Latest / The Modern Hotelier / #332: The Importance of Scent & Guest Amenities for Hotels | with Kim Peterson & John Farrell
Transcript
- The Modern Hotelier #332: The Importance of Scent & Guest Amenities for Hotels | with Kim Peterson & John Farrell === David Millili: Welcome to a special independent hotel show Miami episode of The Modern Hotelier, the most engaged podcast in hospitality. Please make sure to follow, like, subscribe, and let us know in the comments what you think of today's episode. So please introduce yourself to the audience. Kim Peterson: My name is Kim Peterson, and I'm with Curated Comforts by Trilipiderm. John Farrell: I'm John Farrell. I am the CEO and owner of Trilipiderm, which is Curated Comforts and a skincare and spa line. David Millili: All right, guys. So we're gonna jump into what we call a lightning round. Gonna ask you some short questions, short answers, and then we're gonna dive into your backgrounds, your careers, and then we're gonna go into some industry topics. Sound good? Kim Peterson: Sounds great. John Farrell: Great. David Millili: All right. So what did you wanna be when you grew up? Kim Peterson: I wanted to just ride horses. David Millili: Okay. Kim Peterson: Yeah. How about you? John Farrell: I guess I wanted to be a singer when I grew up. David Millili: Okay. What's something that you wish you were better at? Kim Peterson: Riding horses. Okay. Math. David Millili: Okay. That's good. What's a luxury you can't live without? Kim Peterson: Oh, wow. Good food. David Millili: Okay. John Farrell: Pasta. David Millili: That's good. Hand in hand. So name a person dead or alive that you'd like to take to lunch. Kim Peterson: I would like to take my grandmother to lunch. John Farrell: I would like to take my first voice teacher to lunch, discuss her background. David Millili: Okay. All right. So if you could have a superpower, what superpower would you like to have? Kim Peterson: To be able to increase my capacity, work 10 hours a day, and get about 48 hours worth of work done. How's that sound? David Millili: That'd be a good power, yeah. John Farrell: If I had a superpower, I suppose it would be to be an incredible chef. David Millili: Give us something that's on your bucket list. Kim Peterson: Wow, the thing that was on my bucket list I'm actually doing tomorrow. I'm flying to Spain. David Millili: Oh, wow. Yeah. That's great. You're gonna have a great time. Yes. How about you? What's on your bucket list? John Farrell: Travel to Antarctica. David Millili: Okay. All right, so that was great. So now we're gonna get into your personal background. So where did you grow up, and how has that shaped you to who you are today? Kim Peterson: So, I grew up in Colorado with a single mother, and how that shaped me is I'm very diligent and I would say scrappy. I make things happen. And with a mother that was single raising daughters, I watched how hard she worked, and I believe I just got her work ethic, and I understood that we didn't always have to be perfect. We just had to work hard. David Millili: So what about you, John? John Farrell: I'd say the same thing. I had incredible parents that instilled in me a work ethic and a moral ethic that I try to carry with me every single day. David Millili: And where did you grow up? What part of the country? John Farrell: I grew up in Queens, New York. David Millili: Okay, yeah. John Farrell: And half in Queens and half in Connecticut. David Millili: Did either of you go to college, or did you just dive into your careers? Kim Peterson: I dove into my career. David Millili: Okay. How about you, David? John Farrell: I attended Boston College, graduated from there in 1989, and then went into my career at that point, which was finance. David Millili: So you both have an entrepreneurial spirit. Have you always had that, or did it develop over time? Kim Peterson: I would say it developed over time. John Farrell: And for me, I've always had it. David Millili: Yeah. John Farrell: I specifically went into finance in order to learn how to be an entrepreneur. David Millili: So now we're gonna dive into your careers. So Kim, you were in staffing before coming to Trilipiderm. So what did you learn from being in staffing that you take with you today? Kim Peterson: I think how it translates to Trilipiderm and Curated Comforts and talking to hoteliers and understanding that finding employees, keeping employees, understanding all the variables with staff. Things are messy, you know? They don't always... They add up on paper, but they don't always add up in reality, you know? And so you have to show a lot of grace to people and be invested in understanding their lives and their situation. You know, whether they have children or they have obstacles they need to overcome, and you just learn to work with people where they are. David Millili: And so Jon, what did you do before Trilipoderm? John Farrell: What didn't I do before Trilipoderm is the shorter answer. So I started on Wall Street when I first graduated college in finance and didn't like it. And eventually through a number of different steps, moved into... I went to acting school after that. I ended up in film production. I ended up, from film production, I moved into musical entertainment production. From there, I ended up in one of the major advertising agencies in Boston for four years, and decided though that I wanted to be in sales, which is where I should've been all along. An old friend contacted me and said, "I've heard you wanted to be in sales. I have a friend who is hiring for a small online advertising company. And why don't you... You know, it's maybe not the sales you were thinking about, but if you want to, I'll give the resume to you." Within a day, I was called and said, "How soon can you get back to New York?" David Millili: Right. John Farrell: That company had a poor business model, ended up going belly up within about five weeks of my joining and moving back to New York, only to find out that the woman who hired me took 2 out of the 40 of us that she had hired onto, into her new company, which was called Google. And that was in pardon me, in 2000. I was employee number 151 at Google. David Millili: Wow. John Farrell: And it was an incredible ride from there. Stayed there for five years. Kim Peterson: That's a great story. David Millili: So Kim, you have been at Trilipoderm since 2016. What led you to that? Kim Peterson: I took some time off and I homeschooled my children. And when I got done doing that, I was so used to being busy and working and had always worked my entire life. And I applied for a job in Jackson Hole, and I lived on the Idaho side of the Teton Mountains, and decided that I would work as an assistant to the CEO at that time in product development and assisting him. So that's how I started, and he quickly saw my ability to take on so much more, and I ended up becoming the head of operations. David Millili: So Jon, you came to Trilipoderm in 2014, but found out about it as a customer. Can you tell us why you liked Trilipoderm and you eventually became the CEO? John Farrell: So the products, when I first tried them in 2013, were so good, and I had others who knew skincare more than I do also try them. And it was just a slam dunk that these were not your ordinary skincare products. And I decided to invest in the company. I believed in it, and I brought 12 other investors with me into that company at that point, at which point I became the head of investor relations and eventually invested enough into the company where I became the primary owner. David Millili: And so for those who aren't familiar with Trilipoderm, can you tell us a little bit more about the company? John Farrell: So the company was founded in 2010 as a skincare company. It was started by a gentleman who owned a skincare ingredients company for 45 years outside of Chicago and decided to sell his company and retire to Jackson Hole. Moved to Jackson Hole, decided he didn't like being retired, was cajoled by his granddaughter to create some sort of a product, a skincare product that hydrated your skin, because the climate in Jackson Hole is incredibly difficult on your skin, incredibly harsh. We're at 6,400 feet. We have incredible sunshine all year long, and it's dry as a bone all year long. So it just wreaks havoc on your skin. So he knew exactly what to put into a formula for hydration because of his background in skincare ingredients. And created the original all body moisture retention cream which is still our signature product and one of our top sellers today. David Millili: So now we're gonna dive into the industry thoughts and get your take on some of the questions that are out there. And so hotel amenities are often treated as a small operational detail, but they are one of the few products guests interact with every day. What role should amenities play in the overall guest experience? Kim Peterson: Absolutely number one. They are the touch points in the room and whether you're charging $200 a night or $1,000 a night, the guests that come in expect a level of comfort in that room and because they are putting those products on their body they need to be of just utmost quality. John Farrell: Right. And the quality is key because that's what they're going to remember. They're going to remember how they felt. They're going to remember the scent that was in those products and everything that we do is all natural including the essential oils that scent all of our products for the hotels. They carry that home with them and they remember because scent is probably the number one most memory evoking sense that we have. David Millili: Yeah. No, I agree. So as hotels move forward with refillable dispensers and reduced packaging, what operational lessons have you learned about making those systems work for housekeeping, engineering, procurement, and the guest? Kim Peterson: So this is a great question because of my experience in my past. Not only staffing, but I had janitorial background where my husband owned a large janitorial service. We understood housekeeping. We understood the complexities of it and what I would say on a hospitality side is listen to who you're sitting in front of because not every hotel has the same type of staff or systems in place. So find out what they're looking for to accomplish what they need for their properties and look for equipment that works well with your staff. John Farrell: It's so important to listen to their needs. And what we do with every hotel we work with is completely customize a program that works for their needs. It's so important for us as an up-and-coming amenity company to be able to be flexible and provide them with everything that they need without trying to fit a round peg in a square hole. We will create the round peg for the round hole. Even if we don't immediately have it, we'll make that happen for them. David Millili: So a signature scent or a customized amenity can help a property express a sense of place. How can hotels use those details to feel more distinctive without making the experience feel over-branded? Kim Peterson: So what I would say about the scent is in the development stage of that is finding out exactly what the property's ethos is, speaking to more than just the decision-maker, but other staff members to find out exactly what they are envisioning for the property, and then when we go to the customization, we work with them. We render images to throw to them, give them the opportunity to make their decisions on that, and it's not about our brand front and center. It's about their brand. John Farrell: So part of being a customization company or a company that can make these beautiful custom products is to make sure that we adhere to whatever that ethos is, whatever the environment is, whatever they're trying to accomplish, whatever they're trying to convey as a story. It's very important for us to be part of their story, to help create their story, not to be our own story. David Millili: So sustainability in hotel amenities involves trade-offs around the materials, durability, logistics, waste, and cost. Which factors do hotel leaders need to think about more carefully? Kim Peterson: All of it, absolutely sustainability. You're right, all of it because we can take the sustainable materials, the FSC certified forest service certifications. We can do all of that and then you start adding packaging to it. You're adding layers of packaging to all of these amenities. And what we do is we actually do kitting and we design the kitting around any kind of textile that you can imagine and every property wants something different. They could want velvet. They could want burlap, different styles of bags. So we come up with these bags and we just design them based on what they're looking for, and then all these amenities outside of the toothbrush can be put in that bag without the additional layers of packaging. So I think for hotel owners is to consider that as another way of not having more waste to throw away. John Farrell: The only thing I have to add to that is that everything that we do to reduce waste saves them money. David Millili: Right. Yeah. Kim Peterson: Yeah. David Millili: Yeah. No, that's great. So supply chain disruptions, lead times, minimum orders, ingredient availability, freight, tariff cost have all shifted. What should hotel leaders do differently when planning and contracting for amenity programs? Kim Peterson: Use a US-based company that uses US-based manufacturers. Period. John Farrell: Yeah. Everything that we do is US-based. All of our products, our ingredients, everything is manufactured here. It's sourced here so we don't have tariff issues. We don't have supply chain issues. Even during COVID, we've been now in the hotel business, the hotel arena for four years, and even at the beginning when we began, it was in the middle of COVID, we never once had a supply chain issue and still to this day have never had one. David Millili: So I've been asking you guys questions the whole time. So this is where we do a part of the podcast where we turn the tables— Kim Peterson: Uh-huh. David Millili: —and you guys get to ask me a question. Kim Peterson: So how long have you been doing this? David Millili: Uh, almost five years now. Kim Peterson: Is that right? David Millili: Yeah. And it's not my back- my background is I ran hotels in New York City. Then when the internet took off, I got into technology, did a couple startups, sold my companies. And then I was advising a company. And Steve, who was at that company, I decided we should do a podcast to help drive business and get marketing. I said, "I'm an old guy. I know everybody. I get a really lot of good guests on the program." And so Steve and I started it. We came up with the format, which we've just gone through, and we've launched a media company from that. So we're at events like this event and others, where we partner with them, and we help companies try to get the message of what they do out to the hotel community. Kim Peterson: So I got another question. Sure. So what you've heard about us, how has the industry changed since you left five years ago on the hotel side? David Millili: Yeah. So my good friend claims that he was the guy who made amenity companies go to the, I guess the squeeze bottles. 'Cause you couldn't... There was all screw tops. And you're showering and you're trying to open- And the plastic bottles and, you know, it's strange. I think what's really unique is now, at least for me, now I think the industry thinks about it. I don't think they thought about it as much before, meaning just scents and things of that nature and having high-end amenities and that people wanted, you know, high quality. They probably wanted something that was unique or different, especially in the independent hotel community. They really have said, "Okay, we have so many places that we discuss that, you know, this is one area that every guest is gonna touch it." That's right. They're all gonna shower hopefully, and they're all gonna, you know, brush their teeth or do something. And a lot of times you just want that something that's unique that you take away and that Ana, we talked about it earlier on a panel about just the scent and remembering. You know, I can tell you right now, if somebody sprayed what the Fontainebleau smells like here in my image, I would know exactly that it was the Fontainebleau. That scent. John Farrell: Right. Kim Peterson: And so, as far as our signature scents, how that works, do you know how that works with us and why we drive that signature scent and keeping it off the shelf where they cannot buy it anywhere? David Millili: Right. Kim Peterson: But in that hotel, keeping the revenue on that property, is that something that you were aware of that we do different than a lot of companies? David Millili: I didn't know you did that, but nobody would tell me what the smell was at the Fontainebleau. Because I asked, I said, "What is it? Where can I get it?" Kim Peterson: Yeah. David Millili: And now there's, like, hotel collections with candles and stuff. Right. This was going back probably 14 years ago, so. Right. But that is good to know and that is very unique. Yeah. Yeah. John Farrell: But the importance, again, driving home how signature scents and quality of products is so important, it's not something that years ago necessarily was focused on. Yeah. And for instance, our very first hotel was the Cloudveil Hotel in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. They came to us looking for a way to put our products into the hotel. Since that, that was the genesis of our hotel program was the Cloudveil. And to make a long story short, they have since become a two-year running Michelin Key hotel. Oh. And they sent us an email of thanks about five months ago saying, "It's long overdue that we should be recognizing you as part of why it is that we have become a Michelin Key hotel. Our discerning customers," and this is a quote, "constantly rave about Trilipiderm. Keep up the good work." Kim Peterson: What he didn't tell you, how important is your wife's opinion of things? David Millili: Oh, very important. I mean, it's like she... You know, we have to agree upon what the scent is because we're big... We have, like, natural diffusers. Right. Yeah. And it's usually, like, eucalyptus is the one that we both agree on. You know, and if I wanna go somewhere like something that's a little smoky or whatever like... She was like, "Oh, blow that candle out. Get rid of it." So yeah, it's very important. Kim Peterson: Yeah. And so, one of the parts of the story is really funny. John Farrell: Right. Kim Peterson: John'll share this with you. It's great. John Farrell: We were not, we were only a skincare line. David Millili: Right. John Farrell: And we got an unsolicited email from the manager of the Cloudveil Hotel asking for a meeting. We didn't quite understand what it was all about. Obviously, it had something to do with skincare. And we attended this meeting, and in front of us was the manager and the general manager who had just been transferred from a Marriott in New York City to run the Cloudveil in Jackson Hole. And the manager looked at us, and he said, "You guys are here for two reasons. His wife and my wife." That's funny. "They are insisting that we figure out a way to get your products into this hotel." And that again was where Trilipiderm's hotel program was born, and within a month we had created shampoo, body wash, conditioner, hand cream, and hand soap, but it all had to be of the same natural quality that our skincare was known for because it was that quality that got the wives to knock on their husbands' heads and say, "Hey, get this done." David Millili: That's great. That's a great story. Well, that does it for another episode of The Modern Hotelier. This is where you guys get to let people know how they can get in touch with Trilipiderm. Website, let them know how they can get in touch with you guys. So plug away. Kim Peterson: So if you want to reach us about your hotel, we have a website and it's www.trilipiderm.com. And we have a hospitality page on our website. It's called Curated Comforts. And we have all the information how to contact us on there, either info@trilipiderm.com or my kimpeterson@trilipiderm.com, so it'd be kim.peterson@trilipiderm.com. Our phone number is 307-733-4427, and my extension is 703. John Farrell: That's all we have to say. Okay. That's it. Contact her. That's it. David Millili: So that does it for another episode of The Modern Hotelier, the most engaged podcast in hospitality. Whether you're watching or listening, we appreciate you and hope to be with you again soon. Thanks for joining us. Kim Peterson: Thank you.