Melanie Harrison, Boutique Hotelier: Creating a destination experience you won’t get at the Hilton

You take a look at any hotel these days and you find yourself thinking the same thing: when did Hotels become so boring? Personality, unique guest experience, surprise, love for the job have all but vanished. Then you come across a jewel in the rough like Melanie Harrison’s Chambers of Distinction that seem to be the last best hope for the industry.   Melanie takes us on her journey of building a destination, not a hotel, a 'concept accommodation' where guests experience local culture alongside local people, not just around them. What began as her home, has quickly flourished into a five-townhouse fever dream stay with curios around every corner and a place to be cherished.   Our conversation left me thinking that we can become too safe and comfortable sometimes. That we’ve imposed guardrails. We eliminated risk taking and replace risk taking with mandatories, best-practices and focus-group consensus. Having fun taking chances, being dumb, special, opinionated is the only way out. Yeah, it might be mad, but it might be magic too.     She Explains  🟩 How her home became a hotel  🟩 How she creates an experience you won’t get at the Hilton   🟩 The inspiration behind each Chamber of Distinction    🟩 How she bought the building without buying the building   🟩 How her success is because she taps into beyond black-and-white rule following  🟩 The importance of having people in the business equally obsessive of the vision   🟩 The power in talking to people for even 10 minutes   🟩 What anyone with a mad idea should do      Skip to  (1:27) How does a food scientist become a boutique hotelier?  (4:00) The genesis of the Chambers of Distinction   (7:45) Creating an experience “you won’t get at the Hilton”  (10:03) Can you find balance when you live at work?  (13:24) How Melanie honours Irish & Northern Irish alumni with each distinct chamber  (16:40) Creating a destination than just ‘another hotel’  (19.04) The joys in spontaneity and being silly   (22:18) How Melanie bought the building at an auction she never attended   (25:22) The importance of having a team that get the vision   (34:37) The Power of Networking   (42:02) Melanie’s advice to anyone with a mad idea  (45:43) The car Melanie would drive if she could drive anything     Don’t forget to like 👍, comment 💬, and subscribe 🔔 if you enjoyed this episode. Let us know what you think and click the bell icon to stay updated on new episodes when they’re released.    Follow Melanie:  LinkedIn   https://www.linkedin.com/in/the-melanie-harrison/  Instagram   https://www.instagram.com/theharrisonbelfast/  Facebook  https://www.facebook.com/theharrisonbelfast    Website  https://www.chambersofdistinction.com/    Follow the BrakeTime Podcast  https://www.instagram.com/braketimepodcast/