We had the good fortune of connecting with Annie Cross, Owner and Operator of Remington Flats Hotel and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Annie, is there something that you feel is most responsible for your success?
When thinking about our success overall it’s very simple; we leave nothing to chance. Every single thing we do is carefully and thoughtfully curated and comes from a very authentic desire to create the best lodging experience our guests have ever had.

When thinking about our success related to branding I am always reminded of what a brilliant entrepreneur once told me which is that you should listen to exact words or phrasing repeated by your customers to inform your branding. With this in mind, we notice that people used the words “hidden gem”, “magical place”, “so whimsical” and “personal touches” over and over to describe their experience with us.

It wasn’t variation of those words mind you, it was those exact words repeatedly. Once we narrowed it down to these few phrases we built our branding around that and we use those exact words throughout all of our online presence. In this way our guests are pleasantly surprised to discover that we are exactly what we say we are.

Remington Flats is your hidden gem within the heart of the city where personal touches and whimsical surroundings create a truly magical place that can’t be experienced elsewhere in Fort Collins.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I’ve had three major careers in my life and in all three, I was on the cutting edge of seismic shifts in huge industries.

The first was as a consultant to automotive industry giants Ford and GM where our company introduced leasing as a viable financing option to mainstream American and European buyers who formerly believed there were only two options for buying a car-finance, or pay cash.

The second was as CEO of a consulting firm working with Colleges and Universities helping them tie their curriculums learning outcomes to employment opportunities. Applying the coursework to practical, real world application has become crucial to employers over the last 10 years.

Finally, as an Airbnb Host in the earliest days of homeshare. It is through that experience that I learned what is, and is not, important to homeshare travelers and applied that to our business to create Remington Flats Hotel.

The main theme of my worklife has been the willingness to take risks into areas that were largely unproven at the time. As Remington Flats gets closer and closer to self-sustaining, I am keeping my eyes and ears open for the “next big thing” that the mainstream doesn’t believe customers will ever buy into as my next big opportunity.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Super easy! I would foremost have them stay at Remington Flats. We would spend days hiking the numerous trails in the area, paddle boarding on Horsetooth Reservoir, visiting local museums and strolling the streets of Old Town shops. At night we would visit some of our favorite local breweries like Horse & Dragon, Prost, Odells and Snowbank. We would definitely do the Old Town Food & Cocktail Tour one night, hang out with the locals at Nick’s Italian and check out the local music scene at one of the many music venues. You would have a BLAST!

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
My life and business partner Doug Cross who supported my crazy idea that we should both retire from our respective careers, buy a micro-hotel and make that our full time work. He does most of the back breaking work required to keep the hotel operational and beautiful and without him as my business partner, life would be immanently more difficult.

The book that I always refer back to is titled “Raving Fans” and is written by Ken Blanchard and Sheldon Bowles. It takes a look at what would happen if you really thought outside the box in terms of customer service and went big. It’s basic principal is that it is not enough in todays competitive market to have “satisfied customers” you have to create Raving Fans of your business. I think Ken and Sheldon would agree we applied and achieved that goal.

Website: https://www.remingtonflats.com

Instagram: @RemingtonFlats

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