El Capitan Hotel
I curate soundtracks for the restaurant, cafe, lobby, courtyard, and market, inside the El Capitan Hotel in CA.
The El Capitan Hotel approached me about helping them to develop a music programming strategy for their hotel opening in 2021. I used their brand strategy documents and local music trends to identify key contemporary and catalogue artists and genres to place into their playlists.
Then we worked together to scope out the different soundtracks and schedules for each location in the hotel based on hours of operation and intended use by the patrons.
Rainbird
An upscale artisan restaurant open for lunch and dinner.
For Rainbird, I developed a holistic music style using genres that we felt were representative of this establishment. Then I curated two different soundtracks that fit into the overall style; one for their lunch hours, and one for their dinner hours. Lunch is slightly more positive and fun, while dinner is more suave and classy.
Native Son
Native Son is a cafe and bar open to the public
Native Son was unique because during the day it’s a cafe for meetings and productivity and at night it’s a bar for socializing. The patrons are also a mixture of local students and older professionals so the music needed to appeal to both. So, each time of day also required it’s own playlist and unique curation strategy.
Courtyard
This is a destination patio in the middle of the hotel serving food and drinks
For the Courtyard, we wanted a soundtrack that would fit with the beautiful weather that Merced experiences almost year round. We also wanted it to fit the brand phrases; free spirit, adventurous, and active. So here I focused on contemporary uplifting rock and indie rock.
Hotel Lobby
The welcoming area of the El Capitan Hotel
A hotel lobby is a patron’s first experience inside the hotel, so it’s very important to make a good first impression from the moment they walk through the door. I built a curation strategy incorporating americana, folk, and soul to instill a sense of deep rootedness and history which were core tenets of El Capitan’s branding strategy.
Bobby’s Market
A marketplace inside the hotel
Since this market is usually a quick stop for patrons, I curated a fun low to medium energy playlist designed for shopping. I also worked with the staff to get a better understanding of the demographic that usually shops there. The goal is not to distract people, but just to provide mood-enhancing background music.