Where Art Meets
Mountain Heritage

See: The Warrior Hotel reopened in June 2020—mid-pandemic, to an empty town square. Zero buzz. Zero community connection. The question wasn't how do we get guests? It was how do we become part of this place?

Shape: We didn't do one ribbon cutting. We did six weeks of them. Spa ribbon cutting. Restaurant ribbon cutting. Rooftop bar ribbon cutting. Each one invited a different slice of Sioux City: business leaders, non-profits, city council, healthcare workers, families. We turned opening weekend into opening season. By week four, people were asking when's the next one? We manufactured FOMO for a building that had been closed for 40 years.

Sell: Over 2,000 people walked through the property in six weeks. The local paper ran five separate stories. City council started bringing delegations for tours. That awareness translated to wedding bookings, corporate holiday parties, and—most importantly—a standing perception that The Warrior wasn't just back. It was theirs. Community buy-in isn't a marketing tactic. It's the foundation for every dollar that comes after.

See: Hotels treat activations like one-offs: a wine dinner here, a holiday party there. No compounding. No system. No memory. Revenue comes and goes. I saw an opportunity to build a calendar where every month has a signature moment, where guests return because they know what to expect, and where word-of-mouth becomes the marketing.

Shape: We built three layers. Recurring series: Ladies Night (third Thursday, every month), Sunday Brunch (with live music), Trivia Wednesdays. These were low-lift, high-frequency, and they trained guests to return. Seasonal tentpoles: 12 Days of Christmas (12 events, 12 charities, $60K raised), Grandparents Day Brunch, Halloween Spooktacular. These were marquee moments that drove rooms and F&B. Premium experiences: Chef's Table series, Eclipse Weekend (213 rooms, $87K revenue), NYE Gala ($47K, sold out). High ASP, high margin, waiting lists.

Sell: $1M+ in activation-driven revenue from 2022–present across The Warrior Hotel and Hotel Julien Dubuque. But the bigger win? We shifted the perception of the hotels from we're here if you need us to you need to be here for this. Activations became the reason to book, not the bonus once you do. That's when hotels stop chasing demand and start manufacturing it.

See: Hospitality's retention crisis isn't about pay—it's about meaning. People leave because they don't feel seen, don't see a future, and don't believe their work matters. What if we built a culture where people actually wanted to stay? Not because they lacked options, but because they felt invested in?

Shape: We created a multi-layered recognition and development system. Monthly: Employee of the Month with real rewards—gift cards, prime parking, public celebration. Weekly: department-level shoutouts and in-the-moment acknowledgment. Annually: service anniversary celebrations, holiday parties, summer outings (trolley tours through historic districts, museum visits, team dinners). But recognition without development rings hollow. So we built career pathing infrastructure: identified high-potential associates early, created mentorship tracks, established cross-training opportunities, mapped clear promotion pathways. We celebrated internal promotions loudly. Every touchpoint reinforced the same message: You matter here. Your growth matters. Your future is here.

Sell: Retention climbed to 80%. Leadership retention increased 24%. We promoted 8 associates internally and mentored 14 team members into supervisor and management positions. Engagement scores jumped 27 points. But the real proof is in guest feedback: stable teams mean consistent service, familiar faces, associates who know preferences and anticipate needs. Teams that stay together learn together—and guests feel the difference in every interaction.

See: The Warrior Hotel was stunning—a restored icon brought back to life as part of Marriott's Autograph Collection. But it needed to become more than a building. It needed to become a benchmark. The opportunity was to create an operation so consistent, so guest-focused, and so culturally strong that it would define what excellence looked like for the entire market. The question was: What potential are we trying to actualize? The answer: sustained excellence.

Shape: We built systems that supported that vision. Every department aligned around one shared goal: deliver experiences that matched the promise of the brand and the pride of the property. Labor forecasting tied to occupancy. Menu engineering that balanced quality with cost. Guest recovery programs that transformed feedback into loyalty. Performance coaching became part of every department head's weekly flow, connecting guest satisfaction directly to profitability. Culture and performance moved together, not separately. The hotel began to hum—departments collaborating, data flowing, standards rising.

Sell: RevPAR lifted 25%. RGI increased 19.6%. Guest satisfaction rose 20 points. The Warrior was named Top Hotel in Iowa by U.S. News & World Report in both 2024 and 2025, earning its place as a symbol of consistent excellence in the state and across the Autograph portfolio. Awards followed, but what mattered most was what they represented: a culture that performed not for recognition, but because excellence had become habit.