We're building a hotel

A journey begins...

We so are who we are! For arguably my whole life, across so many different forms, I’ve been circling the same questions:

How do we create places that make people feel more alive inside themselves?
What transforms a space from function into feeling?
What creates belonging?
How do we cultivate beauty as the portal back to ourselves and to one another?

I have explored those questions through design, through hospitality, through gatherings and dinners and brand strategy and community building and countless conversations about atmosphere, ritual, beauty, pacing, intimacy, and the emotional experience of being received.

And now, all of the threads of my life have converged into something miraculous: Barry and I are opening a hotel. Even writing that sentence feels surreal. A historic river hotel in the Hudson Valley, with sweeping views of the Hudson River and beside the train line, just three minutes from our new home.

For those of you who have been here a long time (some of you for over a decade now!!!), you’ve witnessed so many chapters unfold in real time. Maker + Place. Sotheby’s. Local. Here House. Plus+1. My time at MOLLIE. Activating HaiSi and Sway. Community building. Creative pivots. Motherhood. Identity shifts. Burnout. Expansion. Reinvention. A move from Aspen to the Hudson Valley. All of it orbiting around a very particular fascination with how humans gather, connect, rest, celebrate, and experience beauty together.

And Barry, in his own format, has spent his life inside hospitality: Alinea Chicago, MOTO Chicago, Richard Sandoval restaurants; and in Aspen - Steakhouse 316, Monarch Steakhouse, Wild Fig, Aosta, Woody Creek Tavern, Petit Trois, and most recently Amara Carbondale.

Our skills are profoundly complementary: he understands operations, food, systems, kitchens, flow, standards, pressure, and the mechanics of making people feel genuinely taken care of. I understand emotional architecture, narrative, atmosphere., cohesion, experience, design, marketing, the power of a brand promise, and the details that shape how a place feels. [Wilder (6) would like it to be included that his official title for the hotel is “Key Master,” which in his vision “is someone who leads each guest to their room”. Clearly, a vital role in setting the right service tone, whether it’s referred to as bellman or the way cooler-sounding title, Key Master].

The Rhinecliff itself is extraordinary. Strong bones, layered history, old-world river magic that immediately slows your nervous system upon arrival. The wedding lawn overlooking the Hudson, the passing trains below, and the light across the water at dusk, all make this place extremely special and irreplaceable. Just a train ride from NYC, and in close proximity to Rhinebeck, Kingston, Hudson, Woodstock, Germantown, the Catskills and beyond, we’re deeply embedded in a beautiful ecosystem of artists, farmers, designers, antique dealers, musicians, chefs, ceramicists, writers, and the deeply interesting contributors that define this region.

A high-level overview of our special property:

• Built in 1854, has been operating as a hotel since it’s erection

• 9 Rooms featuring original wood flooring and exposed architectural beams

• Perched on the Hudson River, each room has it’s own private patio + river view

• Overlooks the Rhinebeck Amtrak station, only 1.5 Hr trip from NYC

• 5 minute drive from Rhinebeck, NY (home to Bard, CIA Hyde Park, the Aerodrome, Omega Institute, and a soon-to-be SOHO House property)

• Includes a wedding lawn, event and lobby space with attached cafe, full restaurant with massive outdoor dining patio

The property is ideal for:

• Our surrounding local community to connect and enjoy the vibrancy we hope to foster

• City weekenders seeking slowness, beauty, and proximity to nature

• Weddings and multi-day celebrations rooted in intimacy, landscape, and meaningful connection

• Travelers discovering the Hudson Valley, moving between Rhinebeck, Hudson, Kingston, Tivoli, Germantown, and the surrounding river towns

• Creative retreats, workshops, and private group gatherings where the scale of the property allows for full buyouts and deeply personal experiences (hotel rooms accommodate up to 20 guests)

• Design-minded travelers who love the community and cultural energy surrounding places like Soho House but are seeking something more intimate, grounded, and approachable

• Parents and visiting families connected to Bard College and the Culinary Institute of America

• Artists, writers, creatives, and culturally curious travelers looking for a hotel that feels connected to place

The vision is still unfolding, but at its core, we want to create a hotel that feels deeply alive, both stimulating and restorative, offering the sense of discovery we experienced in our own trip to the Hudson River Valley (the same trip during which we decided to move there). We want to share this once in a lifetime journey with the people who have supported us most in every chapter: you!

Follow our new IG profile for more immediate updates and juicy visuals:

While this moment feels incredibly expansive and exciting, and is a project for which we are completely qualified to execute at a high level, I also want to be honest that building something of this scale is both exhilarating and deeply humbling. There are moments where I feel completely certain this is exactly what we are meant to be doing. And then there are moments where we are buried in licensing transfers, operational logistics, fundraising, modeling, insurance requirements, budgets, legal negotiations, and the sheer weight of stewarding something with this much history and possibility.

But even inside the bigness, there is clarity. This project feels like a through-line connecting so many parts of our lives and work that previously existed in separate rooms.

A sneak peak mood board for our 9 rooms, in which each space feels like a unique experience, hinged on a different emotionally charged and immersive color.

And because so many of you reading this are designers, hoteliers, operators, artists, travelers, architects, aesthetes, founders, cultural obsessives, and people who care deeply about spaces and experiences, I want to invite you into this process with us.

I want your references.
Your favorite hotels.
The places that changed you.
The tiny details that made you feel deeply considered as a guest.
The hard-earned operational lessons.
The rituals you remember.
The amenities or touches of delight you still think about years later.
The brands, makers, craftspeople, systems, designers, and collaborators we should know to help us bring this vision to life.

We take possession on Tuesday (!!!) and will operate the existing rooms (as they are) through the summer while we plan and fundraise for a design-forward refurbishment. In the spring and early summer of 2027, we will re-launch as a fully imagined concept offering creative rooms, lobby and cafe, event + wedding space, retreats + programming, and a full restaurant concept.

Over the coming months I’ll share more of the property history, design inspirations, references, refurbishment process, operational realities, challenges, small victories, discoveries, and the unfolding process of breathing new life into a historic river property we already love deeply.

It feels very big.
And very tender.
And very alive.