The Cole — Palm Springs · Hospitality

My husband, Mark, acquired and transformed the former motor lodge into what became The Cole Hotel. The intention was ultimately to sell the completed property. Then buyer demand disappeared. Instead of leaving the building waiting for the market to return, we decided to prove what it could become. We would operate the hotel and build a track record.

At the time, I was working as a Personal Banker for Chase in Palm Springs. Running a hotel had never been the career plan, but the opportunity was sitting directly in front of us. I left the bank and began preparing The Cole to open. Thirty rooms needed systems. Employees needed to be hired and trained. A bar and restaurant needed processes. Guest communication, housekeeping, payroll, safety, purchasing, marketing and hundreds of tiny operating decisions all had to come together. We opened. Ten days later, COVID-19 shut Palm Springs hotels down.

The shutdown was devastating, but it gave us something we badly needed: time. We used it to rebuild our processes. My background in payroll and HR became immediately valuable. My earliest hotel experience cleaning rooms gave me an understanding of what housekeeping teams were physically being asked to do. Every employee was cross-trained where possible — front desk staff could support the bar, teams helped with laundry, and everyone understood that no role existed completely in isolation. When the hotel reopened, the goal was not simply to operate. It was to create an experience.

COVID removed many traditional hotel touchpoints almost overnight. So we adapted: QR codes, branded hand sanitizer, welcome materials, new communication systems, simplified processes. We constantly tested inexpensive ways to improve the guest experience and communicate the brand. That period changed the way I market real estate today. You do not always need the most expensive solution — you need the one somebody notices, understands and remembers.

The Cole developed a strong identity and consistently excellent guest feedback. The property was ultimately leased to hospitality operator Sonder, allowing us to step away from daily operations and begin another chapter. Years later, when that operating relationship ended, the hotel was sold. The building was the asset — but the experience we created around it was what demonstrated its potential.

Real estate professionals often focus heavily on the asset itself: location, square footage, architecture, price. Those things matter. But The Cole taught me to pay equal attention to how people experience a property — how they are greeted, how clearly something is explained, how clean it feels, how problems are handled, how someone feels when they leave. That philosophy now follows me into every part of my real estate business.