New York was one of the hardest-hit cities during the pandemic, but with things starting to reopen, hotels in the state have a chance to make first impressions again.

Speaking during an Independent Lodging Congress Instagram Live webinar titled "The Force Awakens: A New Hope for Hotels Through Experiential Programming," Atit Jariwala, CEO of Bridgeton Holdings, which owns independent hotels in New York City, East Hampton, New York, and Montauk, New York, said as the state reopens, his job and his team's job is to teach guests "why to love hotels again and hospitality and why they should come out and why we want to be able to serve them."

A large part of getting guests excited about travel is being "hyper-focused on experiences, whether it's the beach or the city," Jariwala said.

He aims to offer experiences people have never heard of. For example, at the Walker Hotel Greenwich Village, Bridgeton is "hoping to launch live music every day of the week."

The hotel hired a music director to curate music programs during the week, which could be the director playing music, people he knows playing music or even amateur musicians who are taking classes.

The goal is to engage with the community, and one way to do that is by inviting residents of the city who are great musicians to show up with their instrument of choice to do a duet with the music director on certain days of the week, he said.

Walker Hotel Tribeca in New York City offers an experience that allows guests to ride around town with a bike messenger to experience New York as a local, he said.

Bridgeton has come up with dozens of these experiences through team meetings, Jariwala said.

Team members will write down ideas for experiences during meetings, he said. They then evaluate the ideas as a group to see what could be implemented at Bridgeton's hotels. Teams weren't always able to meet as a large group prior to the pandemic, so video chats and conference calls allowed Bridgeton to bring more people into the mix for meetings than in the past and really think about great ideas.

This allowed the company to talk as a group, and he "felt a little bit more connected to the folks, and we were able to come up with some really great ideas, which we're now implementing."

The pandemic also taught Jariwala how resilient his team is.

"We went through a lot together, and it’s something I’ve most appreciated getting out of this pandemic is the sacrifices the team was able to make," he said. "We had to make a lot of tough decisions. It was a very painful time for all of us involved, and one thing I learned is what kept us together was … the sacrifices the team made without complaining. It was really kind of a learning lesson for me that people can really come together in a difficult time."

There were times in New York City during the pandemic where it was scary, he said. There were protests going on, there weren't many people around, streets were empty and there were times when a single person would be staying overnight in a hotel.

"And we didn't really hear complaints" from the team, he said. "I know there were people who were a little afraid what could happen because you don't know. Life had changed so dramatically."

Jariwala got his start in the hotel industry working alongside his parents at an Econolodge they owned in Bridgeton, Missouri, and he hasn't "been able to shake [hospitality] since those many decades ago."

He built Bridgeton 10 years ago with a focus on experiential lifestyle hotels across the country with a focus in the Northeast.

The company also has other lines of business such as office and multifamily, "but hospitality is our true passion, and really on the independent side where we can create these life experiences," Jariwala said.