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Damon Lawrence started his career in hospitality as a front desk agent for the Donovan House, a Kimpton Hotel in Washington DC, before working at Ritz-Carlton, IHG, and Dusit International. After working in these roles, Damon started his own hotel development group, Homage Hospitality, as well as Unflagged Academy, a mentorship platform for the next generation of hospitality leaders. Damon sees a lot of opportunities for creativity in independent hospitality today, and explains why in today's episode.Follow Damon on LinkedIn Homage HospitalityUnflagged AcademyWhat did you think about this episode? Join the Hospitality Daily community on LinkedIn and share your thoughts. If you care about hospitality, check out the Masters of Moments podcast where Jake Wurzak interviews top leaders in hospitality. His conversations with Bashar Wali and Matt Marquis are a great place to start, but also check out his solo episodes such as how he underwrites investment deals and a deep dive into GP fees you know about. Music by Clay Bassford of Bespoke Sound: Music Identity Design for Hospitality Brands
Damon Lawrence started his career in hospitality as a front desk agent for the Donovan House, a Kimpton Hotel in Washington DC, before working at Ritz-Carlton, IHG, and Dusit International. After working in these roles, Damon started his own hotel development group, Homage Hospitality, as well as Unflagged Academy, a mentorship platform for the next generation of hospitality leaders. Damon believes the greatest barrier to entrepreneurship and hospitality is access to information, and that creating amazing hospitality experiences requires diverse perspectives. Today, he explains how he's breaking down barriers and providing access to information to help others. Follow Damon on LinkedIn Homage HospitalityUnflagged AcademyWhat did you think about this episode? Join the Hospitality Daily community on LinkedIn and share your thoughts. If you care about hospitality, check out the Masters of Moments podcast where Jake Wurzak interviews top leaders in hospitality. His conversations with Bashar Wali and Matt Marquis are a great place to start, but also check out his solo episodes such as how he underwrites investment deals and a deep dive into GP fees you know about. Music by Clay Bassford of Bespoke Sound: Music Identity Design for Hospitality Brands
Damon Lawrence started his career in hospitality as a front desk agent for the Donovan House, a Kimpton Hotel in Washington DC, before working at Ritz-Carlton, IHG, and Dusit International. After working in these roles, Damon started his own hotel development group, Homage Hospitality, as well as Unflagged Academy, a mentorship platform for the next generation of hospitality leaders. Today, he shares what we might do to make working in hospitality more attractive to more people.Follow Damon on LinkedIn Homage HospitalityUnflagged AcademyWhat did you think about this episode? Join the Hospitality Daily community on LinkedIn and share your thoughts. If you care about hospitality, check out the Masters of Moments podcast where Jake Wurzak interviews top leaders in hospitality. His conversations with Bashar Wali and Matt Marquis are a great place to start, but also check out his solo episodes such as how he underwrites investment deals and a deep dive into GP fees you know about. Music by Clay Bassford of Bespoke Sound: Music Identity Design for Hospitality Brands
Our sixth guest on Capitalism: The Remix is Damon Lawrence. His experience in hospitality stretches among some of the best brands in the world. Join Damon and Jeff as they discuss diversity in hospitality, access to capital, and building a legacy brand. A graduate of Howard University, Damon first began his hospitality journey in the nations capital as a front desk agent for the Thompson Hotel Group's Donovan House Hotel in Midtown DC. From there, Damon moved within management ranks at companies such as Ritz Carlton, Intercontinental Hotel Group & Dusit Thani International for a career than spans over a decade. After witnessing a lack of African American representation in brand ownership and leadership, Damon created the Homage Hospitality brand and oversees operations and creative direction. www.stayhomage.com LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hauspitality/ IG: @HAUSPITALITY Follow us on social media: IG: @capitalismtheremix LinkedIn Twitter Facebook
The hospitality industry is incredibly diverse as a whole, but not when it comes to the higher up positions. That's what today's guest wants to change for the better. Damon Lawrence, the Co-Founder of Homage Hospitality, is working with Howard University to create an outstanding hospitality program at his alma mater, Howard University. Listen to this week's episode as he shares #hospitality insights with Dan Ryan today! Takeaways: There is a labor shortage in the hospitality industry because it's not an employee centric industry. Employees work long hours and went from seeing no one in a pandemic to being face to face with guests again. Hospitality is a feeling you give to your guests. Whether they are in your hotel, restaurant or even your home, it is all about how you treat the guests and put them in a position to succeed. It's important to have conversations regarding race in the country. To make a positive change in the world, it starts with what might be an uncomfortable conversation for most. There needs to be more African American hotel owners and developers. To help achieve this, Damon is working on building up the hospitality program at Howard University. The hospitality industry is very diverse as a whole, but most of the diversity is sitting at the very bottom. The low entry, hourly jobs are the most diverse, and the further you go up the more the diversity dwindles. If people listen, take notice, and then take action that could cure a lot of ills in the hospitality industry. This could also benefit society at large. Quote of the Show: 7:58 “Hospitality really is a feeling. What I've always noticed,whether it's traveling or I'll be working in this space, is how do you make somebody feel when they enter into your space or a space that you have dominion over? Just because you are a hospitality brand doesn't mean that you wouldn't exude or create a hospitable experience. So hospitality really is how you make people feel. Whether they're dining at your restaurant or dining at your home. Like I said before, understanding what everyone goes through and making sure that you can put people in the best position to succeed, creates that hospitality experience that you want to provide to your consumers.” Links: Damon's Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hauspitality/ Company website: https://www.anewkindofhospitality.com Twitter: @hauspitality Shout Outs: 1:11 Thompson Hotel 1:34 Jason Pomerantz 1:35 Stephen Brandman 1:57 St. Regis 1:59 Ritz Carlton 2:00 Four Seasons 3:33 Craigslist 10:33 Howard University 10:49 University of Louisiana, Lafayette 11:33 Mardi Gras 12:20 Halle Berry 12:22 Paula Patton 19:27 Independent Lodging Congress 20:14 Arne Sorenson foundation 20:17 Marriott foundation 23:28 ALIS Conference 25:21 Determine by Design 25: 24 Kia Weatherspoon 36:00 LGBTQ 51:39 HDAC (Hospitality Diversity Action Council) 52:58 Bashar Wali 53:00 Nina Grondin 53:03 Aaron Anderson 53:07 Stacy Shoemaker Ways to Tune In: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0A2XOJvb6mGqEPYJ5bilPX Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/defining-hospitality-podcast/id1573596386 Google Podcasts: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZGVmaW5pbmdob3NwaXRhbGl0eS5saXZlL2ZlZWQueG1s Podbean: https://www.defininghospitality.live/ Youtube : https://youtu.be/k_ETfrerldA
INFO ON DAMON LAWRENCE:Website: https://www.anewkindofhospitality.com LinkedIn profile:https://www.linkedin.com/in/hauspitality/ Instagram: @hauspitalityTwitter: @hauspitality, @stayhomageMartin Luther King, Jr. said:“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”Well, the dream of Damon Lawrence is one of perseverance in the face of recurring challenges that would have made most simply decided to choose a simpler path. It is one of where the content of one’s character is evident. Originally from Pasadena, CA, Damon has always had a passion for entrepreneurship. In high school Damon was voted most likely to become a CEO and his classmates proved to be prophetic as the currently helms as Chief Executive Officer of Homage Hospitality.Like many hoteliers, he grew to love hospitality as he rose through the ranks. Damon began his hospitality journey as a front desk agent at the Donovan House Hotel in Washington, DC while attending Howard University. He then moved into management at companies such as The Ritz-Carlton, InterContinental Hotels Group, and Dusit International. After noticing a lack of African American brand ownership and leadership in higher management ranks, Damon created the Homage Hospitality brand in 2014 and currently oversees operations and creative direction.In July of 2018 Homage Hospitality opened their first property “The Moor” in New Orleans, LA. The small property stands out with an emphasis on the culture of New Orleans and its relation to multicultural heritage of the North African Moors in its design and architecture. The nearly 100-year-old facade sports Spanish Colonial features, while inside, the four suites have rustic elements of exposed brick and hardwood floors softened with Moroccan patterned textiles. Damon Lawrence's dream is impassioned, authentic and genuinely focused on providing a hotel experience that is geared towards creating like something you’ve never seen before. It will feel like a new kind of experience - a new kind of hospitality. FINALLY. INFO ON DAVID KEPRON:Website: https://www.davidkepron.comLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-kepron-9a1582b/Instagram: davidkepron and NXTLVL_experience_designTwitter: @davidkepron
George Gottl is the Chief Creative Officer at UXUS, a multidisciplinary design agency specializing in strategic design solutions for: Retail & Marketing, Architecture & Brand Experience. Checkout the work and smart thinking about brand experience design that George Gottl and his team have created at: https://uxus.com Ari Peralta is the Co-Founder and CEO of Origami International an award-winning strategic research consultancy dedicated to wellness. See more about the amazing work that Ari does bringing together neuroscience and experience design at: https://www.arigami.co.ukDamon Lawrence is the CEO of Homage Hospitality - a new kind of hospitality that the industry has not seen before. Purpose-driven and geared toward celebrating the stories of African American experience through hotel design, Damon and his vision are an important new development in the hotel business. See more at: https://www.anewkindofhospitality.com
When Damon Lawrence looked around at hotel experiences, management, and ownership, he noticed something was missing: Black people. Damon set out to change that, and launched Homage Hospitality, the first hotel group dedicated to African American travelers in 2014. What happened next may surprise you...
We hear how much of a challenge coronavirus has posed to accommodation platform Airbnb. Damon Lawrence is the co-founder of Homage Hospitality in New Orleans, and tells us he sold the property he let on Airbnb when rentals dried up at the start of the coronavirus crisis. Josh Bivens is author of a report by the Economic Policy Institute, which explores the upward pressure on local rental costs a surge in Airbnb properties can cause. And Lewis Ross from Edinburgh in Scotland explains the pressure he had to deal with after building up a portfolio of eleven properties, three with mortgages, that he used to let on Airbnb. Also in the programme, cafes and restaurants have been allowed to reopen across most of France today. Rob Lawrence runs Musette Bicycles and Cafe in Bordeaux in south-western France, and tells us how it feels to be up and running again. And we consider the longer term economic impact of recent closures on cafes and restaurants with Victor Mallet, Paris bureau chief of the Financial Times. Plus we hear from director Tomas Lutuli Brickhill how Netflix's first Zimbabwean film, Cook Off, which cost just $8,000 to make, might impact the world's view of the southern African nation.
Hey folks, this week we decided to #ThrowItBack like Missy Misdemeanor and let you hear the full-length version of our interview with Marcus Carey and Damon Lawrence, cofounders of Homage Hospitality, whose hotel properties curate and celebrate black culture. The duo was recently featured on the cover of Hospitality Design's People Issue, which you should definitely check out after listening. See you next week! Show Notes: Interview Themes: Travel, Hospitality, Culture, Gentrification, Art, Concept Design, Business Model, Capital, Investors, CoFounders Follow Homage: https://www.instagram.com/stayhomage/?hl=en Support Us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/yobusinesspod Take Our Listener Survey: https://iter.ly/5vt4f Follow Us: https://www.instagram.com/yobusinesspod/ https://twitter.com/yobusinesspod?lang=en --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/yo-business/support
Hey folks, this week we decided to #ThrowItBack like Missy Misdemeanor and let you hear the full-length version of our interview with Marcus Carey and Damon Lawrence, cofounders of Homage Hospitality, whose hotel properties curate and celebrate black culture. The duo was recently featured on the cover of Hospitality Design's People Issue, which you should definitely check out after listening. See you next week!Show Notes:Interview Themes: Travel, Hospitality, Culture, Gentrification, Art, Concept Design, Business Model, Capital, Investors, CoFoundersFollow Homage: https://www.instagram.com/stayhomage/?hl=enSupport Us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/yobusinesspodTake Our Listener Survey: https://iter.ly/5vt4fFollow Us:https://www.instagram.com/yobusinesspod/https://twitter.com/yobusinesspod?lang=en--- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/yo-business/support
Hospitality rising stars Marcus Carey and Damon Lawrence are shaking up the hotel industry with Homage Hospitality, one of the first brands catered to the African American traveler by honoring and preserving black culture through design and programming. With one property open in New Orleans and three more on the boards, it seems they're onto something. This episode is brought to you by Global Allies. For more information, go to globalallies.com.
It's Juneteenth! For the last episode of Season 1, Shayna & J.J. bring double the cancels & double the guests. We open with a cheer for black women, talk aid for Sudan and find out which one of us may be a Liz Warren pre-stan + Our guests, Damon Lawrence & Marcus Carey, co-founders of Homage Hospitality - boutique hotels inspired by culture, get real honest about co-founder partnership, wild questions from investors, and creating space in the hospitality industry that is for us/by us. This first season has been so amazing! Don't miss our brand new first episode of Season 2 on August 14. Show Notes: "How to Help Sudan: 7 things you can do right now for a country in crisis" Interview Themes: Travel, Hospitality, Culture, Gentrification, Art, Concept Design, Business Model, Capital, Investors, CoFounders Follow Homage: https://www.instagram.com/stayhomage/?hl=en "What I've Learned Since My Son Came Out," by Ted Bunch, chief development officer, A Call To Men - Support Us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/yobusinesspod Take Our Listener Survey: https://iter.ly/5vt4f Follow Us: https://www.instagram.com/yobusinesspod/ https://twitter.com/yobusinesspod?lang=en --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/yo-business/support
Damon Lawrence is CEO of Homage Hospitality, a boutique home and hotel developer offering cultural accommodations for curious travelers. Homage makes room for the culture creators and innovators “whose hospitality to their inspiration superseded their living in a world inhospitable to their presence. We talk to the Pasadena, CA native about going from hotel management to hotel ownership New Orleans and Oakland, the financial investment necessary to get in the game, the meaning of Mascu-luxe and the women who inspired the idea, and effective inclusive branding for your desired audience. Last but not least, we hear Damon's thoughts on this crazy world we live in on Random Aside. #NecessaryListening Intro/Outro Music - "Thru the City" by Super Producer Robert Jay (@robertjay_bb on SoundCloud) Follow Homage Hospitality: www.stayhomage.com www.instagram.com/stayhomage www.twitter.com/StayHomage www.facebook.com/stayhomage Follow Damon: www.instagram.com/hauspitality www.twitter.com/hauspitality Follow Geronimo Knows: www.instagram.com/geronimoknows www.twitter.com/GeronimoKnows Follow Robert Jay: www.instagram.com/robertjay_bb www.twitter.com/RobertJay_BB Watch 'What's Your Drink?', our newest podcast featuring DC's top bar and beverage professionals speaking on the craft - bit.ly/2RAZqsq Watch the latest Fairground Times web series, Set-Up Shop and Fairly Short - bit.ly/2M0KKzD All The Fly Kids Links: Website - www.alltheflykids.com Twitter - www.twitter.com/AllTheFlyKids Instagram - www.instagram.com/alltheflykids Facebook - www.facebook.com/alltheflykids SoundCloud - bit.ly/2q4sjQR Apple Podcasts - apple.co/2DNSEJ2 Google Play - bit.ly/2DLCL5M Spotify - spoti.fi/2Lzh4gN Stitcher - bit.ly/2zrT1ps Simplecast - bit.ly/2v2qmaX The All the Fly Kids Show is where the cool, calm and connected talk straight – No Chaser. Your hosts, Geronimo Knows and Robert Jay, sit down each week with culture creators you [should] know specializing in moments of good taste in the arts, fashion, food, business and more. A necessary listen for the urban lifestyle enthusiast.
Stop what you’re doing and listen to this podcast. Damon Lawrence, the co-founder of Homage Hospitality is a pioneer in the hotel industry and is a living example of excellence. In this podcast, we talk about the beautiful struggle, his growing hotel chain and how music inspires us to create. You do not want to miss this. I’m sure that his perspective and our conversation will give you the fuel you need to bring your magic into the world. You are #YoungMoney. Enjoy!