[00:00:00] Jordi Solé:  Hoteliers, they need to find their niche. Maybe it’s gastronomy, maybe it’s education. It’s different, but they need to find and be recognized by one thing and stand out from the rest of the competitors.

[00:00:15] Intro:  Welcome to the Hotel Moment Podcast, presented by Revinate, the podcast where we discuss how hotel technology shapes every moment of the hotelier’s experience. Tune in for our guest episodes, where we explore the cutting-edge technology transforming the hospitality industry and hear from experts and visionaries shaping the future of guest experiences. Alongside our conversations with guests, we have episodes for you hosted by Revinator Brenna Turpin on resources available to you all. These resource-packed episodes have granular advice on overcoming industry and operational challenges so you can emerge as a hotel superhero. Whether you’re a hotelier or a tech enthusiast, you’re in the right place. Let’s dive in and discover how we can elevate hospitality together. Hello and welcome to the Hotel Moment Podcast. I’m your host, Karen Stephens, the Chief Marketing Officer of Revinate. And today we are so excited to speak with Jordi Solé, the president of UMusic Hospitality and Lifestyle, a global hospitality brand backed by Universal Music Group, with over twenty years of experience in hotel operations, branding, and asset management across Europe and the Americas. Jordi specializes in creating immersive, music-driven guest experiences that connect people, places, and communities. Under his leadership, UMusic is redefining hospitality by integrating live music, personalized activations, and culturally informed amenities to foster loyalty and memorable stays. Jordi, welcome to the podcast. It is a pleasure to have you here.

[00:01:48] Jordi Solé:  Thank you. The pleasure is all mine.

[00:01:50] Karen Stephens:  I was getting so excited when we started preparing for this call. So we obviously have one of our producers, Brenna, who reaches out ahead of time and so she did some investigative reporting and this is such a cool concept. So I can’t wait to jump into your current project. But before I do that, can you just give our audience a little bit of an idea of when did you first realize that hospitality could be a platform for storytelling and emotional connection through music?

[00:02:17] Jordi Solé:  Yeah, I’ve been working almost all my life in hospitality. I worked for different brands in Europe, in the Americas. And when I joined Universal Music Group in the hospitality, in this hospitality venture, that’s when I realized that music could change everything. I think that hospitality is about emotion and including how we make people feel and music naturally amplifies that. So when we put together all this project with all the different experiential moments that I’ll come back to in a minute, we realized that all those experiences through music really impact people. And that’s what shaped Universal Music Hotels, UMusic Hotels. And it became clear that music is not just a theme, but it’s a storytelling platform that could transform the entire guest experience from even before arriving to the hotel until they leave the property.

[00:03:08] Karen Stephens:  As I said, I love this. It just lights me up even talking about it because I am completely on board with music being such a huge transporter of people, of experience. So can you explain what UMusic hospitality is and what that lifestyle brand represents?

[00:03:25] Jordi Solé:  Yeah, absolutely. So I always like to say that we are a mix between entertainment, music entertainment, hospitality, and community impact. So we really aspire to become the creative hubs of the communities where we stand and we achieve that because we create those experiences throughout the music with the Universal Music artists and everything that we do on property. And that’s exactly who we are. We have a top hospitality level of service. We have those experiences crafted and created through music with Universal Music power. And then we have all this purpose vision and purpose business where we want to bring communities on board. We want to create a positive impact on the community. And that’s what we aspire, that’s what we’re doing in the first property that we opened in Madrid. And that’s our vision and we implement it in every city we move on.

[00:04:21] Karen Stephens:  So yeah, let’s talk about that first property, Madrid. So you’re Spanish. Let’s start there. So you’re Spanish. So where are you from in Spain?

[00:04:29] Jordi Solé:  I was born and raised in Barcelona, but I lived also a few years of my life in different cities in Spain. Madrid was one of those and it was an easy transition to open the first property in Madrid. But for twenty years I didn’t do business in Spain since I left. So it was fun.

[00:04:46] Karen Stephens:  That’s great. So you’ve been living and working in the Americas for quite some time. So you’re Spanish by origin and that’s great. And I love Madrid. What a great city. So tell us about that very first property that’s open now.

[00:04:57] Jordi Solé:  Yeah, we opened in September 2023, just two years ago. And basically we manage a heritage protected building in the center of Spain that has all this community impact that we’re talking about. And basically the asset has a theater inside where we program and activate with Universal Music artists, concerts, all types of cultural events, community events, everything related to music and culture. And then the hotel has of course its rooms, but also has food and beverage components. We have a piano bar that we also activate with emerging talent and we bring different kids from schools, music schools in the city, to integrate with the community and they play there. It’s like this amazing place where you can go and play knowing that all the Universal Music executives are gonna be around and you are playing there in that property. So it’s a mix between hospitality, entertainment, and the community impact that I mentioned before. And we had more than 900 events since we opened, all musical events with Universal Music artists. And these events brought more than 200,000 superfans to the property, which is crazy. And we had three billion digital views and 35 million euros marketing media value. So all these events and activations that we bring to the property, they craft the customer experience, but also the brand awareness of all of those has been amazing for us.

[00:06:22] Karen Stephens:  That is incredible. So how many seats in the theater that’s within the hotel?

[00:06:26] Jordi Solé:  It has a 900 seat theater on two floors, which is a nice decent size for being at the heart of the city.

[00:06:34] Karen Stephens:  That’s amazing. And then I’d love to understand, you know, hoteliers listen to this podcast, so we talk a lot about technology platforms. I would love to understand how you do the packaging. How are you selling the package, the whole experience? Because it’s way more than a room, right? It’s everything around that.

[00:06:49] Jordi Solé:  Yeah, we call ourselves entertainment with a room. That’s how we call ourselves. Technology is very important for several reasons. First, personalization is key, as you know, at least for all hoteliers, but also it’s key for us because we integrate music into this personalization, which is key. That’s one technology platform that we can talk more about that we use and also we use both our own direct channels where we bundle packages. We sell of course the room, but with a ticket at our theater, but also with more curated and crafted experiences for the fans, like a meet and greet with the artist, like a backstage pass. So we bring those experiences, musical experiences, with the package. And then if you want to go to first row and meet the artist, then you stay with us at the suite. And then you get this package, you get the premiere access and the crafted experience for you as a special guest that stays with us.

[00:07:44] Karen Stephens:  This sounds amazing. This sounds so cool. I just absolutely love that. So I’d love to dig more into the community aspect. You mentioned that you’ve got local kids that are in schools that are musicians that also come to play. Can you tell us a little bit more about that?

[00:07:59] Jordi Solé:  Yeah, absolutely. So we do many things with community, always with this purpose-driven vision. And in this case we partner with a couple of schools in the city. And basically what we have with them is we do auditions with them. We find the best musicians that play different instruments, that sing, etc., to have a different repertoire. And then we have those kids coming in into the hotel, breakfast, lunch, dinner, evenings, mornings, and they play throughout the different outlets, all the different songs and repertoire that we agree with them. And that’s one of the things we do with community, but the theater has been hosting top premiere charity events there. We launch for cinema, for music, for everything related to culture. And also we have another strong pillar with everything we do with suppliers, with companies, how we can impact the supply chain in both ways. First, our guests know that our shampoos or vegetables and everything we have, most of them come locally, are sourced locally, but also how we impact those local suppliers to thrive and to add value into those local communities where we stand. Those are some of the things, but now it comes to my mind another important thing is that when we launched that hotel, we were thinking, how are we gonna bring the IP, the Universal Music IP, which is very rich. It’s the largest entertainment music company in the world. We have 7,000 artists, 70 labels. It’s a reach in history, hundred years history. And then we thought instead of just placing photographs on the walls from the artists that would be very cool to add those pictures. We gave those pictures to local artists like painters in the city and they reinterpreted the art in their way. One is Cubist, the other one is a graffiti artist. So every single floor of the hotel has all these musicians painted by the local artist and then you can get a QR code, learn more about the local painter, go to their own studio, or you can buy the art and take it home. So those are different ways and I could tell you more, but these are different ways on how we impact the community on that purpose-driven value, always with music around.

[00:10:09] Karen Stephens:  At the center. Yeah. What a phenomenal idea. As you mentioned, obviously Universal, a long legacy in music, lots of artists, bringing that global presence to a local artist community and having the translation through the eyes of the local artists. I mean that’s just, it’s incredible.

[00:10:25] Jordi Solé:  Exactly. That’s what we’re doing. That’s incredible.

[00:10:28] Karen Stephens:  So I’d love to understand a little bit more about how you leverage Universal. You mentioned personalization and obviously very important as something we sing from the rooftops here at Revinate, how important it is to personalize. How does your partnership with Universal help you curate personalized music experiences? You know, how do you know what kind of concert I’m going to want to go to as opposed to someone else?

[00:10:49] Jordi Solé:  Yeah, that’s a good question. So basically what makes us unique is our partnership with Universal and all those events and activations that I was sharing before that we organize, not just at the theater, but one day you enter the hotel, you go to the roof and you have an emerging talent from Universal launching a song or you go to the piano bar and there is one talent, you know, a press release or there is an album on an artist playing piano and talking to the press and launching something. So the experiences are not just at the theater but across the entire property. But on the personalization, what we do is we have a digital twin, a tech platform that we call digital twin. So we learn from the client before they arrive when they do check-in and the different touch points, the restaurants, the rooftop, etc. And then we learn what they like in terms of music. We have a music library that we can curate and craft the vinyls that they like and bring them to the room. So you do your check-in and say, hi Karen, how are you? Welcome to UMusic Hotel. We have this and this event. What do you like? Okay, I love jazz or I love rock and roll or whatever. What’s your favorite artist? Oh my favorite artist is the Rolling Stones. Perfect. So we have a music concierge, we craft those vinyls and then when you go to the first floor where you have a concierge that have those vinyls with some headphones and a vinyl player for you. And you have a lounge where you can have a drink and listen to your personalized music or they can take it to your room and you can listen on the balcony of your room. So all those and you know, many, many people that love music, they come to our library and say wow, those records are special. Those are not out of the shelf. Where do you get these records from? Well, we have Universal that owns all this music. And then we crafted and created a vinyl library very unique and very special for all these music fans that appreciate the personalized experience that we provide.

[00:12:36] Karen Stephens:  Wow. And do you have images? I would love to see that library.

[00:12:39] Jordi Solé:  Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. If you send me an email I’m happy to send you pictures of the library for sure.

[00:12:44] Karen Stephens:  I love it. Oh my gosh, that just sounds incredible. This sounds like my dream vacation. I gotta tell you, Jordi.

[00:12:51] Jordi Solé:  So be our guest, Karen. Please come to Madrid.

[00:12:54] Karen Stephens:  I would love it. So can you share some memorable stories of guests engaging with live concerts or personalized music in rooms? Do you have an example? I know that you’ve got a lot of people in this hotel, but of a specific guest that you can tell us about that through line of the experience?

[00:13:10] Jordi Solé:  Yeah, I can tell you many. I can tell you artists that arrive to our hotel and we know where they’re coming from and what they like because we talk to the manager, the road manager and everything. And then when they get to the room we have a beautiful mirror where we kind of craft something special for them with words, with sentences, with a travel schedule, with something recommended for them. We personalize also what they like, music and food and beverage for them. That’s personalization for artists. We have, for example, one artist, she’s an emerging talent for Universal Music Latino. And she’s so happy with us that every time she comes to Madrid she stays with us. And last time we organized something very cool. It’s called Creator Hub. We brought creators from all around the world to Madrid. We don’t pay them, we just invite them to be on property and we help them training how to improve their skills to engage more with the fans and how the skills to sell more. And we were having that and we said, we talked to this lady, her name is Joaquina, we said, Joaquina, would you like to perform something unique, something curated on stage for our guests? Because those are influencers, creators worldwide. So she just grabbed the guitar, stayed on the stage, played, and she gave those organically, naturally, because when she gets to the hotel and the way that my team personalizes her stay, she feels home. And we are super grateful to her and what she does with us and that’s one of the examples on how she personalizes the stay of somebody else. I can tell you other ways around how our normal guests, non-artists, we get the personalization, but that example is just resonating in my mind.

[00:14:42] Karen Stephens:  Well, that’s wonderful because that is really the true spirit of community, isn’t it? It’s like she’s a guest, but then she’s also providing for everybody else to come and learn and I mean, I think what is so exciting about this is that it’s just such a creative, wonderful idea that is now manifested into a cool hotel with music. And so you gotta tell me, Jordi, do you have more of these hotels in the pipeline?

[00:15:05] Jordi Solé:  We do, we do. You know what? UMusic hospitality and lifestyle, we are a management company with Universal Music brand. The brand is UMusic and basically we manage hotels, we manage entertainment venues, retail stores, restaurants, we manage the whole spectrum within hospitality and lifestyle physically where the physical manifestation of the brand. So I’m right now in London because we’re going to open a retail store in Camden Market. That project is gonna grow. It’s gonna have other components that will enrich the hospitality offering. But now we’re opening that store, which is great. We are also going to open a property in Sao Paulo in Brazil that we are finalizing and we’re opening the venues and we’re organizing concerts and bringing talent and artists, etc. We also announced the second property in Madrid which is a luxury brand, very cool and unique, luxury component, even more personalized and more unique in a sense. And then we didn’t announce that, but we have a couple of deals that are gonna be announced soon in the US in the coming couple of years.

[00:16:09] Karen Stephens:  Oh, I love that. That is so exciting. So I would just love to know when you think about everything that you’re doing with the platforms to personalize these experiences, how are you thinking about as you roll out new venues? Because it’s more than just hotels. The through line for the guests. So are you able to identify, hey, now when somebody, when of course they opt in for that information, but how do you think about providing the guest experience, not only for the stay, but as they go throughout the journey across all of the different assets?

[00:16:36] Jordi Solé:  Well, that platform that I told you, the digital twin, basically allows us to capture data with the opt-in, with the proper opt-in, but allows us to capture data from the theater, from the ticketing system, from the hotel perspective, the food and beverage and all this data called the different ecosystems will help us one, personalize the experience, two, personalize the offering, and three, they become loyalty members. They are within our loyalty platform that for now we’re small, we’re growing, but we’re gonna launch a large loyalty platform in the coming year that is gonna bring the Universal Music experiences with our physical assets that will allow the guests to choose and personalize and access all these offerings that we have on site.

[00:17:16] Karen Stephens:  That’s great. And I love to hear that. I mean one thing I think is important. We talk about loyalty. It’s not about points. It’s about experiences. It’s about recognizing me and delivering, right?

[00:17:25] Jordi Solé:  I agree.

[00:17:26] Karen Stephens:  Love it. So final question for you, Jordi. What’s one piece of advice you would give to other hoteliers about creating truly immersive and culturally connected guest experiences? One piece of advice.

[00:17:38] Jordi Solé:  Well I would say that they need to find their magical spot and what they’re known for. We are known for music for obvious reasons. We think music is the universal language. It’s a great connector. We have Universal. And it’s like a glue with the community. But I’m sure that other hoteliers can find other ways on the experience side. They need to find their niche. Maybe it’s gastronomy, maybe it’s education, it’s different, but they need to find and be recognized by one thing and stand out from the rest of the competitors. Because as you know, hospitality sector is very rough and very competitive. And if you find something unique and something different you can be known for, then it’s easier for guests to recognize you and also for guests to understand when you get there you’ll get that curated and unique personalized experience that you’re looking for in that specific niche.

[00:18:29] Karen Stephens:  Wonderful. Great answer. I love it. Jordi, it has been a true pleasure and I look forward to seeing you at a concert somewhere soon.

[00:18:36] Jordi Solé:  Karen, please be my guest in Madrid anytime you want. You’ll be our guest and it has been a pleasure to participate in the podcast and I’ll be with you anytime you wish in the future.

[00:18:46] Karen Stephens:  Cheers. See you soon. Thank you, Jordi.

[00:18:48] Jordi Solé:  Thank you very much. Have a great day.

[00:18:54] Outro:  Thank you for joining us on this episode of Hotel Moment by Revinate. Our community of hoteliers is growing every week, and each guest we speak to is tackling industry challenges with the innovation and flexibility that our industry demands. If you enjoyed today’s episode, don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and leave a review. And if you’re listening on YouTube, please like the video and subscribe for more content. For more information, head to revinate.com/hotelmomentpodcast. Until next time, keep innovating.