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We didn’ t want to only sell a room; we wanted to sell a lifestyle. Consider imagery: We photographed people soaking in vintage clawfoot tubs, lounging by fireplaces and embracing moments of solitude or connection. The imagery wasn’ t aspirational because it looked expensive; it was aspirational because it looked authentic. One of the most valuable decisions we made was accepting that Urban Cowboy wouldn’ t be for everyone.
Urban Cowboy started as a place friends and family would love and want to congregate in. It became part of a much larger cultural conversation— tapping into a zeitgeist of the twenty-tens. Americana was experiencing a resurgence— fashion, music and culture were embracing a romanticized
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version of the cowboy spirit. It felt like we had tapped into a cultural moment before fully realizing it ourselves.
We’ ve worked hard to ensure Urban Cowboy never becomes a formula. I like to think of each property less as another hotel and more as its own art project. Every project begins with a“ picking trip,” a gathering of objects and antiques that end up being statement pieces. I don’ t want to recreate the same design over and over again because every destination deserves its own story.
Think of a property like a different album: There are familiar themes and recognizable elements since they are from the same artist, but each one has different collaborators, different inspiration and a different emotional tone. It’ s a
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very personal way to approach design.
HAPPY STUMBLE One of the biggest risks we ever took ended up becoming one of our defining signatures. At the Brooklyn location, there wasn’ t enough space to build a separate guestroom bathroom. Instead, we placed a 100-yearold clawfoot tub directly inside the sleeping area. At the time, it felt unconventional, even risky. Today, that bathtub has become one of the most photographed elements of our brand and remains a brand design pillar of nearly every Urban Cowboy hotel. The lesson: Sometimes, your greatest differentiator comes from solving a practical problem creatively rather than following convention. They become happy mistakes
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As opportunities have grown, we’ ve learned that saying“ no” is just as important as saying“ yes.” There have been projects that would have accelerated our growth, but they weren’ t places we would have genuinely wanted to spend time ourselves. Growth has never been the goal for its own sake.
The challenge is keeping the soul in the sauce.
My biggest piece of advice for fledgling brand builders might sound selfish but is essential: create something you wish existed and build for yourself. Independent hospitality will never have the biggest budgets, but it can have the strongest point of view. And in an industry where so many experiences begin to look and feel the same, authenticity is our greatest competitive advantage of all.
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