Dan and Roxanne are working hard to finish their very long “sell everything” checklist so they can move to Italy March 30th. My son and I are flying over to meet them and we’ll officially kick off the next phase of our project together. What is the next phase of the project? Turning our vision into a reality.

It turns out that when you say, “We are bought a villa in Tuscany to turn into a hotel,” everyone has a different idea of what that means. To some, ‘a villa in Tuscany’ means a relaxed B&B run by charming British expats, which we aren’t. To others, ‘a villa in Tuscany’ means gutting the inside of a historical building to turn it into a modern (re: sterile) luxury hotel. But to us, it means a recreation of a downtown luxury high-rise hotel playing club music 24/7.

Just kidding. That would be our nightmare.

One of the first things we should probably correct though is that we did not buy a villa in Tuscany. A villa is a specific type of Roman country estate. Strictly speaking, we bought a borgo. A borgo is a small hamlet or village that exists outside of city walls, and roughly translates to ‘borough’ in English. As we recently learned, it may have been the original village settled in the area, and seeing as how building began in 1206, we can see how that would be true. Ours is on 120 acres, and has its own working farm complete with animals.

But for our human guests, what are we doing with our new borgo?

Or we can turn it into our vision of the best guest experience.

This has been a topic between Dan and I for over 25 years. What is the best guest experience? In our 30s, it probably would have had everything to do with the bar, but as we grew older and traveled to more and more interesting places, doing more and more interesting things, our conversations about the hospitality experience expanded to include every detail of what mattered to us, which was everything.

We found that two things have been a constant theme with us and these conversations over time: we have always agreed that we love places where they practice real hospitality, and places where we’ve had truly unique experiences that stay with us forever. So our goal is to combine these two things together.

I half-ass a lot of things, like putting dishes in the dishwasher and working out, but not this. Because we are always left so confused when we pay dumb amounts of money to allegedly have a relaxing vacation at a luxury property, only to have the management do everything in their power to make you feel like a total afterthought, or even worse, borderline unwelcome.

We all come from family backgrounds where real hospitality—making people feel thought of and cared for—truly matters. When you feel that magic, it makes every hard day and tough year worth it. Add to that being able to go on vacation and do something that really leaves a mark on you, something that you remember forever. Our goal is to create a place where people feel at home and also feel completely transported, inspired, and maybe a little changed for the better when they leave.

We will, of course, have the usual Tuscany experiences our guests expect. Aperitivo on the patio, wine-tasting, pasta-making classes, pizza nights, lounging by the pool, tours of the countryside, live music by the fire. The classics will all be there.

But we want to go further. We want to have every fun thing you can think of (and more) on hand. Relaxing and soulful things, like art classes, bee-keeping, astronomy, gardening, hiking trails, and horseback riding. And more exciting things, like mountain biking, axe throwing, and billiards.

And maybe some other things, like cocktail classes. Lawn games. Table games. Darts. And unique driving experiences, an escape room, flower arranging, gelato-making, glamping, local jewelry-making, karaoke, Italian language lessons, laser tag, movie nights, truffle hunting, personal training, olive oil crafting, picnics, photography, BBQ classes, scavenger hunts, a visit from a tailor, a toy closet, tractor time, a zip line….

Ok, I got carried away. Let’s just say we have a lot of ideas of what would make a fun and memorable stay, and we can’t wait to try them all.

How will we accomplish providing these unique experiences? We are working to deeply integrate our resort into the local community. We are hiring locals, as well as partnering with local guides and service providers. Building these connections are imperative to our ultimate goal: that when you stay with us, you feel like you are part of the community, and by the end of your stay, you even feel like a local. We want to invite you into the kitchen, to get a behind-the-scenes tour of a local ceramics factory, to visit an artist’s home studio, to play with the band, to help feed the donkeys and help harvest and press the olives. Because we know these are the moments that will be remembered for a lifetime.

So how will we do this?

Our philosophy is that a great guest experience only shocks you with the price one time. Once you arrive, you should have forgotten all about money, and shouldn’t have to think of it again until you leave. Certainly there should be no wondering about tips or whether you’re going to be frustrated by a dinner bill. Removing the thought of money is the ultimate luxury—we want you to enjoy every aspect of the resort as if it were your own home, and never worry that you left your wallet back at your room.

We thought about writing out all of our hotel pet peeves so we could address them individually, but that list is as long as The Closing List, so we thought better of it. Suffice to say we are working to eliminate our long list of hotel pet peeves. We would like to solve things like clunky check-ins—what if you could check in before you arrive? We want to banish tepid AC that seems more like a suggestion of cold air than actual temperature control, and eliminating getting smacked in the face with resort fees. We also would like to build an informative and functional website that tells you exactly where you are going, what you are getting, and makes it incredibly simple to book it.

Oh, and absolutely no see-through glass bathroom doors.

Of course, all of this said, the “best” is still subjective. So what is it, really? To us, “the best guest experience” means that we’ve anticipated and thoughtfully taken care of all aspects of your stay. We’ve thought about the architecture, the design, the setting, the mood, the activities, and, most importantly, the service. Success for us is when our guests immediately book a return trip and are unable to stop sharing stories from their visit with everyone they meet, including us.

The hospitality at our resort will be warm and authentic, precise and anticipatory, yet casual. The borgo is in the mountains overlooking a beautiful valley, steeped in Italian charm, and we are setting out to imbue it with a feeling luxury that never feels pretentious or uninviting. Most importantly, we will focus on exceptional and exemplary service, where guests will feel as relaxed as if they were in their own living room. But even better, because it will be in Italy.

Of course, cultivating an air of casual luxury doesn’t mean we will take it easy. It’s the opposite: we’ll need the best training, software, infrastructure, systems and most importantly, the best team members. Our favorite stays have been the ones where the staff is taken care of as well as the guests, which in turn makes them happy to be able to share all they know about where you are visiting, and maybe even let you in on a few of the secrets of the place.

So if you expect excessive formality between staff and guests, butlers waiting on you, and a cold distance in your service, stay elsewhere. If you want to feel welcomed, connected, respected—and maybe don’t take yourself too seriously—you will love staying with us.

How does that all sound? We would love to hear our friends’ thoughts on all of this. What are a couple things that have made your favorite resort or hotel stand out? What are your top pet peeves? This link will take you to a two question survey. We’ll summarize and share the top things in a future post.

-Eric