Boutique Design - March 2019 - 24

THE IN-TENTS VISIONARY

COLLECTIVE HILL COUNTRY,
WIMBERLEY, TEX AS

COLLECTIVE HILL COUNTRY, WIMBERLEY, TEX AS
COLLECTIVE HILL COUNTRY, WIMBERLEY, TEX AS

boutiquedesign.com MARCH 2019

Canvas is his canvas, and he's painting a picture of a new hospitality
world. Forget what you think you know about camping from either your
last trip to Coachella or a stay in a glamping tent. Peter Mack is proving
that outdoor hospitality, combined with the operational and branding
know-how of the brick-and-mortar hotel world, can become a flag with
strong visual and experiential signatures and scalability. Currently, the
four-year-old company has five properties, including a high-profile 2018
debut on New York's Governors Island. They're also planning to expand
into permanent structures: shelters, treehouses and tiny homes. Luxury
FF&E, sourced from local artisans or built in-house, creates a distinctive
vibe. Being able to pack away the entire site's buildings and furnishings
alike at the end of each season ( for now, year-round stays will be
possible once the shelters debut later this year) allows for annual softgoods renovation and hard-goods rethinking (such as repainting or
refinishing of bed frames, nightstands and so on).
Mack's company might be something of an outlier in its emerging
sector, but the thirtysomething Starwood Hotels and Resorts alum
isn't a believer in solo projects. His core team consists of what he
calls "adventures and visionaries" who each have demonstrated
expertise in a field that's key to the success of the Collective brand.
Some of them, such as investor and advisor Simon Turner (yes, that
Simon Turner, former president, global development, Starwood
Hotels and Resorts), and Kerry Houghton, chief development officer
and general counsel, bring fluent industry expertise from the cutting
edge of the hotel world. Others were picked for their "special skills"
in areas that are specific to Collective, such as mountain home
building or construction in challenging climates. "Many of Collective
Retreats' current locations have tricky and unpredictable weather
patterns, and we've been able to use our deep knowledge to help
adapt and adjust and create amazing guest experiences," Mack says.
He's also open about how much he had to expand his own skill set
to feel comfortable launching Collective. He's fine to jump into new
territory feet first, but not headfirst. His Cornell University education
and decade-plus tenure at Starwood gave him a solid grounding in the
industry. What it didn't do was give him the hands-on experience of
being at a start-up. When he decided to launch Collective, mentors
advised him to fix that. He did that with a stint at endurance athletics
giant Tough Mudder (which also supplied key members of his Collective leadership team), mastering the ins and outs of creating outdoor
venues where he couldn't control the site planning (those hills aren't
going anywhere) and building experiences.
Just as he takes no chances on his own resume or his team's, the
guest experience is developed through extensive research, though
he's open to thoughtful risk-taking. "R&D is the first step-we hold
focus groups, surveys, etc. putting our guests at the forefront and
foundation of our process," he says. "We anticipate what our guests
are going to want next year, in five years, and beyond, in order to stay
ahead of the trends and be proactive with the ever-changing whims
of guest behaviors and motivations. We are always testing things in
the market. Most of the time, they are right and work and sometimes
they don't, but we learn." Good advice for life and hotels. 

C O U R T E S Y O F C O L L E C T I V E R E T R E AT S ( C O L L E C T I V E H I L L C O U N T R Y, M AC K )

PETER MACK
CEO AND FOUNDER, COLLECTIVE RETREATS

http://www.boutiquedesign.com

Boutique Design - March 2019

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