Meet Blue Flag Partners, The Boston-Based Hospitality Innovators Architecting Boutique Hotel Experiences For Luxury Explorers

Each summer months, throngs of solar-hungry (and lobster-craving) site visitors make their annual pilgrimage to New England’s cherished resort towns, from Nantucket to Martha’s Vineyard and the string of coastal settlements together “the Cape.” Postcard-caliber landscapes and heritage-prosperous enclaves have often been the region’s most magnetic draws. And now, with a escalating selection of style-centric boutique houses from Boston-primarily based Blue Flag Partners (such as the boho-chic Faraway model that debuted last 12 months), there is certain to be a charming character-loaded hotel to getaway to in all your most loved locations.

Guiding Blue Flag is a charismatic crew of investment decision, true estate, and hospitality experts—but above all, they take into consideration them selves to be “explorers” at heart. Prior to the agency was started in 2015, the three taking care of associates found good results in diverse, but complementary business sectors: There is Brad Guidi, a 3rd-generation builder who was at the helm of the award-winning household building firm Guidi Residences, Inc. Nantucket-native Terry Sanford was Principal for actual estate brokerage Territory.com. And finally, Jason Brown, who served as President & Main Progress Officer of AutoCamp and Chief Development Officer for YOTEL (he kicked off his hospitality profession as a 14-12 months-previous intern at NYC’s Soho Grand resort).

Blue Flag to start with came alongside one another as a household progress team, with 4 residences on Nantucket as the inaugural undertaking. In a couple short a long time, the company evolved into a prolific developer of sought-soon after communities, premier restaurants, and high-layout accommodations in some of the most fascinating areas in the place. In addition to the flagship Faraway Nantucket, 2022 will see the enlargement of the manufacturer with a 3-bed room residence built by the Blue Flag workforce, plus a new 12-essential hotel named Blue Iris, and a newly obtained inn identified as The Beachside on Nantucket. Long run qualities in Martha Winery, Hamptons, and Deer Valley Angles are also in the performs.

“A feeling of journey inspires every thing we produce,” says Sanford. “We are on a mission to be stewards of profound ordeals via all aspects of our work. Our official mark honors the legendary nautical flag that indicators the commencing of a voyage. To gain this insignia, our initiatives ought to be daring, inviting, and excellent. These characteristics are a outcome of a holistic improvement strategy grounded in bold thoughts and surprising collaborations.”

Forbes spoke with Blue Flag Associates to discover more.

Forbes: Blue Flag handles so numerous features of the resort development process. What is your collective mission?

Brad Guidi: We really do not just strive to produce gorgeous resorts we actually believe that that at the root of any remarkable hotel is its tale and the emotion it evokes. Each and every living narrative we make reflects a passion for opening the door to extraordinary, inspirational environments that past. Which is not just lodge communicate possibly, we really mean it.

Forbes: How does architecture and inside style in good shape into that philosophy?

Brad Guidi: Today’s luxurious explorers crave places with a personality that embraces their surroundings. Style has advanced so much in the earlier decade. Even some modern-day design and style now would seem, at occasions, passé and unexciting. That is why we are regularly complicated ourselves to come across the real soul in the properties—not just by making nice-hunting areas, but by really wanting at its record, perception of spot, and encompassing neighborhood as we are seeking for the property’s heartbeat. The goal is to go beyond what’s anticipated and contact on one thing further that will really link to our guests to press the boundaries and lookup for true authenticity.

First issues initially, you have to respect the setting up for what it is. For example, the historic properties at Faraway Nantucket have been by no means meant to have fashionable shiny interiors. We leaned into the patina of the buildings and strived to be additive to them by not stripping away their souls. In some circumstances, there are incredible architectural aspects that can be improved and built to sing in other occasions, we have to include architectural facts that are in line with the age of the buildings. As opposed to new builds, operating in the confines of historic buildings is frequently like an archaeological dig: You keep scratching at the surface area until finally its actual attractiveness arrives up.

Forbes: Past layout, how else do you stand out from other boutique hotel manufacturers?

Brad Guidi: I consider what sets us apart over all else is the encounter our company have. From the instant you move foot in just one of our homes, you are inspired to truly feel, investigate, and ponder. I like to feel we are creators of practical experience. We believe that that every single new job is an invitation to embark on an sudden and interesting journey. Style and design is mostly intuitive but when carried out well, it becomes a type of storytelling.

We aim to notify these evocative tales, by generating genuine areas, coupling that with real ordeals. Take Sister Ship, for example. (The signature restaurant at Faraway Nantucket). The tale of incredible journeys earlier is bolstered by the truth that you may perhaps sit down at the bar one working day, and the bartender may hand you a wax-sealed letter from a pal that may have been at the bar the preceding 12 months. Or you may perhaps select to depart a letter for a upcoming guest. Writing a letter with pen and ink, and sealing it with hot wax, is a genuine experience that offers our visitors a perception of connection to the cafe. It’s storytelling in its truest feeling.

Forbes: What are some memorable hotel ordeals that have inspired your strategy to hospitality?

Jason Brown: Good problem. We have experienced so lots of and we are deeply encouraged by our travels. For starters, Chiltern Firehouse in Marylebone, London, is a very long-time preferred of ours. The unwavering dedication to detail will make you truly feel like you are aspect of anything larger. Lengthy just after you test out of the resort you don’t forget it for how it created you sense.

Daniel Meyer, CEO of Union Square Hospital team is another. His focus to depth, his dedication to his staff members, and the guest ordeals are unparalleled. We aspire to be like that. Then there is the Soho Grand. I am actually appreciative to my extended family members in NYC for possessing experienced the prospect to intern there when it opened, which is a lodge they constructed and continue to very own and function today. I started off in the hotel business enterprise at 14 living in and functioning every work conceivable at Soho Grand and, afterwards, its sister lodge the Tribeca Grand (now the Roxy Tribeca). It was by means of these encounters that my really like for the sector was born. I had my palms in anything and I learned from the very best. Rapid ahead from 1996, that hotel continue to has the identical visitor encounter nowadays as it did back again then.

I feel just one of the biggest achievements it produced was the way in which it impacted the community of SoHo. It adjusted it for the better. It is an crucial point mainly because it’s at the forefront of our minds in every thing we touch. How can we incorporate worth listed here? How can we have a favourable and long lasting influence on the neighborhoods we are touching? We want to inspire persons well previous check out out. After all, the greatest boutique motels in the world grasp and give form to the group in which they are constructed. We aspire to do just that.

Forbes: Describe your flagship lodge manufacturer, Faraway, in your very own words.

Brad Guidi: Faraway is more than a place, it is really a attitude. We invite the younger at coronary heart to get out of the norm. Count on an sudden blend of wild and common. Impressed by the delights of curiosity, Faraway is rooted in the notion of prioritizing surprise and discovery for visitors. Mixing variations and influences throughout touchpoints reinforces the lived-in, treasured experience of the lodge. Think 1920’s Parisian salon fulfills New England maritime. We want persons to be transported from the minute they move foot on our assets. We want folks to go explore the island and return to a position where the exploration continues—through layered style and design, curated new music, and domestically sourced and wonderfully ready food stuff.

The phrase Nantucket is derived from an Algonquin term meaning “faraway place.” This was the setting up level from which we drew inspiration for the layout by telling a tale of an imaginary sea captain that set sail in her late twenties with her all-female crew this expedition was intended to past quite a few months, but finally sustained for over a 10 years as they traveled the seas bringing back treasures, spices, and artwork from all-around the environment. Faraway, Nantucket has develop into our muse’s home where by she shares this selection with our company.

Forbes: How do you come to a decision which properties will be a part of the Faraway manufacturer portfolio or stay a standalone lodge?

Jason Brown: We are not always concentrated on creating lodge makes for the sake of scaling that brand itself. Somewhat, we are focused on constructing the finest brand name for the appropriate hotel at the correct time. We are unquestionably inspired by the neighborhood in which we are. For Faraway, in distinct, we ended up thrilled about generating an “urban main way of life boutique hotel” in a resort market. As a buyer, you will eventually see Faraway in other, very similar “urban cores” within just resort marketplaces with the thought of generating a campus-type experience set across numerous buildings identical to Faraway, Nantucket. Let’s just say Faraway will be popping up in some of your favored holiday vacation locations on the east coast in the very close to upcoming.

Forbes: What current vacation traits are most impacting Blue Flag’s strategy to hospitality and how?

Jason Brown: I consider there are two pieces to this, both customer-dealing with and in the hospitality sector as a total. Pre-pandemic we saw do the job trending more distant than at any time just before, as younger generations of staff (and businesses) preferred extra liberty in how, when, and in which they do the job and engage in. We also seen that these visitors needed a boutique, way of living lodge expertise in standard resort marketplaces specifically, they needed inns and eating places that were identical to what they’d be expecting from an city main marketplace like New York, London, or Paris, but in their favored vacation spot. Plainly, this development was accelerated for the duration of the pandemic, and we leaned into that.

On the hospitality side, we’ve also recognized a true thrust for technology to be integrated into the visitor practical experience from each shoppers and operators. As a result, I feel you’ll see a large amount extra automation of resorts in the long run. While that could be a good matter, it’s also a incredibly high-quality line since it suggests you have to be cautious as a hotelier to not consider absent the human factor of the visitor expertise. It only can not be a frictionless transaction. When things go incorrect, and they will, you want a person there to get care of the visitor. At the finish of the working day, the individuals make the position. This is one thing we at Blue Flag fully grasp and just take really, seriously seriously.