AIP-448: ApeCoin Hotel

[DeSmart]

PROPOSAL NAME: ApeCoin Hotel

TEAM DESCRIPTION:

The team consists of several experienced Web3 entrepreneurs and core community members with extensive experience in designing, producing, and managing IP-related products and business collaborations. This includes, but is not limited to, designing and manufacturing BAYC apparel, creating 3D figurines, organizing offline graffiti events, and decorating venues with BAYC and NFT themes.

DeSmart
1.Participate in numerous Web3 projects, with deep familiarity with Web3 products and users, NFTs, GameFi, and economic models, Holder of BAYC/ApeCoin/Moca;
2.Nearly 20 years of experience in strategic planning, product design, and marketing operation.
3.Currently engaged in AI+DePIN related business.
4. Contact: Twitter @bayc189

Joanna Pan
Graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Hotel and Tourism Management (Honours) from The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, ranked 10th in the world for hotel management. Joanna brings extensive experience in hotel management and is also a holder of APE and MOCAVERSE tokens, contributing to the operational management of the hotel.

Kit Pon
With a degree in Marketing and rich experience in marketing and event planning, Kit will execute APE event promotion activities, including exhibitions, APE-themed rooms, Mocaverse-themed rooms, APE bars, and other promotional and execution work.

PROPOSAL DESCRIPTION:

We will launch an APE-themed hotel in a prime location in central Bangkok, Thailand. Our goal is to enhance the BAYC IP Exposure, visibility and utility of ApeCoin, and generate actual revenue for ApeCoin DAO.

This proposal combines IP application, the hotel industry, the arts, and the cryptocurrency field. The hotel will offer a variety of activities, including ApeCoin-themed exhibitions, an APE bar, various APE community-themed rooms, an APE swimming pool, and an MBA-themed exhibition area, fully promoting ApeCoin, ApeChain, and various APE communities. We will provide various benefits to the APE community.

BENEFIT TO APECOIN ECOSYSTEM:

1.Revenue Generation:
50% of the revenues from themed rooms will be received by ApeCoin DAO for one year once these rooms are completed. DAO will receive revenue from all themed rooms, including APE, BAYC, Otherside, Apechain, Mocaverse. Funds will be returned to the DAO Treasury on a quarterly basis, and the hotel will handle the local compliance and settlement of the funds. We’ll keep looking for more opportunities to create other income.

[Images and Logos for Illustrative Purposes Only, All NFTs Held by the Team]

2.Real-World Utility:
Hotel rooms and bars will accept ApeCoin for payment, demonstrating ApeCoin’s applicability in the real world and encouraging circulation and usage.

3.Brand Exposure:
Through themed exhibitions, bars, and rooms, we will extensively promote ApeCoin.

4.Community Benefits:

1. Offer 50 room nights for free to APE holders. Total 50+ nights for the ApeCoin holders, max 1 night for each holder, FCFS.
2. APE community members can use the rooftop bar for events for free.
3. APE community members can access the MBA exhibition area for free.

To verify holders, we will take strict measures:

• Show that they are Apecoin Forum members, increasing the number of Forum builders.
• Need to register Apecoin wallet and show Apecoin holdings.
• Need to post on Twitter and @Apecoin.

Process: Holders can book rooms through the hotel’s official designated channels. Upon normal check-in, show the following at the front desk:

1. Show that they are Apecoin Forum members
   • Logon any wallet holding Apecoin, show their wallet and Apecoin balance > 1
   • Verification could be done by trained hotel front desk staff
2. Check in and have fun
3. Post rooms on Twitter and @Apecoin before check out
   • Any Holder wishing for a free stay must tweet to get cashback, including pictures of the themed room and any positive experiences or feelings they want to share.
4. Receive the hotel’s cashback

5.Community Engagement:
Host events for ApeCoin members every two months, gathering the community and strengthening connections. The AIP team will handle event organization and venue setup, with no additional costs. Specific timings will be determined based on community sign-ups at that time. Since no extra investment is needed, there will be no KPIs for now.

6.IP Development and Diversity:
Create themed rooms for the APE community, including Otherside, BAYC, and Mocaverse, and promote the cultures.

[Images and Logos for Illustrative Purposes Only, All NFTs Held by the Team]

STEPS TO IMPLEMENT:

Expected start date: the first day of receiving funds
Expected end date: will continue for 545 days.

Step One: Launch Apecoin payments, renovation, room and pool design, hotel lobby, and bar. Additionally, purchase exhibition equipment, materials, and hire staff.
Time: Start within one month of receiving funds.
Key Performance Indicators: Demonstrate all staff hired and materials purchased.
Expected Key Results: We will provide receipts detailing each procurement expense, and we will also show the hired employees.
Cost: 370,000 APE

Click to expand for more Step 1 details

To expedite the completion of themed rooms, swimming pools, bars, and other facilities at APE HOTEL, we will immediately purchase all materials and hire a large number of renovation workers upon receiving the funds. Step 1 includes the material and labor costs for the following rooms:

• APE-themed rooms

• APECHAIN-themed rooms

• Otherside-themed rooms

• BAYC-themed rooms

• Mocaverse-themed rooms

• APE-themed swimming pool

• Hotel lobby decorations

• APE community-themed exhibition

• APEChain-themed exhibition

• APE rooftop bar

• MBA-themed exhibition area

Additionally, we need to conduct advance training for staff to ensure they understand how to introduce APE and handle APE payments. Therefore, we will hire staff immediately after receiving the funds.

We have already planned the payment method. We will provide a MetaMask address for receiving Apecoin payments. Training will be provided to staff so they understand how to receive Apecoin.

Hotel Location: We have selected a location in Khlong San, Bangkok.

We have identified relevant renovation teams and estimated material costs.

Within one month of receiving the funds, we will provide proof of employment and material procurement completion.

Step Two: Launch themed rooms: APE-themed rooms, APECHAIN-themed rooms, Otherside-themed rooms, BAYC-themed rooms, and Mocaverse-themed rooms.
Time: Complete within two months of receiving funds.
Key Performance Indicators: Showcase all room decorations and update on Twitter, and be available for media interviews.
Expected Key Results: We will update the room renovation status every half month. Once the renovation is completed, we will update Twitter with images of the APE-themed room, APECHAIN-themed room, Otherside-themed room, BAYC-themed room, and Mocaverse-themed room.
Cost: 150,000 APE (included in Step 1 Costs)

Click to expand for more Step 2 details

We expect the daily room rate to be $200 USD. We have a total of 5 rooms available. The expected occupancy rate is 60%. DAO share is 50%. The number of days rooms are sold is 455 days (545 days - 90 days preparation).

Calculating the expected income:

200 * 5 * 60% * 455 * 50% = 136,500

Therefore, the expected income is 136,500 USDT.

Step Three: Launch APE-themed swimming pool and hotel lobby decorations.
Time: Complete within two months of receiving funds.
Key Performance Indicators: Showcase all decorations and update on Twitter.
Expected Key Results: We will display images of the APE-themed swimming pool and all hotel lobby decorations, and update them on Twitter.
Cost: 115,000 APE (included in Step 1 Costs)

Step Four: Free room stays for APE holders.
Time: Complete within two months of receiving funds.
Key Performance Indicators: Announce monthly occupancy.
Expected Key Results: Announce on Twitter that APE holders have free room stays and publish the monthly number of occupants.
Cost: 40,000 APE

Step Five: APE community-themed and APEChain-themed exhibitions.
Time: One will be completed within two months of receiving funds. The other will take place three months later.
Key Performance Indicators: Announce relevant details on Twitter and have professional photography teams take advertisements.
Expected Key Results: Attract at least 1000 people to visit the exhibition, with more than 5% uploading and sharing photos.
Cost: 50,000 APE (included in Step 1 Costs)

Step Six: APE rooftop bar.
Time: Complete within three months of receiving funds.
Key Performance Indicators: Announce relevant details on Twitter and have professional photography teams take advertisements.
Expected Key Results: Announce the relevant details on Twitter and have a professional photography team shoot the visuals.
Please refer to this link; our setup will be similar to theirs.

Click to expand for more Step 6 details

We’ve decided to allow everyone into the APE bar to better spread APE culture. The decoration will primarily feature BAYC/MAYC themes. BAYC and MAYC are crucial original holders within the APE community. Establishing the bar plays a significant role in uniting the APE community and promoting APE culture extensively.
Please refer to this link where the founder of BAYC personally shared about Western APE bars. Asia is also crucial, so constructing one here will greatly promote the APE ecosystem.

Step Seven: MBA-themed exhibition area.
Timeline: To be completed within three months of receiving funds.
Key Performance Indicators: Announce relevant details on Twitter and have professional photography teams take advertisements.
Expected Key Results: Assist in promoting over 20 MBA brands.

Click to expand for more Step 7 details

After receiving funding, we will announce details on Twitter. This will allow everyone to apply to showcase MBA items in the exhibition area. Anyone with an MBA number can participate. We’ll hire a professional photography team for media coverage.

Personnel: We will collaborate with a professional materials company team, who are also APE holders and frequently provide materials for Chinese Ape Club events. We can ask them to provide some collaboration proofs and documents. This team is recommended by X: @Johnnylee_ddc, and he can be contacted for further information.

Full Implementation: Full implementation means completing all steps involved. This includes ApeChain-themed exhibitions, APE community-themed exhibitions, APE-themed rooms, ApeChain-themed rooms, Otherside-themed rooms, BAYC-themed rooms, Mocaverse-themed rooms, APE-themed swimming pool, staff expenses, APE rooftop bar, free room usage fees, hotel lobby decorations, and MBA-themed exhibition area, and can be openly and transparently demonstrated at any time.

REPORTING EXPECTATIONS:

• Financial Reporting: Reports on financial status will be made quarterly and publicly disclosed. We will open a separate Twitter account, and the reports will be updated on Twitter, with the possibility of synchronization here if needed.

OVERALL COST:

Total amount requested from the ApeCoin Ecosystem Fund = 410,000 $APE.

• APE Community Themed Exhibition: 20,000 APE
• ApeChain Themed Exhibition: 20,000 APE
• APE-themed Rooms: 30,000 APE
• ApeChain-themed Rooms: 30,000 APE
• Otherside-themed Rooms: 30,000 APE
• BAYC-themed Rooms: 30,000 APE
• Mocaverse-themed Rooms: 30,000 APE
• APE-themed Pool: 50,000 APE
• Staff Costs: 25,000 APE
• APE Rooftop Bar: 50,000 APE
• 50 Free Room Nights: 40,000 APE
• Hotel Lobby Decorations: 15,000 APE
• MBA-themed Exhibition Area: 10,000 APE
• Equipments, Materials, Miscellaneous and Contingency Costs: 30,000 APE

We plan to manage the funds through a multisig wallet, with multisig permissions granted to team members. Additionally, we will publish a detailed report on fund usage every 2 months.

[VonFrontin]

Can you elaborate on any experience the team has running a hotel or in hospitality?

Idea sounds great, but wanting to understand execution risk here.

Would also appreciate anyone in the space commenting on both feasibility and reasonability of costs.

[DeSmart]

Hi, Fam, thank you for your attention and questions.
Our team members own several hotels and restaurants in Asia, giving us extensive experience in organizing offline events, venue decoration, and NFT-related design and production.
Additionally, we have conducted on-site inspections and reached an intention of cooperation with a hotel in downtown Bangkok. They are very interested in and supportive of our ideas and proposals and will fully cooperate with our team in implementing this project. The images in the proposal are actual photos taken from the hotel.
Furthermore, during the implementation process, we will recruit local members and volunteers from community with relevant resources and experience to provide additional support.
Therefore, considering all these factors, we believe this idea should be very well-executed.

[furiousanger]

Hi. Thanks for the proposal.

I have two questions:

1. How many rooms does the hotel have & what percentage will be themed?

2. How long will the themed rooms last for - is there a timeframe agreed with the owners?

Many thanks.

[DeSmart]

Hi, good questions!

1. there are total 104 rooms, we’ll decorate 5 theme rooms first
2. the themed rooms and 50% profit sharing will continue for at least one year, and within that year, 50 free room nights will be offered to community holders. Which has been agreed by hotel owners

Thanks

[chimperton]

This seems like a pretty extreme cost for 5 rooms, especially with how the mockups look. Can you project what the 50% rev share would look like over the course of the year? I’d personally suggest eliminating the 50 free nights to bring the overall cost of the AIP down.

[DeSmart]

Thank you for your suggestion. We’ll consider completing this cooperation at the lowest possible cost.
The budget is not just allocated for themed rooms, it primarily covers the overall packaged cooperation. This includes the rooftop decoration, pool and ambiance creation, hotel lobby, themed exhibitions, etc.
We aim to showcase APE culture in high-traffic areas of the hotel and provide benefits and promotional show-case for the community.
Additionally, we need to consider the impact of the entire display on the hotel’s style and potential costs to ensure a win-win situation for both the hotel and our DAO.

[chimperton]

I have to disagree as you’re targeting a very niche audience in another situation that is also niche – guests who will stay at this specific hotel. The potential total addressable target market here will be tiny compared to using that money to focus on purely digital experiences where there is massive overlap, or other advertising campaigns which have a much greater chance at speaking to a crypto enthusiast who will consider using $APE.

Why would the average hotel customer want to stay in a room that appears to be an advertisement for Yuga’s NFT collections, of which the most common public perception is that they were a scam? It’s tough out there and we need to be realistic.

When you’re asking for a half million dollars on an idea that inherently does not scale, and likely will not return anywhere near the cost spent back to the DAO, you really really need to have a compelling argument. I don’t see a world in which this idea, as-is, isn’t voted down by a 90%+ majority. I’d love to see an idea which can scale, and which has serious overlap with crypto natives or gaming natives who will be more open to the idea of a highly specific coin like $APE which still lacks fundamental use cases.

[Evil]

This is so random and obvious cash grab budget breakdown. Not to add that its an idea already in AIP ideas for Miami.

[Hannah]

It’s good.If do the no income event need 500,000 USDT,the BAYC Bar + 5 room + expo is lower than 1 event…
I think it’s the good choose

[DeSmart]

Great thinking, and I completely understand what you mean. From a monetary perspective, we cannot guarantee that this project will make profit.
But I believe that the key to brand and build at present is not that we spend $400,000 to earn a profit of 100,000 or 200,000, which is meaningless for the scale of ApeCoin DAO. Making money is not the primary goal, making good use of funds to promote brand and culture, and creating real-life ApeCoin usage scenarios is the primary goal.
In addition, while promoting in web3 market is important, but many successful Web3 projects are trying to create an effect that attracts the attention of non Web3 users. In Web3, the awareness of ApeCoin is already high, while it is still low in the offline world.
The hotel has a daily consumers of approximately 200+. As we will arrange brand exposure materials in the hotel lobby, corridors, and bar (not just in the themed rooms), we can cover the exposure of 70,000 high-quality offline consumers in one year, which is not a small number.
In addition, this will form new online branding materials, which will be disseminated in social media and communities, and thus gain more exposure opportunities online.

[chimperton]

To be direct, this idea does not scale and even at 70,000 people, the impact from a marketing perspective is beyond tiny for a half a million dollar investment. And those proposed 70,000 people are in no way targeted, meaning it’s amongst the lowest value possible when considering a marketing spend.

I knew there is no financial ROI, it’s clear that this is a bad idea from that perspective. You’re currently running for SC, and I agree with Evil that this looks like an exit liquidity attempt. It’s not going to provide meaningful value for the spend back to the DAO no matter how you slice it. I’d suggest re-thinking this entirely.

[Aepicurean]

I have to agree with most of the commenters here. This does not seem like a good or scalable idea. It also feels to me to be the opposite of how things should work. We should be monetizing the extremely engaged, active community of Web3 users that we are. People should be paying the DAO to use the IP in order to draw in Ape Community Members. We should not be paying one off, non-targeted marketing deals to random hotel developers.

With ApeChain, for example, we have dozens of companies and protocols eager to expend resources to reach our audience. While I think an Ape-themed hotel would be cool, I’d rather get there because a hotelier one day views our IP to be so cool and such a draw that they pay us to use it. Or someone from the community uses the IP from the NFTs they own to build/brand a hotel.

[Chris.Admin]

Hi @DeSmart,

The community feedback period for your proposal would be ending in less than 24 hours.

• If you’re content with the feedback received, your next steps are to finalize your proposal using the AIP Draft Template.

• A moderator will reach out to the author to finalize the AIP Draft. Upon receipt of the final Draft, we will review and provide instructions on the next steps.

• Are you ready to proceed to the next phase or do you wish to extend community discussion for another 7 days?

We look forward to hearing from you.

-@Facilitators

[DavidW]

I like the idea, but have some questions on the financial breakdown. As I worked with CityDAO as a lead facilitator for years, I have some knowledge of the costs of renovations and operational expenses, this seems high for five rooms. Would all the APE that is received have to be immediately converted to Thai Bhat or USD to pay for on-the-group building and maintenance?

[SandmanNY]

I could see the decorations being all made by apes. we could have paintings carpets. show off the talents of the artists as well.

even a bodega in the lobby for MBA brands

[DeSmart]

Thank you for your question David.
The 5 themed rooms are a small part of our collaboration. As outlined, the costs mainly include the overall hotel environment, such as the lobby, restaurant bar, rooftop, pool area, and more. Additionally, we’ll be creating and providing various merchandise over a year to enhance guest experience and increase brand exposure.
Moreover, supporting ApeCoin payments involves some risk mitigation.
You can see this proposal is a comprehensive implementation plan aiming to build a phenomenal real-world application and complete experience, not just some themed rooms.
We will pay the related costs in stages according to the final agreement with the hotel.

[DeSmart]

Yes, indeed, my friend. We will have a dedicated space to showcase ecosystem-related products, including creations and IP derivatives from our community members.

[DeSmart]

I think ready for the next phase, thank you!

[bigbull]

My main concern here is this is more a BAYC thing.

I was thinking for BAYC things need to be done to have more value relative to MAYC.

Regarding bricks and mortar, I would love to see club houses in NY/Miami, London and Hong Kong owned, not rented so they will around in 100 years for BAYC.

Bentley is owned by Volkswagen, but having a Golf doesn’t get you to join Bentley exclusive events.

Personally I would like to see ApeCoin AIPs doing one of 3 things:

1. Growing voting and delegations
2. Growing ApeChain
3. Increasing investments vs grants. Most likely as a endowment or fund of funds model. Basically not direct management of the investments. Given investments can take 5-10 years to exit and our roles are capped at 2 years direct investments make less sense, plus there are more legal risks with direct investments.