Interior Design Specialist Stacy Garcia Interview | Ep. #333 - Hospitality Property School

Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Our interview today at Hospitality Property Schoolis with Stacy Garcia, an internationally celebrated
designer and owner of multiple companies establishedunder her umbrella company, Stacy Garcia Ink.

(00:22):
Welcome to another edition of Hospitality PropertySchool. I am your instructor,
Jerry McPherson. If you haven't subscribedyet, do it now and make sure
to hit the little bells so you'llbe informed when I upload a new video.
You won't want to miss anything Idesigned especially for you. Stacy has
partnered with some of the world leadingmanufacturers and retailers to create products for hospitality

(00:46):
properties that include her exclusive draperies,rugs, wall coverings, furniture and accessories
that enhance rooms of some of theworld's most luxurious hotels and resorts, including
Marriott High and Hilton. All thatbeing said, let's jump into our chat
all right. Our interview today atthe Hospitality Property School is with Stacy Garcia,

(01:10):
an internationally celebrated designer and owner ofmultiple companies that fall under her umbrella
company, Stacy Garcia Incorporated. Stacyhas partnered with some of the world's leading
manufacturers and retailers to create products forhospitality properties that include her exclusive draperies,
rugs, wall coverings, furniture andaccessories that complement some of the world's most

(01:36):
famous hotels and resort chains, includingMarriott, Hyatt and Hilted. Stacy is
a leader in the design industry andhas been featured in Interior Design, Boutique
Design, Interior and Sources, BloombergBusiness, Lux Architecture Design, and Traditional
Home. And I am thrilled Stacy, you have taken the time to share

(02:00):
your expertise with us. All thatbeing said, are you ready to jump
into this? Oh? Jerry,I'm so excited. Thank you so much
for inviting me to speak with youtoday. Oh, this is wonderful.
Okay, I'm curious what attracted youto the design industry, so, you

(02:21):
know, it's interesting. My passionfor design, I would say, really
started as a passion for the arts, and originally as a kid, I
was one of those kids that wasn't, you know, a sporting I think
children sort of gravitate toward things thatthey're good at or things that they're encouraged
about, and for me, itwas the arts. So I was doing

(02:43):
all of my extracurriculars in clay andsewing and you know, three D building.
So I even took a class,you know, I remember this,
like yesterday in elementary school, theyoffered a class in making dollhouse furniture,
and so you know, those werethe things that I used to spend my
time, you know, just painstakinglymaking these little miniatures that you could put

(03:07):
into a dollhouse. And I think, you know, that was it for
me. I kind of fell inlove with the arts and ultimately found a
career in design. Nice and thatled you into hospitality property or hotel interior
design. So I actually studied somethingin school called surface pattern design. So

(03:28):
I'm not an interior designer by training. I am a designer. I have
a bachelor in Fine Arts. Iwas hand painting and very early computer when
I studied, nowudate myself, butpainting these patterns, and we learned how
to do applied surfaces. So everythingfrom wallpaper, carpet, textiles, even

(03:49):
dinnerware, china, decorative arts,things that you would put sort of decorative
design on is what I studied inschool. And my first job out was
in the textile industry, designing.I first interned for Ralph Lawrence. So
sort of that exposure to where magichappens at a brand level, which was
definitely planted some early seeds for me. And then moved on at my first

(04:11):
job designing bedding for sort of massmarket catalog business in one of the main
two textile buildings in New York Cityat the time. And when I left
that company, all I had todo was move three floors up on the
elevator because the whole building was textilecompanies. And I took a job at
one of the largest fabric converters inwhat was called their contract division, and

(04:32):
their contract division was really code forthings that met commercial standards from a flammability
and performance standpoint, mostly focused onhospitality, and that was my first foray.
I mean, I had no ideaat the time as a young designer
that hospitality design or hotel design waseven a niche within the world of design.

(04:55):
And my first exposure was traveling withone of our sales rep to Las
Vegas and if you can imagine atthe time, you know, all the
hotels were themed. They were totallycrazy. Some of them still stand today.
And you know, back in theday, and I mean, we
were designing patterns for the beds.You know, we're doing these crazy patterns

(05:15):
for bedspreads and crazy patterns on thedrapes, and everything was colorful and themed
and it was just off the charts, you know, from a design standpoint,
because people didn't have to live withthis, you know, you weren't
convincing someone to put it in theirhome and making an investment. This was
like fantasy plan that you got todesign for. And I was hooked.
I mean, as a young designer, I was like, this is the

(05:36):
industry that I want to be puttingmy time and you know talented too.
Nice. Wow, that's a kindof mind blowing starting off there. Okay,
oh yeah, okay. If Iwere a hotel owner or a resort

(05:58):
owner and I wanted to create somethingthat was a little different, a little
different from the norm, what elementsthis? Oh no, I think I
can ask you that what elements wouldI have to consider when designing a hospitality
property? So it's interesting. I'mactually a chairholder of a group called Color

(06:24):
Marketing Group or CMG for short,and Color Marketing Group is an international association
of color forecasters and we get togetheronce a year and then we break out
sessions. Depend Because it's international,we break out different countries as well,
so we have a Latin American contingentand Asian contingent, North American contingent,

(06:48):
and there is what's interesting about itis we get together to predict what the
future colors are. And the reasonI'm answering this question what sort of that's
statement first, is one of thethings when you look at the psychology of
interior design, one of the firstthings or even buying behavior, one of

(07:09):
the first things that moves a consumerto have an emotional reaction is color.
So to answer your question, youknow, for me, one of the
most important things that you can doas an independent hotel owner or boutique hotel
owner. You're putting your stamp ona property, whether it has a flag
or not, if you want itto stand out from the crowd, consider
color first. You know, it'san inexpensive way to really move the needle

(07:32):
for you and bring you an identifiablebrand or an identifiable statement. So you
know, it's one of those thingsthat we track and color can have an
emotional impact. It does trigger buyingdecisions, but it also can sort of
make us either feel more calm,make us have an appetite raise or energy

(07:54):
level. So you can do alot from kind of a color psychology perspective,
depending on the choices that you're making. Okay, so I know nothing
about this, I know nothing aboutcolor. How do I do that?
Yeah? I know. I thinkit's you know, in terms of choosing

(08:15):
color, I really think it dependson what you're trying to accomplish. What
do you want your property or represent. What's the story behind it? You
know, what are you trying tohave people feel when they walk into your
property, beyond the welcome of hospitality, right, what's the vibe that you
want? And you would make thosecolor decisions from there. I think how
you accomplish that as an owner,You know, it may be to lean

(08:37):
into the professionals, right, whetherthat's hiring an interior designer or working with
an F and E supply firm thatalso houses the designers, working with companies
like ours, which are experts incolor and trend. You know, there's
lots of ways to attack it.But I would say, you know,
you want to have thought process thatgoes behind it, from someone who's trained

(08:58):
to understand how to utilize color togive you a signature mark. And it's
interesting. I mean, there's allkinds of companies popping up today, even
from a branding perspective. So Iwould say to you, you know,
one of the things that I findfascinating as I've witnessed the hospitality industry sort
of evolve over the last twenty plusyears is the idea of storytelling becoming more

(09:24):
and more important. So it's reallytoday it's not about a theme like it
was, well, you know backin the day when I started, and
you know, it was the NewYork New York Hotel or you know,
whatever it was that was the themeat the time, the Paris Hotel in
Las Vegas. Today it's really aboutwhat's the story, and that story is
best told I believe, you know, sort of through the lens of locale

(09:46):
or through the lens of maybe theownership or something special that happened there.
Because stories touch the soul of theconsumer, they touch the soul of your
guest, and they become much morememorable. You know, it's bedded at
a deeper level, you know,almost at a cellular level when you do
it right. And so part ofthe evolution, I'm like, how do

(10:07):
you pick the right color or howdo you take those moments within your property?
One of the things I'm seeing successfulhotel ownership groups do today is almost
tap a branding agency first. Sothey nail their story first, they nail
their what their brand essence is goingto be about. First, they developed
those pillars. Some of those mighthave a color, you know, as
part of it. Some of themare sort of what are the emotions that

(10:28):
we're going to capture, and thenonce they have that down, then they
move into the interior design. Thenthey move into the architecture of the space,
but they sort of have their storydown first. Well that makes total
sense. Okay, have you noticedmany changes in just the last couple of
years, because it's been a crazycouple of years in the industry. And

(10:50):
yeah, and one of the biggestchanges I've seen is guest expectations. Have
you seen that in your business?I would say absolutely, and across the
board. Look, you know,the a couple of things have happened.
We call them when we're looking atforecasting trends in general, right, whether

(11:13):
they're financial trends or design trends,or color trends or consumer behavior trends.
One of the major things that happened, the name for that is a driver.
You know, something that's going tomove the needle on a change in
behavior. What's driving those trends.So we had a couple major drivers happen.
One of them obviously is COVID.So you go through a pandemic completely,
you know, shuts out travel.People are now locked down at home

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and you know they're they're not movingaround, and you're kind of confined to
your four walls. And what wesaw at that time frame was a real
uptick in people investing in their homes. So, you know, on the
other side of my business, wewere designed furniture and fabrics and consumer goods
and housewears, we saw a majoroptick in residential spending. You know,

(12:01):
people really investing in the quality oftheir homes. But they missed traveling.
You know, you miss the experience, you miss getting out of your house.
Do you miss meeting people and talkingto human beings and being immersed in
a new culture and tasting the foodand whatever it is even meeting face to
face. From a business perspective,you can't replicate that in your four walls.
And so there was this huge pentup demand and people started, you

(12:22):
know, really dreaming about and theyhad all this extra money too, they
were putting away because they weren't usingtheir cars and they were weren't driving anywhere
really starting to plan their trips.And I've been joking with my husband that
I said, he and I aregoing to single handedly bring back the hospitality
because it's like, I think wehad eight trips planned this year, even
if they were long weekends. Itwas like, I just need to we

(12:43):
need to go to Utah. Ineed to go you know, even on
the business trip side. You know, we're going to Frankfurt this year,
We're going to go to Italy,you know where all these places that we
would have gone to over the lastthree years, you know in dribs and
drabs or now it's like I wantto be on the road, you know,
every six weeks. I need tobe going somewhere new. I have
to be kind of feeling that piece. And you see the same thing from

(13:05):
consumers. So they spent two anda half years dreaming about where they wanted
to go, making their Pinterest board, doing the research. Their expectations are
so high, you know, becausethis is it's almost like planning a wedding,
you know, planning a trip todayis almost like it used to be
you planned a wedding, you hadthis big vision in your head. Well,
you've been planning this trip for twoand a half years. So that's

(13:26):
part of what the driver is.You know. The other driver is just
access to information. You know,it's the idea of the sharing economy.
But in this case, it's sharingof information, it's sharing of photographs,
it's the trip advisor reviews, it'speople booking travel. I'm one of them.
One of the places that's my hitlist for the year is the Maldives.
And you know that's someplace that wason my radar because of Instagram.

(13:50):
You know, I'm looking at picturesand saying wow, you know, not
just Conde Nast travel review anymore.You know, people are finding inspiring places
to go on social media, youknow, sort of the unexpected places.
You know, you're following hashtags,You're seeing where people are going, what
kind of experiences they're having, andyou you end up kind of crafting your
travel list based on some of thosethings, you know, whether it's TikTok

(14:13):
or Instagram or you know, Facebook. You know, obviously Trip Advisor is
still really important, and so youknow, you have the sharing of information
that raises guest expectations and combine withI know, so many hotel properties are
still in pain in terms of findingpeople. So you know, there's definitely

(14:35):
the workforce migrated, you know,over COVID and found other jobs outside of
the restaurant industry, outside of hospitality, and so there's definitely a challenge in
sort of being able to service allof this influx of travelers. But um,
you know, I think I thinkthe industry is rising to the occasion
and travelers I think are just sohappy to be out. Oh absolutely,

(14:58):
Actually, I'm I'm glad you pointyou mentioned employees. Is design important for
employees at a property, and Ithink, you know, the best interior
designers are considering back of house asmuch as front of house. Um,

(15:18):
so not only for efficiencies that arebuilt in, you know, on how
well somebody can do their job,based on where things are located, you
know, sort of really thinking throughworkflow, but also based on employee happiness,
you know, sort of the comfortlevel of the employees. So you
really have to take both of thosethings into account when you're considering it.

(15:39):
You know, the design piece cannotend at front of house. It really
has to be thought through all theway and the best interior design firms are
in there, you know, withowner operators really thinking through how that's going
to work. And then second tothat, you know, not just employee
happiness, but another really important pieceof thinking through ZIGN is not just how

(16:00):
is it going to look when Ifirst take my pictures and put it up
onto the reservation site. How isit going to look a year from now?
How is it going to look threeyears from now? Is this going
to wear and tear well? Andyou know what we call it in my
side of the businesses, appearance retention. Is this going to hold its appearance
retention? Or is it going toget dinged? You know the second luggage

(16:23):
cart hits it, and you knowthose are things My advice for owners and
operators listening to this is I'm goingto quote my grandmother who was from Germany
by the way, Jerry, whosays she used to say what's cheap is
expensive, And you know what shemeant by that is you may get the
short term gain, you know,where you don't have to put your hand

(16:45):
in your pocket. You kind ofgo the cheaper route, and sometimes that
might mean painting your hallways. Butin the long run, it's expensive because
you have to consider how much isit going to cost you a maintenance over
the life of that hallway, howmuch is it going to cost you a
maintenance over the life of that inexpensivewhatever it is, furniture piece, toilet,
you name it, and you know, you start adding up the cost

(17:07):
of maintaining it, and the costof engineering and the cost of repair,
it costs you more money. Inthe long run, it ends up being
more expensive. So you know,I definitely say when you're looking at it,
it's a mistake I see so manysmall owners make because they sort of
go for the least expensive option andultimately, over time it ends up costing
them more headache. They're the oneswho have to live with it, and
you don't want to regret the decisions, So you know, I always say

(17:29):
balance budget with sort of the lifeof the product, and when you do
sort of upgrade and make the decisionsto do something that really does meet those
standards, you're going to be happywith it. I mean, we've seen
our product last We just got areorder from a property we designed. I
know, this is very naughty fifteenyears ago and we were their first call

(17:52):
because they said, Hey, thetextiles lasted fifteen years, the product lasted
fifteen years, We're going to rebuyfrom you. And you know that it's
a testament to not cheaping out,you know, really sort of making decisions
for things that are tested and madeto wear well because nothing you know,
you don't want to see those photosend up on trip advices or either.
When you talk about guest expectations,you know, they're the ones who are

(18:12):
taking their cameras zooming in on everyding and nick and bang and posting them
also and it makes it can makeor break somebody deciding to stay with you.
So quality is really important. Thereshould be absolutely, I mean for
sure, and there are very specificquality standards that go along with the hospitality

(18:33):
industry on almost for all furnishings.No, okay, have you now you
are one of your many claims tofame is a trend forecaster. Is there
anything coming up in the next yearor two that you could share? Yeah,
so you know some of the trendsthat we're seeing in terms of what's

(18:55):
important to people and sort of what'son their radar. We talked a little
bit about store telling, so sortof wanting to know you know, the
backstory, what's the soul of theproperty, you know, why would I
stay here? What makes it special? So that's part of it. We're
seeing a big trend again in sortof this more than even eco travel,
but these sort of real connection tonature. And again I think some of

(19:17):
that was due to this quarantine mentality, the realization that the closer we are
in nature, the more calm weare, and so sort of creating these
experiences that do bring me outdoors inthat do sort of ground you to wherever
the locale is is an ongoing trendas well. We're seeing that bringing the
outdoors in even sort of thinking aboutpatio spaces, thinking about adding balconies to

(19:42):
properties, thinking about having doors thatslide open are important when you're considering architecture,
having outdoor spaces. So we're seeinga lot of hotel ownerships leaning into
how to maximize outdoor space as well, whether that's with five your Picks,
outdoor seating areas sort of really evenin the winter months, they're sort of

(20:03):
trying to get, you know,depending on where you're located. We're seeing,
you know, three seasons of outdoorliving almost as much as possible,
because I think it's something that guestsreally are enjoying, and even things like
living walls, so bringing nature in. I'm seeing, you know, kitchy
things like you know, each roomyou can request a potted plant if you

(20:25):
want things like that as well.But really thinking about kind of what's special
about your location and how do youspeak to that as part of your property
is definitely a trend, you know, not so specific. It's more what
we would call a Macrow trend andoverarching trend. Okay, I'm no property
owners that are nervous about redesigning theirproperty and trying to make everything modern and

(20:49):
can get everything new. What doyou think of electic design? Oh that's
my jam Jerry's. I actually callmy own personal style modern eclectic. So
what comes out of our studio,you know, it's always through a contemporary
lens, sort of a modern lens, because we want it to look like

(21:11):
it's today. You know, nobodywants to stay in a property, you
know, unless you're going a graceland where it's like a time capsule,
right or to visit versa. Ino one wants to really feel like they're
walking into a time capsule. SoI think, you know, the magic
of interior design is to take amodern lens to it, to take it

(21:32):
through the lens of how people reallylive today, how it's going to sort
of be reinterpreted with something that's alittle unexpected. But the eclectic piece is
sort of taking that, like yousaid, whether it's a vintage piece,
an antique piece, something that nodsto something historical. It could be a
global textile and sprinkling that into theinterior design because that gives it more of

(21:52):
a one of a kind look.It looks more curated, it nods to
the storytelling that you're trying to do, whatever that is, whether it's mid
century, whether it's Victorian, youknow, whatever your story is, you
can kind of pick up pieces andhelp weave that story into the property that
way, and you know, atthe same time be sustainable because you know,

(22:12):
sort of giving things new life isa really nice way to do that.
And that might be reupholstering pieces,you know, rather than just replacing.
And you know, so there's lotsof things that you can do to
really upgrade a property without having tostart from scratch or make everything super sleek
and supermodern. I like the balance. I like a little bit of tension

(22:34):
between the modern and the old.And could you carry this on into let's
say a property's restaurant. I thinkyou should, so, you know,
not just could, I think youshould so for me, you know,
when you stay at a property,I think food service and how that's carried
out should be a thread that comesoff of the main so you know,

(22:56):
it can have its own branding.You know, it absolutely can be done,
you know, if you wanted tobring in a chef and tell a
story through the food that way.But I do think that the best properties
have really thought through, whether it'sfar restaurant, you know, what their
whole food service story is, andthen it's kind of an offshoot of what
the main theme is, so thatit feels cohesive, you know, so

(23:18):
that it's not sort of this thingthat was just placed there because you had
to deal with a breakfast service.All right, If I were to come
to you as a property owner andI was looking to redesign my property,
actually I'm speaking from experience here.Some property owners I know don't consider the
flow of the property. I'll havesomething here and then something there and something

(23:41):
there, and it's not really easyto move around in is flow? Something
that I should consider when designing anew property or renew rejuvenating a property.
Yeah, that's a great question.And flow is really important because when you
can really consider how a guest ismoving through the property, you can maximize

(24:07):
your return on the space. So, you know, when you think about
not having somebody super chopped up andwhat's the best use you know, in
terms of I'm thinking about, youknow, sort of public space, so
sort of lobby area, reception area. Maybe there's a gift shop, maybe
there's a breakfast nook, maybe there'sa bar, you know, or a
coffee shop. When you can maximizeflow and sort of maximize space, you

(24:30):
can get a higher return on that. You know, guests are more likely
to find the coffee shop and spendthere. They're more likely to find the
bar and spend there, find thegift shop and spend there than just maybe
they wander into it because they happento turn down that hallway. So you
don't want to hide things. Youalso want it to feel comfortable. So
when it's more open, when it'smore thought out, when there's better flow,

(24:52):
as you're saying, people feel comfortablelingering longer, and a lot of
times property owners, especially independence.You know, maybe you own one or
two. Maybe you know this isn'tsomething that architecture or interior design or color
forecasting or trend forecasting is part ofwhat your thought process was. But you
love the idea of hospitality, andyou like the idea of investing in real

(25:14):
estate. You have to really again, it's where I come back to it,
lean into some of the experts becausemaximizing that space will ultimately get you
a better return over time, andyou want the guests to feel comfortable lingering.
That's where then they go, oh, you know what, I will
have that cocktail. That's where youcan really start to see again some of
that ROI in spending to move somewalls around and get things to flow a

(25:38):
little better. Yeah, it makestotal sense to me. I want to
come back to something you mentioned acouple of minutes ago about nature. I've
noticed an uptick in health and wellness. Yes, have you noticed that?
I think that goes along with it, you know, and yes, one
hundred percent. Mental health especially hasbeen you know, a hot topic over

(26:03):
the last few years, really comingto the forefront, right. It was
something that people I think felt ashamedof or didn't want to talk about for
a long time, and that's beensomething that's really I think started to break
through that we were saying, Hey, this is important, you know,
almost back to what you were sayingabout the wellness of the employees, how
the space works in a property forthem, so that you can maintain those

(26:25):
good employees and that they feel goodin your space, not just your guests.
Health and wellness overarching, you know, including mental health, including physical
health, is a huge macro trend. And I think bringing nature, you
know, or surrounding nature is partof people looking to attack that piece,
you know, to sort of say, okay, how can I unplug?

(26:45):
How can I rejuvenate? You know, how can I sort of connect more
with mother Earth? How can Ibe more present not only you know,
in my body, but sort ofin the moment, you know, in
this travel experience. And so theyare seeking spaces where they feel reprieved and
you know, sort of can getaway from whatever it is their life looks

(27:07):
like, you know, whether that'surban, suburban, or rural. The
idea of sometimes you just need toget away so that you can have that
reset, you know, and thatmight be kicking off a healthy lifestyle that
might be kicking off yoga or meditationpractice, or it might be already part
of your practice. And so consideringeven to your point, not only the

(27:29):
interior's but food and beverage, youknow, thinking about offering maybe it's fresh
gueeeds, juices, maybe it's reallythinking about making sure that you have a
fitness center wherever you can put that. Carving out those spaces really speaks to
people's desire to have that healthy lifestylemove along with them even when they're traveling.
Excellent. Okay. Now, I'ma strong believer that it doesn't matter

(27:56):
what the size of the hospitality propertyis, you should have an operations manual.
And I mentioned that quite often whenI'm speaking to somebody for the first
time or a new owner, thatit's really important. And quite often I
hear owners getting a little nervous aboutthe idea of putting something in stone and

(28:17):
not moving, and I try toexplain, no, it's a breathing entity.
It's always changing, it's always growing. I feel the same about interior
design, that some people will geta little nervous at the idea, Okay,
this is what it's going to be, and it's going to have to
stay this way for years and yearsand years and years and years. What
do you feel about that? Isinterior design something that could be evolving?

(28:45):
It is? And when I dotalks on trends specifically toward interior design,
I always preface by saying, youknow, when we're looking at trends,
we're looking for evolution, not revolution, And that's important because revolution tends to
be more of a fat you know, we're like, oh, it's cool,

(29:07):
You're the new, cool, buzzyhotel, You're the cool buzzy property,
and then kind of three years later, it's not cool anymore because it's
almost like a TikTok trend well thatdances out of style. We're moving on.
And that's a horrible way to investyour money because when you're talking about
interior design, interior architecture, hospitality, all of the above, these are
investments that are a long term investment. So my expectation, along with most

(29:30):
of the designers and the ownership groupsand the brands that we're doing business with,
there's an expectation that whatever we're specifying, whatever we're working with them on,
is going to not only last forat least a seven year cycle,
but it's going to look good overthat period of time and then you evolve
off of it. And the reasonis because on your next renovation cycle,

(29:52):
you're not gutting the bathroom, You'renot getting rid of case goods. So
it is definitely an evolution of interiordesign in the hotel world. You know,
the expectation would be your case goodsshould live for the next seven years,
so that might be a fourteen orfifteen year investment. Your tile,
your bathroom might be a twenty oneyear investment. So you're going to have
to evolve that soft good's package everyseven or so years along with the things

(30:17):
that are staying. And that isthat evolutionary process for interior design, especially
in the hospitality industry. Okay,you gave us a little tid that of
both the next year or two howthings might evolve. I might put you
on the spot here, what doyou foresee maybe in the next ten years?
Oh boy, I think the tenyears, you know, could be
like the wild West. I mean, when we're really looking down the road

(30:41):
that far. You know, there'sother things that are going to impact our
industry that are just just beginning tobubble up. And one of those is
the metaverse. I mean, Iknow that sounds crazy, but as somebody
who's a futurist and as somebody who'sa trend forecaster, we're really looking at
emerging technology and how that's going toimpa hacked our world and how people experience

(31:03):
things and how they find out aboutthings. So you know, it's really
interesting to see what's happening through youknow, both AI in terms of that
being a design tool and also youknow people sort of putting this occulus rift
on their head, you know,this the oculus on their head, jumping
into the metaverse, experiencing things inthree dimension. I mean I've attended hotel

(31:26):
design you know, forums and conferencesin there, so we were all sort
of in this you know, floatingship, and your mind is tricked.
You believe that you actually were there. You know, you experience it differently
than a zoom or being in frontof somebody. So I think that there
may be virtual experiences that really impactthe way you know, hotels are designed,

(31:47):
conceived, thought of, experienced allthe above. So that's something to
think about. And then as people'sexposure to these new technologies increases the expectations
of how they want to view theirreal world changes too, so you know,
we may see I mean we sawit already recently where I think it
was Sam Smith at the Grammy's,you know, wore this crazy outfit of

(32:10):
you know, sort of like thisblack pleather suit that was inflatable, so
you know, his arms and legswere all puffed out, you know,
and he looked like an avatar thatyou'd see in a video game. And
that's where we start to see sortof the real world just completely collide with
things that we're seeing in fantasyland.And so I think there may be a
research in the next ten years tothis sort of really fantastical design. Of

(32:36):
course, there are going to betrends that are going to live you know,
innately. People's desire to connect tonature, we talked about, you
know, things that are inspired bya sense of place. We talked about
that's not going to go away.But what are the emerging trends that we
might see in the next decade.I think there's gonna be a lot of
room for fantasy. I think there'sgonna be new technologies that emerge with three
D printing and manufacturing that allow usto create furniture and drapey and all kinds

(33:00):
of things that we just couldn't dobefore. So you'll start to see some
of these really amazing sculptural objects thatcan be done with a one off on
a three D printer to create youknow, furniture, lighting, you name
it, rather than having to bemass produced. So I think there's gonna
be a lot more customization in design, and I mean, I'm excited to

(33:21):
be part of it. I thinkit's going to be a really fun time
to sort of bear witness to what'sgoing to happen with an ext generation of
talent and integrating some of this technologyinto it. So it's important to keep
an open mind. Oh yeah,absolutely, And look, at the end
of the day, it's all aboutyou know. To me, it's the
experience. It's how you're treated,It's what the service is like. It's
how great the food is, what'swhat does it smell like. It all

(33:44):
has to come together, you know, and hit really the five senses all
it wants, you know, andbe immersed in it. You know.
To me, that's really what makesgreat hospitality. It's it's at the end
of the day, it's about thepeople. It's about how well they execute
and how they make you feel.You know, the space makes you feel
one way. The people without them, you know, nothing happens. It's

(34:06):
just it's a hollow, you know, shell, and so really it's about
the life that you know, thepeople are bringing into that space. Nice.
Could you tell me a little moreabout your companies. Absolutely. So.
I got my start, you know, as I mentioned, sort of
it and as a textile designer,and I started a company twenty three years
ago called Lebtech. So you know, as a young designer, I sort

(34:30):
of had a vision for being anentrepreneur. I had a vision for having
my own textile ligne and having myname on it and what I was inspired
by at that time. At thetime, I was leaning into really vintage
nineteen forties florals and tropicals, sothat was my you know, that was
really where my inspiration was at thattime. And I first tried selling those
designs around to the industry and Ididn't get any takers. My husband,

(34:52):
you know, who was a youngCPA, so thank god I had someone
who knew, you know, thefinance side of things, said to me,
do you need those companies for?You know, why can't you just
do this yourself and kind of therest is history. I held my nose,
jumped in. We wrote a littlebusiness plan, I mortgaged my house,
and I started Liba Tex, whichwas named for my great grandmother,

(35:13):
whose name means love. So,you know, right on the heels of
Valentine's Day, she's been you know, the legacy of that company. And
so twenty three years later, herewe are. We are have over a
thousand scus in stock. We providefabrics to all the major hotel brands,
lots of boutique companies, and haveupholstery and drapeery fabrics that are all tested

(35:37):
to meet the standards of the stringentstandards of the hotel world, including some
really great finishes that repel liquids andreally make it easy to maintain. So
that's Libo Tex. And then Ihave a spin off company that was born
eighteen years ago, and that isStacey Arcia Design Studio. And with that
studio, how that happened was Ihad other manufacturers who were seeing what we

(36:00):
were doing and said, hey,we love your patterns. Can we partner
together in some way? And soI spot off another company to be able
to do that, and so wecreate collections for everything from Florida ceiling with
companies you know all over the world. We're sold in fifty two countries to
the hospitality industry. And so we'redesigning everything from furniture, carpeting, luxury,

(36:24):
vinal tile, tile, textiles whilecorping you name it, and that's
through Stacy Garcia Design. And Ihave a really exciting announcement because we actually
haven't even made this public, sothis is the first time I'm talking about
it. But we have signed adeal with a company called Guest Supply,

(36:46):
which is one of the largest suppliersto the hospitality industry. So you can
get everything from them you know thatyou would need, from shampoos, conditioners
to you know, eats and bedding, but they also have a large FF
and E arm so you can getthe furnishings and fixtures from them as well.

(37:07):
So we've partnered with them on atheme and a scheme called It's Elemental,
all about sort of tapping into thatwhole wellness mindset, sort of taking
the idea of copper and the energyof copper and the color of copper and
the self meeting properties of copper asare jumping off point and we have three
beautiful guest room designs that are totallypackaged, allowing independent properties to just press

(37:32):
the easy button and you order aroom scheme that was designed by myself and
my team in partnership with guest Supplyand they have it's already being skewed up
on their website. So everything fromupholstery to case goods, lighting or work
carpets and you can special order youknow, the drapery and have the carpets

(37:55):
measured and installed and have these beautifulschemes when we have them into three color
combinations. So that's that's really excitingto be able to bring that to market.
Wow, when when is that goingto be available? So, I
mean some of the products are up, I know. I actually we met
with them yesterday and some of theproducts are already live on their website yep.

(38:15):
So that's uh. You know,if somebody wants to look already at
just go on to guests Supply.You can put in Stacy Garcia or you
can put it in its elemental andyou will see the products populate and they
are meant to really be like Isaid, an easy button to mix and
match and we'll have the room renderingsto make it really easy to say,
yep, that's what I want inmy property. Wow. So if somebody

(38:37):
listening to this now we're interested inin contacting you or maybe getting some direction,
how could they do that or whatcould they do? Yep? We
have a website which is Stacy Garciadot com or Stacy Garcia Inc. NC
dot com. So'll either want towork and if you type in curated packages

(39:00):
is we have an offer for yourlisteners that is a two hundred and fifty
dollar value where if you're working ona property and you put in some of
your inspiration, your photos, yourpictures, we can help you curate a
product to go along with it.If you're just doing a refresh and you're
like, you know what I needto reaposter, I need to new drapes,
I need to do broad room carpetor LBT, send us what you've

(39:22):
got and we can make recommendations foryou. And if you need deeper help
than that, we have a wonderfulnetwork of interior designers and architects that we
are happy to connect you with aswell. That's awesome. I'll put that
information in the show notes so everybodycan access. It's awesome, that's incredible.
Okay, I'm gonna ask you afavor. Do you have a tip?

(39:44):
Yeah, do you have a tip? You could offer our listeners something
simple that they could run with quickly. Oh gosh in terms of like renovation,
interior aren't working on or do Iknow? I didn't? Well,

(40:05):
no, that's okay, you know, honestly, if I had a tip
for your listeners, I'm going tojust sort of speak entrepreneur to entrepreneur here
because I know a lot of yourlisteners are business people, their owners,
their operators, their managers, Andmy tip for you is really not about
design, and it's not about business. My tip for you is about taking
the moments and remembering why we dowhat we do, because even when it's

(40:30):
good, you know, it's oneof those things, you know, during
COVID, we're going, man,how are we going to survive? You
know, how are we going topull people through? How am I going
to hold off on this renovation?And you're just worried about cash flow.
Then you have the opposite problem andit's like, wow, my hotel is
jam in. Now I need morehelp, Now I need more people.
Now we have to keep up thelevel of service. And I know as
a small business owner there are you'reworking twenty four seven. I mean,

(40:52):
you're barely taking a vacation yourself.You're barely giving yourself time to breathe and
renew. And I think, youknow, my biggest tip or takeaway or
advice, and this is as muchfor myself as for the listeners, is
you know, to take the timeto remember why we do what we do.
You know, what is it thatsparked our fire in the first place.
You know, in this instance,most likely it's the love of hosting.

(41:14):
It's a love of hospitality. It'sa desire to provide a better life
for our families and m and toopen our hearts. And I'm going to
say our homes because your property isreally are an extension of you and the
love you have for being in thisindustry. You don't get into this um
purely for the money. It takesa lot of guts and you know,
sometimes not that much glory and andit's years of hard work to be successful

(41:38):
in this industry. So you know, remember why you do it, and
then remember to take those moments foryourself too. You know, if we're
not pouring into ourselves. If we'renot taking an afternoon to recharge our own
batteries, we experience burnout. Andso you know, for me, it's
really important. It's something I tryto do with my team, you know,

(42:00):
least twice a year, better oncea quarter. But you know,
go I book an inspiration day andthat might mean, you know, giving
myself the afternoon off. It's alwaysduring a week, okay, it's you
know, weekends are you're probably working. If you're in the hospitality industry,
you know, to get a weekendoff. So it's probably during the week
and take the day and you blockit on your calendar as an inspiration day.

(42:22):
And that might mean, you know, going to a museum. It
might mean going to a yoga center. It might mean going on a hike,
you know, with your dog.It can mean whatever it means for
you. It might mean going anddoing a little recon you know, going
and giving yourself the treat of visitingsomeone else's property and sitting down for a
nice slow meal and seeing how theydo it. Whatever it is for you

(42:45):
where you're getting inspiration, you know, you're getting new ideas and you're able
to pour into yourself so that youcan bring some fresh ideas in a just
a fresh version of yourself to yourown business. Awesome, awesome to yep,
this has been incredible. Is thereanything I might have missed asking?

(43:07):
You've shared so much so I'm beinggreeding, No, thank you so much.
I really am just so grateful forthe opportunity to reach your listeners,
just to sort of say, look, if I could visit all of your
properties, that would be my mission. I love to travel, I have
the travel bug. I love people. I love talking to people and hearing
their stories. And you know,just again, if there's anything that we

(43:30):
can do to collaborate on your projects, as I mentioned before, you know,
check out our website. I'm onsocial media too, so LinkedIn at
Stacy Garcia Inc. Instagram at StacyGarcia Inc. And Stacy Garcia Trade,
Facebook, and so hit me upon those platforms. I love connecting with
you, you know, if you'relistening here, you know, just send

(43:52):
me a note. Let's connect.Let's see if there's ever anything I can
do if you ever need advice oncolor, on direction, on being introduced.
So I mean I send, asI said, interior designers and architects,
you know, we connect with ownershipgroups all the time, and we
just love the idea of collaborating andcreating the next spaces for people to enjoy
and for you to grow your businesses, for you to innovate and grow your

(44:13):
businesses. So I look forward tohopefully connecting with all of you on those
platforms and maybe one day meeting youat some of the conferences or at your
own properties. So let's stay intouch, super I'll add those links to
the show notes as well so they'reeasily accessible. Say thank you so much.
This has been incredible, so muchto think about, and I really

(44:34):
appreciate being so generous with your time. Yeah, my pleasure. And I'm
really excited to hear the podcast andto share it on our platforms. And
Jerry, it's really nice to meetyou and you know, have the opportunity
to think about some of these questionstoo, so you're a great interviewer.
You've clearly done this before. Ah, thank you. I appreciate it.
Well. Game. Oh yeah,we should meet at some point. I'll

(44:58):
pop into your office next I'm inNew York. Please do that would be
wonderful, And please send the linkswhen these are live so that we can
share Also and try to get morelisteners and eyeballs on it. We'll do.
Thank you so much, Thanks Jerry, take care, Bye bye.
That was interior design specialists Stacy Garciaand I really appreciate her taking the time

(45:21):
to chat. I would encourage youto check out Stacy on her website at
Stacy Garcia Inc. Dot com,on LinkedIn at Stacy Garcia, on Instagram
at Stacy Garcia Inc. And StacyGarcia Trade, and on Facebook at Stacy
Garcia Inc. You can find allof her links in the show notes.

(45:45):
Are you going to be taking advantageof Stacy's offer to help you with your
interior design? Let me know onthe comments. We cover more about operating
a hospitality property in the Guide toOwning and Operating a Hospitality Property Successfully Core.
You can find more information at KeystoneHPD dot com slash course. You're

(46:06):
going to have access to this episodefor as long as you would like,
but if you'd like to see allthe bonuses you would have access to as
a member of the Hospitality Property Schoolgroup, check out the short video in
this episode post show notes. That'sit for today's episode. Until next time,
have a fun day. Have youhaven't done so yet. Make sure
you sign up for Insider Tips,say hi on social and join one of

(46:30):
our groups, and make sure youget your free copy of the How to
Improve Your Hospitality Property Success. Youcan find all of the links in the shows

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Interior Design Specialist Stacy Garcia Interview | Ep. #333

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Interior Design Specialist Stacy Garcia Interview | Ep. #333