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Q&A With Alex Henry Foster
[Part 1]
Alex: Of course it does, but for us, it’s first and foremost all about the human experience. I stayed in ridiculously high profile hotels where I was deeply disappointed by my overall stay, while at the other end of the spectrum, I stayed in very humble places where I had a fantastic time. It all goes back to what you want to share. For us, it’s a boutique hotel, so it was capital that we’d add our own unique colors to the mix without turning the place into a Alex Henry Foster tribute, because what truly makes a hotel unique remains the people who decided to accept the invitation offered to them to spend a moment of their lives at your hotel, and once they do, the only thing that matters is to do everything possible for them to make it their home as well, because when they do, it changes the hotel’s spirit. That’s the reward. Otherwise it’s only a soulless place to sleep at as you go.
Alex: It starts when you actually book at the hotel. The manager will get in touch with you to give you some heads up about your point of arrival, about Tangier if it’s your first time, and will ask if there’s any special request or need we may take care of beforehand. Then, it goes back to the people welcoming our guests, from the taxi company we are working with to the impeccable state of the hotel’s exterior. It’s the first contact people will have with the nature of the hotel they will journey in. Then it’s the first human contact, the welcoming spirit being essential for us. Then comes what people will see, will smell, will hear… Tangier could be puzzling at first, so we want people to feel an immediate sensation of peace and comfort when they arrive home. The Moroccan hospitality will then offer its richness all more naturally. And whatever room you decided to book needs to have a personality of its own. There is lit home-made incense, a few colorful pieces of local pastries waiting for you… It all offers the essence of the joy we have for you… as guest, as returning friends. The rest of the hotel’s wonders are for you to discover after. That’s home to me.
Alex: Touring is not necessarily a good indication of what others want as much as what you are absolutely needing. In my case, it’s good bedding, a quiet room, a great shower, impeccable breakfast and premium coffee, which we tackled immediately when we arrived at La Maison. We slept in each room, alternating and comparing notes. The silver lining of acquiring a hotel in Africa during COVID when all the trips were stopped and we got caught in Tangier for a while, is that we explored our place upside down immediately, but that was easy.
For Jeff and I, the very first element we wanted to implement when we acquired the hotel was to offer local in-house Moroccan meals to our guests. Morocco is about those exquisite flavors, the spices, the freshness of aliments and products of the sea. For us, it was imperative from the get go, and since before being a professional musician and music business mogul, Jeff was a French chef who had worked in the most sought-after restaurants of Montreal, he knew exactly what he wanted the menu to look like, but more importantly what he was looking for in terms of culinary experience. If Jeff is everything meat, I’m more of a liberal pescatarian type, and chef Ilham brought Jeff’s high expectations even higher, on every level, and there’s no real “home” singularity without its particular perfumes depending of the day, time or season. So food was first.
With the same desire to welcome our guests and friends in an environment they would find comfort in and relational, we integrated Miss Isabel, who is the keyboard player for our band The Long Shadows, and her concept of aromatherapy as she’s been developing her own incense for years and couldn’t help but to implement La Maison de Tanger with her own unique fragrances, after she heard me talking about the importance it had for me to define the home’s olfactive identity. It’s not only about having a place that smells good, it’s about associating the time you have with a scent. So it brings you back to your home in Tangier whenever you happen to smell that very same fragrance somewhere else. It’s comforting in so many different ways. That’s why we have a full-time gardener dedicating himself to the floral and trees of our garden.
The drinks and cocktails selection was also a core part of the home evolvement we were looking for. It took us close to 2 years to have a legit alcohol license but it was worth every step, since amongst the unique alcohol selection we brought from all our different tours and travels, we wanted to offer quality over quantity. So people can relax in the garden or on the terraces, get a real imprint of the fresh Tangerine winds, while also having a wonderful excuse to stay home and commune with other guests and friends.
That is the core reason I wanted to own a hotel such as the one we have; for people to get away from their phone and tablet screens for a second and engage with each other, and that’s the most incredible aspect of our home, as we are welcoming people from all over the world and from all spheres of life. We wanted to create a singular place where you can see an experimental artist like me befriend a surgeon from Lebanon, an American couple from New Jersey meeting 2 French sisters from Marseille that are now planing to travel together in Australia next year… conversations about art, culture, different life experiences… That’s my vision, with an exclusive whiskey from the North of Japan, a fresh juice, a local tea or a premium coffee in hand, whatever defines that moment for you.
It’s the people and the unique moments they share that define a home, the rest of the outstanding decor only makes it even more unforgettable, because if it’s only about the bling bling you are missing the whole point entirely.
