Q3 Hospitality Report
Here we are again, I’m touched to have you reading my letter on this beautiful Friday. Or whatever day of the week you’re reading this. Perhaps it’s a Saturday afternoon and you’re catching up on emails while waiting for a friend to meet you for a drink. Or a Sunday evening on the subway and a friend forwarded this to you because you don’t want to pay for my letter.
Some news:
I’m starting to think Rhode’s lip strategy is trying to replicate the success of Lancome’s Juicy Tubes. Which would be genius. I also want to call out the ballet slippers and bows in Hailey’s recent posts which mirror Elle’s story from last week about sweetness and girlhood trending.
Why didn’t anyone want to tell me that the Soho Banana Republic not only smells incredible but also has a totally killer bar? In fact, my sister and I went to the one near Flatiron the other day and there were two husbands (I don’t know, maybe sugar daddies or something else) fully posted up drinking cocktails on the couch. More retail stores should consider this….
The New Yorker launched their own version of How Long Gone. “On Critics at Large, a new weekly culture podcast from The New Yorker, the staff writers Vinson Cunningham, Naomi Fry, and Alexandra Schwartz discuss current obsessions, classic texts, and trends that are emerging across books, film, television, pop culture, and more.”
You’ve all probably read this already, but I adore the statement that Greenpoint is the new Murray Hill.
Instagram COVID baking project turned bakery, L’Appartement 4F, opened a bar. Owners Gautier and Ashley Coiffard have opened a small bar upstairs with French wines, sourdough bread, and cheeses. The bar has around 25 seats with reservations available online. Thank you Instagram!
Fragrance is the most exciting sector of beauty for investors. Coty, which is responsible for making fragrances for Burberry and Gucci, saw its sales grow 8 percent to 10 percent in the fiscal year that started in July. Sales of perfumes, candles and fragrances boomed during the pandemic as consumers turned to scents to boost their mood and treat themselves. Revenue has remained strong, and the long tailwind has surprised investors and analysts and pushed the shares of major fragrance companies such as Coty higher. Shares in Coty jumped yesterday on a report that it may also list its stock in Paris. 📈
Yesterday I was at a consulting meeting and I promised the client that suiting and women generally getting their sartorial shit together was back. Thank you Emilia for proving this, forwarded to the brand :*
New Zach Bryan bangs. Americana is in full-force. Lana del Rey is on the cover of The Hollywood Reporter in cowboy boots, and it feels like she should have a big pistol on that desk. Julia Fox is painted as the American Flag on the cover of King Kong Magazine. I texted my friend who I met in the Russian Baths a few years ago who runs a few energy mines in Texas and lives in Utah (you get the picture) why he thinks the western aesthetic is becoming so hot. “Manifest destiny, it’s in the blood of this nation. Urbanism is past its peak and people love to think of themselves as cowboys.” Thanks.
Sperm is getting wildly expensive. The price for California Cryobank’s most popular vials of sperm is around $2,000, up from around $1,000 in 2021. Supply is declining because of increased genetic screening that weeds out some would-be donors and others who bow out because they don’t want future children to find them through low-cost DNA tests. At the same time, demand, especially from LGBTQ couples and single parents by choice, is soaring.
This is my Q3 Hospitality Report about hotels and restaurants. Contributors include man about town Zachary Weiss, The New Yorker’s cultural mastermind Kyle Chayka, consultant and the only New Yorker in London who I’d trust on UK recs Chrissy Rutherford, brand consulting extraordinaire Emilie Hawtin, America’s favorite suit and cocktail critic Alex Delany, genius for hire Lailee Taghdisi, Dieux founder (and Feed Me favorite) Marta, beauty’s north star Annie Kreighbaum, the most glamorous podcaster Eileen Kelly, Two Bridge’s best boy and luxury expert Joey O’Brien, half of Pasadena’s finest couple Pia Baroncini, beverage professional Will Ryan, the designer of Le Dive and The Carlyle Hotel Xavier Donnelly, Andy Cohen’s biggest competition Kareem, Brooklyn restauranteur Henry Rich, the bravest woman at New York Magazine Olivia Nuzzi, the people’s social media princess Rachel Karten, dinner party king Jonah Reider, one of my favorite LA boys who went to Kenyon AJ Calabrese, olive expert Allegra Lorenzotti, and my dear friend and hospitality investor Phil Lolis. Phil, thank you very much for pushing me to finally put this together and being such an adventure-filled friend.
I’m endlessly grateful to be surrounded by such thoughtful, intelligent friends. It goes without saying that I’m overjoyed by all of you who read this letter. You make waking up so much more fun than it was a year ago.