In the latest episode of the Next Gen in Lodging podcast, host Omari Head sits down at the Revival Baltimore JDV by Hyatt with General Manager Donte Johnson and Jason Bass, the hotel’s director of culture and impact. Revival is a 107-room, 14-story, art-centric hotel in the heart of Baltimore's historic Mount Vernon neighborhood that is part of the Hyatt Hotels Corp. portfolio.
The trio discuss how diversity, equity and inclusion is baked into the culture at the hotel — from the small things, such as sourcing products for the hotel’s gift shop, to making guests feel seen and cared for, and hiring staff whose own diverse backgrounds, experience and culture help to make those decisions seamless.
Johnson reflected on the responsibility to foster an industry of opportunity for all.
“On the whole, the [hotel] industry is very diverse and reflective of the communities where we do business, but the further you go up the org chart, the less diversified it is, which means we’re delivering on the promise of the industry to a narrow group of people. And largely everyone else, somehow along the way, the culture spits them out, or they decide that this isn’t for them because it’s not serving them,” he said.
“For me, inclusion means breaking down all of those barriers to access that have been kind of baked into the industry that you and me grew up with.”
Johnson began his career in the hospitality industry in 2001 with Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants and has since held several positions including concierge, director of guest services, area revenue manager and assistant general manager. In 2009, Johnson was the youngest employee ever promoted to general manager at Kimpton. He has since served in this capacity at five properties across three cities including Miami and his current home, Baltimore, where he has been the general manager at Revival since 2019.
Bass joined Revival Baltimore in 2020 in a newly created role that oversees a wide and diverse range of cultural and community-focused programming.
An entrepreneur and community activist, his experience spans multiple industries including textiles, multicultural marketing and venue programming. As co-founder of Treason Toting Company and its CEO for five years, he designed and produced travel accessories that were manufactured in his hometown of Baltimore.
In 2018, he started The Night Brunch — a pop-up dining event series, co-founded by DJ Impulse, to break down social and racial silos, and bring people together. In the past year, The Night Brunch team has hosted more than 50 events at the top restaurants and hotels in Baltimore, created a three-day festival and provided 2,200 meals to a West Baltimore community through The Night Brunch Summer Lunch program.
In 2020, Bass also launched boutique marketing firm Kiss Tomorrow Hello, with clients including Visit Baltimore and The Baltimore Orioles.
Head said that the creation of the director of culture and impact position at the property level is itself a testament to Revival’s dedication to diversity, equity and inclusion — as such roles typically are higher up the organizational chart, and not as connected to front-line staff and guests.
“Here’s where it starts. We’re understanding that the customer is more interested in the community than a transaction,” Bass said. “Like, we want experiences, right? And that’s what I think you don’t always get if you don’t have someone around that’s focused on something like that.”
Bass added that Revival’s “playbook is open source,” meaning that he and Johnson hope others in the industry can be motivated to emulate what they’re doing.
For more of their “gems,” including how they cracked the profitability code on DE&I, listen to the episode at the top of this article, and follow Johnson (@thehoodiehotelier on Instagram) and Bass (@jasoncbass on Instagram and Twitter).
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