The Modern Hotelier #130: How to Stand Out in the Hospitality Industry | with Bart Berkey
===
Steve Carran: Welcome to another episode of the Modern Hotelier. We're excited to release this episode with Bart Berkey. David, what were some of your highlights from this episode?
David Millili: That was refreshing to really kind of hear someone who was so focused on guest satisfaction or just caring about people, whether it be employees or, or guests. So, uh, I loved it. And I think that the audience is going to love it.
Steve Carran: Absolutely. He was probably one of the most optimistic people we have had on in a long time. And it was really great to hear his background, kind of like him coming up, growing up in Pittsburgh to kind of how he got to where he is today. But man, when I'm having a bad day, I am going to tune in to this episode because he, he, he is, he will turn my day around.
Just a really positive guy. So, uh, really enjoyed having Bart on and I hope you all do too. Enjoy.
David Millili: Enjoy it. 
Welcome to the Modern Hotelier Hospitality's Most Engaged Podcast. I'm David Millili.
Steve Carran: I'm Steve Carran.
Jon Bumhoffer: And I'm Jon Bumhoffer.
David Millili: Steve, who do we have on the program today?
Steve Carran: Yeah, David. Today we have on Bart Berkey. Bart is the founder and CEO of Most People Don't, an international keynote speaker, podcast host, and a best selling author. Bart is dedicated to inspiring individuals to do what most people don't to achieve professional and personal success. He also holds numerous global executive roles in the industry, including 16 years as Global director for the Ritz Carlton.
Welcome to the show, Bart.
Bart Berkey: All right. Thank you. Thank you. I'm excited to be able to chat with everybody. Uh, love the cohesion, love the organization. This will definitely be a blast. So thank you all gentlemen for having me on.
David Millili: All right, great. So we're going to go through a couple areas. We're going to do a lightning round. We're going to talk about your personal background, your career, and then get into some industry topics. Sound good?
Bart Berkey: Perfect. Perfect.
David Millili: what is something that you wish you were better at?
Bart Berkey: Oh, look at that pause. Look as my eyes go up to the right, just to kind of think about things. I wish I was better at Financial planning, you hear so many different stories that if at age 22, you started to invest, you know, 500 in this, by the time that you were 57, you would be a multimillionaire. Well, guess what?
When I was 21 or 22, I never did that. Now I'm 57 and not quite a multimillionaire. So I think financial planning certainly would have been something that I wish I would have been better at, especially at a younger age.
David Millili: Okay. What's the most used app on your phone?
Bart Berkey: The most used app, I have to say Tentalk, and that might sound like a strange thing, but I am learning so many things with regard to artificial intelligence. And you know, other apps technology that is helping me do my job and run my business better. It sounds like such a silly thing, but I'm also finding inspiration off of tick tocks and I'm saving some of the videos.
And when I'm presenting live in front of audiences, you know, I will share a clip or two because that's how people are liking to learn these days. So tick tock, a little embarrassed to say that. And who knows after January 19th, what, where I will be going, but at least for now it's tick tock.
David Millili: What's a luxury you can't live without.
Bart Berkey: I would say a manual transmission car,
David Millili: All right. This is always a tough one. If you could trade places with somebody for a day, who would you trade places with?
Bart Berkey: and it could not be David Millili could not be
David Millili: that'd be too boring.
Bart Berkey: okay. Here's another straight. How about Steve? Steve Carran? No, no. Okay. Jon Bumhoffer. No. Okay. Uh, it would probably be Dwayne. The Rock Johnson. has tons of money. He appears to be a very kind person, and you see so many different stories. He's a family person, but he will go off and he will buy cars for everyone that was in a movie with him just to show appreciation and thanks.
So I like that approach, and hopefully he's as He's the real deal as he appears, but yeah, I would want to be the rock.
David Millili: All right. And last one in this round. What's your favorite city and why?
Bart Berkey: My favorite city is Laguna beach, California because of the serenity. When I worked for Ritz Carlton, we would go there often on business. And then I would bring my family there on pleasure. The. The village, the people, the food, really the vibe. Yeah, I'll never forget you talk to some people that were working at some of the hotels, some of the bellman and you know, you say, good morning, you know, how's your day?
Oh my gosh, it could not be better. Why? Cause I was able to put my toes into the ocean this morning. I was like, wow, all right, like that's, that's the way to live, isn't it? My feet were in the water this morning. It's a great freaking day. So Laguna Beach, California.
David Millili: All right. Good answer.
Steve Carran: Love that. Got to follow up. Did you watch a show on MTV back in the day? Laguna beach with LC Steven and Kristen Cavallari.
Bart Berkey: So funny, a little bit, just briefly. And at one point we were thinking about moving to Laguna Beach. So we started to do research. And some of the research was actually watching that show, Steve, which is pretty funny. Uh, we went and toured the high school that a lot of those scenes were being filmed that, uh, put a bid on a house, got that accepted.
And then when we realized that we would have to pack up everything and move within two weeks from DC all the way cross country, it just didn't make sense. But, uh, yeah, started to do some research by watching that show, which is so funny.
Steve Carran: That's great. That was one of my favorites back in the day. That was great. But you, you were born in Pittsburgh, is that correct?
Bart Berkey: correct. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Steve Carran: So how did growing up in Pittsburgh shape you into who you are today?
Bart Berkey: Wow. And my mother is still in Pittsburgh. My sister is still in Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh is to me the quintessential grit town. You grow up working hard. Celebrating hard. It's about the food, the family, the neighborhoods, the tradition. And I think more than anything, people then were gathering around sports as well.
The weather is not ideal. It's cloudy more often than not. What people would do is they would then gather of, okay, uh, where are you going to watch this Steeler game? Did you watch the penguin game? Did you watch the pirate game? And, and it's so funny, we still go back and kind of the, the running joke is, okay, we're going to go into a restaurant.
And even though it's football season, how many Pittsburgh pirate hats or t shirts do you think we're going to be able to spot? And Almost undoubtedly, you would spot people wearing Pittsburgh Pirate things in the offseason. So there's a sense of neighborhood, community, grit, hardworking, steel town, roll up your sleeves, be who you are, make things happen.
And when we went up there, I just thought it was a great place to grow up and family oriented.
Steve Carran: Love it.
David Millili: And so you graduated from Penn State with a degree in hospitality and restaurant management. How did you know to choose that direction?
Bart Berkey: My sister had gone to four years older than me and gone to Penn State and she was studying in that program. We would go up and they would have these themed dinners that they were responsible for creating and executing. And when we went up there, I just thought it was. Fun that my sister was involved in the planning and the execution of the themed meal.
And then when I started to do more research about it, uh, I always thought I would be a writer growing up now. Yes, I have my book out there and I do a lot of individual writing for the industry and for personal reasons. But I always thought that that's what I wanted to be a writer. And when I started doing the research, you know, people were telling me, well, great, you can be a writer, but you're not going to be able to make a living doing that.
So I was trying to find a balance between emotional soft skill things and business and hospitality really was a nice mixture of both. It enabled me to be able to do good things to make people feel a certain way from a service lens. But then there's the business element of. We're going to get revenue.
We're going to get high room rates. We're going to get food and beverage revenue. It was just a very nice balance of people in business. As a industry,
Steve Carran: That's great. And uh, as I was doing my research, came across the pretty sweet picture of you back in the day, uh, on the Penn State volleyball team. You were number eight and you had a pretty awesome stache. Back in the day, I'll give you credit for that. But what was your favorite moment that you had playing volleyball at Penn State?
Bart Berkey: my favorite moment and thank you for commenting on the mustache and thank you for not commenting on the very, very short shorts that were in style in 1987. It's all
Steve Carran: knew you'd bring that up. So I thought I'd leave that one to
Bart Berkey: Yeah. Yeah. Thanks. My favorite moment probably was making the team, uh, my, my freshman year. I, I was not recruited. The coach knew who I was.
I did well in high school, but I was not being recruited. So my freshman year, I was just a student and we played intramural volleyball and we won the championship intramurals. And then I try it out as a sophomore. And I think the, the excitement pushed me to show that I was a gritty player. Here we go again.
Pittsburgh, uh, the coach described me as a fiery peppery player. To be able to be a walk on and play for Penn State was a dream come true. Now I played for a year and a half. First year was phenomenal. 13 players, 12 players got to travel. I was the 12th player I got to travel and, and, you know, as a result, and I shared this, you know, with the gentlemen before, but yeah, we, we came in third place, national championship, very, very.
Obviously, I'm proud of it if I'm holding it, you know, and keeping it on my desk, but that was significant to be able to make the team as a walk on, to be able to travel, to be able to play just a little bit, to be able to be part of a team that won third place. That was phenomenal. And I'll share with you just quickly, the other great accomplishment was my going into my junior year, the coach gave me a scholarship.
So I was paid. To play volleyball, my scholarship, and I still have the letter 500, 500. Now, granted the other players, six, nine, six, 10, and I'm six, two, we're getting, you know, everything included with their scholarship, but I got 500. And I shared it with my dad and my dad was just so proud that I got a scholarship to play volleyball at Penn state, the, the way that he reacted, the way that he felt was.
Life changing and life enhancing for me and I will never forget that feeling that proudness proudness Yeah. Okay. Pride. Proudness is also a new word. We're going to say that the pride that I felt in being able to share that with him and the pride that he had back was, uh, was very, very special. Uh, the last component of that story, my junior year, they started to recruit some incredible players from all over the world.
So instead of having 13 players on the team, I think we had 26 and I found myself as a junior. Sitting not only on the bench, but sitting during practice because there were only, you know, 12 people on the court at a time and I just had to then make a decision. Is this really what I want to do? Is it enough just to say that I'm on the team, but I don't get to travel and I don't get to play.
I don't really get to practice much. So I made a decision to leave and the coach was so amazing. He said, you've contributed a lot to this team. I want you to keep the scholarship. I understand why you're leaving the team. And he recommended me to become a coach at state college high school. So it became a junior varsity coach for my junior and my senior year.
So it ha it worked out very, very well, but all of those memories of working hard, getting that accomplishment, then having to make a decision of, does this really make sense for me? And up until recently, I would still have like nightmares of, Oh, why did I ever leave the team? Why did I ever leave the team until I had a conversation recently with the current head coach, Mark Pavlik.
And he said, Hey, look, as long as you put skin in the gym, right? You left skin in the gym, meaning you played hard. You got onto the floor. You will always be part of the team, always be part of the team. And since then, I've not had a single regret about quitting Penn state volleyball.
Steve Carran: That's awesome. That's awesome. So now we're going to get into more about your career, kind of how you got to where you are today. So after you graduated from Penn State, what types of jobs did you work right after college?
Bart Berkey: So I was fortunate to be able to get the job, an internship, uh, with Hyatt hotels, which led to full time employment. So my first job was at the Hyatt Regency in Pittsburgh Chatham center. It's no longer a Hyatt. I believe it's a Marriott right now. But I was introduced into the internship program. You get exposed to all different departments and then you cross your fingers that you're going to get a job when it's all done.
And I was fortunate that after the internship was completed, I was offered a job to be an entry level sales person at the Hyatt Regency in Pittsburgh. That's how my career started. And I spent about 10 years in total with Hyatt, a lot of different cities, a lot of different. Places, but that's how I started my initial career and it was in sales and sales was providing that balance of business, hospitality, service, interactions, relationships.
And I wasn't then required to work a hundred hours a week,
David Millili: right.
Bart Berkey: like many of you know, and many of the people that you've interviewed before, you know, hospitality world in, in operations is not easy. You have to be really, really, really passionate about it and prepared for it. And that's something that I chose.
I wanted to have a different balance.
David Millili: you worked at the Long Beach Convention and Visitors Bureau. You also did, uh, explore St. Louis. What did those early days in those type of roles teach you?
Bart Berkey: It taught me collaboration and it taught me to think differently about, I wasn't just selling a single property. I was selling a destination. And the destination wasn't just the convention center, but it was an aggregation of, you know, 103 hotels or 97 hotels. It was an aggregation of the airlift going into those cities.
It was the benefit of the restaurants and the walkability of the city and the safety. It enabled me to think more global. And also going to the lens of differentiation, which then kind of led to write my current company, which I know we'll talk about, but it led to the thought of I'll never forget Long Beach at the time was competing against a lot of other cities like it currently does.
And I had to think, okay, well, what is going to make it different? Same thing with ST Louis. What would make it different? And then we started doing research, my team and I started doing research and we found out, well, Build A Bear, as an example, is headquartered and was started in St. Louis. So we call it a Build A Bear.
And we said, Hey, look, while we're promoting St. Louis to all of these great National Association customers in Washington, D. C., Could you donate a couple of Build A Bear so we can make sure that people are understanding that St. Louis is more than the arch? And they gladly did it. And so it was that unique creativity of, okay, how are we going to differentiate ourselves?
You know, there was a root beer company that was started there. It was the first place where they served soft, soft serve ice cream at the state fair or whatever, you know, all of these different things that were unique to, whether it was Long Beach or St. Louis started to put into my mind that it is. Not just about the things that's not just about the square footage.
It's not just about the number of guest rooms, but then it's about the people that own the restaurant that are next to the convention center. And let me introduce you to them and let me help tell their story. So it was a great, great experience and a lot of fun. Um, yeah, convention and visitor Bureau.
Great business.
Steve Carran: That's great. And then from 2004 to 2020, you were at the Ritz Carlton and worked your way up to the global executive and luxury trainer. What did you learn about not only training people, but, you know, working with people so often with not only training, but events? What did you learn in that role?
Bart Berkey: I learned, so Ritz Carlton had the, the motto, we are ladies and gentlemen serving ladies and gentlemen. And I think what Ritz Carlton really taught me is that you don't need to be fancy. You don't need to come from money. You don't need to think that you are less than a customer. The component of we're ladies and gentlemen, serving ladies and gentlemen, to me meant that we are good hearted people.
And even if you're a billionaire, I can hold open the door for you. Because I'm, I'm a gentleman and I'm going to hold the door open for you. I deserve to be treated like a lady or a gentleman because I am providing service to you. Doesn't mean that you're better or that you're worse for me. So that was one of my greatest takeaways.
That when you give service, Doesn't mean that anyone is better or worse than you because they have more money. It also taught me authenticity to be yourself. And I'll never forget this. Steve and David and John, when I was first hired with Ritz Carlton, I thought I needed to be perfect. Here I am a guy grew up in Pittsburgh and never stayed in the Ritz Carlton.
I get hired to become a director of sales, Ritz Carlton, Pentagon city, the general manager. Asked me if I want to join him for lunch the first day in the employee cafeteria, of course, of course, Adrian router, Mr. Router. Yes, of course. So we go there and I have, you know, I got the haircut. I got a new suit.
My car was washed. My shoes were shined. I was ready to go. Ladies and gentlemen, my pleasure. Certainly you got it. A housekeeper comes up to me 11 30 in the morning. We're downstairs employee cafeteria getting ready to have lunch. Housekeeper comes up and she says, Good morning, Mr. Berkey. Congratulations.
We're glad you're here. Good morning, Mr. Berkey. And I wanted to be perfect. So I had to think, well, what is my response back? Do I say good morning back, because it was 1130, but I was there having lunch. So I only have lunch in the afternoon, because if I was having breakfast, I would naturally say good morning.
So I'm thinking of what should the response be, and I absolutely blew it by saying this. Ready? Nothing. I was so flabbergasted. A person that loves to talk. I was so flabbergasted of trying to do the right thing and say the right thing and be the right person that I did not respond. About a week later, I went up, I found that housekeeper and I apologized.
And I said I was trying to be something that I thought I needed to be and I didn't know what that was. I'm so sorry. I could have said, Hey, what's up? I could have said, Yo, dude, how's it going? What's what's what's going on? I could have said good evening. Anything would have been better than saying nothing.
So it taught me going back to this ladies and gentlemen, serving ladies and gentlemen, it taught me to be myself. I don't need to be perfect. I just need to be doing my best. I don't need to say the right things. I just need to try my best. That's it. And when you put it into that perspective, it makes things a lot easier.
So I think that was probably one of my greatest learnings in life. And it came from Ritz Carlton.
David Millili: That's great. So in 2021, you wrote most people don't and why you should. What led you to that and led you to kind of a new career?
Bart Berkey: Yeah. I was asked when I was a recruiter, uh, before I was a global sales exec for Ritz Carlton, I was a recruiter and, um, organization approached us and they, they said, could someone write an article for us? This was hotels magazine, long time ago. Could someone write a blog? We're starting a blog. This was.
Gosh, probably well over 20 years ago and because I was a recruiter at the time, they thought, well, you know, it would be great. Let's get some, some extra messaging out there about Ritz Carlton. Now, they said, you don't need to write about Ritz Carlton. You can write about anything that you see or observe.
And that's what I started doing twice a week for 15 years for Hotels Mag. I wrote an article and what uniquely happened, gentlemen, and to your listeners, it became very popular and these were little stories. And what I found is that it had a global reach at that point that someone sent me a note personally that they owned a juice bar in India and they were reading my stories to their staff every single week because they liked the message.
So someone at one point, I'm with Ritz Carlton, I'm sending out all of these stories, 3, 500 stories in total. Someone said, well, why don't you take your favorite stories and put them into a book? So I got approval, right, from Ritz Carlton at the time. They said, well, you can use the name Ritz Carlton if you want, just referencing your bio.
And I said, look, I don't want there to be any differentiating. I don't want to get in trouble. These are my ideas. So thank you. I'm not going to say Ritz Carlton, but thank you for letting me write this book. So I wrote the book. And organically, it just really, really took off at one point, top 1 percent of sales on Amazon, uh, for that category.
And it's simple. And the stories are, uh, my dog's feet smell like Fritos. It's I'm allergic. I'm allergic to gorillas, right? Um, my dry cleaner wears wrinkled shirts and what they are that it's, it's observational things of what I hadn't noticed during my travels. And in every single story didn't need to go into order.
Every single story would end with a most people don't. So my dry cleaner wears wrinkled shirts. Most people don't act the part and be the part. You know, I'm allergic to gorillas. It simply was a statement about, you know, most people don't open up about what their fears are. My dog's feet smell like Fritos.
Most people don't find things interesting to talk about. So just different applications. So people then were comparing the book to an episode of Seinfeld and the book Who Moved My Cheese, and it's still extremely popular and it's a lot of fun, but that was the genesis of most people don't and why you should.
That was the name of the book. So into Ritz Carlton, 16 years, I started to realize I would like to be able to help more people. I had a blast helping Ritz Carlton customers. I had a blast leading Ritz Carlton teams and I became married international luxury teams. But I thought, okay, I can like, I can help this group of people.
But I started to think there's a lot of people that could use good messages. There's a lot of people that are sad. There's a lot of people that need to hear good stories to get motivated. So at a very unique time, unsure what was going on in the whole world of luxury hospitality during the pandemic, I was given a runway and I said, this is happening for me, not to me.
This is happening for me. And during the pandemic, um, I decided to do this full time. I did 85 virtual presentations the first year. Uh, you know, not all of them paid, but 85. Because people need it, and we're so thirsty to hear good things, and that has evolved into, you know, my, my podcast, my keynote speaking, my training going all over the world, sharing messages with the foundation of doing what most people don't, right, thinking about the modern hotelier, thinking about the questions that you're asked, most people don't dig into that amount of research before asking questions.
Most people, John, don't have such an intense sound check system. Um, That share your screen. Let me help you on when most people don't do that. You know, David, you're fighting off a cold. You have other things going on, but most people don't stay focused because they've committed to this opportunity. Right.
And so when you do these things and we all know that we should, but when you do them, look at how successful the modern hotel year is. Because you are doing what most people don't do. This message can apply to anybody, and it all stems from this element of, in hospitality, we know we go above and beyond.
We know that we have intentional actions to make people feel a certain way. Well, why can't you apply it to any organization? Why can't you apply it to your personal life? I shared a story just recently about, a lesson that I learned, my son came home from an international trip. He was studying over there for two years and the first time that he came home, we were running late and we didn't have time to park the car.
We didn't have time to get out and greet him as he came off of through security, right? By baggage claim. And he was sad. He didn't tell us, right? But you could tell that he was sad, learned a lesson because in hospitality, we know how we make people feel. So my wife and I said to ourselves, we will never let that happen again.
So next time he came in, what did we do? We made him a sign. We bought a basket of his favorite snacks. We parked the car. And we did what most people don't do. When my daughter now travels in from Hawaii. We do this, we arrive early. We park the car because that's important. I want to make sure that she feels a certain way.
So we know that we should do these things. And the reminder is simply do what most people don't do. Okay. Most people don't park the car. Most people don't make signs. Most people don't bring little baskets, most people don't make people feel a certain way. Let's apply it to family. We can do these things.
We can make people feel good. 
David Millili: there's a surprise question. Steve writes the questions and I wanted to talk to him about this, but I had the pleasure of being interviewed by you at high tech and you gave me a little stone. And I thought it was genius. Cause I have this little stone and I have some knickknacks and stuff around my desk.
And I'm like, it's brilliant because every time I see the stone and especially last year, I was like, Ah, I got to make sure we get them on the podcast because we'd run out of slots. So I don't know what your thought process behind giving people a little stone after you meet them is, but I thought that was a genius, uh, technique to make, make yourself unforgettable.
Bart Berkey: Yeah. Well, thank you, David. And thank you for allowing me to spend time with you. I learned so much about great leadership and our listeners for my show. Learn so much about great leadership and being a great human being. Thanks to you. So David, thank you for that. Uh, the idea of gratitude stones, you know, I speak a lot of kindness because most people don't show appreciation.
Most people don't show gratitude. Most people don't exude kindness and there's whole lot of them. Scientific research showing that when we are more kind, that it makes us feel better. When we give to others, it makes us feel better. The attitude and the idea really with Gratitude Stones came from a gentleman, a friend of mine from Hawaii.
And one of his products that he was selling, it's different bracelets. And I, and I thought, well, you know, it's kind of cool stone bracelets. And I was trying to think. He would sometimes give them away because it wasn't about the money, but it was about making people feel a certain way. And I thought, well, if he could do that with a bracelet, what can I do that would be similar?
So I started doing all this research. Well, what if I gave out little pennies and told people this is, you know, a special penny? Would that mean anything? What if I gave out wrapped pieces of gum that was like logo? Most people don't, but that'd be kind of fun. What if I gave out biz and I'm like, you know what, what is meaningful to me?
Just because he gave me a bracelet one time and it was reminding me of. Appreciation and thanks. And I thought, you know what a stone, a gratitude stone can be more meaningful. So I travel with them literally, David, I just pulled one out of my pocket. I have another one in my pocket right now. I'll just show you.
Uh, I started then traveling with gratitude stones in my pocket, um, for a couple of different reasons. One, I don't always like to fly, but I fly all over the place. And if I hold them and I think about things, it relaxes me. It also makes me appreciate things are bigger than me. Things are bigger than us.
Things are good. The world is out there. The universe is out there. Things are good. Birds are flying. There's snow on the ground. Things are good. It's a reminder to me. And if I feel this way because of a stone, it connects me with the universe and, and creator and the earth. If I feel so strong about it, me, uh, to me, then I want to share this feeling with you, David, with you, Steve, when I see you, John, when I see you.
And it has just, um, become very, very important part of my life. My wife who works with me full time, she travels with Gratitude Stones. And when we see people that are doing exceptional things that are doing what most people don't, we share stones. And the reaction is usually tearful
David Millili: Mm hmm.
Bart Berkey: for different reasons.
Uh, there, there was one individual I'll share just quickly, uh, I checked into a hotel. This was, uh, in Cancun and, um, the woman, Sandra was so excited to show me all aspects of the room. So enthusiastic that I didn't have the heart to tell her I've been in the hotel world for a long time. I know how to open up a mini bar.
I know how the blinds work, but she kept on going and going and going. And as she finished, I was reaching into my pocket. I wanted to give her something right to show my appreciation. I didn't have any currency. But I had a gratitude some, and I said, Sandra, may I give this to you? This is what it means to me.
May I give this to you? And she graciously accepted it. As soon as I put it in her hand, she started crying. And I was like, what did I do? What culture tradition did I break? What did I do wrong? She pulls out a little coin purse. She dumps it out. There's no coins in this coin purse, but there's a little black pebble.
And she said, my niece gave this to me 15 years ago for protection and she carried it with her every single day because when she worked at this resort in Cancun, sometimes she'd arrive in the morning early when it was dark, sometimes she would leave at late at night when it was dark and that was her protection.
So when I gave her that stone, it meant something to her. She kissed it. She put it right into their coin purse, zipped it up and went like this. So it meant something to Sandra, and I would say nine times out of ten, when I see people that I think need a stone
because of hospitality, because we are intentional, because we watch, because we observe, because we anticipate, we over deliver, the reaction when people receive it is usually heartfelt and tears for some reason, because because it's I didn't necessarily know why they needed it, but that's what they needed.
Steve Carran: That's incredible. That is awesome. Well, now we're going to get more into the section of the podcast where we talk about the hospitality industry and trends that are happening now. So in your view, since you know, you worked with the Ritz Carlton and the guest experience and expectations have evolved over the years, how can hoteliers kind of stay in front of guest expectations?
And how can hoteliers really deliver kind of that incredible guest experience?
Bart Berkey: Steve, thank you for the thoughtful questions so far. David as well. It's not easy. I believe expectations are getting higher and higher. People can get dopamine hits of feeling good by looking at their phone and clicking a couple of buttons. It's going to make them feel a certain way. So people are becoming used to feeling good. They're also more careful with how they're spending money. And they're also looking for experiences. It's not easy because you need to find a match of your employees that want to be able to over deliver to be able to match these experiences. And we know many of our hotelier friends that are listening, staffing continues to be a challenge.
And I'm sure your trend from a trend wise, y'all continue to hear that it's hard to find the right people. It's hard to find the great people and it's hard to keep. The really good people when that happens, I could be staying at a lovely hotel paying 1, 200 a night. I don't really care if you have staffing issues.
I have expectations that at 2 a. m. If I want a cheeseburger delivered through room service, I don't want to hear that. So sorry, in room dining stopped at midnight, but we can maybe find a sandwich for you somehow. I don't want to hear that. I don't care. It's a combination of. I believe enhanced expectations and a combination of the challenge of finding the right people, keeping the right people and having enough people to be able to deliver.
I don't know what the answer is. We certainly do training. My company does training on trying to help find the right people and train the right people, but it is not easy. It's certainly not easy. I don't know if that answers your question.
Steve Carran: Yeah, that does. You're good.
Bart Berkey: Okay. All right.
David Millili: And so the key leadership lessons that you learned, you know, specifically maybe through Ritz Carlton, what are some of them and how can current hospitality leaders apply them?
Bart Berkey: Yes. Um, there's a couple of individuals that I've interviewed recently. So not only have I learned what I believe great leaders are, but then I've also had the pleasure, just like you're asking me, what do you believe great leaders are? What do they represent? There's a few things I'll use the term leaders don't need to make people cry. Leaders can deliver good news. They can deliver bad news, but they don't need to make people cry. They don't need to make people feel bad. So I don't know how we would typify that, maybe saying empathetic, maybe saying kind, but I think that just that statement, leaders don't need to make people cry. I think that's one element.
Of course, we can talk about authenticity, but I spoke to a gentleman, a gentleman I went to school with Penn State. His name is Fred Fung. He is the CEO of Bonita Bay. Club in Bonita, um, Bonita Bay Springs in Florida. And, uh, what he said is his career changed as soon as he embraced the message in the quote, and I can't remember exactly who said it, uh, something along the lines of when you stop looking for credit, it's amazing the results that you're going to be able to achieve when you stop looking for credit and when you give up the aspect of credit.
Uh, and then the other element of like truly caring for people. And there's, again, so many great quotes, right? People aren't going to remember certain things, but they're going to remember how you feel, Maya Angelou. But the element of caring for people authentically, I think, represents the greatest lens of leadership.
Being real, being authentic, truly caring, remembering, looking people in the eye, being available for them, putting some of their needs ahead of our own, being unselfish, so many different qualities. And it's rare. And it goes back to this theme of most people don't, but you do when we know that we should be caring, when we know that we should be empathetic, when we know we should put others needs ahead of ours, when we know that we should contribute and get in the trenches when we need to.
We know all these things, not always easy to do, but when you do those things, you can become a better leader. Those are the things primarily that I learned in my career so far.
Steve Carran: That's fantastic. That's great. So 25 2025 is just kicking off. We're 10 days in as we record this. What trends or challenges are you seeing in the hospitality industry right now? And if you have any advice for hoteliers on how to deal with those challenges or trends, feel free to fire them off.
Bart Berkey: Yes, I am seeing trends. There was a study recently done by PwC called the futures of work, and it really gets back to staffing and motivation. They were predicting that one out of three people are going to be leaving their jobs in the next 12 months. And if you look at the reasons why, there's three main reasons.
One, I don't believe that I'm developing as an individual and as a person. So lack of personal development to lack of team culture, that people are mean, they're nasty, they're not supportive. And then three, not knowing where the organization or the hotel or the industry is going. What is the future? So if you look at those three things, I believe the number one challenge is this element of personal development, that there are people that are so very, very busy.
Let's think upper management so very, very busy that I don't have time to spend with the people that I'm trying to lead. Okay. Um, am I setting one on one time to be able to meet with you? Because most of these mid level and entry level managers, what they are saying, and millennials are saying, something like 72 are saying, I want to spend more time with my manager.
I want to learn more from them. But I'm so busy that my door is shut. I'm so occupied with other things as a leader that I'm not taking the time to be available to be interrupted. Available to be interrupted. And so I believe ideas for 2025 is that if you are a leader for your team, just remember this one statement, be available to be interrupted.
Be there for your team. It's not about you. It's not about my way or the highway. Be there for your team. That's probably the number one thing that I'm seeing that you want to, because you, there are great people out there, but if you're not nurturing them, if you're not mentoring them, if you're not leading them, they're going to look elsewhere.
So spend time with your team, be available to be interrupted.
David Millili: given a lot of great advice. What's some advice you'd give to individuals that are aspiring to be in the hospitality field or, you know, become an entrepreneur? What's, what's some of the, some of the key things you would point out?
Bart Berkey: Um, make sure that you, uh, that you are intentional, make sure that you are doing it for the right reasons. Make sure that you understand your purpose and your passion and choose purpose and passion over pennies. A lot of people might want to have titles. And there's a story in my book called, um, big mailboxes, bigger bills, or something along those lines.
When you see the big houses, guess why they have a massive mailbox is because they get a lot of frigging bills. So it might sound really cool to have the title of general manager. And the pay of general manager and the benefits of general manager, but make sure you're doing it for the right reasons because you want to lead people and you want to understand all these different departments and you want to be the face of a hotel.
Same thing as an entrepreneur. It's not easy being an entrepreneur. It's not easy to start your own business, but if you believe in the why, then the how becomes easy. Right? If the why is important enough, the how becomes easy. We're given all these lovely quotes that I've either created or have learned from other people.
I'll take credit for them all. Okay? Hashtag Hashtag Bart Berkey. Um, so I think there's a lot of different elements. Make sure that you understand why you are doing it. And a friend had shared this story with me when he started his own business. He said, his first goal was make tons of money, not work for anyone else, and then have fun.
And when he was doing those things in that order, he was not successful. He then changed it to have fun, help people work on my own, have independence and have freedom. When he changed his mindset, it wasn't about chasing money. It wasn't about chasing titles, wasn't chasing the bigger house to get the bigger mailbox.
It was about chasing what makes you happy, finding out your purpose and your passion and pursuing it. And it sounds simple, but when you do that, when you dedicate everything to doing things that you love, oh my goodness. It's easy. It's easy. I'm spending more time working, uh, since starting my own company full time.
Most people six years ago, I am spending more time working, you know, up at four a. m. Sometimes working on Saturday and Sunday, every single day observing, sharing gratitude stones, talking to people, getting stories because it's enriching me. And then I can share that from a motivational storyteller perspective out when people need to hear it.
I'm spending more time than ever helping them. And thinking about the business, but boy, it doesn't feel like business at all. Right. If I won the lottery tomorrow, I would still be doing this because I'm still helping people. I'm helping people think differently. They get better passion and purpose over pennies.
Steve Carran: Love that. Love that. And as, uh, my wife and I look for a house to buy, I'm gonna look at the mailboxes in the front yard because I want the smallest mailbox out there. So no bills can come. That's, that's, uh, that's a new required thing for our house. So that's great. Bart. You have been awesome, and we've been growing you this whole time by asking you questions.
This is a part of the episode where we turn the tables and you get to ask David and I a question.
Bart Berkey: Well, first of all, congratulations on the modern hotelier thinking about the guests that you've been on, that you've had on the way that you are sharing information, the way that you are approaching questions, you're allowing people to be able to share their personal story, yet you're also touching upon industry trends.
It's absolutely brilliant. So I am learning from you all. I am curious with 2025, there's always a statement. More than in 24, you want to do more in 25 than in 24. What are you hoping to do better in 2025 with the modern hotelier? David, I'll ask you first.
David Millili: Yeah. So we've launched modern hotelier media and we have, uh, we call the experience. kind of package hotel experience where we tour hotels. Um, so that's key because as you said, you, you picked tick tock, the world wants video, people want to consume video. And so for me, not only are we going to be helping hoteliers record and tell a story of their hotel, but then how do they utilize that video with certain applications on their website, through social media.
So for me, that's, and I probably stole Steve's thunder, but that for me, that's the, that's the big thing I'm looking forward to helping these hotels, doing tours and them telling their story.
Bart Berkey: It's so cool. So cool. And I just want to insert before we hear from Steve and you realize that what we all do, we are focused on certain elements. And hoteliers, as an example, David, as you just described, they don't have time, nor is it their level of expertise to be focused on doing the things like video tours and conversations and going to the like, they don't have time to do that.
So here you are a trusted advisor to be able to help them do things like that, which is just brilliant. You're helping people do their jobs better, which will ultimately help better service, which will help provide more experiences for people, which is going to help create a revenue for them. Absolutely brilliant.
Steve, what are your thoughts on that? Love that idea.
Steve Carran: David absolutely took my, my answer, but uh, but that's okay. Um, I think, I think kind of too, that we're just, we're excited to expand a little bit more. I think we've had, you know, we've been doing the podcast for three years, and I think we, we've done a good job and kind of have it down and, um, you know, working with John and David has been great.
But, um, now expand how, how can we impact and improve the hospitality industry even more? Um, one thing that I think in reflecting over the past few years is how generous. And how open hospitality has been with us. Um, I, you know, nobody knew who I, well, not a lot of people knew who I was before a podcast.
So it kind of, you know, David, he's well known, he's a celebrity in the industry. But, you know, having the hospitality accept, accept me and encourage me and, you know, really how, how they. benefit in my life. Um, just kind of giving back and doing as much as we can for, you know, not only guests of our podcast, but hoteliers helping them give more content and create more revenue for themselves.
And, you know, those tech companies as well, getting the word out about them because that's a hard space to be in these days. So, um, just. Giving as much back to the industry as we possibly can, since they have just given us, you know, everything, you know, this is my, my career. They've given me a whole different life than I've had three years ago.
So as much as we can give back and expand and kind of do well for the industry, that's, that's really the goal.
Bart Berkey: And here you go, that answer, it wasn't about making more money. It wasn't about getting into the top 1 percent of anything it is. How can we give back even more? Because they have been giving, the industry has been giving to you and David, you and I met personally. I liked you in an instant. I learned so much about your authenticity, your grit as well.
Steve, when you and I spoke, um, you're just a likable person. You know, you are authentic, likable. I'm going to say likable dude. You are an authentic, likable dude. And I want to help you because I like you. Right. I want to help Dave because I like David, John. I'm not too sure about quite yet, but I'm probably going to want to be able to help him.
But, but that's, that's the element of, um, uh, of the industry. That's the L element of authenticity and what else is very cool. And let me compliment David and Steve as well. Uh, Almost every single post that I put on LinkedIn, Steve and David are probably two of the quickest people to like, comment, share, and repost.
Uh, and we are in similar space in a sense, but you are helping support me. I am helping to support you because there is abundance in the world. And, and that is, that typifies what hospitality is. There's abundance in the world for giving. And when we are doing it for the right reasons, it's all going to come back and flow.
That's exactly what I believe the three of you are doing with the Modern Hotelier. So, very, very proud and pleased to be included. Uh, John, I did have one question for you. What is your passion, my friend? What is your passion?
Jon Bumhoffer: My passion. I've always kind of been, um, somebody that I love to help make things happen, make things excellent. Um, in my career, it's always been kind of a little bit of orchestration and behind the scenes, but just let people, um, who maybe are the ones on the stage or doing their thing, let them do that to the best of their ability and I'll take care of the rest.
That's kind of, that's what I like
to do. 
Bart Berkey: In that word right there, John, and thank you, excellence. So here we have John helping me with my microphone, making sure that it was representing excellence. Can you change this? Can you adjust this? And it wasn't just, it's good enough. John was pushing for excellence. And then the other thing, and I'm not sure if when this is recorded, does everyone see all four of us?
Typically.
Jon Bumhoffer: Different, different points. Yeah.
Bart Berkey: Okay. But what I love about this is that I'm trying to look at the camera primarily, but then on occasion, I'm looking at all of you, John, this is, you are not talking. You're not asking questions now you're talking. But what I like about John already, he is seeking excellence because he is listening.
You can tell he's learning. He's listening. He's thinking, okay, how can we make that even more excellent? So I appreciate John what you're doing because I see it in your eyes You were striving for excellence and with that combination John Steve and David I mean what what a unique crew of what you were doing to be able to help Hoteliers and the hospitality world expand well done.
Well done
Steve Carran: Thank you. 
Jon Bumhoffer: Thank 
Steve Carran: you. And I can tell you've, you've watched a few episodes cause you wanted to bring John in a little early, but to finish off the episode, we let John ask the final question before we get you out of here. So, you know, John, I guess this is where you can decide if Bart likes you or not.
Jon Bumhoffer: All right. Well, we'll find out after this question. Um, first off, I love the framework of most people don't and why you should. And so I want to get real practical and like, just throw this out here to you, bringing it to hotels in particular. What do you see that most hotels don't and why they should?
Maybe one or two, like the biggest dominoes.
Bart Berkey: yes, yes. Thank you, John. Um, most people don't focus on the customer. I have so many stores because I also do sales training. I also talk to customers. I run advisory boards. I have heard of so many customers tell me this, that they are, they have a contract and I'll use this term. I'm in your lobby with a briefcase full of money and no sales person is available to meet me.
Why? They're in a revenue management meeting talking about how to get customers like you into the lobby with a briefcase full of money. So most people don't focus on the customer. Be responsive, ask questions. Listen, don't tell them what you think you want to tell them. You tell me all about my great fitness center when your group isn't even going to have five minutes of free time to be able to use it.
Let me tell you all about the great pool that we have outside when you're going to be meeting with us in December and it's in Michigan. Those are simple things. Most people don't focus in on the customer. They're too concerned with talking about what they want to talk about. They're going to data dump.
They're not going to ask relevant questions. They're not going to listen, which then really destroys the element of how are you gonna make people feel a certain way if you're not focusing in on customers be available and be available to be interrupted as a salesperson and as a general manager. The last one I would say, um, Most people don't focus on service excellence.
Most people don't focus on service excellence. And you don't need to be a luxury hotel. You don't need to be getting 1, 900 for an average room rate. You could be a hotel that charges 49 and you might be able to charge 59. If you focus on service excellence, put yourself into the lens of how is a customer going to feel if someone comes in and I'm on my phone, if I'm a doorman or a bellman and I should be opening up the doors, cause that's what doorman and bell people do.
And I'm, I'm on my phone. That's not service excellence. Uh, if it takes 80 different phone calls and 14 different prompts to be able to reach a salesperson to be able to reach someone to talk to, that's not service excellence. There are things that we can do to be able to make people feel better. To be able to provide better service excellence.
And it's simply a focus. It doesn't matter if you're luxury, it just needs to be an intentional focus on service excellence. So I think those two things focus on the customer and focus on service excellence.
Steve Carran: It's fantastic.
David Millili: Well, that does it for another episode of the Modern Hotelier. Bart, this is the portion of the program where you get to let people know how they can find out about you, find out about your company. So plug away.
Bart Berkey: Oh, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. Just briefly, most people don't all one word. com. You'll find information on my keynote messages. We have some signature videos that are listed there. We also typically customize keynote messages based on what the audience is looking for. In addition, myself and my team, we do sales in service training.
We are very diligent with regard to most people don't as a philosophy is also the foundation for Better service, better selling, better focus on customers. So that's, those are two of the main things. A podcast, very blessed to be consistently within the top two to 5%. Very similar to the modern hotel.
You're not quite at your level quite yet, but we're getting there. And the podcast is called most people don't, but you do. We have conversations with people like a David Malili, as well as the founder of Ritz Carlton, the founder of Hintwater. Uh, and my mother, right? My 89 year old mother. It's individuals that I have been, uh, have been finding that I believe are taking action that are truly doing what most people don't.
So a lot of resources there, Bart and most people don't easy way to reach me. And just grateful. You'll see me at a lot of industry events. You'll see me at a lot of non industry events. We talk not only to hospitality companies, but we talk to financial companies and insurance companies and tech companies, because everyone needs.
Good reminders on how and why you should do what most people don't. Grateful gentlemen. Thank you.
David Millili: great. Well, that does it for another episode of the Modern Hotelier, Hospitality's most engaged podcast. Whether you're watching or listening, we appreciate you and we'll see you next time. Thanks Bart.
Bart Berkey: Thank you, gentlemen. Appreciate it.
David Millili: Thank you.