"It's cringe until you're successful"

The Stanza turns three

Hello everyone, happy Friday. I hope you’re enjoying your summer.

When I started The Stanza three years ago, I didn’t anticipate the number of hospitality nerds that I would connect with over the internet. The Stanza has grown to a cumulative audience of 285,000+ across platforms, and it has been the greatest privilege to share my perspective and passion for hospitality with you all.

A couple winters ago, I had a ski instructor tell me to pause on the way down a particularly challenging slope. “Look up behind you and see how far you’ve come.” It ended up being a useful metaphor for life. Over the course of the journey, when you’re so focused on what’s directly in front of you, it’s often helpful to zoom out for perspective. So on the third anniversary of The Stanza, I find myself pausing on the slope and looking back up the hypothetical mountain.

When I started posting on social media three years ago, the business of hospitality wasn’t yet a “trending topic”. And, throughout my entire employed career I had been bound by the restriction of working for SEC-registered advisors and thus never had a public social media profile. Therefore, posting videos of myself talking to the camera and writing a newsletter felt massively cringe! I remember feeling my stomach sinking whenever I heard that an old colleague was gossiping about me behind my back or when I would receive hateful comments. If I could tell anything to my former self in those moments, it would be this: “It’s cringe until you’re successful.”

Having the humility to be a beginner at thirty, and to risk failing in public as an entrepreneur, means climbing cringe mountain, that steep learning curve at the start of anything new. It was the only way to find out where my potential could take me. Three years in, I would not yet call myself “successful”; I am still somewhere on the mountain, and some days I still feel the cringe. But I can say with confidence that starting The Stanza, sharing my insights on hospitality, and learning to become a storyteller, was the best decision of my life.

Today, I feel immense gratitude to have connected with you all through a shared passion not just for hospitality, but also for all the wonderful aspects of life that hospitality touches: the art of taking care of others, immersing oneself in beauty, and an insatiable curiosity for new places and people.

Thank you for being part of The Stanza,

Nadine

Read previous issues of The Stanza here.

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SEEKING BOUTIQUE HOTEL OPERATOR, ZELL AM SEE, AUSTRIA

Schloss Prielau is a historic castle hotel with 10 keys on the shores of Lake Zell in Austria’s Salzburg region — one of the few genuinely rare assets in the alpine luxury market that is available to operate right now.

The property is fully permitted and operational, with an adjacent restaurant, and is available under a lease arrangement. There is no construction timeline, no planning process, and no repositioning required from the ground up. If you’ve been wanting to operate a boutique hotel, this would be a direct path into one of Austria’s most compelling leisure destinations — a market that draws demand year-round across ski season, summer hiking, and various cultural events such as the International Porsche Days and the FAT Ice Race.

The owner is looking for an independent operator or boutique hotel group with the appetite and capability to take on a property of this character.

Asking lease: €15,000 net / monthly

Target room rates: between €300 - €700 contingent on room type and season.

Room mix:

• 1 Suite with 3 bedrooms (one whole floor)

• 1 Suite with 2 bedrooms

• 7 double rooms (differing in size due to the layout of the old house)

• 1 small extra hut with a double bed

To see photos and inquire, click here.

Advertise with The Stanza Classifieds: via classifieds@thestanzamedia.com.

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Villa Kerylos is an ancient Greek revival style villa in Beaulieau-sur-Mer. More photos and visit info here.

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I’m taking a short break from writing this week to think about the rest of 2026. If you’re new here or if you’d like to catch up on previous letters & interviews, here are some recent crowd favorites:

Podcasts

Gilda Perez-Alvarado: CEO of Orient Express and Group CSO of Accor

A look into reviving a heritage hospitality brand in partnership with LVMH and Accor, and what it means to build a multi-modal travel business today.

Anne-Laure Ollagnon: CEO of Airelles Group

If you know me in person, you’ll know that I absolutely love Airelles and their approach to hospitality. In Anne-Laure’s first ever podcast interview, we talked about how Airelles’ family office ownership allows them to create a true ultra-luxury guest experience.

Jonathan Goldstein: Founder & CEO of Cain

A very special and full circle moment for me, as a lot of the experience and insights from my time at Cain is the foundation for The Stanza’s voice. While Cain is known for their investment in Aman Group, Jonathan is an excellent storyteller and real estate entrepreneur. Anyone can learn from this episode.

Newsletters

The Business of “Eurosummer”: Is seasonal luxury hospitality a durable business?

The economics of seasonal beach restaurants, with input from Alexandre Rossoz at Loulou Restaurants and Marc Lotenberg of Dorsia.

Not everyone can nor should do luxury hospitality: Saying what everyone is thinking but won’t say out loud.

In the context of “K-shaped hospitality” what are the crucial inputs that go into creating a true ultra-luxury hotel?

The most underutilized tool in guest curation: “Who is this hotel for?”

The case for thoughtfully curating your guest mix.

The soft power behind the world’s most booked hotels: Capital ‘D’ distribution

Similarly, the case for selective distribution and long-term thinking.

“Doing hotels” vs “doing hospitality”: What’s the difference and why does it matter?

In the midst of “hotel mania”, what distinguishes the players who are in it for the right reasons?

Thanks for reading. For more of The Stanza, follow on Instagram here.