Though she may be known for rocking' the "Love Shack," when B-52 Kate Pierson wants to unwind and escape from "Planet Claire," she drives out to her own self-designed, self-managed getaway in the Catskill Mountains in upstate New York, the Lazy Meadow Motel. "Initially, I just wanted to make a real estate investment," explains Pierson about her reason for buying land in the Catskills. "An agent showed me this, and I instantly fell in love with it."
Though she admittedly had no plans for a hotel when she first came upon the nine-acre lot on the banks of the Escopus Creek, Pierson quickly realized it would make a perfect spot for a motel. "I figured it would be easy to decorate the [existing cabins] with different themes," she says. "What I didn't realize is that I didn't know how to run a motel."
As a member of the B-52s, Pierson had been involved with a business for 29 years--but the music business is quite different from the hospitality trade. "Once I bought it," she recalls, "there was a lot to think about that I hadn't thought of. How many towels were we going to put out? How will people pay?"
Fortunately, Monica Coleman, Pierson's partner in life and business, had some business experience. And while Coleman was also new to the hotel management game, her business savvy, combined with Pierson's decorative drive, helped put the Lazy Meadow on the map. "I was the one who initially bought it," says Pierson, noting the absence of any other financial partners, "and Monica and I put a lot of sweat-equity into it."
In addition to eight individually themed cabins--all with a mid-century modern/space age-feel, complete with 50s-style kitchens--the Lazy Meadow now offers a set of four (though soon to be six) fully decorated Airstream trailers as well as a three-bedroom house called the Lazy Cabin. "We're still growing," Pierson says proudly, "and still groaning under the weight of renovations." But that hasn't stopped travelers from dropping by.
"It's very much a destination place," Pierson suggests. "People want to come here because they've heard about it or because they're fans or just because they want to get away from the city and stay in a place that's interesting and fun.
I understand what it's like to be a hotel customer, and I want my guests to have the best experience they can.
"We get a lot of repeat customers," Pierson says.
"And we've done no advertising. It's all been from word of mouth and press. And that's really helped us because starting a small business without that is hard."
And though the hotel business represents a new venture for Pierson, her years with the B-52s prepared her well:
"The B-52s' motto has always been to do stuff we like and make it fun," she says, "and that's what I applied to this. I have had so much fun doing this." |
