Joie de Vivre Hotels founder Chip Conley wasn’t afraid to work a little off-color when he spoke of his career at the inaugural Boutique Lifestyle Leadership Symposium in Los Angeles last week.
His first hotel, he said, was the former Caravan Inn in San Francisco — now the Phoenix Inn, the first Joie de Vivre hotel. “It was very popular at lunch hour,” Conley said. “And it didn’t have a restaurant.”