Joie de Vivre Hospitality

Joie de Vivre Hospitality is a hotel and restaurant company based in San Francisco, California that is the second largest operator of boutique hotels in the United States.

The company was founded in 1987 by Chip Conley, then 26, after he became "disillusioned" with the corporate real estate market 2½ years out of Stanford Business School. Conley raised $1 million in 1987 to buy the decrepit Phoenix Hotel in San Francisco's Tenderloin neighborhood, where he opened the landmark restaurant Miss Pearl's Jam House with Joey Altman. Conley modeled the name after Esprit, the clothing company then based in San Francisco. Initially targeting traveling rock bands, musicians, and filmmakers, Conley met with travel agents throughout the United States, modeled the hotel's concept after Rolling Stone Magazine, and offered tour managers free massages to induce them to book their bands' stays at the Phoenix. A popular but not financial success, the hotel quickly began to attract nationally-known entertainers such as David Bowie, Linda Ronstadt, and Johnny Depp, even though the hotel was essentially a low budget 1950s era motel. With support from investors, Conley bought a series of moderately sized, often run-down buildings, which he turned at low cost into boutique hotels, in each case creating a different "psychographic" concept such as new age wellness, men's health, romance novels, New Yorker Magazine, or luxury camping.

The company, which had been based entirely in San Francisco, suffered a substantial downturn after 9/11 and the dot com crash, which affected San Francisco more than most other hospitality markets. With 22 capital calls from investors, and cuts in executive salaries, the company survived and rather than closing poorly performing properties or laying off staff, took advantage of lower commercial real estate prices to expand throughout California. The company also began to take over and control its hotel restaurants, in order to reduce risk. As of 2008 the company owns more than 30 hotels, manages 6 others, and also operates 18 restaurants, all within California. Among the most famous is the Ventana Inn in Big Sur, California. The Hotel Vitale, on San Francisco's waterfront, is the first new hotel the company built, rather than bought from a previous owner. The company also expanded into managing hotels and condominium amenities for other owners.