“Celeste, our unique 25-foot sculpture, helps fill what would otherwise be a somewhat bare turning circle in front of our entrance – and it provides a highly popular background for selfies,” said Joe Capalbo, general manager of the 237-room Kimpton Hotel Marlowe in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
“We are named after 16th century poet and playwright Christopher Marlowe. So, art association is really suitable,” Capalbo said. “Some of our interior wall art shows exploration themes by metaphorical realist Vladimir Kush. For the statue, recycled steampunk artist, ModVic, used mainly reclaimed metals, steel and gears to represent a fusion of art and machine, a marriage of mechanical workings and sculptural forms on a grand scale.”
Capalbo actually rejoined the hotel in 2018, as he was previously GM eight years ago. He has, in fact, taken a 14-year journey around Kimpton’s various Boston-area properties, with a few short spells out at other boutiques. Perhaps, coincidentally, the hotel’s current owners, Junson Capital, bought from Massachusetts Mutual in 2018. Were they at all influenced by the statue, which had been erected in 2016?
Reaction among locals and guests is overwhelmingly appreciative, reported Capalbo. Small corporate groups even host cocktails in open areas around the sculpture, which is based on an artistic interpretation of an armillary, traditionally used to measure stars.
Corporate guests are heavy on pharma, which seems to work seven days a week. Week nights are also taken by life sciences and, with so many colleges around, education: overall, corporate is at least 40%.
At weekends, pharma is joined by romantic and family staycations. Normally, 25% of overall business is international.
Brought up in Massachusetts, with a Sicilian heritage, Capalbo thought in his early teens he might do something in sports or marketing when he grew up. But shuttle driving and valet parking for a Wyndham convinced him of the nuts-and-bolts fascination of the hotel world.
Now, with what is usually a complement of 250 employees in a team that is dressed smart-casual, free of neckties, he is more than ever convinced he made the right choice. “Once we attract new hires, they realize hotel life is not just a daily grind.”
The six-footer is still actively involved in sports and keeps fit. “I play basketball and golf, and I took up running a few years ago,” Capalbo said. “Until the pandemic an informal early-morning running group for management and hotel guests was really popular and over the last year this evolved into a virtual running club, through which we have raised over US$10,000 for cancer research.”
Rapport with his team is shown by the hotel’s in-house F&B operation, which centers around a modern American bistro, Bambara Kitchen & Bar’s, given an international flair by its Armenian chef, David Bazirgan.
In September 2020, the F&B team decided to add an Italian pop-up which, unbeknown to Joe, as everyone called him, they named Capalbo’s. “Many of the diners, who, even in non-pandemic times, are at least 65% locals, ask about the name,” Joe said. “I feel that this is testimony to my many interests, from art and science and people, and everyone knows I love to cook.”