You could say hotels are a way of life for
David Bowd.
His résumé shows 35 years of experience managing some of the most well-known players in the hospitality industry.
Originally from Salt, England, Bowd left high school at the age of 16 to pursue his future in hospitality. He realized that formal education wasn’t for him, so he worked from the ground up, starting as a bellhop before becoming the hotelier he is today.
He secured senior positions at Hilton and Marriott, Thistle Hotels and St. Martins Lane and featured by Philippe Starck
Sanderson
before jumping across the pond to New York City and assuming management roles at Morgans Hotel Group,
Ian Schrager,
and
Andre Balazs.
In the United States he managed nine properties, from The Mercer in New York to the Chateau Marmont in Hollywood to the opening of the Chiltern Firehouse in London.
In 2014, 51-year-old Bowd opened the Salt House Inn in Provincetown, Massachusetts with his partner in life and business, Kevin O’Shea. “I left the corporate world with a simpler life, with just a small inn,” he says. “And so Salt Hotels was born.”
The charming clapboard-style bed and breakfast has become the flagship of the team’s up-and-coming, award-winning hotel brand, named after the village Bowd grew up in. Since debuting, the couple have added four more boutique properties – Eben House in Provincetown, Mass .; The Asbury and Asbury Ocean Club, both in Asbury Park, N.J .; and
Hutton Brickyards
in New York’s Hudson Valley, which is slated to open in 2021. Further projects are in the works.
“I was inspired by what our guests enjoyed,” he says. “I knew that with the design aspects of an urban hotel and the personal service of a country house, we could create more space,” he says.
In 2016 the group started the “Salt School” in Asbury Park. This free eight-week course provides an introduction to the hospitality industry with courses in the guest experience, food and drink, sales and marketing, and other relevant topics. Since its inception, four schools have trained more than 500 local students, and many have got jobs in Asbury Park’s salt mines.
While Bowd spent some time during the shutdown in Kingston, New York – the locale of his latest project – he mostly settled in Provincetown with O’Shea, Salt Hotels chief creative officer. Until the world is safe to explore again, Bowd continues to enjoy food and wine and dreams of future journeys. So he scratches his itchy travel without traveling.
Prepare dim sum. “The extra time at home has allowed us to immerse ourselves in our extensive collection of cookbooks and sample different cuisines from around the world as if we were on the go. Our previous favorites were the steamed rolls and dumplings A common table by Cynthia Chen McTernan. “
Enjoy Indian specialties. “I’ve spent at least a week in London every year for the past few years. I missed the UK’s Indian cuisine, especially Chicken Tikka Masala, but a UK neighbor of ours recently mastered the art of Tikka Masala and we have spent many nights drinking curries and wine since then. Speaking of wine … “
Drink wines from the Napa Valley. “We had a wonderful break in Napa a few years ago, it was really great and I fell in love with the area. We have toured many vineyards but loved the Continuum Vineyard in particular and have been shopping every year since then. We enjoyed the wine on many quarantine evenings. “
Watching Sir David Attenborough. “I’ve been a huge fan for a long time. During the quarantine, we re-watched old episodes and enjoyed new episodes of his many series of nature shows, including planet Earth, Our planet, and Blue planet. They show our world and places we can travel so beautifully and remind us strongly that everything we do is mindful of nature and the environment. “
Dream about traveling. “I’ve spent a lot of time on Instagram looking at fabulous hotels and restaurants (both new and untried of mine) and making a list that I can’t wait to see when we all travel again. My highlights include Le Doyenne in Saint-Vrain, Ile-de-France; Hotel August in Antwerp; The Newt in Somerset, UK; and Mezzatorre Hotel & Thermal Spa in Ischia, Italy. “
