I have a confession to make.
I'm one of those people who gets ridiculously excited about checking into a beautiful hotel.
I was at a conference a couple of weeks ago where we were asked, “What does life-changing money mean to you?”
My ultimate answer will always be financial freedom, because let’s face it, don’t we all want that? But one of the options on the list made me stop:
Fun tickets. The things that make success feel real. No apology necessary.
One of the examples was the freedom to stay in “stupid nice hotels”.
That one spoke to me.
Danny and I have always believed in having a business mentor, and I can still remember our very first mentoring session around 12 years ago. He sat us down in front of a whiteboard and asked us to write down what we’d like our lives to look like in the future. We were told to write down all of our dreams and desires, and he encouraged and demanded that we think big. No limits.
I distinctly remember writing that I wanted to be able to afford to stay in the “good hotels”.
And when I say good hotels, I don’t necessarily mean the biggest or most expensive. I mean the smaller boutique hotels that place real emphasis on personal experience, thoughtful details and a strong sense of identity.
We have spent so many years in business automatically searching for the most ‘affordable’ option. In the early days, that often meant a room with a window facing a brick wall where you had to have the light on 24/7. So the idea of one day having the choice to stay somewhere aspirational felt like a sign that perhaps we’d made it!
Even then, I recognised that a beautiful hotel made me feel different.
I yearned for that feeling.
As someone who is passionate about interiors and beautiful objects, I have enormous appreciation for the level of thought that goes into creating a memorable stay. For me, it isn’t simply somewhere to sleep. It’s an entire experience.
Every time I check into one of these hotels, my eyes dart left, right, up and down. I don’t know where to look first. An overwhelming sense of excitement takes over me and I can’t help but take a million photos to try to capture ‘that feeling’.
After checking in, the kids are usually at the lift already fighting over who’s going to press the button before I’ve even made my way through the lobby.
Danny has learnt to expect it by now. He very gently reminds me that we should probably go upstairs and unpack first and then I can have my moment on my own a bit later on. The excitement is always so hard to contain. It all just feels so special. It's almost impossible for me to walk straight through without stopping to look at something.
I must take about 20 photos of the same thing, just in case I didn’t capture it at the right angle or I didn’t get the whole scene. I turn into some obsessed weirdo. Can you relate?
But it's important to me to take in every detail - I become completely fascinated by all the things most people probably don't even notice.
The soft lighting that instantly sets the mood.
The playlist that quietly becomes the soundtrack to our stay.
The inspirational coffee table books positioned so naturally that you genuinely want to sit down and open one.
The original artworks.
The handwritten welcome note and locally made chocolate ready for you on arrival.
None of these things matter on their own.
But together...
They create a feeling that's almost impossible to describe.
Because I don't think the ‘stupid nice’ hotels are really selling accommodation.
They're selling a feeling.
And the very best ones understand that feeling begins long before you've opened the door to your room.
It is in the warmth of the welcome. The person who helps with your bags before you have thought to ask. The staff member who presses the lift button for you, much to the kids’ annoyance.
The beautifully stocked minibar or coffee station that somehow feels more like a carefully curated pantry or cocktail bar than a list of overpriced snacks.
Even the signage is clever in how it speaks to you.
Every tiny detail suggests...
"We've thought about you."
At the beginning of the year, I was fortunate enough to tick something off my bucket list and stay at the Santa Monica Proper, designed by Kelly Wearstler.
It had a profound impact on me, both creatively and personally.
The moment I walked through those doors, I almost felt like a different version of myself. *Almost like I was cool enough to be staying there.
What I loved most was that it didn’t feel extravagant or overdone. It was calm, layered and relaxed, with the kind of lived-in quality that makes a space feel personal (and cool!).
It made me feel like I had an excuse to dress a little nicer, take my time to enjoy a meal, enjoy a slow breakfast or treat myself to a morning coffee in a beautiful environment.
It made everyday rituals feel special.
I found myself wondering how I could bring little pieces of that feeling home. How do I recreate this feeling?
In my last email, I asked “Why should someone leave their house to visit us?”
But once they have made the decision to come, perhaps the bigger question should be "How do we make people never want to leave?"
I’ve always said I want Few and Far to be somewhere people visit because they leave feeling inspired.
And maybe, just maybe, somewhere they leave feeling like a slightly better version of themselves.
Because that's what the best places have always done.
They don't just change your surroundings.
They change how you feel while you're there.
When Kelly Wearstler approached the design of the Santa Monica Proper, she didn’t start with ‘What should this hotel look like?’ She started with the question, ‘What should it feel like to be in Santa Monica?’
And that’s where we often go wrong when building an interior.
We begin with what we want the room to look like.
But perhaps the better place to begin is with the feeling.
Because once you understand how you want a space to feel, the choices become much clearer.
Maybe that is the lesson the ‘stupid nice’ hotels have been teaching us all along.
The most memorable spaces are not simply filled with beautiful things.
They have considered how you will live, move, connect and feel within them.
And that is exactly what I want us to keep creating at Few and Far.
And so on that note, I'm curious...
Are there any hotels that you've stayed (anywhere in the world!) that have really had an impact on you?
What was it about them that did this for you?
