a special place for me. When I think about that shoe, I think about my grandmother. She looked out. She always wanted me to have what, in her eyes, I deserved. She worked incredibly hard to make that happen whenever she could. Later, I went back and bought all of the shoes I couldn't get as a kid. Many, I've given away. Some I hold onto but rarely wear. Still, those Agassis are at the top of my list. I need to find a pair.

Photo by DJ Impulse

The Sneaker Exhibit

So what do we do about Air Max Day? I stamped it. Let's do something. But, what? Jason: "I have a friend who does an event called The Sneaker Exhibit. I'll link with her on it to see if she wants to activate." The Sneaker Exhibit was created by Baltimore's sneaker queen, Tashia Bagwell, in April 2019 and held at Creative Labs in the city's Hampden neighborhood. Since then, they've hosted four events at various locations throughout the city. The events are fashion-focused and provide an exclusive experience for sneaker enthusiasts. They partner with creatives from Baltimore to showcase their art and other businesses. At these events, all people are celebrated for boldly displaying their unique style and their favorite kicks, whether the broader sneakerhead community loves them or not. I could spend time [so much time] on "The Mid Agenda" here. But I'll save that for another piece. Tashia agreed that a weekend of programming at Revival for Air Max Day would be fun and just what the community needed. She dove right in! We had a lobby installation of rare sneakers. We brought in a bartender, Kendra, who was planning to join the Revival team for the opening of a concept that we were developing as an evolution to the B-Side space on the first floor (It took a while but we finally got it open last week). She created two signature cocktails for a "little" welcome event.

We expected maybe 30 or 40 people—kickback kind of vibes. We blew through what she had batched for the whole day in about 20 minutes. Then I became a barback. I'm not the best. But I cleared tables and grabbed bottles from upstairs while she made drinks for the 50 people waiting in line. Lesson learned—no more lobby events for Air Max weekend. We have a whole rooftop restaurant that, at this point, hadn't resumed service because of the pandemic. Everything else for the weekend would have to take place up there. Honestly, it was a better space for it anyway. With an actual bar at her disposal and twice as many people to serve, Kendra killed it on Saturday. It was a great experience. People from Philly and DC were in the room, which was a pleasant surprise.

Photo by DJ Impulse

SoleWash

One of the events we did for Air Max Day [Weekend] was a panel discussion around women carving out space in the sneakerhead community. We did this in The Garden Room, which seats 40 people. I popped into the room in the middle of the conversation, and it was like the scene in every movie where the protagonist walks into a local bar and the record skips. The room was full of women wearing the full range of the rarest sneakers in the world. When I crossed the threshold, the conversation stopped, and they all looked up at me. I showed myself out like the meme of Homer Simpson disappearing into the bushes and went on my merry way. I later met one of the panelists, Nichole Verdejo, who has owned a sneaker boutique in Laurel, Maryland called Footage Society since 2015 with her son Tyler and their third partner David. She also has a sneaker laundry in Washington, DC called Sole Wash, of which she's "sole" [don't block me] owner. Nichole is an Afro-Latina woman who is dedicated to amplifying the voices of women and people of color in the sneaker community, not just as consumers but as partners, participants, creators, and leaders. She hosts and supports events nonstop to drive that mission forward.

Sneaker laundry was one of the MANY items that sat in our stadium-sized idea parking lot for several months, maybe a year. When discussing services and amenities that we'd look to add as we saw travel rebound, we thought about shoeshine service as something that would be valuable for many of our business travelers. But then we also considered that many of these folks are evolving "business attire" to incorporate dope sneakers into their day-to-day wardrobe, and we love it! We see people we know are execs at their companies wearing sneaks that we're all blown away by all the time. So we never gave up on the idea. But, we struggled to build the program from scratch on our own, with resources and movement limited during the pandemic. When we met Nichole and pitched the concept, she loved it. We had a couple of calls with Jason, Nichole, and me to work out logistics. Then off we went. Weekend sneaker cleaning by Sole Wash in The Revival Lobby from 12-5 was born. Guests and people from the community were invited to stop by and drop off sneakers to be cleaned and maintained. Then they can be picked up the following week or shipped for intense services. Simple things are done on the spot.

Just Ro

On the day of the sneaker laundry launch, Jason was double booked. This happens occasionally. It’s not surprising. The guy is in high demand. I was planning to be on hand anyway to be the first customer. I showed up with a few of my favorite pairs. This way, if anyone was hesitant to hand over their beloved retros, our team could reassure them that the GM of the hotel did it and his shoes didn't fall apart. Nichole and I shared a fist bump and a smile. Then I asked her if she needed anything from us. "This table is fine. I need to fill this container with water. And also, where are we putting the art?" She has very New York energy and the accent to match. I looked at her like I had absolutely no idea what she was talking about because I, in fact, had absolutely no idea what she was talking about. "Jason didn't tell you about the art?" At this point, I'm thinking to myself, "where the hell am I going to put a random picture of a pair of Jordans without clashing with the hotel's design?" Maybe, I can just put it on an easel and then store it during the week when sneaker laundry isn't happeni- Nichole interrupted my thought process: "well, first we have to figure out how to get it in here." Okay, at this point, I'm fully preparing to shut this down like Puff did the studio when the group wasn't working as a team on "Making The Band," and I can't be bribed with sugar cookies from Queens. I curiously said, "Show me what we're talking about." Nichole said the artist was parked out front in a Uhaul, and I started getting more and more concerned about what Jason had agreed to. The artist, Rohaun, began to slide open that rolly door on the back of the Uhaul, revealing a 6-ft sculpture of a Bred Jordan 1 with "Sole Wash" written on the Sole. He then explained that he does these enormous pieces to be placed on the street to drive attention to small businesses that he wants to support. He'd done many of them during the pandemic, which was very well received. A small group of us carried the piece inside and placed it centrally in the lower lobby where everyone entering and leaving the hotel would see it 24/7. It's a brilliant way to market the business and market himself as an artist. Somehow Rohaun and I started shooting the obligatory sh*t, and I learned that he attended FAMU. "When?" I learned that my wife and cousin were there when he was. "What are their names?" We discovered that he actually painted two portraits that currently hang in my cousin's house. I had admired these pieces for a while. They’re great. So it was pretty cool to meet the artist randomly this way. Rohaun is a big thinker. We bumped into each other again shortly after this at one of Nichole's events. It turned into a full day of cigars, Cognac, conversation, and everything from business to relationships. It was one of those conversations that was so energetic that it pulled everyone nearby into its orbit. Good times.

"The HR Lady had Gold Fronts"

The final piece that fell into place was not an idea from any of the usual suspects. As an active networker, I've always been highly intentional about maintaining at least semi-regular contact with people I've worked with in the past. When I first got to Baltimore, I quickly realized that I knew only a handful of people here, and we were all busy enough to have decent excuses for doing a poor job of linking. But, on several occasions, I bumped into a former colleague, Christia Scott, from the Kimpton days. First, I saw her at a couple of Night Brunch events, including one at Revival [see previous posts for background on what Night Brunch is] and then at Air Max Weekend. We didn't need an HR Director at the time. But, filling open positions is not my primary motivation for staying in touch with folks. I value the relationships that have been built over the years, and I'm quite often inspired and influenced by former colleagues. People find it way easier to call out my nonsense when they don't have to see me in the office on Monday. I appreciate that. But, when we got word that our HRD was moving on, Christia was a natural fit. She shares our team's passion for Baltimore. She grew up here and loves this city. She also loves Wu-Tang and sneakers. Like a deep irrational love. But it's cool. We dig it.

In the interview process, she met with me and then a few other key team members. We try to have everyone who will lead people here spend some time with Jason to discuss how his role as Director of Culture & Impact intersects with the different aspects of our business. If we drew Venn diagrams, HR would probably have the most overlap. Among several reasons that Jason was excited to welcome Christia aboard was the fact that he later bumped into her at an event [some folks call it Smalltimore for a reason], and she was wearing gold fronts. It wasn't just that she owned gold fronts that was meaningful. It was that he now felt even more reassured that she would intuitively understand some of the more nuanced components of the Revival culture that are challenging to articulate. She has managed to navigate corporate spaces her entire career, and yet, she has retained her authenticity regardless of the impact on her personal brand. So when we look to challenge the areas where some people have to live a double life to function at work and at home, we can get right to the work because she already understands the "why." The value in creating even a little space in the workday for people to be more of themselves than they have historically been able to be is immeasurable. Hairstyles [also hair textures], jewelry, tattoos, and all manner of personal style and expression have been tightly managed and even legislated out of hospitality via "image guidelines" across the industry.  

Christia Makes Her Podcast Debut on The Hoops Unfiltered Sneaker Episode recorded at Revival

In her first week at Revival, the HR lady who wore gold fronts to Night Brunch asked my thoughts on people on the team wearing sneakers on Fridays. As a person with a closet full of shoes that I never get to wear, I personally felt seen. And then, thinking about our team, it was an easy decision. Within a couple of weeks, we started seeing comments in our reviews about our team's "sneaker game," and I realized this wasn't just a Friday thing. It's on-brand for Revival every day. On more than one occasion, I've had internal folks who are planning visits to meet with us mention that they're breaking out their kicks for the trip to be sure they pass the vibe check when they arrive (Megan Stromberg always impresses). No pressure. But, people are excited to wear their favorite sneaks when they come here because chances are somebody will stop you along the way to show some love. And in a world full of Cole Haan's with Nike insoles, we can have a guy behind the front desk wearing the shoes Mike dropped 55 in at Madison Square Garden, and everyone in the space is happy about it. What a time to be alive.