Ashley Chapman on Pink-Barbie Hard-Hat Construction Marketing and Tax-Exempt Booking Strategies

Anthony Codispoti (00:00)
Welcome to another edition of the inspired stories podcast where leaders share their experiences so we can learn from their successes and be inspired by how they’ve overcome adversity. My name is Anthony Cotaspodi and today’s guest is Ashley Chapman. She is the director of sales at the Staybridge Suites in Indianapolis, Carmel, part of IHD’s extended stay brand dedicated to providing a home like comforts for business travelers and families alike.

Stavridge Suites offers complimentary hot breakfast, free wifi, and a welcoming atmosphere that helps guests feel right at home. Ashley has helped grow this property’s community partnerships and initiatives. Under her guidance, the location continues to enhance its market presence and maintain high guest satisfaction. She previously held sales leadership roles with Hilton and IHG Hotels and Redoub-

Resorts where she honed her expertise in revenue strategy and brand storytelling. Now before we get into all that good stuff, today’s episode is brought to you by my company, Adback Benefits Agency. Listen, if you run a business, you’re likely stuck in the cycle of rising insurance premiums. You’re paying more, but your team is getting less and many people can’t afford coverage at all. We do things differently. We offer a solution that provides your hotel employees with unlimited access to doctors, therapists and prescriptions.

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All right, back to our guest today, the director of sales at Staybridge Suites in Indianapolis, Ashley Chapman. Thanks for making the time to share your story today.

Ashley Chapman (01:59)
Thank you for inviting me. I’m so excited to be here.

Anthony Codispoti (02:04)
Okay, so Ashley, what started first for you? Was it your attraction to hospitality or to sales?

Ashley Chapman (02:11)
So ⁓ long story short, my dad was a used car salesman growing up. I sold my first car at five years old, believe it or not, at Crest Cadillac in Nashville, Tennessee. And that’s kind of where I learned like, I’m sure I had a little bit of brownie points because I was little with pigtails and everything like that. And they couldn’t really say no, but I learned then to read people and things like that where,

I could pick up on certain cues and where I could sympathize with them or also find common ground where I could open up a conversation with them. I will always say my daddy is one of the greatest salesmen alive. He still is, but he just is retired now.

Anthony Codispoti (03:00)
Okay, so what do you remember about selling that first car at the age of five?

Ashley Chapman (03:06)
So he told me it was Alan Jackson. I have confirmed that was not the truth. I think he just wanted me to feel better. I just remember it was white and was when Cadillacs were big, like super popular. Everybody had one. I was born in 84, so it was like 89. So yes, it was a big deal. I didn’t get the commission for it sadly. My dad did, but still.

I’m sure I wiggled them out of some boots or an outfit or something.

Anthony Codispoti (03:37)
And so

how did you sell it? What did you do?

Ashley Chapman (03:40)
I actually, I don’t remember the whole thing, but this is from my dad and then of course the lady that, the comptroller that ran the phones and everything, she would kind of babysit me during the days and stuff. She said that I just looked and I said, I bet you that man wants to go buy a car. And I walked up to him and I grabbed the keys to a white one, a black one and a red one. And I said, what color do you like, sir? And he said, he basically told me I was too little to be out there.

And I said, I can drive this thing. And he didn’t want me to drive it, so he drove it and he ended up buying it. I don’t know if it was a pity buy or what, but pity buy or not, I still got it sold. So that kind of lit a fire under my tail. Like it’s adrenaline, you know, when you make that first sale.

Anthony Codispoti (04:30)
And so how did you eventually get into the hospitality space?

Ashley Chapman (04:35)
Hospitality actually came afterwards. I was going through a divorce, as many of us do. I went from being a stay-at-home single mom to going through a divorce and I didn’t have a job. I had a charity before, probably two or three years before, and one of my volunteers reached out and said, hey Ashley, I’ve seen what you did on this charity and how you…

basically got everything for us for free. I know you’d be great at a sales manager or front desk manager or something. We just come try it out. And so I tried it out and I loved it. They say it’s getting bit by the hospitality bug and I got bit big time.

Anthony Codispoti (05:22)
What

was it that you loved so much?

Ashley Chapman (05:24)
I’m the people. ⁓ It never being the same every day. Just there’s so many things about hospitality.

My favorite’s gotta be the people though. I’ve heard so many stories. ⁓ I’ve heard, you know, I’ve met people’s grandbabies. I mean, once you become like a staple in somebody’s life, even at a hotel, they will bring their grandchildren to it, like meet you. I’ve got one lady that her, I think it’s her, her granddaughter calls me her godmother.

And I don’t know how that works, but okay, I’ll take it that’s sweet.

Anthony Codispoti (06:11)
Well, and I think

you have the advantage, at least where you are now with Staybridge Suites, where this is like an extended stay environment. So you get to be around the guests for a longer period of time. How did the opportunity to join IHG Staybridge Suites come

Ashley Chapman (06:26)
So basically, feel like I had been looking at Extended Stay for a while because I had been at transient hotels. Transient hotels for the people who don’t know are the ones that two to three days or maybe even one day you check out, it’s quick flips. That model is great and everything, but you don’t get to know your guests. You don’t get to know your groups. They don’t always return. It’s not always.

like repeat business. And I like building those relationships. Well, with State Bridge, I get to build those relationships. Every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, we have the social hour, which we get, I do not participate, I just serve the beer and wine, ⁓ and then heavy outdoors, mostly carbs. And then we all hang out at the island, and then like,

We went from just doing that to making it fun like bingo and games. Still trying to talk in my jam into my karaoke machine because Costco has one. But we’re under reno right now so I gotta wait a little bit.

Anthony Codispoti (07:42)
Okay, ⁓ so tell us more about the guest experience, this extended stay option. Why is it better than some of the other places out

Ashley Chapman (07:53)
Sure, so what a lot of people don’t know is with extended stay, there’s a couple of different types of extended stay. We are like considered suites and ⁓ it’s more of a hotel extended stay. You get all the benefits of a regular extended stay, but it is actually gonna be like, and the doors will be inside, it’ll be a hotel, not a motel.

You’re gonna have things like, you know, community. You’re gonna have free laundry. That is a big one. You’re gonna have lots of different things like that. And community is a huge thing here. There’s a lot of different people and guests that we have that are relocated because there was something wrong with their house. I’ve got a couple here now that they have been here for almost two years because mold infestation.

Anthony Codispoti (08:51)
Gosh.

Ashley Chapman (08:51)
Yes, their whole bodies have been attacked. I feel so bad for them for it. But this is their safe place now and I’m glad that we can provide that for them. ⁓ Even during our reno, we were worried about the reno.

I don’t know how to explain it, know, dusting up some air and you know, reactivating something, but they’ve been doing so great. So yes, we have lots of things like that.

Anthony Codispoti (09:23)
And for the guests who stay for a really long period of time like that, are there any extra advantages for them?

Ashley Chapman (09:29)
Oh for sure. I advise everybody, even if you’re only going to stay two or three days, when you call and book a room, never book it online. Call and ask to talk to the director yourselves and we’ll give you a better rate. It’s usually going to be 20 to 25 % off the BFR, is, yeah, it really is. And if you stay over 30 days in most states, you go tax free. So those taxes that were taken off will then go.

Anthony Codispoti (09:43)
Really?

That’s a lot.

Ashley Chapman (09:58)
be applied as a credit to your bill. So you’ll get a couple of days free.

Anthony Codispoti (10:02)
Wow. And is it just sales tax or because there’s a lot of times there’s lodging tax, right? Does it apply to the lodging tax as well?

Ashley Chapman (10:04)
Yeah, that’s it. Go.

watching tech.

So I know in the state of Indiana, we don’t have lodging tax here. It’s kind of wrapped up in one, but the state of Alabama, it’s a $2 per night. And it does apply for that. You’ll get that $2 per night back.

Anthony Codispoti (10:30)
And so who are you typically selling to? it the just like individuals like you talked about, like something happened with their home or do you have agreements with insurance companies or bigger corporations?

Ashley Chapman (10:42)
A little bit of everything. My job is to think way outside of the box because the big problem with extended stays is finding the right people to stay in them. Because most people that need hotels only need them for like a day or maybe a week. I go up there and find people’s apartments that have burnt down. I will go on the site.

you know, with some boots on or construction sites. I have my pink Barbie hat that’s been trademarked now and when they see me coming, they know she’s going to give us a good deal, you know, things like that. We’ve also got different groups. We still have, you know, sports groups that come in. We have lots of local negotiated rates with businesses around here because Carmel, Indiana is booming.

⁓ we have tons and tons of medical places, which we offer a medical rate, just if any one’s wondering. we have tons of construction going on. There’s so many things that when people say, I don’t know where to find business. I just send them a list. You know, I tried to help my fellow DOS is out as much as possible.

Anthony Codispoti (12:06)
You talk about going to a construction site. Why is that a good target for you?

Ashley Chapman (12:10)
Okay, so basically a construction site, they’re gonna come in and they’re gonna need rooms. The foreman is gonna stay at a nicer hotel like a Renaissance or something because, you know, they get to spend more money basically. Now, their regular work guys, they will get to stay here and I will negotiate a rate. So say they’re gonna be here for six months.

I’m gonna make sure and negotiate that rate where they will stay with us. And say a rate for the Queen’s studio is average 169, I’m gonna drop it down at least 25 % where they can see I want them and also let them know we’ve got free breakfast because with the construction guys, want chicken and waffles and then we’ve got free laundry.

and then the pool and everything else. They love the free beer as well. I have had to a couple off, but yes, that’s pretty much how it goes.

Anthony Codispoti (13:17)
And so you talked before about the value and the importance of the community there. Do you find that a lot of the guests do want to interact with each other and get to know each other?

Ashley Chapman (13:29)
Oh, absolutely. So, if you’re over in Indiana, you should come by the Staybridge because we have a, it’s where, it’s called the Island. Donley, she was the director of sales at Open This Farmery and she was an absolute legend. We call it Mary’s Island and everybody kind of crowds around it and it is laughter, jokes, we do every card games, anything you can think of.

And everybody helps out. Wednesday nights, like I said, are bingo. It kind of gets stressful for me. One person bingo, pouring beer, know, doing everything else. My guests help me and I feel bad, but they’re like, no, no, we’re good, you know, just because they’re appreciative that they’re getting to do something besides just watching a TV.

Anthony Codispoti (14:21)
Yeah, that’s fun. You’ve dropped a couple of names of folks. I wonder if there’s somebody in particular, Ashley, that’s been really helpful for you and had a big impact on your career.

Ashley Chapman (14:23)
Mm-hmm.

⁓ honestly, one of my biggest role models, I hope she doesn’t watch this because I’m going to be very embarrassed, but, it’s our VP of operations, Joy Underwood. ⁓ she is one of the most resilient women I’ve ever met. ⁓ she actually just got the promotion to VP back in June or July, but she’s the one that she’s the type of woman that

makes the path for us other women. She’s been a GM, she’s been everything. She never gets upset. She’s very calm, cool, calm and collective. But at the same time, she knows what she’s talking about and she gets things done. And I respect that a lot about it.

Anthony Codispoti (15:23)
Is this is she at your specific location or kind of over the larger hotel group?

Ashley Chapman (15:29)
So she’s with AHA, but she’s in Michigan. Yeah, but she kind of goes everywhere at this point. Yeah.

Anthony Codispoti (15:34)
Well,

give her name again. I want to make sure we get it in the show notes.

Ashley Chapman (15:38)
Joy, please don’t kill me. Joy Underwood.

Anthony Codispoti (15:41)
You said nothing but wonderful things. think she’ll be appreciative. ⁓ We talked about the tax savings, which is really cool. How else do you guys stack up against some of the other extended stays? Why is Staybridge better?

Ashley Chapman (15:56)
Free laundry, that’s a huge one. I can tell you I had to wash my kids baseball pants in Huntsville, Alabama at a hotel and it cost me $14. So that right there, yeah.

Anthony Codispoti (15:59)
Yeah. Right.

my gosh.

And is the laundry in each room or it’s like in a centralized like hallway location?

Ashley Chapman (16:16)
That is a great question. No sir, it’s downstairs next to the gym, but it’s not your basic laundry. We have like the big laundry, loaders, front loaders, folding stations, TVs in there, and it’s right off of the gym. You can access it through the courtyard or through just, you know, the main hallway too.

Anthony Codispoti (16:36)
That sounds great.

Ashley Chapman (16:38)
It is really nice.

Anthony Codispoti (16:40)
So big picture, whether it’s been in hospitality or somewhere else, what’s something about sales that you’ve come to understand through your experience that’s maybe different from what your initial approach was years ago?

Ashley Chapman (16:55)
Hmm.

Anthony Codispoti (16:56)
Like how has your approach to sales evolved over time?

Ashley Chapman (17:00)
Sure, I’m not afraid to be told no. In the beginning when I was a baby sales leader, I would be terrified to be told no. I don’t know why. And now people tell me no, I’m like, okay, I’ll move on to the next one, you know? Because for every yes you get, you’re gonna get three or four no’s. And you have to put yourself out there pretty much, or you won’t get anything. So that’s what I would think of.

be my answer.

Anthony Codispoti (17:29)
Did you develop

that thick skin or do think you’ve had it since an early age?

Ashley Chapman (17:34)
I have definitely not had it. I’ve had to develop it. Yes, sir. Yes.

Anthony Codispoti (17:40)
And

how did you do that? Is it just more repetitions like just sort of the pounding of no, no, no, you just sort of get a little bit immune to it after time?

Ashley Chapman (17:49)
After you’ve been told no so many times, it’s just, you’re like, okay, you know, it doesn’t hurt your feelings anymore. You don’t take, I stopped taking it personal is what it was. And in the beginning I was taking it personal. was like, they don’t like me. They don’t like this. And I’m like, you know what? I’m great. I did, I pitched that perfectly. I did everything great. This hotel’s amazing. We just got a Renault. What could they not want? You know, I gave them a great price.

So at that point I throw it back at them. That makes me sleep easier at night. I don’t know if that’s correct, but it works for me and I don’t have the guilt anymore.

Anthony Codispoti (18:30)
Well, and I think that’s really key because I mean, so many people are afraid of sales, don’t like sales because that rejection is really hard to take. And it’s just natural as much as you could sit here and say, don’t take it personally. That’s exactly how people are wired. They’re going to take it personally for you. Was it a gradual transition or was there kind of a light bulb moment where you made this big transition?

Ashley Chapman (18:38)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

If I’m going to be honest with you, there was a light bulb moment because there was this man that was incredibly rude to me. ⁓ And at that point, I thought I will never let a stranger make me feel this way again when I was just trying to help him out, you know? So it was just, I was done.

Anthony Codispoti (19:16)
Tell us more about that. I think there’s a lot of people in sales or considering sales that would like to have that light bulb moment.

Ashley Chapman (19:21)
Sure.

Sure. So in sales, it’s all about the pipeline, you know. I had been trying to get an appointment with the CEO for a long time. It wasn’t at my current property. It was at a property in Huntsville. And he was on the arsenal. So he was in the military and he would not take it. He would not take it. I found somebody on LinkedIn that knew him and I was like, listen.

I’ll take you out to dinner, whatever it is, I need to talk to this man. You know, we’ve got product, you know, I’ve got, basically they had a training program that they were gonna do and we were right up the road from them. We had shuttles, nobody else had shuttles. It was perfect. I could give them a great rate. And he pretty much told me at the time, you know, he didn’t trust me because I was not old enough. And I was, this was like not even eight to 10 years ago.

⁓ and that he felt like it would be more trouble than, than what it was worth. And I was like, really, please explain it to me why. And he couldn’t explain it to me why. And that is when my brain literally just shifted. I don’t know how to explain it. It just was like, okay, you can’t explain to me. So then you must not really have an answer. And I know that sounds not the nicest, but it, it was the truth.

Anthony Codispoti (20:41)
Mmm.

Yeah.

Talk to us, Ashley, about how you use social media marketing in the work that you do.

Ashley Chapman (21:00)
I love social media marketing. That is probably one of my number one strengths. I love to engage our guests in what’s going on. And I feel like they love it too. It’s important, especially because we’re going through a renter right now. And our renovation is split up into, for example, we did the third floor.

and we did half of it and then we did the other half. So we’re now done at the first floor. So that’s going to be a little bit messy with the lobby and title and things. All I have to do is post online, hey guys, you know, the lobby is going to be closed. We’re going to do some detours and things like that. And nobody’s mad. Now, if we would not have done that, everybody would have been upset about it. And we would have been having to refund money and give points away and things like that.

So not only is it useful, it can highlight guests, their opinions on things. I’ve done interviews with the couple that I said had the mold toxicity. Just things like that. It gives different people a way to look at people like themselves pretty much.

Anthony Codispoti (22:21)
So that’s interesting because I thought you were going to give me an answer about how you use it to bring in new business. And I think that’s sort of peripherally what you were talking about. But the one specific example that you gave that caught my attention was, hey, I let people know that the lobby is going to be shut down. And how are you letting them know? Is this like a Facebook post?

Ashley Chapman (22:28)
I’m there too.

Yes sir, so basically I’ll just put on Facebook or anything that’s, for example, if the fire department says we’re not gonna have water that day, for our extended stay guests, sometimes they may not see the letter under the door because they are night workers or something. I make sure all of them are subscribed to our Facebook page. Like I will take their phone and go like this. And I’m, yes.

Anthony Codispoti (23:02)
Okay. I was gonna wonder. Yeah, so that you make sure that every

guest gets subscribed. Okay.

Ashley Chapman (23:10)
Yes sir,

and I make sure they all know how to use their IHG rewards points. I’ve helped out a lot of them get Christmas cards for the grandkids and everything like that. So yes, I also use it for getting business as well. Sometimes, especially January through March, it’s usually really slow for hospitality unless you are in like a tropical area.

We have been actually blessed. The last four stars reports that we’ve had, we’ve been number one, which with Renault and having 25 % of our rooms out of order, that’s a miracle to me. But I also think it’s because I was posting our basic flyer that we had made on just basic, you know, Indiana.

like places that needed homes or like groups and things like that. That’s not usually my go-to route because sometimes you will get, you know, different types of people and then you have to filter them out and see who’s real and you know, things like that. But it has helped bring it in for sure. TikTok is our newest thing because

Anthony Codispoti (24:31)
Yeah.

How are you using

that to get new guests?

Ashley Chapman (24:37)
⁓ so that is going to be more for like our younger guests. I have, I have an 11 and 13 year old son. ⁓ and they’re telling me what each, you know, social media is. said, you know, Facebook is for my age. ⁓ Instagram is basically just sharing means and Tik Tok is to be silly and funny and for their age and

With that being said, everybody wants to be silly and funny. example, yesterday we made a TikTok and one thing we have here is we do sell out a lot. So people will come in and they will automatically want to check in early at 6 a.m. I don’t have any rooms that early because we were sold out. So some people are not great at hiding their facial expressions all the time.

So if you watch the video, our AGM who is an absolute doll, she makes this face when the lady comes in and it’s actually my sales assistant that’s coming in playing the customer. And I put a piece of tape over her head and it’s a smiley face to mask her ⁓ facial expressions that she cannot control. So.

We’re doing different things. When our GM was out of town, we did a like kind of like a scavenger hunt with them. We took his picture everywhere and things like that. We’re just, we’re trying to make more time for TikTok, but I think TikTok is really where we’re needing to lean into more in the next year.

Anthony Codispoti (26:22)
Where have you seen, whether it’s TikTok or Facebook or any other platforms you might be using, have actually helped to bring people into the hotel?

Ashley Chapman (26:33)
I would say TikTok and Facebook. Facebook for sure. Facebook does Facebook ads. ⁓

There we have.

Anthony Codispoti (26:43)
So the ads are working,

but are the organic posts bringing folks in, do you think?

Ashley Chapman (26:46)
yeah,

yeah. I’ve only done, I’ll be honest with you, I’ve only done three rounds of the ads. The organic post, I think why they are working is because of the demographic of who already is friends on that page and they share it. We’ve got a lot of people that ⁓ come here because we have price vision and we’ve got caramel plastic surgery. They’re supposedly the number one plastic surgeons around.

We’ve got a lot of medical tourism here. And so with that being said, they pass the word around and they’ll just share a page. Well, we have a 99 medical rate. So people jump all over that and it’s advertised there as well. Nobody else has that around us. Nobody in our comps said so.

It works out really well for us. And Price Vision, they are great. They push us and push us and they hand their flowers out. We probably have about eight Price Vision people a week. So we love them.

Anthony Codispoti (27:51)
Wow, that’s

fantastic. You know, before we went live, you and I were talking and you mentioned before about, you know, you’re helping some of your guests around Christmas time, find cards for their grandkids and whatnot. But as I understand it, you were the recipient of a number of presents from your guests.

Ashley Chapman (28:11)
Yes sir, do you wanna say one now? This is a little cowboy boot. One of my extended stay guests got me, Miss Peggy. She also got me a cowboy boots, cactus holder thing and some earrings. I love cowboy boots because I’m from Alabama. Cowboy boots and dresses when it’s hot, that’s my thing. And she just remembered that. And it was the sweetest thing because

Anthony Codispoti (28:13)
Sure.

Ashley Chapman (28:40)
Most people don’t remember little things like that about you and she did. And that made my day more than anything, you know? We did get lots of gifts and I was not expecting that. know, usually at a transient hotel, you don’t. So I had to make sure and go and like keep tally because I cannot get a gift without giving a gift bag.

Anthony Codispoti (28:44)
Yeah.

Yeah, I was gonna say I’ve stayed at countless hotels in my life, only a handful of extended stays, but there’s never been an exchange of gifts. And I don’t remember any of the people that work there. It sounds like you guys are doing something pretty special.

Ashley Chapman (29:22)
Thank you. Well, next time you come to Indy with your wife, please let me know and we will make sure and take care of you. And our rooms will be renovated by then. So, and if it’s in April, you can come to a re-ground opening party and meet Mr. IHG Elvis.

Anthony Codispoti (29:40)
Okay, who’s Mr. IHG Elvis?

Ashley Chapman (29:43)
that’s the joke that we call him, Jimmy Taylor. ⁓ we’re hoping that he does get to attend our re-grant opening. ⁓ just because he’s such a light. ⁓ when he speaks, like he’s just amazing man. I get lost at words explaining him. He’s, he’s just great, you know? And he’s not, yeah, he’s not too silly. Like, you know, when you meet people that are sales people.

Anthony Codispoti (30:06)
Jimmy Taylor.

Ashley Chapman (30:14)
They’re salespeople and then there’s salespeople that’s their whole life. They try to sell everything to everybody. They never stop. That’s not this man. He loves golf. He will talk to you about other things besides ROI or ADR or anything like that. He wants to know how you truly are doing. He remembers everybody’s name. My pink card hat marketing thing.

He was very, very impressed by that. And that made my day. It made a IHG sales call. So that was rather nice. So, yes.

Anthony Codispoti (30:55)
that’s fun. ⁓ Let’s shift gears, Ashley, and I’d like to talk about a particular challenge that you’ve overcome in your life, whether it’s something professional or personal, and how you got through that. What did you learn?

Ashley Chapman (31:03)
Mm-hmm.

trying to think.

There’s a couple. One thing I do not do anymore is I do not drink because my dad was the same dad that’s the car salesman. It wasn’t alcoholic or it still is. I used to drink when I was younger and I feel like I just kind of partied my way out. Like I phased out of it. I don’t drink but his and plus it makes me not feel great in the morning. Last time I drank.

I went to bed and I set my alarm and I thought I woke up at 11 a.m. and I was at a conference. It was 11 p.m. So that’s why Ashley does not drink because I freaked out for nothing. ⁓ Another thing is, is I stopped caring so much about what other people thought about me and really dove deep into who I was instead of trying to be something everybody else wanted to be. ⁓

Growing up in the South, especially as a female, you have a lot of expectations on you from your mom, your grandma, from random strangers, you know? So I’ve learned to stop letting them project onto me and just be happy being me.

Anthony Codispoti (32:37)
Let’s talk a little bit about ⁓ stopping drinking. Was that a tough transition for you? had been part of your life, maybe something you did to celebrate, socialize, and then suddenly yank the cord on it. Was that difficult?

Ashley Chapman (32:51)
I’m so, I’m not gonna say I was a bad girl because I made great grades and everything, but I was a little bit wild when I was a teenager, I will say that. I knew how to party. When I was 16, I had an ID that would scan and everything. Cops, if you’re listening to FBI, you didn’t hear that, but yes, it would work. So by the time I was like 26, 27,

It wasn’t fun for me anymore, you know? I had done it all, I had been to all the bars, I had done all this. And then I’m thinking the next morning, my hair stinks. Like, ugh, you know? You feel horrible, you don’t wanna participate in life, you know? Just things like that. So drinking for me, every now and then, like…

Maybe once a year I’ll have a Bloody Mary just because I love tomato juice, but there’s hardly any vodka in it. But what’s funny is my mother is French. She was born in Chatteroo and her whole side of the family was. So when we were younger, they would service wine with water, with dinner. So, I mean, it probably came from there.

Anthony Codispoti (34:11)
Yeah. So, you you talked about growing up in the South and there’s a lot of pressure. There’s expectations. Comes even from complete strangers. What do mean by that?

Ashley Chapman (34:14)
Just would say.

Mm-hmm.

Yes.

So when I moved up to Indianapolis, I was shocked that I could go to Kroger or Walmart without my hair and makeup done. I could just have a ball cap on and nobody care because back home, I couldn’t do that. Like you have to be, it’s hard to explain. Like my mom’s still, my mom, if she’s going to the grocery store, she is dressed to the nines, you know?

Anthony Codispoti (34:46)
Really?

Ashley Chapman (34:56)
It’s freeing. I dress up at work. I love to dopamine dress, wear bright colors and stuff like that and funky stuff. And to not have to worry about what I’m gonna wear and having to spend an hour just to go pick up a prescription or some milk or my kids some snacks, that’s great. Nobody knows me here, so it’s like they can’t judge me.

Now when I go home for Thanksgiving and Christmas break, that’s a different story. Mom’s like, you better put on some lipstick. You’re not going out in that. It’s just a different type of culture.

Anthony Codispoti (35:34)
So I hear that that pressure is coming.

Ashley Chapman (35:38)
Is that you?

Anthony Codispoti (35:41)
That is me. Our interview got delayed today because there was an issue with the fire alarm on your side. Now we’ve got something going on here. We’ll see if they ask me to come vacate in just a moment. This is how it goes. But on your side, you know, so your mom’s telling you got to put on some lipstick before you head out. But what if you didn’t do that and you went out?

Ashley Chapman (35:46)
I’m

Okay.

Anthony Codispoti (36:10)
Would you get comments from complete strangers or would you just kind of get like glares like evil stares?

Ashley Chapman (36:17)
or evil stairs or she’s let herself go. I’m from a town right next to Huntsville. Do you know where the space space and rocket space camp is basically is where I say I’m from space camp. Right there by the Redstone Arsenal. It looks like it’s huge, but it’s actually very, very small and close knit. So anytime you go to the grocery store, you’re gonna run in somebody.

and then they’re gonna put on Facebook or something. ⁓ You don’t wear your Cookie Monster pajamas to Walmart, you know, that’s just not something you do there. Here in Indiana, they do that every day. And I can’t go that far yet, but yes. It’s more, it’s like they’re gonna say you went downhill or you’re not taking care of yourself or just rumors will fly or you know, just nonsense pretty much.

Anthony Codispoti (36:53)
you

Ashley Chapman (37:15)
Yeah.

Anthony Codispoti (37:16)
wow. And so

how did you make this transition or maybe are still making this transition to caring less about what other people think about you?

Ashley Chapman (37:28)
I love hats now. On the weekends, I wear hats. Like I’ve got one that says, it on my husband’s tab. You would have no idea how many men compliment me on that. Like, and I thought it would deter men. No, they’re like, you could put it on my tab. I’m like, husband. you know? But like I love hats and like I can wear athletic clothes now and just stuff like that. It’s more comfortable, you know?

Anthony Codispoti (37:48)
You

Ashley Chapman (37:58)
I still look cute, think, but it’s got to be cute, you know? So.

Anthony Codispoti (38:02)
So a big

part of this for you is about the dress, about how you can dress, okay?

Ashley Chapman (38:06)
for sure,

for sure. love, I don’t know if you’ve heard of dopamine dressing, it is where…

Anthony Codispoti (38:14)
It’s the first time I’ve

heard that phrase.

Ashley Chapman (38:17)
Can I teach you about it? It’s great. Okay, dopamine dressing is when you wear something you like because it makes your dopamine elevate. Bright colors, I love random dresses or rompers, things like that. I always dress my age appropriately, but with a little flair. Bright earrings, accessories, just things like that.

Anthony Codispoti (38:18)
Please.

Ashley Chapman (38:46)
It’s not gonna be, today I’m actually kind of playing Jane, because I wanted to make sure and blend in. But usually it’s, I’m really loud and bright, like I’ve got till colored boots and all sorts of stuff. So it makes, when you wake up in the morning, it makes you just feel better. And it makes you have a better day. Yeah, you should try it.

Anthony Codispoti (39:04)
I like that. Yeah, and I might. ⁓ I’ve got sort

of a if you watch my interviews, I’ve got sort of a standard uniform. It is a dark t shirt and, a white. And occasionally, I’ll go to the black ⁓ zip up. But I just because it’s easy, like, look in the club, like, what am I gonna, it’s the same thing. ⁓ But I do like bright colors. And so I don’t know, maybe it’s time for me to shift it up a little bit. ⁓

Ashley Chapman (39:12)
I have seen it.

Right.

Do you

want to know where I get most of my clothes from? You’re gonna die.

Anthony Codispoti (39:34)
Tell me.

Ashley Chapman (39:35)
Goodwill. All my work clothes, I guess, all my work clothes and they’re all Ann Taylor and like mostly with tags on them because you know, clothes are expensive. So all of them come from there. And a lot of them have tags. I live in Carmel, I’m lucky. And so there are a lot of bougie people that just donate stuff with tags on it. So I go and get it real quick for $4.99 and then take it home and wash it.

Anthony Codispoti (39:37)
that thrifting.

with tags on it, meaning

it’s never been worn?

Ashley Chapman (40:05)
Exactly.

Anthony Codispoti (40:07)
Bizarre, okay. All right, I may have to go check out a Goodwill again. See if they’ve got anything of my size. When you talk about the dopamine dressing as like a fun way to start your day, any other things that you do to start your day kind of get you on track.

Ashley Chapman (40:09)
Yeah, yeah.

Yes.

I listen to, well I have a Corgi and I listen to music really loud on my way to work. I listen to music that people probably wouldn’t think I would listen to, but it’s like from growing up, like my teenage years, like, it’s not gangster rap, I wouldn’t say, but you know, just like rap and things like that. And so when I pull in the parking lot, people look over at me like.

Who is this lady, you know, with all these bright colors and yeah, so. I definitely like to make people question.

Anthony Codispoti (40:55)
What’s

Yeah. What’s your superpower, Ashley?

Ashley Chapman (41:04)
I’ve got a couple actually. And I don’t mean that bragging. Ever since I was little, people have always come up to me, kids, pets, anything. And I don’t care if we’re on Walmart, an Alamo, a football game, anywhere. They will tell me their whole life story. And I’m a fixer. So I’m gonna try to fix their whole life story in that hour that we got, you know?

And I’ve got a couple other ones. My boss told me that I was medicine in human form, which I don’t know if that’s good or bad. It depends on what kind of medicine. But yeah, I try to stay positive at all times just because negative Nancy’s getting nowhere, you know?

Anthony Codispoti (41:47)
Sounds fantastic.

Ashley Chapman (42:03)
If you are, if you live in negativity, like you’re going to stay there. You’re going to be stagnant. So why not be positive?

Anthony Codispoti (42:13)
Do you have any books or podcasts that you might recommend to our listeners?

Ashley Chapman (42:17)
I do. This kind of goes with positivity and stuff. The secret. I know it’s been out for a while. I’ve read it three times and I just read it again. ⁓ It’s really good. And it really can change your life. People won’t realize that the way you look at things affects the way things happen to you.

And then my favorite podcast is either Joe Rogan or No Vacancy. I love No Vacancy because it’s a hospitality one and he’s hilarious. ⁓

Anthony Codispoti (42:55)
say more about the book, Secret, and maybe can you give a specific example of how you approach things, changes how you receive things? I think that’s roughly what you said.

Ashley Chapman (43:06)
⁓ so the secret to me, everybody interprets it kind of different ways. it depends on your beliefs and things like that, but I, I believe it’s more about kind of like manifestation and asking what you want and things like that. I, I do believe that manifestation is real. I believe anything can be real pretty much. If you know, don’t knock it until you try a tight thing. ⁓

Unless it’s too crazy. But ⁓ I have, I’ve practiced it and I’ve seen like lots of improvements in my life. Just being.

Anthony Codispoti (43:48)
Any specific

examples?

Ashley Chapman (43:51)
⁓ let’s see. Before I met my fiance, I, I was a little bit of a hot mess express, I’ll say. and I just wanted to date somebody I wanted to love because after my divorce and my ex-husband then moved on, I hadn’t, I was dating, you know, and I wrote the book again and I put specific, like, you know,

not mantras out there, but I manifested and like said exactly what I wanted in a man. And I wasn’t over like, I want him to be six, nine, you know, I was realistic with it, you know, not non realistic. And I, couldn’t ask for anybody better. He treated me like a princess, you know, he’s hilarious. We get along great. He loves my kids. I love his son. So

I think that’s one good thing that’s come out of it. My sister and I had a little bit of ⁓ a strange relationship for a couple years, read that book again and applied those same things and we’re back talking and doing good again. yeah, thanks. He’s my fiance right now. Actually, he came and fixed a boiler at one of the hotels I was working at.

Anthony Codispoti (45:08)
That’s awesome. And how did you and your husband meet?

okay.

Ashley Chapman (45:20)
That man has had so many lives. He was the security head for Governor DeSantis. He has been a cop. now that he is in Indianapolis, he works for Boilers in Service because they made more money.

Anthony Codispoti (45:37)
Okay. What’s

something funny you like to do outside of work?

Ashley Chapman (45:41)
shopping and surfing. And I love to decorate. Like I love to decorate. I get that from my mom.

Anthony Codispoti (45:43)
Okay, nailed it.

⁓

Yeah. What else do get from your mom?

Ashley Chapman (45:53)
⁓ I look just like her pretty much literally we’re carburetor copies. I get, I’m trying to think.

We butted heads a lot growing up and I thought we were nothing alike. But now looking back, it’s because we were so much alike. We’re both, I don’t know if you know anything about numerology, but we’re both master number 11s. So that kind of explained a lot why we were butting heads a lot. Plus I was a teenager and I wasn’t very nice, you know? And my mom was not one to tolerate. That was back in the day where…

you know, I had my own phone line in my room and I thought I was so cool and I would beg to get spanked instead of they’d taken away my own phone line, you know, like I wanted the painful punishment instead of just taking my phone line. So my mom was

Anthony Codispoti (46:55)
Well, you talked about

you were a wild child.

Ashley Chapman (46:58)
I was wild, but I wasn’t like, compared to my other friends, I was the mother of the group. That should scare you too, you know?

Anthony Codispoti (47:08)
that says something about the crew you were hanging out with at the time.

Ashley Chapman (47:11)
Well, and the thing is, it was all the, we all made good grades and everything, and we all played sports and stuff too. So, and we’re all on homecoming court. just, we liked field parties, boonfs, farm, and Mad Dog 22. So, I don’t know how I could do that today. I would not.

Anthony Codispoti (47:26)
Yeah. Right.

Oh, different phase of life. Well, Ashley, I’ve just got one more question for you today. But before I ask it, I want to do three things. First of all, anybody who wants to get in touch with Ashley, you can find her on LinkedIn, Ashley Chapman, search for IHG, Stavridge Suites in Indianapolis, Carmel. And also, we’ve got the phone number for the hotel here, 317-582-1500, 317-582-1500. And we’ve also got our email address. So if you’re going to be in the area, you need a place to stay.

Ashley Chapman (47:37)
Sure.

Anthony Codispoti (48:02)
You can contact her, ask for that better rate. She’ll help you out. Ashley.chapman at ahm-hotels.com. We’ll have that in the show notes for folks, but once again, Ashley.chapman at ahm-hotels.com. Also, as a reminder, if you want to get more hotel employees access to doctors, therapists, and prescription meds, that as paradoxical as it seems,

actually increases your company’s net profits, reach out to us at addbackbenefits.com. And finally, if you’re enjoying the show today, a quick comment or review on your favorite podcast app goes a long way towards helping others discover our show. So thank you for taking a quick moment to do that right now. So last question for you, Ashley, a year from now, what is one specific thing that you hope to be celebrating?

Ashley Chapman (48:56)
been a director of sales for a while now. In a year, I hope to be a regional director of sales, to move up. And another band on this finger. Those are not yet. It’s supposed to be our second. It’s not really a rush. It’s more like we’re just moving through the motions right now. But my major goal is

Anthony Codispoti (49:11)
Is there a date set yet? We’re still in progress, okay.

Ashley Chapman (49:25)
I know what I’m capable of and I think I can definitely bring creativity and open doors for hospitality agencies that have not been using social media or AI and things like that because they don’t realize what it can give them, you know? And I don’t know if that would be consulting because I really don’t want to leave AHM or a regional manager, like a regional DOS role, but.

that’s really where I’m wanting to go. I love to teach people because I love to see them start and then when they finish and blossom, ⁓ makes my heart so happy.

Anthony Codispoti (50:07)
You just touched on AI, how are you using that?

Ashley Chapman (50:11)
I use it every day. I use it, okay, I use it to cheat, not cheat, but on our star reports. Do you know what a star report is? Okay, it’s basically our measurements of the week of how we did in our comp set. Usually there’s about six. Lately we’ve been number one, which is great because when I started here, we were number six and that was not good.

Anthony Codispoti (50:37)
Yeah.

Ashley Chapman (50:41)
Basically, I’ll just upload that file in there and it’ll tell me everything I need to know like briefly where I don’t have to sit there and scan it for an hour. I use it for social media posts. I use it for all sorts of things. Slides, I used it recently to make three different signs for our detour when we’re having to tear off the tile to send to the ⁓

printer’s office. Me and chat GPT are like this. If I ever die, need somebody to delete that history.

Anthony Codispoti (51:19)
It’s become

a big part of your daily work routines. Yeah. Well, Ashley Chapman from IHG Stavridge Suites in Carmel, Indianapolis. I want to be the first to thank you for sharing both your time and your story with us today. I really appreciate you.

Ashley Chapman (51:24)
Yes, yes it does.

Thank you, Anthony. I appreciate you having me on.

Anthony Codispoti (51:42)
Folks, that’s a wrap on another episode of the Inspired Stories podcast. Thanks for learning with us today.