Off the Cuff with Andrew Schapiro & Bosco Hernandez

If you’ve been following along, then you know that Off the Cuff is an opportunity every week to engage with the ILCommunity. It’s where we talk about upcoming events, perks, current happenings, and everything in between.

At the end of each month, we have an off-the-cuff conversation with an indie hotel owner, operator, or developer about their life, work, and where they see the industry heading.

This month, we’re talking to a couple who decided to take the leap into innkeeping and move from the West Coast to Maine, owners of The Ark: Andrew Schapiro & Bosco Hernández! If you haven’t read our inaugural feature with Andrew Benioff, check it out here. As well as last month’s edition featuring Larry Korman.

So, without further ado, Andrew & Bosco: take it away!

We asked this week’s interviewees to give us a little intro about themselves:

“I come from a graphic design background. My husband, Bosco, is here too. He’s going to join us. We are both graphic designers. So, this is our first foray into working in Capital ‘H’ Hospitality.

However, we've been in hospitality adjacent fields for quite a while. I worked for a long time at Airbnb and got to work with some amazing people in your network, like Chip Conley there. So I got to really kind of understand what hospitality means, what hospitality can mean.”

-Andrew

“Through both of our backgrounds, we had worked in physical spaces, we had worked on experiences and events, and we had worked on projects that really involved food and beverage. And so there were elements of this that kind of had played out for us in our previous lives, but it really feels like it’s all coming together here.”

-Bosco

What’s a new trend that you’re excited about in hospitality right now?

“Well, agriturismo has been around for a long time in other parts of the world. I remember when I was much younger, traveling and meeting people, and really spending time connecting with the land and what the land is producing through
through travel. I've seen more of that kind of showing up recently and in our neck of the woods, like in the US and in North America. So I think that's exciting to see that.
The whole industry around food and how food is grown and how food is talked about being integrated into hospitality experience is interesting.”

-Andrew

What’s a trend you think needs to end?

“For remote areas, they’re really hard to get there, and that is part of their beauty. And so there’s a capitalism component where you have to consider ‘how do you bring people in without destroying what makes it so special?’

I think that something that needs to end is the lack of thought some people put into how they travel and their impact on communities.

We use the word ‘sustainability’ a lot. And one thing I’d like to think more about, is like, what does that really mean?

You know, of course, there’s an element of materials and products that we’re using and ensuring that we’re sourcing for the property sustainably. But I think the bigger question is what’s actually sustainable for this place? And how many people can this place accommodate without disrupting the beautiful life that people have created here or the environment that’s here.“

-Bosco

Indie professionals eat, sleep, and breathe work ethic and hospitality. Does that mean taking your work home with you? Or, on the contrary, if you love what you do, are you ever even working? Each person has their own sense of balance. Take a look at what they had to say:

What wakes you up in the morning?

“Our son, 'cause he's a bright and early riser. And he's so fun to be around. That would be my answer.”

-Bosco

“A project like this (The Ark) is never ending. So I think the things related to The Ark that get us up in the morning are the opportunity to rethink every corner of this place. Maybe some of those corners don't need to be rethought and sort of working through that and acknowledging ‘okay, this is just perfect how it is.’ I think it's the limitless opportunity to think how we can just keep continuously enhance the property and the experience for guests.”

-Andrew

What keeps you up at night?

“It's the same thing that gets us up in the morning; the sort of excitement about all the facets of this project and all the things we can do are the same things that I think keep us up at night. Finding a balance between the things that we have to do and want to do. Yeah. I mean, it's a historic building, it's quirky. It has things that need to be fixed and revisited.”

-Andrew

“The remoteness also makes it so unique and special, but for many things like partnerships or sourcing, the timing becomes so crucial.

Additionally, how we’re creating a space for our staff. Are they happy? They’re like our first guests and making sure that they have what they need and they’re comfortable.

So there’s so many layers of components that most people don’t see when they stay here that we’re thinking about. So there’s plenty to be worried about, but it’s all good.”

-Bosco

What are you working on right now?

“From the beginning, art is something that plays a big part in our lives. And it's something that we want to continue to prioritize and feature in The Ark. I think it's some of what makes Deer Isle so special, the artists and how we are engaging with them, showcasing them or creating experiences around art. It's something that is very important for both of us.”

-Bosco

“We're in the midst of a pretty big project to make the building more accessible. We just converted one of the rooms on the 1st floor to be ADA accessible, which is not something we necessarily had to do because it's on the National Historic Registrar. We were kind of grandfathered in.

But again, if we think about our mission and about the work we're doing, to create this container of belonging and different experiences, creative expression, and diverse perspectives, we can't do that if we can't allow people to literally, and physically, get in.”

-Andrew

The cities and communities that we work out of affect our work, personal life, and passions. In this section, we want to give each interviewee a chance to shout out a person or business in their local community who they think is doing incredible work, in or out of the hospitality scene.

Andrew and Bosco are based in Maine. Who’s making waves in Deer Isle, and what makes it so special?

“This island is not big, but it has two great organizations that involve the arts. We have the Haystack, that is bringing this amazing opportunity for anyone to take on and experiment with a variety of different disciplines. It's one of the last significant craft schools in the country and it's on this island.

It's such a treat that it exists here. The level of value driven approach that they take is so beautiful.”

-Bosco

“We have one coffee shop, but it happens to be an amazing coffee shop that's locally roasting and sourcing fair trade beans and and doing a wonderful job. We only have one bakery, but it happens to be a world-class bakery. It has incredible breads and pastries, sourdough, and they do pizza. In a city, if you want to go out for pizza, it takes 30 minutes to decide which pizza place is the best pizza place. Because you have so much magnitude at your fingertips, right? Because you have to look at all the menus and debate; we don't have that.

It is actually an interesting testament to what it means to simplify in life and to know that you don't need five amazing bakeries. You actually only need one, or you only need one coffee shop. You only need one opera house. That's, I think, one of the biggest realizations for me moving from a city in a place like San Francisco to an island like this.”

-Andrew

Thank you so much to Andrew and Bosco for sitting down with us. They shared so many incredible stories that are not featured here. We look forward to sharing more of their story with you on social media and in future editions. But the best way to learn more about them is to follow their journey rebuilding The Ark on Instagram.

Thanks for reading! This week we’ve been in Jackson, WY, for our summer INDIEConfab. Let us know in the comments if you were there with us. See you next time in Miami.