T-284: Form vs. Function

She flipped through the magazine's pages and asked me, "Tanya, are you sure no one has gotten ahold of your business plan?" I responded by laughing it off. It was a couple of days later that I flipped through that same magazine and thought to myself 'this sounds a WHOLE lot like what I want to do with Concept!' There's nothing wrong with healthy competition and, as a matter of fact, competition keeps us on our toes but this sounds more like a mirror image than healthy competition! It was the first time in the 2 years that I've been working on this project that I really got anxious about the competition that I would be facing.

Modern decor and design that speaks to the business and traveling professional is definitely making it's way to Tallahassee. Venues and attractions are opening and being updated with the design style of the season and Concept will follow suit. I went into a lounge in downtown Tallahassee and saw the same lighting fixtures that I had considered for Concept while perusing an issue of Hospitality Design magazine. I decided against those fixtures before I event visited that venue in my 'market research'. They weren't classic enough for me. They didn't seem like they would be relevant, or that they would fit, 5 years from now.

And the rooftop lounge. When my business plan was in its first, second and third drafts, it was accurate to say that Concept would be the only venue in Tallahassee with a rooftop lounge. In 284 days, we will be the second. I saw those renderings and got really nervous! So what was going to be my USP- the unique selling proposition for Concept if not the rooftop lounge? Would LEED standards/certification set us apart? Would having that flexible meeting space do it? What about our menu items of certified organic food and beverage products...would that really be our value proposition?

Would the fact that Concept will have Tallahassee's only retractable rooftop lounge seal the deal or would the elements of exclusivity be the ticket? Since there is no such thing as 'VIP' at Concept, would the "For Tastemakers Only" memberships- the status that gives you access to very exclusive events- bring you to Concept when you have options that appear similar?

I went to my unofficial board of advisors and had a 'come to Jesus' talk with them about this place that I found myself in. They told me to consider not just the form of this competition but the function. While our forms may be similar, their function is not to create the social experiences that you will find at Concept. That is a different type of hospitality establishment altogether...its form versus function.