Experiencing Unreasonable Hospitality
We missed last week’s newsletter. From what I can tell, it was the first time in over five years. That means we’ve had one go out every single week through vacations, pandemics, sickness, broken bones, holidays, and the loss of our best friend, Hutch.
Granted, for a few of those years, we had support helping behind the scenes, so we won’t get too self-congratulatory about our consistency. But a few years ago, Nikki and I took complete production/editorial responsibility back to just us. Why? Two reasons.
First, we realized we were spending just as much time directing, rewriting, and editing as we would have if we’d done it ourselves. Second, and more importantly, we noticed something: a lot of people we care about—clients, friends, curious strangers—actually open this thing. Every week. And so we felt it needed our fingerprints on it. Imperfect, but personal.
Which brings us to last week.
We were in Europe on a work/vacation hybrid trip. First stop: Girona, Spain, for The Traka—a gravel race and all-around bike industry meet-up disguised as a festival. It was productive and a blast. We caught up with friends (and past podcast guests) Joe Laverick and Luke Lamperti, made some new connections, and had great meetings with current and future partners.
We left Girona tired but happy, en route to France with a rental car and no real plan. We decided to stop in Montpellier for the night. Nikki found us a last-minute spot at Hôtel Richer de Belleval—a restored 17th-century palace that now functions as a living gallery with rooms. We were blown away. The design, the art, the food, the location—yes, all exceptional. But the staff? Something else entirely.
We joked they must have all read Unreasonable Hospitality by Will Guidara, the former general manager of Eleven Madison Park. (We read it after Ryan Marshall of PulteGroup recommended it to us—thanks, Ryan.) The premise of the book is this: true hospitality isn’t about perfection. It’s about creating moments so deeply thoughtful and unexpected that they border on outrageous. Hospitality that goes beyond what’s reasonable. And most importantly, you create this sense of unreasonable hospitality by treating your employees the same way you expect them to treat your guests. Hence the title.
The next day, we drove on to Nice. A short-term Airbnb nightmare left us looking for a last-minute Plan B. Cue the classic “we’re exhausted and need a win.” Nikki had an idea, thank you TikTok! She booked us at the newly opened Hôtel du Couvent, a 400-year-old convent that had been abandoned for 40 years in the Old Town and recently transformed into a design lover’s dream.
You can read plenty online about the aesthetic vision, the Michelin-pedigree restaurants, and the Parisian creative behind it all. But for us, what set the Couvent apart wasn’t any of that—it was the staff.
We are, let’s say, not the easiest guests. We travel with two fancy, yet fragile, road/gravel bikes. Two massive bike cases. Tools. Lots of tools. And a general air of “we might turn your hotel room into a mechanics bay.” At many places, this earns a side-eye and some nervous distance. But not here.
Here, the bellman wanted to help us with the bikes every day. In fact, the bikes never went to the room because they put us at ease to take care of them for us. When we asked to swap out the in-room wine glasses with the ones from the restaurant because they were…fancier? Of course. When we asked to eat at the bar, something they don’t do? Naturally. When I commandeered that luggage room to rebuild bikes before our flight? Not only was it approved, but the bellman crew kept me company with their curiosities.
You know that we had to ask….Why? Why do you all care this much?
The answer came easily:
“The owner takes care of us. And we take pride in this place.”
That’s it. That’s the secret to unreasonable hospitality: when people are treated with intention, care, and trust, they turn around and offer the same to others.
Now, most of our readers (or any that we know of) don’t run luxury hotels or Michelin-starred restaurants. But everyone has customers, clients, guests—people we serve. The lesson here isn’t about wine glasses or luggage rooms. It’s about creating moments of surprise and care. It's about empowering teams to act with generosity—and trusting that they will.
It starts with leadership. We’re a broken record, we know. But we see it every day.
If you want your culture to feel like a place people are proud to work—a place people go above and beyond to protect and promote—you lead with unreasonable hospitality internally first. That’s what they’ve done at the Couvent. That’s what Will Guidara did at Eleven Madison Park. And that’s what any leader, in any industry, can choose to do—if they’re willing to trade control for trust, rules for empowerment, and efficiency for delight.
Sorry we missed a week.
More soon,
DCS
P.S. I do want to point out that Nikki edited and published the podcast last week. She actually edited it in the car while we drove to France. So don’t think we are complete slackers. The episode is with our friend Peta Mullens. It’s pretty awesome. (Humble brag).
As always, if you like this newsletter, please forward to a friend and tell them to subscribe. Much appreciated.
______________________________________________________________________
‘Everybody’s Replaceable’: The New Ways Bosses Talk About Workers
The new shift in tone is a result of perceptions that employees are not as productive and that AI can take on more responsibilities.
Skims CEO Emma Grede says your employer doesn’t have to provide work-life balance. Why she’s wrong.
Can someone please let Emma know that we are available for executive communication strategy?
United’s Starlink-powered Wi-Fi is the end of airplane mode
Video calls are coming to planes – good or bad?
Whoop Reverses Course and Revises Free Upgrade Offer
Whoop now says it will honor the free upgrade promise, but you still need to have more than a year left on your membership, not six months.
FTC delays enforcement of click-to-cancel rule
“Having conducted a fresh assessment of the burdens that forcing compliance by this date would impose, the Commission has determined that the original deferral period insufficiently accounted for the complexity of compliance,”
Podcast Industry Is Twice as Large as Previously Estimated
$7.3 billion in sales last year
Bring Back Those Long-Ass Game Show Mics
Coco Chanel’s French Riviera Home Comes Back to Life
“The Côte d’Azur, that 430-mile stretch of rugged cliffs and blue waters on the southeastern edge of France, was a popular destination for what Gertrude Stein would call the Lost Generation, a loose-knit community of expatriate writers and artists.”
Culture Edit Podcast
Ep. 089 – Peta Mullens – Pro Cyclist, 12X Aussie National Champ
In one of the most entertaining episodes we've ever recorded, we chat with 12x National Champion and Professional Cyclist, Peta Mullens about the ins and outs of being Australian, how she inspired an entire kit line for ATLWMN, the difference between bogans and rednecks, racing in Europe, finding the American crit racing scene, being a travel wife, how to be a great brand ambassador, running a women’s team for over a decade and transitioning to privateering. This episode is jam-packed with hilarious content and commentary. Enjoy mate!
Everywhere you get your podcasts.