![\"Shinola](\"http:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/34\/2022\/09\/image0-1-e1662053320481.jpeg\")
<\/a>Shinola Hotel\u2019s location is dead center in dynamic Downtown Detroit. (Photo by Harrison Shiels)<\/p><\/div>\n
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\u201cI was initially worried about the phrase that usually accompanies the word \u2018Shinola,\u2019\u201d said Claude Molinari, Visit Detroit\u2019s CEO, when asked about the city\u2019s most prominent hotel lodging experience. But the Shinola brand name \u2013 Detroit-made watches, bicycles and leather goods \u2013 has come to represent timeless quality, style and dependability. \u201cShinola products are ambassadors for Detroit \u2013 as is the Shinola Hotel.\u201d<\/p>\n
Indeed, the Shinola Hotel\u2019s windowed, art-filled lobby full of furniture off Grand River Avenue at Woodward, is dubbed \u201cDetroit\u2019s Living Room.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe socially activate the \u2018Living Room\u2019 to welcome the community by presenting showings for local artists; poetry readings; launches for authors who\u2019ve written books about Detroit; and music,\u201d said Sergio Maclean, a Spaniard, by way of L.A. and N.Y. who consulted on the snazzy hotel\u2019s development and now directs its management with his wife Audrey Laurent Maclean. They\u2019re company, Mac & Lo, makes the hotel operate like clockwork.<\/p>\n
While previously operating in New York the couple looked around the country for a city with intriguing, fertile growth opportunities. After considering Pittsburgh, Portland and Austin, they pushed the accelerator on the Motor City. \u201cWe visited and quietly sat in hotel lobbies, bars and restaurants listening to and observing people,\u201d revealed Maclean, who began his career in show business. \u201cAnd everyone we met with professionally greeted us with open arms and was helpful.\u201d<\/p>\n
The eventual thruple of Mac & Lo, Dan Gilbert\u2019s Bedrock company, and Tom Kartsotis\u2019 Shinola brand gave birth to the boutique beauty of an art deco hotel that knows its \u201cS\u201d from Shinola.<\/p>\n
Blonde wood, subtle, indirect lighting, comfortable crannies, dark corners and huge windows overlooking architecturally intricate Downtown Detroit are a few of Shinola\u2019s soothing specialties. For a hotel named after a watch, it has a timeless feel \u2013 with no screentime needed. No front desk I-pads, apps, or even digitally lighted alarm clocks in the rooms (Sleepers see Shinola\u2019s old-school clock face hands, instead.) \u201cWe want guests to enjoy being in the present moment with us. We don\u2019t want them having to work to connect for any of their needs.\u201d Maclean explained. Even the telephones are old-school and simple, with a label reading: \u201cpush zero for anything.\u201d<\/p>\n
San Morello, Shinola\u2019s streetside brasserie-type bar and restaurant, mixes locals and hotel guests, including Gilbert himself \u2013 and, for instance, visiting NBA teams (Gilbert, after all, owns the Cleveland Cavaliers.) It\u2019s nice symmetry that Gilbert\u2019s ambitious Hudson\u2019s Building project is across the street\u2026and an adjacent Shinola shop is on the hotel\u2019s north side.<\/p>\n
What lessons have the Macleans learned after three years of looking after Shinola Hotel?<\/p>\n
\u201cThe annual Movement Electronic Music Festival in late May was much bigger than we anticipated,\u201d Audrey Laurent Maclean admitted. \u201cOn Sunday\u2019s check-out day we had, at noon, a hotel full of doors with \u2018Do not disturb\u2019 signs hanging on them. Housekeeping now knows to come in late on that weekend.\u201d<\/p>\n
Room 208 is the most coveted for Detroit\u2019s Thanksgiving Day Parade. The tall, expansive corner windows seem to place the guests right in the parade!<\/p>\n
The Macleans, now living full-time in midtown Detroit, are, themselves, shopping for a new vacation escape.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe used to escape to relax in Tulum, Mexico, but it has become very busy now,\u201d Audrey explained. Sergio countered, \u201cWe work in luxury hospitality every day, so we seek totally simple, quiet solitude with no frills.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shinola Hotel is a handcrafted, masterful combination of calm in the middle of town with both luxury and simplicity.<\/p>\n
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Contact Michael Patrick Shiels at<\/em>MShiels@aol.com<\/em><\/a>\u00a0His radio program may be found at\u00a0MiBigShow.com<\/a>\u00a0or weekday mornings from 9-noon on WJIM AM 1240<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Shinola Hotel is a handcrafted, masterful combination of calm in the middle Detroit with both luxury and simplicity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":43,"featured_media":2599,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[1044570,1023754,2834],"class_list":["post-2598","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle","tag-detroit","tag-shinola-hotel","tag-michigan"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/34\/2022\/09\/image0-1-e1662053320481.jpeg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2598","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/43"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2598"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2598\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2600,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2598\/revisions\/2600"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2599"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2598"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2598"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2598"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}