Defining Hospitality Podcast
 

Defining Hospitality Podcast

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How do you define hospitality? Dan Ryan has been working in the hospitality industry for nearly 30 years, and he‘s just as fascinated by it as he was on day one. Join him in this weekly podcast as he invites industry thought leaders to discuss what hospitality means to them - in the built environment, in business, and in our daily lives.

Episodes

Having Caring DNA - Keith Pierce - Episode # 091

3 days ago

3 days ago

Today’s guest found his passion for hospitality at a young age. He is a results driven global hospitality executive with extensive operational and development experience, as well as being a passionate, driven leader with a no-nonsense approach. Keith Pierce is the EVP, President Franchise & Development at Sonesta. Keith joins the host Dan Ryan to share his viewpoints on the benefits of franchising a hotel and Sonesta’s unbelievable climb to being the 8th largest hotel in the United States.

 

Takeaways: 

  • At its core, hospitality is the business of caring. This means that you care for your employees, your guests, the development team and the community. Without that sense of caring it will be hard for your hotel to be genuine. 
  • During the pandemic, Sonesta managed to create a truly remarkable feat by growing from just 50 hotels to over 1200 hotels that they own or operate. This growth happened when the reit that owned 300 hotels elected to take hotels from the brand they currently had and put them into the Sonesta brand.
  • In 2019 the hospitality industry was thriving and seeing the best business it had seen in 40 years, but once 2020 came along that brought the industry down to the lowest it has ever been in 40 years. 
  • Sonesta today has a franchise model, a management model and an ownership structure, all which are unique for the Sonesta brand.
  • Having a culture of caring for your franchisees helps to sway independent hotels in the decision of who they want to partner with. 
  • Sonesta Hotels acts as an owner and operator of a franchisee which helps to provide a comfort level to their franchisees.
  • Creating a level of caring and a good culture at a company starts with hiring the right people and having everyone work in the office together. This will help to make sure that everyone has the same goal in mind and works together well.

 

Quote of the Show:

1:19 “I define hospitality as the business of caring.”

 

Links:

 

Shout Outs:

0:33 Marriott Desert Ridge

3:26 John Murray

3:33 SVC

4:27 Adam Portnoy and the Portnoy Family

4:44 Marriott

4:45 IHG

4:47 Wyndham 

4:48 Radison

7:15 Candlewood

7:20 Residence Inn

7:55 Redline Hotel Company

11:48 MIT

31:55 Lodging Hospitality

32:01 New York Hotel Show

32:07 Mandarin Oriental 

32:09 Time Warner Center

33:05 Waldorf Astoria

33:30 Hawthorne Suites

33:32 Joe McInerney

 

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Hospitality Influences Everything - Alex Lopatynsky - Episode # 090

Wednesday Jan 25, 2023

Wednesday Jan 25, 2023

Today’s guest is passionate about the design of communities, spaces, and experiences that connect people. She is an architect, innovator, and culture advocate. Alex Lopatynsky is a Principal & The Managing Director of the NY Office at Cooper Carry. Alex joins the host Dan Ryan to talk about her views on hospitality and what it all means to her.

 

Takeaways: 

  • Hospitality doesn’t necessarily have to be about the place itself where you are staying. It’s more about the feeling you receive from the employees and the feeling the room gives you when you arrive. 
  • Even at the smallest of spaces, or minimally designed spaces, as long as you are welcoming people as if you are welcoming them to your home then it will be a memorable experience.
  • The hospitality industry has been a big influence on many aspects, not just hotels. Nowadays, a business will look at gathering spaces for their employees or design rooms in a certain way to make people feel welcome.
  • Culture and hospitality have interconnecting points where they interact with each other. Culture is looked at as the human element and hospitality can bring everyone together.
  • Our best work and best collaboration is often done in person. Humans by nature are social creatures and there are great opportunities to enhance an idea of design when talking with a co-worker or friend.
  • There is a lot of value in having people come to the office. It allows for people to interact with each other and feel connected to everyone around them.
  • Everyone brings a unique perspective to solving issues within the hospitality industry, which allows the industry to expand with new ideas. 

 

Quote of the Show:

1:27 “Hospitality is less about, in my mind, the physical place, but it's the emotional feeling you experience from entering it.”

 

Links:

 

Shout Outs:

3:37 Graffiti

3:41 Jehangir Mehta

17:29 Stephanie Hopkins

17:30 Marriott

31:36 Julia Cosencos

31:42 Ribas

25:15 George Sawiki

25:54 Ukrainian Scout Organization

35:24 Sawiki Tarella

 

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Flipping the Script - Stephanie Hopkins - Episode # 089

Wednesday Jan 18, 2023

Wednesday Jan 18, 2023

Today’s guest loves helping create spaces and experiences where people will make lasting memories. With hospitality being engrained in her soul, she is ready to see it make a comeback. Stephanie Hopkins is the Senior Interior Design Manager at Marriott International. Stephanie joins the host Dan Ryan to talk about her journey in this beautiful industry and how she sees hospitality through her eyes. 

 

Takeaways: 

  • Hospitality is more about the overall experience that you get and experiencing everything there is to offer. 
  • Growing up in Texas, Stephanie’s mom was the example she had for what hospitality really is because she was always entertaining and providing a welcoming environment for friends and family. 
  • Stephanie spent time working in London and New York doing interior design, and that is where she discovered her passion for hospitality and design. 
  • Working with an independent hotel and boutique hotels will help you to learn how to think on your feet and find solutions to unique problems.
  • Every piece of detail matters to a guest and it impacts their experience at a hotel. You want to make sure that you are planning out every detail as much as you can and using the detail to make the guest have a wonderful experience.
  • Not every brand or hotel is for every person. You want to build a hotel and think about the customers that you are trying to attract without also confusing the design of the brand for other hotel designs. 
  • Through the pandemic, a lot of people developed a longing for travel as that was taken away from them. People are now wanting to go out and experience new places and see beautiful hotels. 

 

Quote of the Show:

3:56 ​​ “What hospitality means to me it's more of that kind of that overall experience, kind of that 360 degree view.”



Links:

 

Shout Outs:

1:10 Kristen Conry

1:16 Marriott

2:04 BDYN

7:20 Tony Chi

7:58 Chip Conley

9:19 Bridgeton

10:58 Journey East Hampton

11:14 Atit Jariwala

18:25 Johnny Marsh

24:38 Oswaldo Barrios

25:00 Arnie Sorenson

25:17 Hilton

25:18 Accor

27:55 Edition

31:36 Kelsey Linz

31:51 Reggio Emilia

40:06 Mindclick

41:30 JoAnna Abrams

46:36 Airstream

47:40 Mattel Rancho

48:33 Bunkhouse

48:37 Liz Lambert

48:53 McGuire Lambert Hospitality

 

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All the World’s A Stage - Bridget Rooks - Episode # 088

Wednesday Jan 11, 2023

Wednesday Jan 11, 2023

Today’s guest is an accidental hospitality leader. She has been in the hospitality industry for more than a decade and half, all while managing the ongoing renovation work across the growing portfolio for the 8th largest hotel company in the US. Bridget Rooks is the Senior Director, Renovation and Capital Projects at Sonesta Hotels. Bridget joins the host Dan Ryan to share her journey through the hospitality industry and how her playwriting skills have influenced  her views on hospitality. 

 

Takeaways: 

  • Hospitality is like a warm welcome to a guest. You are ready to greet the guest and meet any needs they have for their occasions, all while being prepared to exceed those expectations. 
  • For customer renovations, think of your design narrative as your thesis statement or elevator pitch. The stakeholders are a part of this process so don’t forget to include them as well. 
  • Don’t be afraid to say that you don’t know the answer to something. You will never get the right answer or learn how to properly do something if you aren’t vulnerable and ask questions.
  • In order to make your work process better, it’s important to learn from past experiences. You can look back and see what you could do differently and make the process run better. 
  • Getting feedback from the development team is important for making sure that a design is going in the right direction. This will help guide you toward what the client had in mind and what else might need to be included. 
  • The needs for clients and guests will vary between the quality of a hotel. For example, an upscale hotel would have different needs than an upper upscale hotel.
  • You won’t be able to respond to what each guest says that can be improved in a hotel. But it’s still important to try and balance all of them and hear what guests are saying and improve the hotel in the best way possible for everyone.

 

Quote of the Show:

2:22 “I would define hospitality as a warm welcome” - Bridget Rooks

 

Links:

 

Shout Outs:

1:23 Brian Quinn

6:40 Trader Joe’s

7:03 Benjamin West

7:33 Toby Nudelman

8:45 Vicky Smith

37:18 Sonesta Select Prototype Hotel

37:20 Foxboro, MA

37:50 DLR Group

 

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Both Sides of the Coin - Chris McDonough - Episode # 087

Wednesday Jan 04, 2023

Wednesday Jan 04, 2023

Today’s guest is accredited by the American Institute of Architects, LEED AP, and certified with the National Council of Architecture Registration Boards. He also has over 25 years of experience with award winning projects around the world. Chris McDonough is the Principal at The Gettys Group Companies. Chris joins the host Dan Ryan to share his journey through the hospitality industry and what it all means to him. 

 

Takeaways: 

  • Every design has a story behind it and it can transport you to a different mindset when you are there. That is part of the beauty of hospitality.
  • Hospitality can be a form of escape from the daily lives that everyone lives. Oftentimes a change in scenery or design can really change a person's perspective or outlook.
  • Interior Architecture is a marriage between interior design and architecture. Combining both of these creates a very successful process for designing a unique space. 
  • Not only does a space need to be beautiful, but it needs to function and work well. If it doesn’t meet both of these standards, then the space will remain empty and unused, leaving you frustrated.
  • When you are building a hotel, you have the freedom to test it against the market knowledge and see what works as a design aspect and what doesn’t work.
  • You want to create a space that makes guests want to come back and tell others about the amazing experience that they had and how much they loved it.
  • When it comes to building a brand or a soft branded hotel, you want to narrow what your demographic is and if you focus on catering to the small group of people who will always return, then you will have created raving fans.

 

Quote of the Show:

3:05 “My heart’s really in hospitality mostly because of the feeling you get or the feeling that we want to give to guests and people that are experiencing the spaces we design.”

 

Links:

 

Shout Outs:

0:42 Wilco

9:58 University of Illinois

10:07 Chicago Cubs

10:08 Chicago White Sox

10:46 Admirals Club

10:45 San Francisco International Airport

10:51 Joe DiMaggio

17:54 Hotel of Tomorrow

18:41 John Lasseter

24:41 The Farnham in Omaha

25:34 Curio

27:25 Roger

27:25 Andrew

27:26 Ron

34:34 Leveque Tower

34:57 Empire State Building

35:09 Roger Hill

35:32 Hotel Verdant

53:52 BDNY

 

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Finding Curiosity - Ron Lovett - Episode # 086

Wednesday Dec 28, 2022

Wednesday Dec 28, 2022

Today’s guest is an entrepreneur and leader with a passion for change. He’s the host of the podcast “Scaling Culture” and the author of a couple of books - Outrageous Empowerment & Scaling Culture. Ron Lovett is the Founder and Chief Community Officer at VIDA. Ron joins the host Dan Ryan to share his hospitality journey and what it all means to him.

 

Takeaways: 

  • When you are looking at building your business, you want to cut 10% of the company out and own 70% of that 10% that you saved for yourself. 
  • If you break down great customer service, it comes down to the ability to care for those around you and put yourself in their shoes.
  • If you are adding new members to your team, consider trying to find out how they would react to something in the real world. This way you can see who they are as a person instead of just hiring someone because they smile and seem nice.
  • You can’t teach empathy as a skill. It’s something that you are either born with or you won’t be able to learn the skill.
  • Having core values as a company is incredibly important as they are your guiding light, but when it comes to interviews you don’t need to screen potential hires based on your core values. Instead you can screen for other factors.
  • During difficult times, it’s important to look at the things that are going right and try to brighten your current viewpoint. 
  • When you design a new space, you want to create a sense of community and belonging for everyone that lives there. 

 

Quote of the Show:

10:41 “If you think what attribute drives excellent customer service,it's the ability to care for those around you to put yourself in someone else's shoes.”

 

Links:

 

Shout Outs:

1:29 MIT

4:12 Verne Harnish

6:35 Uncommon Service by Frances Frei

10:34 John DiJulius

11:36 Danny Meyer

11:41 Setting the Table by Danny Meyer

12:11 Ashley Goodall

12:15 Marcus Buckington

14:17 Southwest Airlines

30:46 Joyful by Ingrid Fetell Lee

26:49 Jay-Z

37:19 Nicole Kidman

43:51 Jack Daily

 

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Insatiable Curiosity - Valentina Castellon - Episode # 085

Wednesday Dec 21, 2022

Wednesday Dec 21, 2022

Today’s guest is an interior designer with a focus on and passionate about hospitality design. Valentina Castellon is the Principal and National Hospitality Design Leader at DLR Group based in Minneapolis. She enjoys seeing a project work its way from birth to completion. Valentina was also a Boutique 18 Inductee in 2020. Valentina joins the host Dan Ryan to share her journey and thoughts about the hospitality industry in the built environment.

 

Takeaways: 

  • Hospitality is all about opening up your home and yourself to provide a memorable experience for anyone who stays with you. 
  • The hospitality industry is not for everyone, as it requires long hours and a lot of attention to detail, but the people who stay are bit by the “hospitality bug” and want to bring great designs to other people's lives. 
  • Whenever you think about hotel design, it might look pretty but there is a deeper meaning to it. Not only is the design aspect important, but it needs to serve a functional purpose as well
  • Working in a  collaborative process allows you to get voices from multiple different avenues. This can help point you in the right direction for a design or give you more data points for what works and what doesn’t.
  • When working on designs for different companies or spaces, you don’t want to stay stagnant. You want your designs to be different and unique to the point that people will be asking who designed rather than it being the same design over and over again.
  • When you have an influx of demand, you have to think about the three C’s for your company; Your capacity to do the project, if it’s a creative fit for your company and if you like working with the clients.
  • Hospitality is a space that is meant to be shared and enjoyed by others. It allows you to reach people and their feelings all over the world and not just one particular area or group.

 

Quote of the Show:

1:15 “Hospitality for me is…this idea of really opening yourself up and catering to other people.”



Links:



Shout Outs:

5:17 Staci Patton

17:34 Dream Hotel Group

17:40 Hyatt

28:37 Bricklle, Miami

 

Ways to Tune In: 

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The Dream of Hospitality - Miriam Torres - Episode # 084

Wednesday Dec 14, 2022

Wednesday Dec 14, 2022

Today’s guest is a master at hospitality design. She is a 2022 Platinum Circle Inductee, as well as designing projects with major hotel brands from Four Seasons, to Fairmont, Marriott,  Ritz Carltons,  Sonesta, Hilton, Hyatt, and InterContinental, as well as independent hoteliers. Miriam Torres-Smalankas is the Co-owner and co-founder at Parker-Torres Design Inc. She joins the host Dan Ryan to talk about her journey through the world of hospitality and what it all means to her. 

 

Takeaways: 

  • Hospitality is the relationship between a guest and host. It’s the embodiment of caring and providing a welcoming environment where you share what you have with the guest. 
  • In all projects, there will be a lot of research that you need to do. The narrative or the story of the design space will drive the rest of the project and what it will look like. 
  • Hospitality design is the mother of all designs. The influence it has stretches from corporate, to healthcare, to education and all areas in between. 
  • The people who go into the hospitality world are very passionate about what they do, they don’t do it for the money but rather the love of creating something beautiful and memorable. 
  • When looking at expanding your team, consider hiring people that are better than you. You want them to motivate you to become better at what you do. 
  • When people start off in a new venture, they might think to themselves that they are a fraud or an imposter but you have to accept that you aren’t a fraud, but rather a strong and brave individual for taking a chance. 
  • Perseverance is an important trait to have in the hospitality industry. Others may tell you a design might not work but keep trying until you get it just right. 

 

Quote of the Show:

2:21 “hospitality is the relationship between a guest and a host.”



Links:

 

Shout Outs:

4:37 Ken Hurd

4:49 Waldorf Astoria

5:19 Ritz-Carlton

6:43 Barbara Parker

8:29 Graham International

10:18 Hyatt

10:21 Fairmont Copley

10:25 Marriott Marquis

10:57 Henry David Thoreau

12:41 University of Massachusetts Amherst

12:51 MIT

14:43 Hilton

23:12 Cornell

30:54 Alan Benjamin

41:41 Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg

44:51 Larry Summers

44:59 Barack Obama

45:02 Facebook



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Breaking the Design Mold - Andrew Alford - Episode # 083

Wednesday Dec 07, 2022

Wednesday Dec 07, 2022

Today’s guest is a creative design sage. With more than 20 years of experience in the hospitality industry, today’s guest is truly an expert in this field. Andrew Alford is the  Founder/Owner/Designer/ Chief Creative officer/chef/cook and bottle washer of Andrew Alford Creative.  Andrew worked his way from answering phones at a high-end residential design firm to leading his own company where he gets to let his true creativity shine. Andrew joins the host Dan Ryan to talk about his journey through design and hospitality and what it all means to him.

 

Takeaways: 

  • The real innovation in hospitality comes from the people who grew up with little to nothing to their name. People like that grow up wanting a luxurious environment and want to give that idea of luxury to everyone.
  • Hotels should be an experience that helps lift away any suffering you have and transport you to a better state of mind. They are the backdrop to our most precious memories.
  • The whole objective for design is not to make something look good or to be a background in a selfie. The actual point is that design should be something that makes you stop and appreciate the beauty around you and be a transformative experience in itself.
  • A work life balance is something that is incredibly important and can help prevent you from feeling burnt out. You want to make sure that you aren’t working after your normal hours and set boundaries so that you can enjoy your work and not have it feel like a chore.
  • When it comes to design, you want to make sure that you stand out and that you are unique. The same bland, beige and boring designs won’t get noticed. If you are going to stand out like a unicorn, stand out like a unicorn in every way.
  • The word “interbeing” comes from a Buddaheist poet Thich Nhat Hanh. It describes the relationship between everything in the world and how it all works together in order to create the environment we see around us.
  • Design has been so serious for many years, and it’s time that the seriousness needs to be stopped and new, creative ideas need to be implemented. Every design doesn't have to copy something else that is already out there. 

 

Quote of the Show:

15:37 “Design [is] not to make it pretty, it's not a selfie background. It's a transformative experience.” 

 

Links:

 

Shout Outs:

4:41 Kimpton Hotels

5:22 IHG

9:44 Ed Labrano

13:25 Raptor roller coaster

14:46 SpringHill Suites by Marriott

26:25 Hospitality Design Summit

28:00 Alec Baldwin

41:58 American Utopia by David Byrne

43:18 Thich Nhat Hanh

45:14 Free Think

46:58 Star Trek

47:09 Reasons to be Cheerful

50:00 Soho House

50:20 Delano

50:21 Philippe Stark

50:32 Ace Hotels

53:10 Modern Elder Academy

53:12 Chip Conley

1:02:38 The Hoffman Process

 

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Leading the Charge - Brian Quinn - Episode # 082

Wednesday Nov 30, 2022

Wednesday Nov 30, 2022

Today’s guest is a recognized leader in domestic and international real estate, travel, lodging, and restaurant industries. He is a proven, articulate thought leader and has delivered exceptional results in the hospitality industry. Brian Quinn is the Chief Development Officer at Sonesta. Brian joins the host Dan Ryan to share what he had learned through his journey in the world of hospitality.



Takeaways: 

  • In the hospitality industry, everyone works together to help achieve a goal. A great design can only come to life if someone is willing to put it in their building. 
  • If you are an owner or operator of a hotel or hospitality business, you will bring a different level of energy and care to a project. You will be more focused on the return on investment in that aspect. 
  • In 2012 the RMR Group acquired hospitality spaces, bringing a whole new level of finance and real estate expertise into the hospitality industry.
  • During the COVID pandemic, there was a higher demand for extended stays and economy-style hotel stays as more people worked from home. 
  • The top three things that make Sonesta a good brand to join are the market availability, the access to an executive team, and the last piece is the owner lens. 
  • There are a few ways to underwrite a CapEx renovation; one is to think about what happens to your performance if you do nothing, and the other way is to check for any headroom in the market and see if you can perform better. 
  • Whether a recession comes or not, if unemployment remains low then people are going to spend their disposable income on dining, travel, and other hospitality experiences. 



Quote of the Show:

 

“Whether we technically go into a recession or not, if unemployment stays low, people are going to spend their disposable income on dining out and traveling.” - Brian Quinn



Links:

 



Shout Outs:

 

2:26 Holiday Inn 

7:17 The RMR Group

10:58 Marriott

11:00 IHG Hotels

12:00 John Murray

12:04 Keith Pierce

12:06 Wyndham

12:09 Red Lion 

13:58 Intercontinental

13:59 Kimpton Hotels

14:00 Crowne Plaza

14:01 Candlewood

14:02 Staybridge

19:26 Hilton

19:27 Statler

20:47 Jeremy Selman

23:50 The Benjamin

23:53 The Shelbourne

23:57 The Gardens

24:07 The James

33:04 Wells Fargo

33:09 Wachovia





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