WEBVTT
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Hello everybody, Simona here, and as you probably know by now, I've been abducted by aliens.
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And they do have one mission.
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They wanna open a hotel on our planet.
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But there is one problem, they have no idea what human hospitality is.
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So they made me an offer, teach them everything there is to know about hospitality, or I will never see my family or my planet again.
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Now it's true that I spent over 25 years in the industry, but I cannot explain everything on my own.
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So in every episode I will be joined by a few friends and they will try to help me out.
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So please help me get home.
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I want to go back to my family.
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My family's waiting.
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These aliens are getting impatient.
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So thank you so much for joining me with uh episode zero, and today I'm with two uh very good friends, Alan Young from Infor and David, and I will butcher your name every single time, but the aliens don't know how to pronounce it, so Propavka.
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It's probably easier to get uh the names of the aliens, something like that.
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Exactly.
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Well I know that guy.
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You're from the same country.
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Okay, so you see where we're going with this.
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So episode zero.
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So the first thing they wanna know is what is human hospitality.
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So help me out, please.
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Well, first, Simone, let's let's check the reception.
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If you're abducted, um let's make sure that the Wi-Fi signal is strong enough so we can uh that is that is you know, one one good thing they do have is very good Wi-Fi.
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Perfect.
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I'm 660 on the show.
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Another technology you don't want to know about.
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You keep that to yourself.
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Um well listen, I hope your family is alright.
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Without me, probably better, but uh so what is what is hospitality, right?
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That's uh it's a really good question.
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And um I think it's a two-part answer, right?
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We we have goods that we sell and we have services that we sell.
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Well, despite the fact that we're selling stuff, we're still calling them guests.
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So that's that's in itself a little mysterious to me.
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Probably something we should figure out.
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But I think hospitality in its purest form, right?
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And I'm I'm talking as someone who has lived through virtually any job in the traditional hospitality industry, may it be bell desk, front office, you know, housekeeping, etc.
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etc.
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Is the art of creating an emotion inside a human being through delivery of said goods and services with the hope that that person just has a good time.
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That's as simple as that to me.
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Let me check if they got it.
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So I probably they want to know a little more about what you would define as because you're talking about an emotion, right?
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And this exchange between two humans.
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So that concept can be alien to aliens.
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So how would you define this as this quote-unquote human experience?
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So so when aliens arrive on the planet, there are two ways to greet them.
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There's one way, which is to greet them warm, generously, uh kind of in a reception environment, right?
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Greeting them that way.
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There's another way to greet them, which is with tactile missiles and anything else that you want to have that might just blow them up.
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So when we really look at hospitality, from my perspective, it is that generous welcome.
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And primarily for strangers.
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When you look at hospitality, you look at the fact of who you're greeting, who you're meeting, how are you doing that?
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If you take the commerce out of the equation, then it really is no different than welcoming people into your own home and saying, What am I going to do with my guests?
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How am I gonna go ahead and be generous and be welcoming and be able to show them the generous nature of our of our planet?
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So to me that's really, really important is to I think you need to take the the e commerce out of it and really look at how do you welcome people?
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So or aliens.
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Or exactly, or both.
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Uh so why does hospitality exist?
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Because that's that's a big question, right?
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Because does it have like a social purpose or like an evolutionary purpose?
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Because right now it's I think it's for a lot of people working in the industry, it's like only transactions, but there's so much more to that.
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The hospitality industry exists primarily to go ahead and deliver experiences and engagements.
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There is the transactional nature of the hospitality industry, which is primarily around business and people having to go to different areas for work, uh, for meetings, etc.
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But when you really delve into the hospitality industry, it really is focused on that experience, and people are trying ever harder to gain that experience.
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And if you go ahead and offer a unique engagement model, whether it's the type of hotel that you have, or whether it's the type of people that work for you that offer up a true generous reception and an engagement level that is better than anyone else's, then that hospitality industry will begin to thrive because people want to go ahead and engage with what you have to offer.
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I think they do have a uh question.
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Let me check.
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So I'm still learning the language, uh, so I could I could get work on words wrong.
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So, what they want to know is why would humans open their doors to someone who can potentially harm them?
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That's a good one.
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That's a fun one, yeah.
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See, I I think it's more of a ritual, right?
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So if you look at different hospitality rituals, there is um ritual in the Bedouin world, right?
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So the the people who live in in the desert or is historically lived in the desert in the Middle East and in the Sahara region.
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And there is a rule amongst Bedouin hospitality that you shall take a guest in, but you shall not conduct business with this person until three days or three moons have passed.
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That is one law of hospitality in that part of the world, right?
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There is an in in I don't know if it's Hindu, there's an in Indian, for lack of better word, in Indian saying that a a guest is equivalent to a god, right?
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So you're you're experiencing a godlike presence through the gift of hospitality.
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And then speaking of the gift, it's um there's a book I I forgot by by who it is, and it is it's literally called The Gift.
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I think Mouse M-A-U-S-S.
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And he describes now that you talk about transactions, right?
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Or is it you alan?
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You said it's it's it's a transaction.
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Hospitality in itself is a transaction, right?
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I'm ex I'm exchanging an emotion and I give it to someone.
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However, it will always be an emotional transaction, meaning that the person receiving it will feel an obligation to return that favor or that gift through the host.
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So maybe that's why we invented the the monetary transaction within hospitality to not feel obliged to return that favor in its natural sense.
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That's a good one.
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That's a very good one.
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So we just add this this financial transaction layer on it so it's it can be repeatable and nobody feels hurt.
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Nobody feels hurt, right?
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Yeah, that's really that's really interesting.
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So when you enter that environment, there is a then you go from hospitality to service, right?
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Theoretically.
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And when you when you look at the hospitality to service, the service entity becomes almost anything, right?
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Whether it's offering food and drink, whether it's offering somebody a ride at your theme park, whether it's offering tickets to a baseball game or something like that.
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And so that in itself becomes a service side of the business, but still you're dealing with that transaction where at the end of the day, I like that.
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That person doesn't feel guilty for not having to commit themselves to deliver something that maybe they're not ready to give.
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So and uh what do you think is the the the power relationship between the guest and the host?
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Who actually uh holds the power?
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In a perfect environment, a perfect world, uh that relationship should be almost equal.
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Because of the fact that there needs to be a level of respect between the guest and the the provider of the service.
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Uh however, we've gotten to a point where the guest holds most of the power because of the fact that they have a voice.
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A voice that far exceeds what they have internally during the event, during the uh stay at the property or whatever.
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Now they have an external voice, and that external voice You mean like uh writing reviews?
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Or just social or anything like that, right?
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So from an alien's perspective, they have a better chance to go ahead and you know, why are we gonna fear them?
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We're probably not gonna fear them.
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The only time we might fear them is if they talk about us in a begrudgingly manner after a stay or after that world.
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So as I said, in a perfect world it should be equal because of the fact that to me, hospitality and service is about building a relationship, it's not about a a full transaction.
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It's not like buying a sweater, but at the same time, I think the tables have been turned a little bit in the favor of the guest because there is that element of the unknown.
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We're not sure exactly what they're going to say.
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They may say the the the trip was wonderful, but they may say something completely different outside the four walls, right?
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Yeah.
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Okay, I think this is probably something very hard to grasp for an alien.
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Yeah, it would be crazy hard.
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Maybe the aliens can only speak the truth, right?
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Well, let's let's let's ask them.
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Do you all you only speak the truth?
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Apparently I think what he said is how can someone who is never right, who is rarely right, always be right, right?
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Yeah.
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We mean the the guest is always right.
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It's this it's this famous, this famous hospitality saying.
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So I just imagine that an alien being being on that side of the of the spectrum and saying, well, this guy just ripped my hotel apart, although I tried my level best, right?
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Just because this person has an unfair leverage, how can it be right and and wrong at the same time?
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But yeah, interesting.
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That's very interesting.
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Okay, we move to part two.
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And they wanna know more about the human experience.
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Um, what do you think makes someone feel welcome?
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Do you think uh we can identify the essential ingredients?
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I think that that's that depends on the person itself, right?
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That there might be a person who is highly focused on objects, right?
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Materialistic things.
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That might be the pillow.
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You mean from a guest perspective?
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From a guest perspective.
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Okay, right.
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So that that person really values tangible objects, it values the the comfortability of the bed, the the security of the room, the experience at the lobby, the decor.
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And then there's a person who's experience driven.
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To them, that might be the conversation that they have with the concierge that recommends that incredible cigar bar that nobody has access to in in Copenhagen.
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Doesn't exist.
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We yet to find it.
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And there's a multitude of emotions that people respond to, right?
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And I think to find, to answer your question, I think to find that trigger, that is the art of hospitality.
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Yeah, but how do you do that?
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Because it seems like it's very like to Alan's point, you may not know exactly what the guest is thinking all the time, or maybe you know it just a couple of days later on a uh trip advisor review.
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So how do you do that?
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Well, I think the only way is through personal interaction, and and that is probably something that we have lost.
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We have lost because of our need to add more screens, to add more solutions, to add more technology to that otherwise very human and very simple and very honest guest journey.
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We have taken away the one element that historically makes any conversation, any type of encounter valuable, and that's what we're doing right now.
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We're sitting across from each other in more or less comfortable chairs.
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I'm not in a comfortable position, remember, I'm abducted, huh?
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But true, that.
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I mean your holograph, you look very nice.
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It looks about the same as the hotel lobby chairs in your spaceship up there.
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But this human connection, right?
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Looking in each other's eyes, having having the chance to not be able to look away, and I see this as a privilege, right?
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To really be able to look someone deep in the eyes, to show empathy, to feel, I think it's almost instinctive.
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And if anything, maybe that's something we could get back.
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So I'm gonna be make it as simplistic as humanly possible for an alien.
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It is about a smile.
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Right.
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I think we have lost that point of looking at somebody and receiving a smile.
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Now, an alien might not know what a smile is, but over time they will understand that a smile is something that is generous, that is um honest, that is open.
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And to me, that is the initial engagement.
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If I get somebody that smiles at me, I'm gonna smile back.
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And you've already built that tangible relationship with that person immediately.
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But do you think that to a certain extent you accept some level of this smile being artificial, like the the the staff can be trained?
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Because I I'm pretty sure the aliens will not get the concept of a smile, right?
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Or what it means even culturally for us.
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So can you train somebody to be smiley and still make it, you know, worthwhile or not totally artificial?
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No.
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Okay.
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I don't think you can.
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I I think you can train people to have the capability to engage, but I think you can see through a fake smile.
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I think you really understand that somebody has been put through a very programmatic kind of response where they said you need to go ahead and do this and do that and do this and smile at this sentence.
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And I think people see through that very, very quickly.
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I think you understand a genuine smile versus a fake one.
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They do have a question.
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Wait.
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So they're asking if well they they probably have a solution for that.
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They they can build the technology to detect face minds, uh face minds.
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So yeah, and uh that will be interesting if we can get uh one of the devices probably will help us.
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Okay, uh, let's move to part number three.
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I'm pretty sure the people around them they have no idea what what the hell is going on.
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Uh anyway, uh the third one, the third part is about the business of hospitality.
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And when do you think hospitality became uh become a business?
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Because up until this point is it's like a mutual right, a ritual of hospitality.
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But when when do you think it it became a transaction?
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It was like with uh with taverns, it was like religious, with pilgrimage.
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Yeah, I do believe that that pilgrimage in its most natural form is probably the the earliest transaction, the earliest transaction that that can be associated with with business hospitality.
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As there was just a human need.
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There was a human need to provide shelter, a human need to provide food, and if you do it under under the religious umbrella of an of an uh of a pilgrimage, then that in itself can be a very pure form.
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Although business, although there's a monetary transaction, or maybe not even a monetary transaction, but uh a goods and services transaction.
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Three three and a half years ago, I I walked the Compostella de Santiago, all the way from the the north of France, and then I took the the outer route on the on the coastal line down to Santiago de Compostella, something like 500, 600 something kilometers.
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And one of the most impressive or memorable experiences I made was well besides the the characters and the people that you meet on the on the camino, on the path, is the simple hospitality that comes with walking that path.
00:16:51.519 --> 00:17:02.799
So you get a pilgrimage pass, um, which allows you to well pretty much check in to any religious institution, may it be a monastery, may that be a church that has been converted to a to a bed and breakfast.
00:17:03.120 --> 00:17:04.640
Well, that's that's exaggerated.
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It's pretty much just a bed, and there's 20 other stinky feet pilgrims sleeping in that hall or not.
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So it's not glamorous, right?
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But it is so memorable because you walk for 20, 20 miles on a really, really good day, right?
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10 miles on a bad day, you burn 8,000, 10,000 calories on that path.
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You just come home, or you come home.
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See, I I use a very emotional word there.
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You come to this place, you don't know what it is, but you feel instantly at home because the first thing that those people do is they give you half a liter of wine that helps out.
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Oh no, without.
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Yes.
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And they give you some bread.
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Okay.
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So this is the the sacral leg, right?
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And then they give you food, whatever is available.
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They give you some soup, some some very nourishing food to help you rest, to help you recover from that path.
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And the conversations I had on on those tables in the monasteries are incredibly honest.
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And I think back to your point, Alan, when can a smile be faked?
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I I think absolutely not, because you can judge in in second one when that person sits across from you at the table eating the same meals, your equals, right?
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He or she might, you know, come from a different direction of life, but in that moment you're equal.
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And when when your eyes meet, when your looks meet, you can see through a lot of things that we learned as humanity or as society to hide.
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Because of whatever reason, right?
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That's that's personal, or up to every individual itself.
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And if hospitality can bring that out and keep that in its heart, although transactional, right?
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I think that's something that we should never lose.
00:18:29.759 --> 00:18:32.720
And maybe something aliens could learn from us in that matter.
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But do you think because you were, I'm pretty sure you were bringing something to the table of that conversation, and that you were pretty much willingly to talk to people and have that kind of experience, right?
00:18:45.200 --> 00:18:51.039
And on the other side, you had people that were very welcoming, so it was like a match made in Avon.
00:18:51.200 --> 00:19:05.440
But do you think that we can be sometime, especially with newer generation of guests, and we had this conversation a few times, that are maybe less under they understand a little less the dynamics of traveling and the dynamics of being with other people?
00:19:05.680 --> 00:19:14.160
Do you think that the relationship could be different in the sense that the guest could be more closed down or maybe doesn't even know how to react?
00:19:14.480 --> 00:19:16.240
It it has already, Simone.
00:19:16.400 --> 00:19:19.359
It I mean look at the look at the purest form of entertainment.
00:19:19.440 --> 00:19:26.319
That's a bunch of cavemen sitting around a fire in whatever language there was back in the BC 1000s, sharing a story.
00:19:31.279 --> 00:19:36.640
And people cheer, people find each other's story great, they eat, they sleep, they move on with life, right?
00:19:36.799 --> 00:19:38.480
Nothing has changed in hospitality.
00:19:38.559 --> 00:19:46.160
That still is that exchange of emotions, that honest exchange of ideas, and whatever you bring to the table, that is the core of hospitality.
00:19:46.319 --> 00:19:47.359
Now look at the new generation.
00:19:47.519 --> 00:19:57.680
The new generation grows up with social media, they grow up with this perception of travel, being this glamorous backpacker that travels to Southeast Asia, does a bunch of YouTube shorts and makes a bunch of money.
00:19:57.920 --> 00:20:01.519
Core of traveling has already been sucked out of this concept.
00:20:01.680 --> 00:20:16.400
Now these people are being exposed to various other commercial elements that really collaterals that that take out, if not purposefully destroy, the true meaning of hospitality and switch it out with commerce.
00:20:16.799 --> 00:20:17.440
This is interesting.
00:20:17.519 --> 00:20:22.000
I was reading something about the fact that basically we do not have hobbies anymore.
00:20:22.240 --> 00:20:27.279
Because the hobby was something that you just did for fun, but uh it was basically behind closed walls.
00:20:27.359 --> 00:20:28.799
Nobody knew about that, right?
00:20:28.960 --> 00:20:31.599
And uh you had joy just doing the thing.
00:20:31.759 --> 00:20:44.160
And now everything that it's a hobby, but it's not transactional in a way, you know, you cannot talk about it on TikTok, or maybe you cannot do a a live stream on Twitch, it's it's almost seen as like unnecessary, you know.
00:20:44.319 --> 00:20:57.759
And I think to your point, travel is changing in that direction that the travel is not the travel itself, it's the moment you can actually share on a social media whatever you've done, and that creates a pretty bizarre version of travel.
00:20:58.880 --> 00:21:02.960
So when was the last time you went traveling and didn't take a picture?
00:21:03.359 --> 00:21:04.559
Oh Jesus Christ.
00:21:04.880 --> 00:21:12.559
I I can only remember once because uh uh I went with a friend and he didn't know how to use a camera, and so we came back and all the photos were blurred.
00:21:12.640 --> 00:21:14.000
Uh so that was in Vienna.
00:21:14.079 --> 00:21:16.160
I know I was there, but I don't have proof.
00:21:16.480 --> 00:21:18.960
Well, and that's the thing, proof, right?
00:21:19.200 --> 00:21:25.759
We've gotten to a world now where people have to prove what they've done and what they've experienced for some reason.
00:21:26.640 --> 00:21:28.240
I've now traveled.
00:21:28.319 --> 00:21:33.759
Uh, when my wife and I travel, we make an effort not to take pictures.
00:21:35.359 --> 00:21:44.240
So we will go ahead and we will talk about our experiences and we will laugh about what we thought was funny and we will commiserate about things that were not.
00:21:44.400 --> 00:21:50.640
But at the same time, it's the connection of yourself with the environment that you visited.
00:21:50.960 --> 00:22:08.160
Right now, I don't think we have a true connection when we travel because it is nothing more than taking as many pictures as humanly possible, posting them on the social sites that we want to, letting people or or proving to people that we were there and then going through that process over and over and over again.
00:22:08.480 --> 00:22:21.759
So I would challenge people and the aliens not to document their experiences in a manner that doesn't require them to memorize or really understand what the trip was all about.
00:22:22.079 --> 00:22:23.599
Let me check what they think about that.
00:22:30.079 --> 00:22:33.279
Yeah they they say they don't take pictures everything is classified.
00:22:34.640 --> 00:22:35.599
Okay, to your point.
00:22:35.839 --> 00:22:38.400
Oh you can be a great alien alien.
00:22:38.559 --> 00:22:39.039
Perfect.
00:22:39.359 --> 00:22:43.119
Okay so guest versus customer.
00:22:43.359 --> 00:22:48.640
I think we are the only industry uh which doesn't call the customers customers.
00:22:48.720 --> 00:22:49.759
We call them guests.
00:22:50.960 --> 00:22:52.400
Although they give us money.
00:22:53.039 --> 00:22:53.440
Yes.
00:22:53.680 --> 00:22:56.559
Or something else to your point or something else in return.
00:22:56.960 --> 00:22:59.680
Help me understand the alien the alien request.
00:23:00.720 --> 00:24:03.680
Why let me check with uh with the big guy no better it was the accent yeah yeah yeah sorry but I and I got lost in translations so this is from Nebula 5 so it's uh yeah reception it's a little more it's like uh it's a South Midwest kind of idea mid mid mid nebula Jesus Christ what is a question again guest guest versus customer I think it's just it just feels better right it's it it's all about emotions as as soon as I as soon as I call them call them customers I I take out that giving aspect I take out that selfless aspect that it in in core hospitalities is embedded you know I I give I create memories I I provide just feels better than saying I sell and and maybe if if if we're looking at or if the aliens look at the way that hospitality has evolved or not over the past 20 years maybe it's a way of compensating compensating for our lack of hospitality.
00:24:04.000 --> 00:24:37.519
In day-to-day life look look if you if you you brought up taverns right I come from a from a tiny village aliens don't listen right don't don't come there although I guess they've already been there looking at the people in that village probably um there there's a bunch of taverns right with within Germany it was oh you you're from originally from from Italy um there's travel used to be normal right it used to take two weeks to go to the next village and that could be a trade or there could be a mission there could be a message that you had to deliver there was no name for those people they weren't called guests when they checked into a tavern they were also not called clients they were called travelers.
00:24:37.680 --> 00:24:51.039
So maybe in itself we created that term to compensate for something that does not longer exist and back to our original point the aliens maybe that's to pacify ourselves our own guilt to not being able to provide that original service anymore.
00:24:51.359 --> 00:25:07.279
So it's like a ritualization of something we now lack maybe maybe we give all types of names to we I mean look at the stream we call them viewers we call them the the people that utilize solutions we call them users right what does that word mean?
00:25:07.359 --> 00:25:39.920
It means nothing to us other than a classification that makes a transaction easier there's a customer there's a seller there's a consumer there's a producer there's a listener and then there's a abducted podcast host right look there is something they they don't get and this is because again they're trying to find a business model right and uh they don't get the the the main concept of luxury and the the main question they asked me this was one of the first ones was why some experiences are worth 50 euros and some others are 5,000 euros.
00:25:40.160 --> 00:25:59.440
So can you explain the concept of luxury and hospitality to aliens to me luxury is exceeding my expectations so luxury in its truest form is something that is to me a way that I can be enveloped in in kind of that experience.
00:25:59.599 --> 00:26:29.359
So luxury from a material perspective is very easy to describe we go ahead and we we have beautiful carpets we have beautiful pillows we have a beautiful environment we maybe it's been designed by an architect that is fabulous as as as is renowned or known but that's material stuff and luxury we get it people line up around the around the block for Louis Vuitton bags for some reason but that to me is is people see that as luxury.
00:26:29.519 --> 00:26:39.680
The luxury hotel industry or hospitality industry from my perspective is more about exceeding my expectations so let me give you a real world example.
00:26:39.920 --> 00:26:54.799
I stayed at a hotel I don't know if earlier this year and when I went back to my room to call it an evening there was an amenity sitting there but the amenity was actually a cloth that I could clean my glasses with.
00:26:55.119 --> 00:27:22.720
So what they noticed was that obviously I wear glasses but this would be lovely to have for me to to carry around because I'm constantly cleaning my glasses but it was branded by their hotel name and it created an experience of exceeding my expectations by doing something that was very foreign to me right it doesn't happen very often I usually look at an amenity as a bottle of wine and a fruit plate.
00:27:22.960 --> 00:27:33.200
But they went that step beyond to say okay they've delved into who I am as a human being and they've exceeded my expectations luxury should not be a price point.
00:27:33.519 --> 00:27:39.279
Luxury should be an expectation and then exceeding those expectations when you're offering lodging.
00:27:39.599 --> 00:27:40.160
Love it.
00:27:40.480 --> 00:27:53.839
Okay we move to part four and that is that is probably you know you're the best people to to to answer this because uh they want to know more about the technology side of things.
00:27:54.000 --> 00:27:54.319
Right.
00:27:54.559 --> 00:28:03.039
And hospitality and technology what problem or problems do you think technology is supposed to solve in our industry?
00:28:04.480 --> 00:28:10.240
Because looking from the outside and I probably we'll cut it down sometimes we're adding some problems with technology.
00:28:10.799 --> 00:28:41.680
Not sometimes we do we definitely do and and we did now I sound like every other keynote on the planet that the past 12 to 24 months but uh we kind of mess up with technology in hospitality not not from a provider point of view but from its its general purpose point of view right we created more distance between that human interaction through screens through interfaces or lack thereof through disconnected silos data and and our immense urge to collect data to collect data for collecting purposes.
00:28:41.839 --> 00:28:55.119
We haven't really until until recently and until we we dive into the possibilities of AI and now with with the gentic AI that that enhances or that 10 enhances tenfold our ability to really make sense of that data.
00:28:55.359 --> 00:28:57.759
What we did over the past years was unnecessary.
00:28:57.920 --> 00:29:21.200
It was unnecessary unnecessary in the sense that we put such a burden on the consumer on the guest on the traveler by being so self-absorbed in our own standard operating procedures of collecting as much data and turning that data into currency or a business opportunity for our alien friends and therefore completely discounting that guest journey because we simply don't have the time any longer.
00:29:21.359 --> 00:29:31.119
We don't care any longer because we're measured by technology driven KPIs that we created ourselves in order to justify the implementation of said products.
00:29:31.680 --> 00:29:49.440
So let me give you an example I'm standing in front of a desk or in in in I'm standing in the line as as always at at the at the reception and um it's the same scene that happens I'm waiting I'm standing in line I come to the desk and this gentleman who's at the desk checks me in within two minutes.
00:29:49.599 --> 00:30:11.519
Not even a how are you here's your key where's your credit card get out of my way there's the elevator not that one that one goodbye next yeah in his he didn't even ask me for my name right in this book or in his book he has scored a 10 out of 10 why because someone decided that there's a KPI if you complete a check in under two minutes you get I don't know you get a golden star.
00:30:12.240 --> 00:30:24.720
Jesus Christ in my world that was a complete miss because I feel discounted I feel like number 744 out of 1000 that this guy has processed today be like a piece of meat.
00:30:25.039 --> 00:31:17.599
So how can the same the same scene create such two different experiences with each other within two two people that have a vis-a-vis conversation and that is only possible through complete disconnect and I think technology has played a big part in manifesting that disconnect wait uh do you have a question that was the same guy then yeah yeah it's the it's the question guy um look uh they want to know look like if you're so smart and you're talking about this very human element of hospitality how you you got to the point that you're basically looking at tech KPIs instead of human APIs was it something that just came with time it was abrupt it it's more abrupt than it ever has been if that's actually a statement.
00:31:17.920 --> 00:31:41.119
I think in the past ten years profitability has become a KPI that matters most and that management companies that run hotels or owners that own hotels they're really looking at the profitability margin and so if they can get things done quicker faster cheaper but let me stop you for a second because you think the margins went down and they needed to balance it out or the margins they wanted the margins up.
00:31:41.359 --> 00:31:42.160
So it's greed.
00:31:42.400 --> 00:31:45.039
Of course it is why wouldn't it be right?
00:31:45.839 --> 00:32:04.640
It's no different than here's a great example went to downtown Copenhagen the other day and it was not different than any other downtown right there was a Burger King there was a HM there was the same things that I see in my little town in northern Ontario so where's that differentiating experience?
00:32:04.799 --> 00:32:11.440
What happened was all of those big corporations said ah we can make more money by doing more stores in more cities.
00:32:11.680 --> 00:32:18.720
So when you really look at it from a hotel perspective they're still measured on how much money they're going to make.
00:32:18.960 --> 00:32:25.440
When you look at luxury hotels they make money by delivering exceptional service.
00:32:25.759 --> 00:32:33.920
So they might look at different KPIs versus a different type of market segment but at the end of the day everybody wants to make more money.
00:32:34.240 --> 00:32:46.000
When you talk about technology and this is one of the things that irks me a great deal we became a cashless society right who suffered for being cashless in our world housekeepers.
00:32:46.400 --> 00:32:47.599
Because of the tips?
00:32:47.920 --> 00:32:49.519
They don't get tips anymore.
00:32:49.759 --> 00:33:00.400
There are companies out there that said they have things that are QR code that you'll go ahead and scan and give your housekeeper a tip but as human beings we're not scanning that because that takes time.
00:33:00.720 --> 00:33:05.279
So the easiest way used to be was to take five dollars out of your pocket and leave it in the room.
00:33:05.359 --> 00:33:05.599
Yeah.
00:33:05.839 --> 00:33:07.279
But now we have no money.
00:33:07.599 --> 00:33:24.000
So very true technology took us to a point where we're a cashless society and it actually had a detrimental impact on hundreds of thousands of people globally millions of people globally that rely on tipping as to supplement their wages.
00:33:24.240 --> 00:33:28.640
And to me housekeepers are the bedrock of a hotel.
00:33:28.960 --> 00:33:40.319
So it's not only technology that sits within the operations itself it's external technology that drives change that may have a detrimental impact on people that manage or run the business.
00:33:40.799 --> 00:33:45.200
Now that you mentioned tips I think you're you're absolutely right I I completely agree with you.
00:33:45.279 --> 00:33:53.279
And if if you look at the opposite side of that spectrum on the one hand we lack the ability to tip the people with currency that we really want to tip.
00:33:53.359 --> 00:34:21.679
So yesterday there was a guy called Pierre at the bar Pierre if you're listening to this he did a phenomenal job there just wasn't a tip line don't say it out loud uh they they could uh abduct him to uh sorry for the secrets of of bars he talks too much they won't they won't abduct him it's fine a great guy right but there was no there was no way of tipping him right because of what Ellen said right there was just one line signed to your room yes or no all right so I asked him hey how can I tip you only in cash well I don't have cash I haven't had cash in a million years do you take Alipay?
00:34:21.760 --> 00:34:47.199
No but on the other side of that spectrum as well tipping has been commoditized and it has found its way into virtually every vertical not only within the hospitality industry but I'm supposed to tip my Starbucks barista I'm supposed to tip the guy who helps me pick the HMN shirt I'm supposed to tip everyone right there was no that's very Mr Pink of you you remember the opening of Reservoir dogs good movie I should watch a great movie.
00:34:47.840 --> 00:35:07.920
Aliens that that's a that's a 10 out of 10 oh yeah yeah yeah please do but I think people are fed up with tipping being weaponized against the consumer and it's it's used as a as a method to you know compensate for whatever happened during covert corporate greed etc etc so there's two sides of that spectrum and none of which will play out in the in the guests' favor.
00:35:10.079 --> 00:35:33.119
Okay and we move to the last question and of course you know they they still don't know if they are they will be friendly or not with us you know depends on how this goes so let's say in the case of total human extermination do you think with one week or not well I think it's mutual at this point at this point we're helping each other.
00:35:33.440 --> 00:35:44.719
But uh so the the last question for them is uh can hospitality exist without humans like a fully autonomous hotel will still be hospitality business or something else?
00:35:45.039 --> 00:35:46.320
No that's a lodging business.
00:35:46.480 --> 00:36:18.960
It's a lodging business to me to me when I look at that it really is more along the lines of a transaction a true a true transaction so I I said years ago when this became something that may occur that we need as an industry to develop its own market segment right because it can't be a hospitality business it's it's not dissimilar to a management company owning 20 Airbnbs all within a single and single property.
00:36:19.199 --> 00:36:46.000
We don't look at that as the hospitality business we look at that as as as an Airbnb which in itself has defined their own market segment so I do think that if we get to a point where some hotel company buys a 250 room property and implements technology to the nth degree and they outsource their housekeeping their security and other elements of their business then that is nothing more than a structure where you're purchasing a place to sleep.
00:36:46.639 --> 00:36:48.639
Debbie do you want to add something to that?
00:36:49.039 --> 00:36:53.280
No I I I fully agree hospitality is will become a commodity without humans.
00:36:53.440 --> 00:36:57.039
Humans have and always will make the experience exceptional.
00:36:57.280 --> 00:37:11.039
To some extent that doesn't have to be materialistic it can be that smile that you mentioned before it can be that towel that you got for your glasses or it can be whatever delta you look for within the expectation versus delivery model.
00:37:11.119 --> 00:37:17.280
And the bigger that delta the higher the the satisfaction and the the higher this experience and it has to be human.
00:37:17.679 --> 00:38:28.480
Aliens are you happy with that yes so thank you very much we get to live in that one step closer to coming back to my to my planet so David Alan thank you so much for my for joining on my shenanigans uh and uh so we started by explaining to the aliens what hospitality means and is welcoming a stranger but baby maybe this is the twist hospitality begins when we stop treating someone as a stranger so I'm one step closer to coming back to my beloved planet or maybe I will just move here it's not that bad and uh we see you again with episode two but that was awesome many
00:00:06.639 --> 00:00:12.720
Hello everybody, Simona here, and as you probably know by now, I've been abducted by aliens.
00:00:12.960 --> 00:00:15.119
And they do have one mission.
00:00:15.279 --> 00:00:17.760
They wanna open a hotel on our planet.
00:00:17.920 --> 00:00:22.879
But there is one problem, they have no idea what human hospitality is.
00:00:23.120 --> 00:00:29.760
So they made me an offer, teach them everything there is to know about hospitality, or I will never see my family or my planet again.
00:00:30.000 --> 00:00:35.359
Now it's true that I spent over 25 years in the industry, but I cannot explain everything on my own.
00:00:35.600 --> 00:00:41.359
So in every episode I will be joined by a few friends and they will try to help me out.
00:00:41.520 --> 00:00:43.759
So please help me get home.
00:00:43.920 --> 00:00:45.200
I want to go back to my family.
00:00:45.359 --> 00:00:46.320
My family's waiting.
00:00:46.479 --> 00:00:48.719
These aliens are getting impatient.
00:01:29.840 --> 00:01:45.359
So thank you so much for joining me with uh episode zero, and today I'm with two uh very good friends, Alan Young from Infor and David, and I will butcher your name every single time, but the aliens don't know how to pronounce it, so Propavka.
00:01:48.959 --> 00:01:52.560
It's probably easier to get uh the names of the aliens, something like that.
00:01:52.799 --> 00:01:53.439
Exactly.
00:01:53.920 --> 00:01:55.120
Well I know that guy.
00:01:56.400 --> 00:01:58.000
You're from the same country.
00:01:58.319 --> 00:02:00.159
Okay, so you see where we're going with this.
00:02:00.239 --> 00:02:01.680
So episode zero.
00:02:01.760 --> 00:02:05.840
So the first thing they wanna know is what is human hospitality.
00:02:05.920 --> 00:02:07.359
So help me out, please.
00:02:07.920 --> 00:02:10.400
Well, first, Simone, let's let's check the reception.
00:02:10.639 --> 00:02:19.360
If you're abducted, um let's make sure that the Wi-Fi signal is strong enough so we can uh that is that is you know, one one good thing they do have is very good Wi-Fi.
00:02:19.919 --> 00:02:20.400
Perfect.
00:02:20.479 --> 00:02:21.759
I'm 660 on the show.
00:02:22.000 --> 00:02:23.840
Another technology you don't want to know about.
00:02:24.080 --> 00:02:25.520
You keep that to yourself.
00:02:26.240 --> 00:02:28.319
Um well listen, I hope your family is alright.
00:02:28.879 --> 00:02:35.039
Without me, probably better, but uh so what is what is hospitality, right?
00:02:35.120 --> 00:02:36.879
That's uh it's a really good question.
00:02:36.960 --> 00:02:39.280
And um I think it's a two-part answer, right?
00:02:39.439 --> 00:02:43.599
We we have goods that we sell and we have services that we sell.
00:02:44.240 --> 00:02:47.680
Well, despite the fact that we're selling stuff, we're still calling them guests.
00:02:47.840 --> 00:02:50.479
So that's that's in itself a little mysterious to me.
00:02:50.639 --> 00:02:51.840
Probably something we should figure out.
00:02:52.000 --> 00:02:54.400
But I think hospitality in its purest form, right?
00:02:54.479 --> 00:03:04.479
And I'm I'm talking as someone who has lived through virtually any job in the traditional hospitality industry, may it be bell desk, front office, you know, housekeeping, etc.
00:03:04.639 --> 00:03:04.879
etc.
00:03:05.280 --> 00:03:12.960
Is the art of creating an emotion inside a human being through delivery of said goods and services with the hope that that person just has a good time.
00:03:13.120 --> 00:03:14.319
That's as simple as that to me.
00:03:14.560 --> 00:03:16.159
Let me check if they got it.
00:03:21.439 --> 00:03:27.599
So I probably they want to know a little more about what you would define as because you're talking about an emotion, right?
00:03:27.759 --> 00:03:29.919
And this exchange between two humans.
00:03:30.000 --> 00:03:32.879
So that concept can be alien to aliens.
00:03:33.199 --> 00:03:37.039
So how would you define this as this quote-unquote human experience?
00:03:37.439 --> 00:03:42.240
So so when aliens arrive on the planet, there are two ways to greet them.
00:03:42.719 --> 00:03:50.240
There's one way, which is to greet them warm, generously, uh kind of in a reception environment, right?
00:03:50.400 --> 00:03:51.439
Greeting them that way.
00:03:51.840 --> 00:03:59.120
There's another way to greet them, which is with tactile missiles and anything else that you want to have that might just blow them up.
00:03:59.360 --> 00:04:04.800
So when we really look at hospitality, from my perspective, it is that generous welcome.
00:04:04.960 --> 00:04:06.719
And primarily for strangers.
00:04:06.879 --> 00:04:12.240
When you look at hospitality, you look at the fact of who you're greeting, who you're meeting, how are you doing that?
00:04:12.479 --> 00:04:22.000
If you take the commerce out of the equation, then it really is no different than welcoming people into your own home and saying, What am I going to do with my guests?
00:04:22.160 --> 00:04:30.800
How am I gonna go ahead and be generous and be welcoming and be able to show them the generous nature of our of our planet?
00:04:31.040 --> 00:04:39.040
So to me that's really, really important is to I think you need to take the the e commerce out of it and really look at how do you welcome people?
00:04:39.839 --> 00:04:41.199
So or aliens.
00:04:41.439 --> 00:04:43.120
Or exactly, or both.
00:04:43.279 --> 00:04:46.879
Uh so why does hospitality exist?
00:04:47.040 --> 00:04:48.639
Because that's that's a big question, right?
00:04:48.800 --> 00:04:53.600
Because does it have like a social purpose or like an evolutionary purpose?
00:04:53.680 --> 00:05:01.920
Because right now it's I think it's for a lot of people working in the industry, it's like only transactions, but there's so much more to that.
00:05:03.360 --> 00:05:09.759
The hospitality industry exists primarily to go ahead and deliver experiences and engagements.
00:05:10.000 --> 00:05:19.360
There is the transactional nature of the hospitality industry, which is primarily around business and people having to go to different areas for work, uh, for meetings, etc.
00:05:19.600 --> 00:05:30.319
But when you really delve into the hospitality industry, it really is focused on that experience, and people are trying ever harder to gain that experience.
00:05:30.480 --> 00:05:55.600
And if you go ahead and offer a unique engagement model, whether it's the type of hotel that you have, or whether it's the type of people that work for you that offer up a true generous reception and an engagement level that is better than anyone else's, then that hospitality industry will begin to thrive because people want to go ahead and engage with what you have to offer.
00:05:55.920 --> 00:05:57.600
I think they do have a uh question.
00:05:58.000 --> 00:05:58.639
Let me check.
00:06:03.680 --> 00:06:08.720
So I'm still learning the language, uh, so I could I could get work on words wrong.
00:06:10.240 --> 00:06:17.680
So, what they want to know is why would humans open their doors to someone who can potentially harm them?
00:06:18.560 --> 00:06:19.040
That's a good one.
00:06:19.360 --> 00:06:20.240
That's a fun one, yeah.
00:06:20.399 --> 00:06:23.120
See, I I think it's more of a ritual, right?
00:06:23.439 --> 00:06:30.399
So if you look at different hospitality rituals, there is um ritual in the Bedouin world, right?
00:06:30.480 --> 00:06:37.680
So the the people who live in in the desert or is historically lived in the desert in the Middle East and in the Sahara region.
00:06:37.839 --> 00:06:47.040
And there is a rule amongst Bedouin hospitality that you shall take a guest in, but you shall not conduct business with this person until three days or three moons have passed.
00:06:47.199 --> 00:06:50.240
That is one law of hospitality in that part of the world, right?
00:06:50.399 --> 00:07:00.720
There is an in in I don't know if it's Hindu, there's an in Indian, for lack of better word, in Indian saying that a a guest is equivalent to a god, right?
00:07:00.959 --> 00:07:07.439
So you're you're experiencing a godlike presence through the gift of hospitality.
00:07:07.680 --> 00:07:14.879
And then speaking of the gift, it's um there's a book I I forgot by by who it is, and it is it's literally called The Gift.
00:07:15.040 --> 00:07:16.720
I think Mouse M-A-U-S-S.
00:07:17.680 --> 00:07:21.360
And he describes now that you talk about transactions, right?
00:07:21.519 --> 00:07:22.560
Or is it you alan?
00:07:22.639 --> 00:07:24.480
You said it's it's it's a transaction.
00:07:24.720 --> 00:07:27.120
Hospitality in itself is a transaction, right?
00:07:27.279 --> 00:07:32.240
I'm ex I'm exchanging an emotion and I give it to someone.
00:07:32.399 --> 00:07:41.439
However, it will always be an emotional transaction, meaning that the person receiving it will feel an obligation to return that favor or that gift through the host.
00:07:41.519 --> 00:07:49.680
So maybe that's why we invented the the monetary transaction within hospitality to not feel obliged to return that favor in its natural sense.
00:07:50.160 --> 00:07:50.879
That's a good one.
00:07:51.279 --> 00:07:52.160
That's a very good one.
00:07:52.319 --> 00:07:58.160
So we just add this this financial transaction layer on it so it's it can be repeatable and nobody feels hurt.
00:07:58.399 --> 00:07:59.360
Nobody feels hurt, right?
00:07:59.439 --> 00:08:01.199
Yeah, that's really that's really interesting.
00:08:01.680 --> 00:08:08.959
So when you enter that environment, there is a then you go from hospitality to service, right?
00:08:09.439 --> 00:08:10.480
Theoretically.
00:08:10.800 --> 00:08:17.600
And when you when you look at the hospitality to service, the service entity becomes almost anything, right?
00:08:17.759 --> 00:08:27.360
Whether it's offering food and drink, whether it's offering somebody a ride at your theme park, whether it's offering tickets to a baseball game or something like that.
00:08:27.600 --> 00:08:36.799
And so that in itself becomes a service side of the business, but still you're dealing with that transaction where at the end of the day, I like that.
00:08:36.960 --> 00:08:43.840
That person doesn't feel guilty for not having to commit themselves to deliver something that maybe they're not ready to give.
00:08:44.240 --> 00:08:50.080
So and uh what do you think is the the the power relationship between the guest and the host?
00:08:50.240 --> 00:08:52.159
Who actually uh holds the power?
00:08:53.200 --> 00:08:58.480
In a perfect environment, a perfect world, uh that relationship should be almost equal.
00:08:59.279 --> 00:09:05.440
Because of the fact that there needs to be a level of respect between the guest and the the provider of the service.
00:09:06.240 --> 00:09:14.399
Uh however, we've gotten to a point where the guest holds most of the power because of the fact that they have a voice.
00:09:14.639 --> 00:09:22.240
A voice that far exceeds what they have internally during the event, during the uh stay at the property or whatever.
00:09:22.399 --> 00:09:26.480
Now they have an external voice, and that external voice You mean like uh writing reviews?
00:09:26.799 --> 00:09:29.360
Or just social or anything like that, right?
00:09:29.600 --> 00:09:38.480
So from an alien's perspective, they have a better chance to go ahead and you know, why are we gonna fear them?
00:09:38.559 --> 00:09:39.600
We're probably not gonna fear them.
00:09:39.679 --> 00:09:46.720
The only time we might fear them is if they talk about us in a begrudgingly manner after a stay or after that world.
00:09:46.879 --> 00:09:58.799
So as I said, in a perfect world it should be equal because of the fact that to me, hospitality and service is about building a relationship, it's not about a a full transaction.
00:09:59.039 --> 00:10:07.440
It's not like buying a sweater, but at the same time, I think the tables have been turned a little bit in the favor of the guest because there is that element of the unknown.
00:10:07.519 --> 00:10:09.840
We're not sure exactly what they're going to say.
00:10:10.159 --> 00:10:16.799
They may say the the the trip was wonderful, but they may say something completely different outside the four walls, right?
00:10:17.039 --> 00:10:17.360
Yeah.
00:10:17.519 --> 00:10:22.000
Okay, I think this is probably something very hard to grasp for an alien.
00:10:22.639 --> 00:10:24.240
Yeah, it would be crazy hard.
00:10:24.799 --> 00:10:27.519
Maybe the aliens can only speak the truth, right?
00:10:27.759 --> 00:10:29.120
Well, let's let's let's ask them.
00:10:29.360 --> 00:10:31.200
Do you all you only speak the truth?
00:10:36.320 --> 00:10:45.840
Apparently I think what he said is how can someone who is never right, who is rarely right, always be right, right?
00:10:47.840 --> 00:10:48.240
Yeah.
00:10:48.559 --> 00:10:50.480
We mean the the guest is always right.
00:10:50.559 --> 00:10:53.440
It's this it's this famous, this famous hospitality saying.
00:10:53.519 --> 00:11:01.679
So I just imagine that an alien being being on that side of the of the spectrum and saying, well, this guy just ripped my hotel apart, although I tried my level best, right?
00:11:01.759 --> 00:11:07.120
Just because this person has an unfair leverage, how can it be right and and wrong at the same time?
00:11:07.279 --> 00:11:08.159
But yeah, interesting.
00:11:08.399 --> 00:11:09.519
That's very interesting.
00:11:09.679 --> 00:11:11.360
Okay, we move to part two.
00:11:16.320 --> 00:11:20.639
And they wanna know more about the human experience.
00:11:20.879 --> 00:11:24.879
Um, what do you think makes someone feel welcome?
00:11:25.039 --> 00:11:28.399
Do you think uh we can identify the essential ingredients?
00:11:28.639 --> 00:11:30.879
I think that that's that depends on the person itself, right?
00:11:30.960 --> 00:11:34.320
That there might be a person who is highly focused on objects, right?
00:11:34.399 --> 00:11:35.200
Materialistic things.
00:11:35.279 --> 00:11:36.080
That might be the pillow.
00:11:36.320 --> 00:11:37.360
You mean from a guest perspective?
00:11:37.519 --> 00:11:38.320
From a guest perspective.
00:11:38.399 --> 00:11:38.799
Okay, right.
00:11:38.960 --> 00:11:49.519
So that that person really values tangible objects, it values the the comfortability of the bed, the the security of the room, the experience at the lobby, the decor.
00:11:49.679 --> 00:11:51.840
And then there's a person who's experience driven.
00:11:52.000 --> 00:12:03.039
To them, that might be the conversation that they have with the concierge that recommends that incredible cigar bar that nobody has access to in in Copenhagen.
00:12:03.840 --> 00:12:04.639
Doesn't exist.
00:12:04.799 --> 00:12:05.840
We yet to find it.
00:12:06.080 --> 00:12:09.600
And there's a multitude of emotions that people respond to, right?
00:12:09.679 --> 00:12:13.919
And I think to find, to answer your question, I think to find that trigger, that is the art of hospitality.
00:12:14.159 --> 00:12:15.519
Yeah, but how do you do that?
00:12:15.679 --> 00:12:27.279
Because it seems like it's very like to Alan's point, you may not know exactly what the guest is thinking all the time, or maybe you know it just a couple of days later on a uh trip advisor review.
00:12:27.360 --> 00:12:28.320
So how do you do that?
00:12:28.559 --> 00:12:33.519
Well, I think the only way is through personal interaction, and and that is probably something that we have lost.
00:12:33.679 --> 00:12:43.600
We have lost because of our need to add more screens, to add more solutions, to add more technology to that otherwise very human and very simple and very honest guest journey.
00:12:43.679 --> 00:12:51.519
We have taken away the one element that historically makes any conversation, any type of encounter valuable, and that's what we're doing right now.
00:12:51.600 --> 00:12:54.080
We're sitting across from each other in more or less comfortable chairs.
00:12:54.320 --> 00:12:57.200
I'm not in a comfortable position, remember, I'm abducted, huh?
00:12:57.279 --> 00:12:57.759
But true, that.
00:12:58.000 --> 00:12:59.600
I mean your holograph, you look very nice.
00:12:59.679 --> 00:13:05.440
It looks about the same as the hotel lobby chairs in your spaceship up there.
00:13:05.600 --> 00:13:06.960
But this human connection, right?
00:13:07.039 --> 00:13:13.919
Looking in each other's eyes, having having the chance to not be able to look away, and I see this as a privilege, right?
00:13:14.240 --> 00:13:19.759
To really be able to look someone deep in the eyes, to show empathy, to feel, I think it's almost instinctive.
00:13:19.840 --> 00:13:22.240
And if anything, maybe that's something we could get back.
00:13:22.559 --> 00:13:26.960
So I'm gonna be make it as simplistic as humanly possible for an alien.
00:13:28.159 --> 00:13:29.840
It is about a smile.
00:13:30.000 --> 00:13:30.399
Right.
00:13:30.639 --> 00:13:37.759
I think we have lost that point of looking at somebody and receiving a smile.
00:13:37.919 --> 00:13:48.240
Now, an alien might not know what a smile is, but over time they will understand that a smile is something that is generous, that is um honest, that is open.
00:13:48.720 --> 00:13:52.159
And to me, that is the initial engagement.
00:13:52.559 --> 00:13:56.879
If I get somebody that smiles at me, I'm gonna smile back.
00:13:57.120 --> 00:14:01.360
And you've already built that tangible relationship with that person immediately.
00:14:02.480 --> 00:14:10.720
But do you think that to a certain extent you accept some level of this smile being artificial, like the the the staff can be trained?
00:14:10.879 --> 00:14:14.240
Because I I'm pretty sure the aliens will not get the concept of a smile, right?
00:14:14.320 --> 00:14:16.960
Or what it means even culturally for us.
00:14:17.360 --> 00:14:25.360
So can you train somebody to be smiley and still make it, you know, worthwhile or not totally artificial?
00:14:25.759 --> 00:14:26.080
No.
00:14:26.639 --> 00:14:26.799
Okay.
00:14:27.919 --> 00:14:29.039
I don't think you can.
00:14:29.440 --> 00:14:37.840
I I think you can train people to have the capability to engage, but I think you can see through a fake smile.
00:14:38.159 --> 00:14:50.799
I think you really understand that somebody has been put through a very programmatic kind of response where they said you need to go ahead and do this and do that and do this and smile at this sentence.
00:14:50.879 --> 00:14:54.159
And I think people see through that very, very quickly.
00:14:54.320 --> 00:14:57.440
I think you understand a genuine smile versus a fake one.
00:14:57.759 --> 00:14:58.480
They do have a question.
00:14:58.639 --> 00:14:59.039
Wait.
00:15:04.159 --> 00:15:07.440
So they're asking if well they they probably have a solution for that.
00:15:07.600 --> 00:15:11.519
They they can build the technology to detect face minds, uh face minds.
00:15:11.600 --> 00:15:16.720
So yeah, and uh that will be interesting if we can get uh one of the devices probably will help us.
00:15:17.120 --> 00:15:20.480
Okay, uh, let's move to part number three.
00:15:23.360 --> 00:15:27.440
I'm pretty sure the people around them they have no idea what what the hell is going on.
00:15:28.879 --> 00:15:34.559
Uh anyway, uh the third one, the third part is about the business of hospitality.
00:15:34.720 --> 00:15:38.240
And when do you think hospitality became uh become a business?
00:15:38.320 --> 00:15:43.039
Because up until this point is it's like a mutual right, a ritual of hospitality.
00:15:43.200 --> 00:15:45.679
But when when do you think it it became a transaction?
00:15:45.759 --> 00:15:50.320
It was like with uh with taverns, it was like religious, with pilgrimage.
00:15:50.559 --> 00:16:02.000
Yeah, I do believe that that pilgrimage in its most natural form is probably the the earliest transaction, the earliest transaction that that can be associated with with business hospitality.
00:16:02.960 --> 00:16:04.240
As there was just a human need.
00:16:04.320 --> 00:16:14.720
There was a human need to provide shelter, a human need to provide food, and if you do it under under the religious umbrella of an of an uh of a pilgrimage, then that in itself can be a very pure form.
00:16:14.799 --> 00:16:21.759
Although business, although there's a monetary transaction, or maybe not even a monetary transaction, but uh a goods and services transaction.
00:16:22.000 --> 00:16:36.639
Three three and a half years ago, I I walked the Compostella de Santiago, all the way from the the north of France, and then I took the the outer route on the on the coastal line down to Santiago de Compostella, something like 500, 600 something kilometers.
00:16:36.799 --> 00:16:51.360
And one of the most impressive or memorable experiences I made was well besides the the characters and the people that you meet on the on the camino, on the path, is the simple hospitality that comes with walking that path.
00:16:51.519 --> 00:17:02.799
So you get a pilgrimage pass, um, which allows you to well pretty much check in to any religious institution, may it be a monastery, may that be a church that has been converted to a to a bed and breakfast.
00:17:03.120 --> 00:17:04.640
Well, that's that's exaggerated.
00:17:04.720 --> 00:17:10.240
It's pretty much just a bed, and there's 20 other stinky feet pilgrims sleeping in that hall or not.
00:17:10.400 --> 00:17:11.839
So it's not glamorous, right?
00:17:12.000 --> 00:17:17.599
But it is so memorable because you walk for 20, 20 miles on a really, really good day, right?
00:17:17.839 --> 00:17:22.799
10 miles on a bad day, you burn 8,000, 10,000 calories on that path.
00:17:22.960 --> 00:17:24.640
You just come home, or you come home.
00:17:24.720 --> 00:17:26.480
See, I I use a very emotional word there.
00:17:26.559 --> 00:17:33.359
You come to this place, you don't know what it is, but you feel instantly at home because the first thing that those people do is they give you half a liter of wine that helps out.
00:17:33.519 --> 00:17:34.400
Oh no, without.
00:17:34.559 --> 00:17:34.799
Yes.
00:17:34.960 --> 00:17:36.160
And they give you some bread.
00:17:36.240 --> 00:17:36.400
Okay.
00:17:36.559 --> 00:17:38.480
So this is the the sacral leg, right?
00:17:38.559 --> 00:17:40.400
And then they give you food, whatever is available.
00:17:40.480 --> 00:17:46.799
They give you some soup, some some very nourishing food to help you rest, to help you recover from that path.
00:17:46.960 --> 00:17:52.400
And the conversations I had on on those tables in the monasteries are incredibly honest.
00:17:52.559 --> 00:17:56.640
And I think back to your point, Alan, when can a smile be faked?
00:17:56.720 --> 00:18:04.559
I I think absolutely not, because you can judge in in second one when that person sits across from you at the table eating the same meals, your equals, right?
00:18:04.720 --> 00:18:08.960
He or she might, you know, come from a different direction of life, but in that moment you're equal.
00:18:09.119 --> 00:18:17.279
And when when your eyes meet, when your looks meet, you can see through a lot of things that we learned as humanity or as society to hide.
00:18:17.359 --> 00:18:18.880
Because of whatever reason, right?
00:18:18.960 --> 00:18:21.440
That's that's personal, or up to every individual itself.
00:18:21.519 --> 00:18:27.519
And if hospitality can bring that out and keep that in its heart, although transactional, right?
00:18:28.000 --> 00:18:29.680
I think that's something that we should never lose.
00:18:29.759 --> 00:18:32.720
And maybe something aliens could learn from us in that matter.
00:18:32.960 --> 00:18:44.720
But do you think because you were, I'm pretty sure you were bringing something to the table of that conversation, and that you were pretty much willingly to talk to people and have that kind of experience, right?
00:18:45.200 --> 00:18:51.039
And on the other side, you had people that were very welcoming, so it was like a match made in Avon.
00:18:51.200 --> 00:19:05.440
But do you think that we can be sometime, especially with newer generation of guests, and we had this conversation a few times, that are maybe less under they understand a little less the dynamics of traveling and the dynamics of being with other people?
00:19:05.680 --> 00:19:14.160
Do you think that the relationship could be different in the sense that the guest could be more closed down or maybe doesn't even know how to react?
00:19:14.480 --> 00:19:16.240
It it has already, Simone.
00:19:16.400 --> 00:19:19.359
It I mean look at the look at the purest form of entertainment.
00:19:19.440 --> 00:19:26.319
That's a bunch of cavemen sitting around a fire in whatever language there was back in the BC 1000s, sharing a story.
00:19:31.279 --> 00:19:36.640
And people cheer, people find each other's story great, they eat, they sleep, they move on with life, right?
00:19:36.799 --> 00:19:38.480
Nothing has changed in hospitality.
00:19:38.559 --> 00:19:46.160
That still is that exchange of emotions, that honest exchange of ideas, and whatever you bring to the table, that is the core of hospitality.
00:19:46.319 --> 00:19:47.359
Now look at the new generation.
00:19:47.519 --> 00:19:57.680
The new generation grows up with social media, they grow up with this perception of travel, being this glamorous backpacker that travels to Southeast Asia, does a bunch of YouTube shorts and makes a bunch of money.
00:19:57.920 --> 00:20:01.519
Core of traveling has already been sucked out of this concept.
00:20:01.680 --> 00:20:16.400
Now these people are being exposed to various other commercial elements that really collaterals that that take out, if not purposefully destroy, the true meaning of hospitality and switch it out with commerce.
00:20:16.799 --> 00:20:17.440
This is interesting.
00:20:17.519 --> 00:20:22.000
I was reading something about the fact that basically we do not have hobbies anymore.
00:20:22.240 --> 00:20:27.279
Because the hobby was something that you just did for fun, but uh it was basically behind closed walls.
00:20:27.359 --> 00:20:28.799
Nobody knew about that, right?
00:20:28.960 --> 00:20:31.599
And uh you had joy just doing the thing.
00:20:31.759 --> 00:20:44.160
And now everything that it's a hobby, but it's not transactional in a way, you know, you cannot talk about it on TikTok, or maybe you cannot do a a live stream on Twitch, it's it's almost seen as like unnecessary, you know.
00:20:44.319 --> 00:20:57.759
And I think to your point, travel is changing in that direction that the travel is not the travel itself, it's the moment you can actually share on a social media whatever you've done, and that creates a pretty bizarre version of travel.
00:20:58.880 --> 00:21:02.960
So when was the last time you went traveling and didn't take a picture?
00:21:03.359 --> 00:21:04.559
Oh Jesus Christ.
00:21:04.880 --> 00:21:12.559
I I can only remember once because uh uh I went with a friend and he didn't know how to use a camera, and so we came back and all the photos were blurred.
00:21:12.640 --> 00:21:14.000
Uh so that was in Vienna.
00:21:14.079 --> 00:21:16.160
I know I was there, but I don't have proof.
00:21:16.480 --> 00:21:18.960
Well, and that's the thing, proof, right?
00:21:19.200 --> 00:21:25.759
We've gotten to a world now where people have to prove what they've done and what they've experienced for some reason.
00:21:26.640 --> 00:21:28.240
I've now traveled.
00:21:28.319 --> 00:21:33.759
Uh, when my wife and I travel, we make an effort not to take pictures.
00:21:35.359 --> 00:21:44.240
So we will go ahead and we will talk about our experiences and we will laugh about what we thought was funny and we will commiserate about things that were not.
00:21:44.400 --> 00:21:50.640
But at the same time, it's the connection of yourself with the environment that you visited.
00:21:50.960 --> 00:22:08.160
Right now, I don't think we have a true connection when we travel because it is nothing more than taking as many pictures as humanly possible, posting them on the social sites that we want to, letting people or or proving to people that we were there and then going through that process over and over and over again.
00:22:08.480 --> 00:22:21.759
So I would challenge people and the aliens not to document their experiences in a manner that doesn't require them to memorize or really understand what the trip was all about.
00:22:22.079 --> 00:22:23.599
Let me check what they think about that.
00:22:30.079 --> 00:22:33.279
Yeah they they say they don't take pictures everything is classified.
00:22:34.640 --> 00:22:35.599
Okay, to your point.
00:22:35.839 --> 00:22:38.400
Oh you can be a great alien alien.
00:22:38.559 --> 00:22:39.039
Perfect.
00:22:39.359 --> 00:22:43.119
Okay so guest versus customer.
00:22:43.359 --> 00:22:48.640
I think we are the only industry uh which doesn't call the customers customers.
00:22:48.720 --> 00:22:49.759
We call them guests.
00:22:50.960 --> 00:22:52.400
Although they give us money.
00:22:53.039 --> 00:22:53.440
Yes.
00:22:53.680 --> 00:22:56.559
Or something else to your point or something else in return.
00:22:56.960 --> 00:22:59.680
Help me understand the alien the alien request.
00:23:00.720 --> 00:24:03.680
Why let me check with uh with the big guy no better it was the accent yeah yeah yeah sorry but I and I got lost in translations so this is from Nebula 5 so it's uh yeah reception it's a little more it's like uh it's a South Midwest kind of idea mid mid mid nebula Jesus Christ what is a question again guest guest versus customer I think it's just it just feels better right it's it it's all about emotions as as soon as I as soon as I call them call them customers I I take out that giving aspect I take out that selfless aspect that it in in core hospitalities is embedded you know I I give I create memories I I provide just feels better than saying I sell and and maybe if if if we're looking at or if the aliens look at the way that hospitality has evolved or not over the past 20 years maybe it's a way of compensating compensating for our lack of hospitality.
00:24:04.000 --> 00:24:37.519
In day-to-day life look look if you if you you brought up taverns right I come from a from a tiny village aliens don't listen right don't don't come there although I guess they've already been there looking at the people in that village probably um there there's a bunch of taverns right with within Germany it was oh you you're from originally from from Italy um there's travel used to be normal right it used to take two weeks to go to the next village and that could be a trade or there could be a mission there could be a message that you had to deliver there was no name for those people they weren't called guests when they checked into a tavern they were also not called clients they were called travelers.
00:24:37.680 --> 00:24:51.039
So maybe in itself we created that term to compensate for something that does not longer exist and back to our original point the aliens maybe that's to pacify ourselves our own guilt to not being able to provide that original service anymore.
00:24:51.359 --> 00:25:07.279
So it's like a ritualization of something we now lack maybe maybe we give all types of names to we I mean look at the stream we call them viewers we call them the the people that utilize solutions we call them users right what does that word mean?
00:25:07.359 --> 00:25:39.920
It means nothing to us other than a classification that makes a transaction easier there's a customer there's a seller there's a consumer there's a producer there's a listener and then there's a abducted podcast host right look there is something they they don't get and this is because again they're trying to find a business model right and uh they don't get the the the main concept of luxury and the the main question they asked me this was one of the first ones was why some experiences are worth 50 euros and some others are 5,000 euros.
00:25:40.160 --> 00:25:59.440
So can you explain the concept of luxury and hospitality to aliens to me luxury is exceeding my expectations so luxury in its truest form is something that is to me a way that I can be enveloped in in kind of that experience.
00:25:59.599 --> 00:26:29.359
So luxury from a material perspective is very easy to describe we go ahead and we we have beautiful carpets we have beautiful pillows we have a beautiful environment we maybe it's been designed by an architect that is fabulous as as as is renowned or known but that's material stuff and luxury we get it people line up around the around the block for Louis Vuitton bags for some reason but that to me is is people see that as luxury.
00:26:29.519 --> 00:26:39.680
The luxury hotel industry or hospitality industry from my perspective is more about exceeding my expectations so let me give you a real world example.
00:26:39.920 --> 00:26:54.799
I stayed at a hotel I don't know if earlier this year and when I went back to my room to call it an evening there was an amenity sitting there but the amenity was actually a cloth that I could clean my glasses with.
00:26:55.119 --> 00:27:22.720
So what they noticed was that obviously I wear glasses but this would be lovely to have for me to to carry around because I'm constantly cleaning my glasses but it was branded by their hotel name and it created an experience of exceeding my expectations by doing something that was very foreign to me right it doesn't happen very often I usually look at an amenity as a bottle of wine and a fruit plate.
00:27:22.960 --> 00:27:33.200
But they went that step beyond to say okay they've delved into who I am as a human being and they've exceeded my expectations luxury should not be a price point.
00:27:33.519 --> 00:27:39.279
Luxury should be an expectation and then exceeding those expectations when you're offering lodging.
00:27:39.599 --> 00:27:40.160
Love it.
00:27:40.480 --> 00:27:53.839
Okay we move to part four and that is that is probably you know you're the best people to to to answer this because uh they want to know more about the technology side of things.
00:27:54.000 --> 00:27:54.319
Right.
00:27:54.559 --> 00:28:03.039
And hospitality and technology what problem or problems do you think technology is supposed to solve in our industry?
00:28:04.480 --> 00:28:10.240
Because looking from the outside and I probably we'll cut it down sometimes we're adding some problems with technology.
00:28:10.799 --> 00:28:41.680
Not sometimes we do we definitely do and and we did now I sound like every other keynote on the planet that the past 12 to 24 months but uh we kind of mess up with technology in hospitality not not from a provider point of view but from its its general purpose point of view right we created more distance between that human interaction through screens through interfaces or lack thereof through disconnected silos data and and our immense urge to collect data to collect data for collecting purposes.
00:28:41.839 --> 00:28:55.119
We haven't really until until recently and until we we dive into the possibilities of AI and now with with the gentic AI that that enhances or that 10 enhances tenfold our ability to really make sense of that data.
00:28:55.359 --> 00:28:57.759
What we did over the past years was unnecessary.
00:28:57.920 --> 00:29:21.200
It was unnecessary unnecessary in the sense that we put such a burden on the consumer on the guest on the traveler by being so self-absorbed in our own standard operating procedures of collecting as much data and turning that data into currency or a business opportunity for our alien friends and therefore completely discounting that guest journey because we simply don't have the time any longer.
00:29:21.359 --> 00:29:31.119
We don't care any longer because we're measured by technology driven KPIs that we created ourselves in order to justify the implementation of said products.
00:29:31.680 --> 00:29:49.440
So let me give you an example I'm standing in front of a desk or in in in I'm standing in the line as as always at at the at the reception and um it's the same scene that happens I'm waiting I'm standing in line I come to the desk and this gentleman who's at the desk checks me in within two minutes.
00:29:49.599 --> 00:30:11.519
Not even a how are you here's your key where's your credit card get out of my way there's the elevator not that one that one goodbye next yeah in his he didn't even ask me for my name right in this book or in his book he has scored a 10 out of 10 why because someone decided that there's a KPI if you complete a check in under two minutes you get I don't know you get a golden star.
00:30:12.240 --> 00:30:24.720
Jesus Christ in my world that was a complete miss because I feel discounted I feel like number 744 out of 1000 that this guy has processed today be like a piece of meat.
00:30:25.039 --> 00:31:17.599
So how can the same the same scene create such two different experiences with each other within two two people that have a vis-a-vis conversation and that is only possible through complete disconnect and I think technology has played a big part in manifesting that disconnect wait uh do you have a question that was the same guy then yeah yeah it's the it's the question guy um look uh they want to know look like if you're so smart and you're talking about this very human element of hospitality how you you got to the point that you're basically looking at tech KPIs instead of human APIs was it something that just came with time it was abrupt it it's more abrupt than it ever has been if that's actually a statement.
00:31:17.920 --> 00:31:41.119
I think in the past ten years profitability has become a KPI that matters most and that management companies that run hotels or owners that own hotels they're really looking at the profitability margin and so if they can get things done quicker faster cheaper but let me stop you for a second because you think the margins went down and they needed to balance it out or the margins they wanted the margins up.
00:31:41.359 --> 00:31:42.160
So it's greed.
00:31:42.400 --> 00:31:45.039
Of course it is why wouldn't it be right?
00:31:45.839 --> 00:32:04.640
It's no different than here's a great example went to downtown Copenhagen the other day and it was not different than any other downtown right there was a Burger King there was a HM there was the same things that I see in my little town in northern Ontario so where's that differentiating experience?
00:32:04.799 --> 00:32:11.440
What happened was all of those big corporations said ah we can make more money by doing more stores in more cities.
00:32:11.680 --> 00:32:18.720
So when you really look at it from a hotel perspective they're still measured on how much money they're going to make.
00:32:18.960 --> 00:32:25.440
When you look at luxury hotels they make money by delivering exceptional service.
00:32:25.759 --> 00:32:33.920
So they might look at different KPIs versus a different type of market segment but at the end of the day everybody wants to make more money.
00:32:34.240 --> 00:32:46.000
When you talk about technology and this is one of the things that irks me a great deal we became a cashless society right who suffered for being cashless in our world housekeepers.
00:32:46.400 --> 00:32:47.599
Because of the tips?
00:32:47.920 --> 00:32:49.519
They don't get tips anymore.
00:32:49.759 --> 00:33:00.400
There are companies out there that said they have things that are QR code that you'll go ahead and scan and give your housekeeper a tip but as human beings we're not scanning that because that takes time.
00:33:00.720 --> 00:33:05.279
So the easiest way used to be was to take five dollars out of your pocket and leave it in the room.
00:33:05.359 --> 00:33:05.599
Yeah.
00:33:05.839 --> 00:33:07.279
But now we have no money.
00:33:07.599 --> 00:33:24.000
So very true technology took us to a point where we're a cashless society and it actually had a detrimental impact on hundreds of thousands of people globally millions of people globally that rely on tipping as to supplement their wages.
00:33:24.240 --> 00:33:28.640
And to me housekeepers are the bedrock of a hotel.
00:33:28.960 --> 00:33:40.319
So it's not only technology that sits within the operations itself it's external technology that drives change that may have a detrimental impact on people that manage or run the business.
00:33:40.799 --> 00:33:45.200
Now that you mentioned tips I think you're you're absolutely right I I completely agree with you.
00:33:45.279 --> 00:33:53.279
And if if you look at the opposite side of that spectrum on the one hand we lack the ability to tip the people with currency that we really want to tip.
00:33:53.359 --> 00:34:21.679
So yesterday there was a guy called Pierre at the bar Pierre if you're listening to this he did a phenomenal job there just wasn't a tip line don't say it out loud uh they they could uh abduct him to uh sorry for the secrets of of bars he talks too much they won't they won't abduct him it's fine a great guy right but there was no there was no way of tipping him right because of what Ellen said right there was just one line signed to your room yes or no all right so I asked him hey how can I tip you only in cash well I don't have cash I haven't had cash in a million years do you take Alipay?
00:34:21.760 --> 00:34:47.199
No but on the other side of that spectrum as well tipping has been commoditized and it has found its way into virtually every vertical not only within the hospitality industry but I'm supposed to tip my Starbucks barista I'm supposed to tip the guy who helps me pick the HMN shirt I'm supposed to tip everyone right there was no that's very Mr Pink of you you remember the opening of Reservoir dogs good movie I should watch a great movie.
00:34:47.840 --> 00:35:07.920
Aliens that that's a that's a 10 out of 10 oh yeah yeah yeah please do but I think people are fed up with tipping being weaponized against the consumer and it's it's used as a as a method to you know compensate for whatever happened during covert corporate greed etc etc so there's two sides of that spectrum and none of which will play out in the in the guests' favor.
00:35:10.079 --> 00:35:33.119
Okay and we move to the last question and of course you know they they still don't know if they are they will be friendly or not with us you know depends on how this goes so let's say in the case of total human extermination do you think with one week or not well I think it's mutual at this point at this point we're helping each other.
00:35:33.440 --> 00:35:44.719
But uh so the the last question for them is uh can hospitality exist without humans like a fully autonomous hotel will still be hospitality business or something else?
00:35:45.039 --> 00:35:46.320
No that's a lodging business.
00:35:46.480 --> 00:36:18.960
It's a lodging business to me to me when I look at that it really is more along the lines of a transaction a true a true transaction so I I said years ago when this became something that may occur that we need as an industry to develop its own market segment right because it can't be a hospitality business it's it's not dissimilar to a management company owning 20 Airbnbs all within a single and single property.
00:36:19.199 --> 00:36:46.000
We don't look at that as the hospitality business we look at that as as as an Airbnb which in itself has defined their own market segment so I do think that if we get to a point where some hotel company buys a 250 room property and implements technology to the nth degree and they outsource their housekeeping their security and other elements of their business then that is nothing more than a structure where you're purchasing a place to sleep.
00:36:46.639 --> 00:36:48.639
Debbie do you want to add something to that?
00:36:49.039 --> 00:36:53.280
No I I I fully agree hospitality is will become a commodity without humans.
00:36:53.440 --> 00:36:57.039
Humans have and always will make the experience exceptional.
00:36:57.280 --> 00:37:11.039
To some extent that doesn't have to be materialistic it can be that smile that you mentioned before it can be that towel that you got for your glasses or it can be whatever delta you look for within the expectation versus delivery model.
00:37:11.119 --> 00:37:17.280
And the bigger that delta the higher the the satisfaction and the the higher this experience and it has to be human.
00:37:17.679 --> 00:38:28.480
Aliens are you happy with that yes so thank you very much we get to live in that one step closer to coming back to my to my planet so David Alan thank you so much for my for joining on my shenanigans uh and uh so we started by explaining to the aliens what hospitality means and is welcoming a stranger but baby maybe this is the twist hospitality begins when we stop treating someone as a stranger so I'm one step closer to coming back to my beloved planet or maybe I will just move here it's not that bad and uh we see you again with episode two but that was awesome many
