Meet Sally Dziedzic & Sonia Vincent

Today we’d like to introduce you to Sally Dziedzic & Sonia Vincent. They and their team shared their story with us below:

In 2011, Sonia and Sally were set up on a platonic blind date in Grand Cayman, where they both worked as nannies, in their early 20s. They became fast friends and frequently talked about someday starting a business together. When their time in Cayman came to a close, Sonia moved back to Colorado where she met her husband, Matt Vincent, and Sally ( originally from New Zealand) moved to Canada and met her husband, Matt Dziedzic, in Alaska.

Sonia and Sally remained close friends and eventually found themselves living a few houses down from one another in Durango, Colorado. This made the whole “someday starting a business together” dream a lot more feasible. When Sonia discovered the Mesa Verde Motel, she quickly called Sally, and the fire was truly ignited. Sally & her husband both quit careers of 12+ years to take a chance on a new path of being on-site Moteliers, Owners, and Operators. Sonia and Matt also jumped in with very little prior knowledge of the hospitality industry but experience in management and business ownership.

The team dove head-first into the deep end and purchased Mesa Verde Motel in November of 2021. Since then, they’ve performed massive DIY renovations and completely rebranded the property. In every corner of the Motel and its Brand, you will the work of all their hands and minds. In 2022, the maintenance garage was lovingly converted to an on-site coffee shop and cocktail lounge, that serves handcrafted, small-batch drinks, snacks, and good vibes.

They hope their story will inspire others to follow their own crazy dreams and renovate historic motels with their best friends. Or just stay in historic motels with their best friends. Either way, live your dream, and thanks for following along!

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Overall it has been a wonderful experience for the team, who are all wing to listen, learn from each other, and work hard! As the renovations started in 2022, there were hiccups with the post-COVID supply chain and availability of goods, so things were slowed down, but pivots and adjustments were made.

Amidst the renovations we were, at the same time, learning how to run a Motel and all that entails. So that was a personal challenge but we were also able to implement fresh systems and procedures that we had learned in other careers to enhance the Motel’s productivity and ease of running.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
We are a team of four who have individual sets of skills that we use to divide and conquer. Sonia takes care of the majority of the “behind the scenes” jobs including finances, property planning, direct procurement, business management, merchandise design, and ideas development for all things Mesa Verde Motel!

Sally lives onsite and is the direct contact for guests, she runs the ongoing daily operations at the Motel, including Housekeeping, staff management, Front desk, supply ordering, and social media/marketing. Sally and Sonia work closely together on all decision-making and operations. Matt Vincent has a wealth of business ownership knowledge and is also a wonderful metal worker, you will see his creations all around the property.

Matt Dziedzic is our 1 man Maintenance department and an expert DIY-er. He completed almost all the renovations single-handedly, including electrical, plumbing, painting, carpentry, and carpet laying. He takes Sally and Sonia’s ideas and makes them a reality. The team works seamlessly together, bouncing ideas and knowledge off each other and acknowledging our individual skills and how they pertain to our success.

Pricing:

• Rooms are between $135 – $160 a night.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.mesaverdemotel.com
• Instagram: @mesaverdemotel
• Facebook: @mesaverdemotel191

Image Credits
@State.Studio, Cultist Zosha, Gomez SaintNo, and Monica Louise