Larry Broughton, CEO of the boutique hotel company Broughton Hotels

In this episode of the Hotel Design Podcast we welcome incredible hotelier Larry Broughton, CEO of the boutique hotel company broughtonHOTELS. We also welcome the general manager of the Park James Hotel, Weston Spiegl. This show was recorded on the evening of the Park James Hotel's opening celebration, which is located in the Silicon Valley city of Menlo Park. The incredible luxury hotel has 61 rooms and was designed to carefully balance great service and technology. Naturally, this conversation focuses on combining design aesthetics created by Parissa O'Connell Interior Design – in this case California Craft – including critical intuitive guest facings and back of house technologies. They discuss the design approach and its focus on using natural woods, balanced textures and the achieving the best lighting to create the overall visual appeal of the varied spaces. This hotel's motif is also about getting away from the heavy use of technology in Silicon Valley, so the conversation deepens to how to create the right technology balance as an integral part of the design. For Broughton, that means incorporating only elements that are intuitive to use. Their philosophy is that guests in Silicon Valley have enough technology in their lives, and the hotel's experience must balance both digital and real experiences. One example is the hotel's 'pour over' coffee experience, which is as critical as the guestroom's elements that are plugged in. It's about crafting a luxurious experience that helps calm people while keeping them productive. The conversation then focuses on the actual design of the hotel, its overall look and feel, and a discussion of specific and unique elements that the property features. Broughton and Spiegl chat about the importance of getting the design details right. They also mention is the importance of engaging with a design team as early as possible in the hotel's development process. This is essential to accurately creating a hotel that fits the developer's vision, operational necessities, and ultimately the guests' expectations. They talk about how developers can look to save money by waiting to hire designers, but how that can be detrimental in the long run and could create even costlier mistakes. Broughton discusses the characteristics of a good leader and the leadership qualities Spiegl has that secured the job for him, even though up until this job Spiegl had no general manager experience. Broughton also shares his design philosophy, what he expects from a design firm and ways to create a great partnership between developers and designers. It's important to find a way to communicate the heart and soul of the project to designers, so that they can then go and visually interpret that desire.