Ep. 13: A New Kind of Hospitality, with Damon Lawrence.
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When Damon Lawrence, a communications student at Howard University, started working at hotels in DC, he noticed that African American travelers weren’t represented in hotel experiences, in hotel rooms and amenities, hotel programming, and most glaringly, in hotel ownership.
Damon graduated with a BA in Legal Communications, and dove head first into hospitality, working for brands including the Ritz-Carlton and Shutters on the Beach. He also launched Hausotel, in response to the need for families to have a place to stay that felt…comfortable (editor’s note: this was pre-Airbnb!). There was a bigger mission for Damon, and it came back to a hotel experience that had no precedent.
In 2014, Damon launched Homage Hospitality.
Damon’s joining me today to talk through building the first ever hotel brand dedicated to African American travelers. He’s going to share what he’s discovered along the way, including:
How Damon Lawrence launched a hotel group that had no precedent.
The details of Damon’s first hotel launch, including how many reservations rolled in—in the first 72 hours.
Why travelers from Finland to Australia flocked to The Moor Hotel, New Orleans.
Why you might want to rethink toiletries...and the entire guest experience.
What's next for Homage Hospitality, and Damon's hopes for the future.
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My key takeaways were:
Homage Hospitality is a testament to building something for African American travelers that was completely unprecedented, but not for lack of demand. In fact, the opposite was true. African Americans contribute $70 billion dollars to global travel. One third of that number is spent on hotel stays.
By building a space that was not only safe for Black people, and reflected Black culture in design, location, music, and amenities, Damon built a space that felt like home, for everybody.
We all know that generational, familial wealth is behind a lot of the hotels we know and love, and raising capital was one of the biggest obstacles to make the dream of Homage Hospitality a reality. Damon held strong to his vision to pay homage, and his belief that if you build something with heart, people will take notice.
While raising capital has been stumbling block, Damon’s optimistic about the future. After all, Homage Hospitality was seen as radical a couple of years ago, but in 2020, it feels timely, relevant, and like it should’ve been here all along.
Maybe 2020 really is the year we all needed.
Links mentioned in this episode:
Homage Hospitality website.
A New Kind of Hospitality website - just launched 6/23!
2020 Is the Summer of the Road Trip. Unless Your Black. NY Times article featuring Damon.
Sevetri Wilson entrepreneur and community advocate in New Orleans.
@stayhomage Homage Hospitality’s Instagram account.
@hauspitality Damon’s Instagram account.
