When it comes to making business arrangements, we Buddhists don’t usually do “faceless.” Right Livelihood is key in everything do, so when we were looking for a Bay Area venue and accommodations for our Wisdom for Difficult Times: What the Buddhists Teach weekend with Sylvia Boorstein, Tsokyni Rinpoche, and Norman Fischer, one place came right to mind.
We’re looking forward to our stay at the Hotel Kabuki, and we think you’ll love yours, too. Here’s why.
The Hotel Kabuki, a Joie de Vivre hotel, is located in San Francisco’s vibrant Japantown, and being that the event will 
be held right in the building, those two reasons are pretty much incentive enough to stay there. But it’s not just the location that grabbed our publisher, Jim Gimian. (No rookie traveler, he.) “I’ve stayed in three different Joie de Vivre hotels,” Jim says, “and I’ve never met a hotel staff as energized, intelligent, awake, and motivated.” He even found himself asking the staff members: Why did they seem so happy? (And not “fake,” customer-service happy, but genuinely happy?)
Their replies went something like this: Our intelligence is respected and nurtured. No one here is in it solely for material benefit. And mostly, they conveyed that they actually felt loved and cared for. And that, of course, makes it easy to turn that right around and give that feeling to customers. This is what 
Joie de Vivre’s founder, Chip Conley, strives for, and it works. This is a company whose mission statement is “Creating opportunities to celebrate the Joy of Life.” That’s it — nothing about “profits” or “growth.” (Though there can be no doubt Conley’s vision pays dividends of all kinds.)
And so, as Jim contends, Joie de Vivre’s value system is the same one that we like to uphold, ourselves: acknowledging and nurturing the basic goodness and enlightened qualities in everyone is totally confluent with the Shambhala Sun’s worldview. And that made it easy for us to book the Urban Retreat there.
Of course, aesthetics play a part too. Anyone who’s seen a copy of the Shambhala Sun — or at least this post by our art director, Liza Matthews — has probably guessed that how things look and feel is very important to us. The photos 
from the Hotel Kabuki that you see here should make it clear that there’s a happy confluence there, too. (And guess what? The rates are way more than reasonable; they in fact guarantee the lowest possible rates.)
Haven’t made your reservations yet? No problem. You can book online by clicking here. Or, just give them a call at 415-922-3200. Just don’t be surprised if the person you speak to is genuinely glad to be speaking to you!
And if you need information on the Urban Retreat itself, just click here. There you’ll find a complete daily schedule, bios on the three teachers, and a link that will help you register online, easily and safely.
See you there!
2 Comments
I stayed at a Joie de Vivre Hotel when I was in San Francisco to attend the west coast premiere of Philip Glass' "Music in 12 Parts". I stayed at the Hotel Adagio in Union Square and the service was incredibly attentive and efficient and my room immaculate and very well appointed. They even offer visitors to the area the added perk of a complimentary tour through the Golden Gate Greeter program. The tour guide spent 4 hours with me and showed me all the "behind the scences" bits of San Francisco's great neighbourhoods.
I stayed at a Joie de Vivre Hotel when I was in San Francisco to attend the west coast premiere of Philip Glass' "Music in 12 Parts". I stayed at the Hotel Adagio in Union Square and the service was incredibly attentive and efficient and my room immaculate and very well appointed. They even offer visitors to the area the added perk of a complimentary tour through the Golden Gate Greeter program. The tour guide spent 4 hours with me and showed me all the "behind the scenes" bits of San Francisco's great neighbourhoods.