If there is a theme queen On Instagram, that's the travel scene. Millions of users dedicated to revealing the best corners of a destination, discovering the best places to eat in a city, or giving tips on how to travel on a budget. There are profiles of all kinds and for all tastes. And when you're away from home, you can find inspiration in the smallest details, even looking at the floor. Just ask Bill Young, whose travels around the world gave rise to a particular hobby: photographing the carpets in the accommodations where he stays. From Austin to Texas, via Las Vegas and Lille, France. Today, nearly 320,000 people follow his Instagram profile, whose name, My Hotel Carpet, leaves no doubt as to what one is going to find.
“My Marriott app says I’ve spent 6.75 years at their hotels,” explains Bill Young, 54, via email from Bangkok. His countless trips have an explanation: after college, he entered the US Navy's flight school, where he spent a decade piloting helicopters and as an instructor. He then became a pilot for United Airlines, until he was fired after the 9/11 attacks. Since then, he has been a pilot for jets for an international airline, whose name he prefers not to reveal. “My flight schedule takes me all over the world, and I often find myself with free time. Photography gives me the opportunity to explore with the mission of capturing the local flavor of wherever I am,” he explains. “Many people outside the industry don’t know this, but I spend my layover time at the airport.” lobbies from the hotels waiting for colleagues.”
Many flights, many hotels, and many waits, during which she began to notice the "crazy" patterns on some of the rugs she encountered. So, she decided to start photographing some of the more intricately designed rugs with her phone, and began posting those images on her Instagram profile. @billyoungphotoBut those images didn't fit with the rest of her travel photos, so in 2015, My Carpet Hotel was born. “It was basically a whim, and something I did mostly for fun. It also gave me something to do during layovers: find crazy rugs and post them on the page. I never really promoted it.”
A post shared by Bill Young (@myhotelcarpet)
In November 2017, she had 83 followers. Then Christmas came, and his daughter had the idea to post a tweet: “All I want for Christmas is for my dad’s Instagram account to go viral, please help make this happen.” And her Christmas wish came true. She went from 83 followers to about 500,000 in a matter of days. “Why did this go viral? I think it was a sweet story that came out during a particularly horrific news cycle. Shootings, sexual abuse and bullying, you name it, the news has been grim lately. This was a sweet story of a daughter who wanted to do something fun for her dad, and I think it resonated with a lot of people. How does something go viral? I’m mostly excited for Jill and what she was able to make happen. Regardless of where this ultimately ends up, she’ll have a fun and sweet story she can tell for the rest of her life,” says Young.
All I Want For Christmas is for my Dad's hotel carpet instagram to go viral, please help this happen pic.twitter.com/pqCWDglFf9
For the moment, “this” is over too. the publication of a book (titled, of course, Hotel Carpets), in August 2020, with their best photos of hotel carpets. What does this decorative element have to have to catch your attention? “The crazier the pattern, the better. And it has more stitches if the pattern doesn't repeat. They're becoming harder to find, as the industry seems to be moving away from carpets toward more modern, but hostile, textures.”
She already has 290 posts on Instagram (although she has many more photos saved). Among her most recent posts, hotel floors in Bangkok, San Jose (USA), Colorado, Chicago, Brussels, Tel Aviv... Her favorite? The carpet of the hall of the Long Beach Marriott that became the cover of his book.
A post shared by Bill Young (@myhotelcarpet)
“I'm not quitting my job as a pilot. Flying pays the bills. I'm going to try to keep my fans happy by posting new images. And I'm going to keep working to grow my photography business. It's a little ironic: I've always strived to improve my photography, keep up with trends, buy modern equipment, and so on. After all this, my tombstone will probably say: 'iPhone Hotel Carpet Photo Dad.' Jill, Heidi [his daughter and wife] and I will see where this takes us and we'll probably enjoy the ride. I don't really know much about carpets, except how to vacuum, but I think it's good for people to notice something they maybe didn't appreciate before,” he says of his future plans. “I get tons of people sending me their hotel carpet photos every day. This notoriety will probably last 15 minutes, but it's been fun, and I'm really proud of my daughter for making all this happen.”
Meanwhile, he will continue taking photos of his travels and the carpets he finds during his stops, and he is working on a spy novel in which he doesn't rule out including a nod to his fans.
A post shared by Bill Young (@myhotelcarpet)
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Editor-in-chief of the El Viajero supplement, she has spent most of her career at EL PAÍS. Previously, she worked in sections such as El País Semanal, the Revista Sábado supplement, and Gente y Estilo. She holds a degree in Journalism from the Ramón Llull University in Barcelona and a Master's degree in Journalism from EL PAÍS.
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