The Modern Hotelier #242: Meet the President of WorldHotels | with Ron Pohl
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David Millili: Steve, who do we have on the program today? 
Steve Carran: Yeah, David excited about this one, we have on Ron Pohl, the president of World Hotels and also international operations for Best Western Hotels. Thanks for joining us, Ron. How are you doing today? 
David Millili: I'm doing great. Thank you. Good to be here. So we're gonna get started. We're gonna dive into a quick lightning round, get to know you better, dive into your career, and then get into industry topics. Sound good? Sounds good. Alright, so what did you want to be when you grew up, when you were little? 
Ron Pohl: I actually wanted to be a professional golfer. 
David Millili: Okay. Alright, good. Is there anything that you wish you were better at?
Ron Pohl: Okay. That might take the rest of the show, but I would say the thing that comes to mind and it's not golf. I would say keeping in touch with people and to expand on that, I would say that, you know, over the years, I've had the pleasure of being able to meet so many amazing people and trying to stay in touch with them over time has been, has been a challenge.
And I often find myself now remembering someone and going online and searching to see if I can track 'em down and catch back up with them. So, I wish I would've stayed in touch with some of the people I've met over the years more so. 
David Millili: Yeah, me too. What's a luxury you can't live without?
Ron Pohl: Hmm. This might sound strange. I none. Okay. You know, I love cars. You know, maybe that's considered a luxury, but, you know, computers and phones and all of that kind of stuff, I'd be happy to put those aside. Go back to some more simpler things. 
David Millili: Understood. So, who's a person, dead or alive, who you'd like to take to lunch and where would you take them?
Ron Pohl: Wow. I would say I would probably, maybe Ronald Reagan, would love to, you know. Very interesting life and respectable, respected person. You know, I think just going down David to the Henry or something like that in a very casual environment and have a conversation would be, would be pretty unique. 
David Millili: That sounds cool. What's a superpower you wish you had? 
Ron Pohl: Mental telepathy. 
David Millili: Okay. All right. And what's on your bucket list?
Ron Pohl: I would say I have two things on my bucket list. One that my wife fears might come true, and I said that when I retire, that we're gonna buy an RV and travel the country for several months and she is hoping that day never comes aside from that, I would love to spend some time in southern Italy on the coast, the Amalfi Coast, or Capri, or I think spending a month over there would just be incredible.
Steve Carran: That's good. Well said. I brought that same thing up to my wife too, and she had the same reaction. So maybe you and I go on a RV trip, Ron there, we go. So Ron, that was fantastic. Now we're gonna dive into your background a little bit. What makes you tick? So, you grew up in the Ohio area. Is that correct? 
Ron Pohl: I did, I was born and raised in Youngstown, Ohio, back in the day was called Gangster Town as it was other than Chicago, probably one of the most populated cities for the mafia. I grew up there and stayed in Ohio for a number of years. All my family worked in the steel industry and we moved to Cleveland when I was still in elementary school and then spent most of my educational years in in Cleveland.
Steve Carran: How did growing up in Youngstown shape you into who you are today? 
Ron Pohl: You know, it was a typical blue collar city with the, you know, welcoming Midwest people that I just think can't be replaced in today's day and age, and I think that's probably the, the most important part of that.
David Millili: What led you to choose University of Akron and pursue a degree in business? 
Ron Pohl: Truth be told, I actually went my first year to Bowling Green. And that school was a lot of fun. So I thought if I'm gonna make it through my college years, I probably at the time needed to go back home and just commute to school. And that's what I did for the remaining three years in college. So maybe by default, but it turned out to be a great university and still stay in touch with many of the, many of the folks from there. 
Steve Carran: So, hey, go zips. Right? One thing that I really, I guess was impressed with as I was doing my research about you is you are a pretty big cycler, recently you actually rode an a hundred mile event. How did you get into cycling and do you have like a favorite race competition or even a favorite ride? 
Ron Pohl: So, yeah, so that's really interesting. You know, I've been throughout the course of my life, I've always, you know, done sports. I did mostly running events. And just three years ago one of my buddies said, Hey, have you ever tried a triathlon. And I said no. But as you, as you start to get older, you start thinking about, okay, what do I wanna achieve before I can't do them anymore? So I did a very short sprint triathlon, and then I enjoyed it, but quickly moved to trying for a half Ironman and for in 19 in 20, 23, 24, I did three half iron bands. So it was just, you know, I got into swimming, I got into biking, and really enjoyed it. I found out that I hate ocean swimming, but lakes aren't so bad. And then with that, because part of the, the half Ironman is a 60, it was a 56 mile ride. I had another buddy here at work that said, Hey, do you wanna ride tour to Scottsdale, which was 62 miles, which is the, you know, in kilometers. It's a hundred kilometer ride. And then we did that two years ago, and then this year he and I, uh, said, well, you know what? Tour to Tucson is the biggest bike event in the nation, and they have a hundred mile bike ride. So do you want to try for that? And I said sure. So, we just did that last month Tucson is an amazing city to ride through the hills, and the weather actually cooperated with us for the most part, that can be a little bit dicey. There were 11,000 bike riders in, in that event, so, it was really cool.
So I guess by mistake I got into cycling, but you know, as you get older running really beats up your body. So what are the activities that I can do that do that less? And swimming and biking are a good substitute, so I still do all three every week. I swim, bike, and run, but really enjoy, enjoy cycling. 
Steve Carran: Any ambition to do a full Ironman.
Ron Pohl: None whatsoever. It's kind of funny because I got off the bike after a hundred miles and I said to vk, who's one of our attorneys here that I did the ride with, I said, vk, I cannot imagine going another 26 miles on this bike and then having to get off and run a 26 mile marathon.
So, oh my God, there's no way and the time that it takes to train for that is incredible a half iron man is reasonable, takes away a lot of nights and weekends, but to do a full year, you're, you're really committed. So it's one of those things that, you know, had I been 10 or 15 years younger, I might try to do it, but I'm good.
Steve Carran: Fair enough. I also love that you said you like swimming in lakes better than oceans. As a fellow mid-Westerner, I totally agree with you all about lakes. 
Ron Pohl: So not a big ocean guy, but you're not at the top of the food chain in the ocean. 
Steve Carran: So, that is correct. So that was great, Ron. Now we're gonna dive into your career a little bit, how you got to where you are today. So after, I know you went to go work at Marriott Corporate, is that what you did right after college or did you try other, maybe other fields or other jobs before you started at Marriott? 
Ron Pohl: I had a very short stint on Catalina Island. Quite honestly finished college and a gentleman, I had worked at a Marriott hotel as a front desk clerk. While going to college. I knew the business a little bit, it was just nothing more than, Hey, I need a job and knew someone and I became a front desk clerk. But one of the gentlemen that was the food and beverage director there at that property moved to Catalina Island to be the GM of a hotel. And when I graduated college, he called me and he said, Hey, do you wanna come to Catalina? You know what, 22-year-old kid doesn't wanna go to Catalina. And so I went there for just six months for, from like May until December of that year. Catalina Island back then shut down basically in the, in the off season.
And then, so I moved from there back to my parents were living in Pittsburgh at the time. I moved back to Pittsburgh and that's where I started working for Marriott Corp. And I worked for them in Pittsburgh, and then in Detroit. And then, as luck would have it as a front office manager there, the company that I had worked summers for while going to school had Marriott Hotels in Cleveland and said, Hey, would you like to come back and join us? So, that was Boykin Management Company and I ended up when I started with them, we had. Five hotels and I was a front office manager. I was with them for 23 years and when I left we had 34 hotels and I was senior vice president of operations. So, and really worked just about every job in the business over those 23 years. 
Steve Carran: That's great. I've heard Catalina has great wine mixers back in the day, but, uh, question to ask you kind of about those earlier days, what did you learn at ca on Catalina and also with Marriott that you still take with you today?
Ron Pohl: Well, you know, those are really the formulative years. I don't know that Catalina taught me a lot other than, it was my, you know, first time, basically out of Ohio. But you're independent. You've got a life and you've gotta learn the industry and be successful because it was an independent property.
So it really didn't have structure to it. It was up to me to figure out what that structure needed to be and to help this, these hotels be more successful. And those, those hotels are, two of the three are still there today. It was actually three properties that were all part of the Island Resorts was the name of the company and I just went back for the first time last year after 40 years. So, it was pretty cool to go back there and reminisce and see where those hotels are and how much the island has not changed over that period of time. But that, that was what I really learned there. But then coming back to Marriott and I was with them for four years, that was really.
You know, the structure and what hospitality really meant that formed the basics of what you need to do to be successful in this business. And had some great mentors then. And a couple of those I still do stay in touch with today. But that was really, you know, Marriott was a great training ground for hospitality.
Steve Carran: Great. 
David Millili: Yeah. And so you talked about your time at Boykin Management. Is this where you became passionate about the upper scale properties, luxury hotels, and resorts? 
Ron Pohl: Absolutely. The majority of our hotels at Boykin were Marriotts Hiltons double trees. We had independent resorts, we had condominium hotels, and they, for the most part, played in the upper upscale segment, you know, and then. I'd left there o only because we had 17 hotels, 17 of the 34 that were sold in one transaction. And it was great, you know, good working relationship and the family is, you know, still resides in North Carolina today. But it was an opportunity for me then to say, okay, what else is out there?
And best Western back in 2007 when I joined was really in a kind of re trying to recreate the brand. We had only one brand at the time, best Western had huge potential and it wasn't long after there in the first couple years, we expanded to Best Western, best Western plus Best Western Premier brands starting to move into the upscale segment. And then, you know, over the past 19 years almost now, we've expanded, you know, we expanded into 16 brands within Best Western and stay, which was the economy segment. And then in 2019 we bought World Hotels, which was a brand that was very well-known in Europe and Asia but not so much in the US.
So, we acquired that and it was strategic decision to not try to go out and create a new upscale brand, and grow it organically. What's out there that really aligns with who we are as an organization? Best Western Hotels are a membership association, which is a little bit different than the industry. And World Hotels had a very similar format in, in how they worked with hotels, so it really made it a great fit for us, and then gave us. The ability to compete from luxury to economy. So that really expanded the portfolio now into 18 brands that we continue to work and grow. 
Steve Carran: Really impressive. Impressive. And you hold a dual role. You are the head of international operations for Best Western Hotels, and then you're also the president of World Hotels. Can you share a little bit more about, I guess, what your day looks like and kind of your roles and responsibilities? 
Ron Pohl: Sure, you know, again, world Hotels. Competes in the upper upscale luxury segment, there are primarily three brands. We're expanding into actually a fourth and fifth within that segment. But it has luxury, elite, distinctive and crafted within that. And I'm responsible for growing that brand on a global scale. We don't manage all countries around the world. There are some that we do and some we have master licensees. We have five master licensees in Europe and we have three master licensees in apac. But the rest of the world is part of my expanded team. So I internationally, I work with our international organizations for world hotels as well as working with them on all the best Western brands, and they're responsible for the growth in those regions. Personally, and then in the other regions that I have direct control over, I have an office and a team in Dublin. I have one in Amsterdam, one in Frankfurt. We're opening up one in Riyadh. I've got an office in Bangkok in Sydney office in Mexico City and then we're just opening one up in Brazil as well.
So my day is a little unique in that most of my calls with Europe and the teams there have to be early morning because they're eight or nine hours ahead of us. And then APAC is primarily evening calls because they're 14 or 15 hours ahead of us. So the middle of the day, and you know, this time of day is typically where I can get some work done, almost uninterrupted un unless it's, you know, issues here in North America where I'm working with development of the World Hotels brand. And it's interesting, you know, as we look around the world, you know, we've got there's so much. Activity happening in, in places where it didn't before. The Middle East is, is very much under a very heavy development. The Crown Prince there has established a strategy. It's the 2030 strategy to balance out oil with tourism, they see Dubai as a potential and the country has tremendous potential. I was just there last month for a conference there. There's literally a hundred cranes in the air with construction going on, they've set aside $800 billion for hospitality and growth in the country. So it's just incredible. And it's in its infancy, so we're opening up an office there to really participate and expand all of our brands there. The other country that's been really active for the last three years, and that's Vietnam. And so we've got about 30 projects in the pipeline right now, but we took World hotels to, into a little bit different segment there that we're starting to see more and more happen.
And that's the branded residence space, you know, here in Phoenix, we see the Ritz Carlton down at Scottsdale Road with the Ritz Carlton residences, you know, four Seasons is in that space Hyatt is in that space. But then we see retail and auto companies like Bugatti creating residences and other retailers are doing the same thing because it creates this lifestyle that they want to be a part of. So we've entered into that space first in Vietnam, we've got six projects there, the smallest is about a hundred condominiums, but the largest is 2,400 condominiums in one project. And they're world Hotel residences. So we we're really targeting that market heavy and the growth is tremendous. It's a beautiful country to visit some of the most beautiful beaches in the world. And then Brazil is, is another part of the world that's, you know, it kind of ebbs and flows with their development activity, and right now it's very strong. So we feel we're underrepresented there and are really focused on Latin America with specific focus on Brazil.
David Millili: That's great. So you've said that the hotel guests are bored. So how is World Hotel specifically using the crafted collection to cure that boredom? 
Ron Pohl: It all starts with every hotel has a story and how do we help hotels if they don't have it already? But if they do, how do we help them explain that story? Because today, while guests certainly are going to go to the major cities for some vacation or leisure, Paris, Tokyo, you know, all these places around the world that are renowned, they're also looking for off the beaten path as well. And they wanna experience, you know, life as a local, if you will. What does it really mean to go visit, you know, Amsterdam?
Well, you know, let's help the hotel, create that experience and tell that story because that's what the younger generation, or at least those younger than baby boomers, and I would tell you, even myself as a baby boomer would say, Hey, I want that too. I wanna go to these places and really understand what life is like there. You know, disconnect from the rest of the world. So we, as part of the activation process with World Hotels, we spend time with them to help understand what their story is that they want to communicate, and then how do we build that out. In everything we do from marketing to social media, you know, and using our team to leverage that with our loyalty members and communicate that, and in today with, you know, not getting too far over into AI, but that's what's being searched. Where in the past you had limited content that you wanted available. Today is put it all out there because you know, an agent might be searching for what that specific thing is that you want or need and connecting with the local food and beverage experience or you know, what there is in the area to see. You've gotta have all that there because it's not a human that's searching this and it's gonna be less and less of a human that's searching for this, and if you don't have it, you just fall out of the search. So we think that our message is all around being more welcoming for all of our brands. But then how do you communicate that effectively to the consumer out there that meets their expectations? 
Steve Carran: And you might have a future in podcasting because you led this perfectly into my next question. We're gonna dive into the thought leadership section. And so you mentioned storytelling, and this was kind of something that I wanted to talk to you more about is have you seen storytelling has kind of become this buzzword that we hear more and more and more. Have you seen a specific instance where the story of a hotel brings ROI to that hotel not just, you know, to make the guests feel great, which we want as well. But is Have you seen ROI actually being brought in just from storytelling? 
Ron Pohl: You know, I think that for years. It's brought it in that it's really more so now that we're actually able to, to capture that and be able to leverage it or know that we captured it and say, okay, what can we learn from this? And how did it work? We've got a hotel in Amsterdam, it's called the Collector Hotel, and it's this great little boutique crafted property, roughly 80 rooms and the entire hotel is collections and it's abstract collections. It's matchbook covers, it's cassette tapes, it's shirt collars, it's ties, it's all of these random collections throughout the hotel and they communicate that message out there and people come for that reason, they wanna see what this collection is all about. And another one I would, you know, wellness is another, you know, major initiative within the economy today and what people are searching for, it's way beyond spa. It's how am I gonna make sure that I'm healthier five years from today and live a quality end of life? Versus not. And so we've expanded world hotels into wellness facilities. Our first one is in corn Mexico. And that one, it's putting out the message through key communicators of, Hey, this wellness facility does analysis, does all of these things that, you know, in three to five days you can change, change your lifestyle. And the goal is to leave there and maybe come back once or twice a year for a refresher on that. We're absolutely seeing that happen. So, the Soul Springing Sanctuary kind of started that with us, they're doing a second one in Cabo, a third one in Greece because we see it as a global opportunity to really be able to communicate and help people live healthier lives.
David Millili: So through because we care initiative, how do you convince independent hotel owners. Sustainability is a revenue driver rather than just a cost. 
Ron Pohl: Yeah. And that conversation has certainly evolved tremendously over the years. I think now that the easiest part to communicate with that is utilities are very expensive. You know, water, electricity, natural gas, all of those things are very expensive and they're only getting more expensive. So, it's easy to talk to an individual Hotelier in and explain and we can compare. Right. It's funny that we're talking about this. The meeting I had with some of our team just before coming on on this call was talking about how are we doing globally with regard to sustainability specifically as it relates to energy costs. And we now have a benchmark that we can compare performance of hotels and be able to sit down with a hundred or 200 room property and say, do you know that, you know, your ex energy costs are X and we have a similar hotel in a similar climate, and their costs are why?
So what can we learn from this and help them? Operate more effectively and efficiently and reduce costs. The other side of it, which is really. You know, it, it Europe and we're learning from Europe and Asia here in North America that they've got this wired. And you go to Sweden, you go to Italy, you go to other parts of Europe, they understand it completely. South Korea light years ahead of all of us. So we're learning from that and being able to leverage that in our key learnings. But more so because of that internationally. And more companies now in North America require you have a green certification to be considered for business. You know, especially those publicly reporting companies or publicly held companies.
So, you know, we have to look at that and say, it's not always about the business you are going to attract. It's also about the business you could lose if you don't. Right. So, you know, at the end of the day, I'm a hotel operator at heart. So, while I hold brand responsibilities, I look at every hotel to say, okay, what do we gotta do to make this hotel more successful? Sometimes it's driving revenue, sometimes it's cutting costs, and you know, the sustainability kind of goes across both of, yeah, you can drive or retain revenue, put a fence around those customers that you need to retain. But then there's also some bottom line savings If you truly have a team that's focused on it.
Steve Carran: Makes sense. Said, well said. So I was pretty impressed. You're one of the early adopters and early advocates for AR and VR. You actually helped Best Western be named one of the 50 most innovative companies by Fast Company for AR and VR. Can you tell us more about how you implemented AR and VR? I'd also love to hear what you think the current state of AR and VR is.
Ron Pohl: You know, again, we were way back, way before COVID. One of the key initiatives that we had that I helped us work through was, you know, clean matters. And certainly through COVID that was em over, you know, it was emphasized. But before that, we said, you know what? At the end of the day, especially at, and we owned, you know, the best Western brands at that time, we could truly be leading industry. If we go out there with a message that says, you know what, we're the cleanest hotel brand. And, and you know, people liked that. And when we started moving technology, as we talked about that, you know, we said, you know what? There's a play here on how we can train people differently to interact on this.
And also at the front desk, there's a way that we can help communicate better. And that's where it was really all born in that, and we called, you know, we called it because we care, meaning we're focused on the customer and you know, and we care about our staff and we want people to be attracted to the industry. So we did this virtual reality training that ended up becoming so much fun because back at the time you had this agent of some sort that you could practice on that replaced the old role playing, you know, no, no matter what role playing was always uncomfortable, you know, it just didn't feel real. This was it would. It would ask you questions that made you feel uncomfortable. And, and I can remember, I, I demoed this at our, uh, one of our conventions for Best Western, and we typically have between 20, 503,000 attendees at this conference. And I said, you know what? Put me on the spot. Let's do this.
Virtual reality while I'm on stage. And the agent was came down to the front desk in the morning and said, you know, Mr. Pohl, my room was not clean and I'm not very happy about it. And, and, you know, kind of put me on the spot. And I said, well, I'm very sorry to hear that. And because I was on stage, I kind of smiled a little bit. And the agent came back and said. So Mr. Pohl, you think this is funny? And I was like, oh wow. Oh wow. I wasn't recognizing my face, my facial, you know, expression when I was doing that, but it called me right out on it. So it was actually pretty humorous at the time. But that was the level of detail we got into of that training content. And it was, they loved it because it was something new, it was quick, it was easy, you know, it's kind of the way people wanna learn today. It was in short segments, three to five minutes. It wasn't, you know, sitting there for 30, 40 minutes doing, uh, doing an online training program. So it still is exists to some extent today.
But, you know, as you mentioned in the question, so where's it going now? And we've actually taken a step further. We have a hotel in Sweden that has a virtual front desk clerk, and I think in some places you might have seen them in airports otherwise, where you have this electronically created person and we've got one there where they're testing and it's really, you know, it can check someone in, but it's really more of the uniqueness of that, of how you create that and how we may be engaging in the future.
Steve Carran: It's funny that you actually brought up the, that virtual assistant back in 2023, we actually had on Andre and Marx from Hollow Connect who you use with the Aiden Properties. And we also had on Thomas Ferland from CIC hospitality. So kind of a full circle moment where we got to talk to them two years ago and now hear from you, that it's going well.
David Millili: Yes. Alright, so what are you seeing internationally that you think will become more mainstream in the US or North America as we discussed earlier you know, it's so uniquely different there.
Ron Pohl: I think the biggest thing that I would say is that for our industry, more of it is going to be focused internationally and across all segments, you know, in some markets where mid-scale chains don't exist, you know, the Middle East has very few midscale chains India has very few Midscale, China has very few midscale, and are is expanding. So, but you know, when we look at it organizationally, you know, we've got a little over 4,000 hotels around the world and 2,500 of those are here in US and Canada, you know, over the foreseeable future, the next three to five years, we see that balance changing because you know, it's a big world out there. There's 340, three 50 million people here in, in the states. There's, you know, over 3 billion people in the world. So where is the growth? The growth is going to be international and that's why I'm so focused on. What do we need to do over the, do we need to do to build our footprint? The next big horizon I think is going to be Africa as that becomes a more safe environment overall. Bsut you know, we're already starting to see growth in Egypt and South Africa. So I think that's the next real horizon for us. But we learned so much that there's such a hospitable group that are globally that really, you know, if I look back 20, 30 years, where people were really excited about being in the hospitality industry, that's where there just in the infancy of that, and they're so excited to be in the business and look for a career in it that we could probably learn from that again.
Steve Carran: Again, an incredible segue here. So, you mentioned learning here, you helped create Best Western International University. What do you think is not a new skill, but a skill where hospitality students need to take more seriously that might not have been on the radar five years ago? 
Ron Pohl: Again, I would say that, I think that one's pretty obvious, which, when it relates to AI and technology, you know, it is the next frontier that we're, it's literally changing every single day. So, you know, I'm still getting comfortable with how to use it in our daily activities, at a brand level, educating hotels, how to use it at a hotel level and educating just employees and people how to use it in life because it's incredible. I think the next three years or so, we can't even fathom what it's going to allow us to do or tell us to do. But I think that's really the big unknown out there and how it affects, you know, booking and search and everything about it. So, you know, we focus a lot on data because we think that to be good at it, you have to first own your own data and leverage that going forward. So, it's interesting, it's scary, you know, who knows. 
Steve Carran: So you are kind of an early adapter for AR and VR. Do you have any predictions on where AI's gonna be in five years or how it's gonna impact the industry?
Ron Pohl: I don't think many people can predict it that far ahead to be honest. Oh, I agree. I think it's going to kind of jokingly what I said, I think it's going to be so automated and so intelligent that it's going to be telling us. What we should be doing on a daily basis and just someone else telling us what we need to be doing. But it'll all probably not be for the right reasons. I think that I probably, if I think about it, I think the biggest advances will be in how medicine and that the whole medical field, how it, how that is impacted by AI. It can be probably more accurate than a human in many of those cases.
So what does that mean for diagnosis? What does that mean for ways to Dr. Treat those, you know, symptoms? 
Steve Carran: What I think that's gonna be incredible with how fast AI is changing on a monthly or even daily basis five years out was a pretty big number to throw at you, so great, great answer for that one.
David Millili: So you've won numerous awards and you've had a successful career in hospitality. What do you think is the secret to having a successful career in hospitality? 
Ron Pohl: First and foremost, you gotta like people, and you have to be committed to people. I was pretty cool that about a month ago I got a phone call from a student that was at GCU, Grand Canyon University here that I'm on the advisory board, and three years ago he said, Hey, can we just meet, I have this business idea that I'd like to run by you. So we sat down and, and we talked and I gave him some thoughts on that. And then out of the blue about a month ago, he contacted me, said, Hey, can we have lunch? I said, absolutely. It's been a while. So we sat down at lunch this week and he said, I just want you to know that discussion three years ago helped me start my company.
I now have a company with 50 employees. I am nationally working within the hospitality space, and I followed some of the guidance you gave me on that. So, you know, and that to me, it's so important to teach people and to share what you can to help them be successful. And I think that's what's important in the industry is we haven't always been great at education and training. A lot of it is, you know, figure it out yourself type of thing. And the more we can do to help people be successful in the business not only help them yourself personally, but it, it helps the industry. So take the time to get to know the people you work with and, and help where you can. And at the end of the day, and especially today, be nice to people, you know? Right. Love that. You know, you go to different places and it's like someone's nice to you and it's like that's out of the norm. And it used to be the norm, you know, it drives me crazy that you have to, or think about, wow, that was nice. It's so be nice to people.  
Steve Carran: Couldn't agree more. Well, Ron, this has been great. We've been asking you questions this whole time. Now we're gonna turn the tables and let you ask David and I a question. 
Ron Pohl: Well, you all are. I am confident, and I know David for sure, knows much more about technology than I do. What advice would you give to us to say, here's what you really need to be ready for as an organization? If you wanna go or I'll go. 
Steve Carran: You can go, David, I'll let you take it. 
David Millili: Yeah. I think you've touched on it, but I think, what I try to preach to people is look at ways that the technology is gonna improve. The guest experience and the staff experience versus this fear that it's automatically gonna take away from hospitality. So we've been recently using the example, a lot of the probably too much, but the front desk agent having to check in, people pick up the phone, the stress it creates in that job, that was my, one of my first jobs in hospitality and I know, it's to look up and see three or four people online got somebody calling on hold.
So there's AI technology now that can alleviate that, whether it be through somebody picking up an AI agent, picking up those calls, or even SMS text messaging so you can ask a question if you're in your room. So I just always go to hoteliers and say. You better be doing such a great job if you're afraid of taking away that role or that action. So, you know, if you can't pick up the phone and you've got an issue with people being in line and not getting served, like why are you afraid of technology to help, you know, satisfy that? Whether it be, you know, checking in with your mobile or things of that nature. So I think we're an industry that always assumes we're doing such a great job in hospitality when I think we're not just like you said, but the being nice.
I mean, I was just, my last LinkedIn post was about a front desk agent who my wife and I were hugging her when we left. She checked us in, checked us out. She was just so nice. She made us feel so welcome. Right. That's rare. That's super rare for me. I travel all over the place and so for me that's what we have to stop being afraid the technology is gonna take away from hospitality 'cause it can only enhance it, in my opinion, if it's done right.
Steve Carran: David, we are on the same page. I was gonna say to that point almost is give the guest the option of technology. And I'm gonna give you an example of what happened to me. I was staying at a five star hotel last week, the last day, 40, 30 minutes before checkout. I went to go grab a coffee, came back to my room, and my key didn't work.
So I had to go down to the front desk. There was a line there, so there's four people in front of me and I just need a new key, right? It would've been so easy if they had a kiosk off to the side where I could have gone and make my own key, and then got up now went to go make that key, and the key didn't work. Then a lady had to come to my room to use the door and I just was thinking, I'm like, I know this is a five star hotel luxury. Hotels don't want kiosks or thing like that, but in this situation it would've been super helpful and also save that front desk person a little bit more time as well. And it's just stressful when you see four or five people in line.
You know, you wanna get through things, so, but you also wanna give guests that time of day as well and make it a unique experience. So that was just kind of, I agree with David on this one, but always I enjoy the option of how to interact with a hotel and how to utilize technology. So that's one thing I always say is give the guests an option.
Ron Pohl: Well, and you're absolutely right. You know, we have too often we try to categorize, and I even did earlier of, you know, the different generations whether their X, Y, Z, millennial, and try to bucket them in they all want the same thing and that's the furthest thing from the truth. You know, there is different within their generational category of what their expectations are as anything else.
So we can't say that, well, gen Z wants this. No. Some might. So our job is to identify what are those things that that person specifically wants or expects? And we can use technology to help us identify that, but then the service component comes from us to be able to engage that and, uh, and take it a step further. If I have a minute, can I ask you one more question? 
Steve Carran: Absolutely. 
Ron Pohl: Sure. So I'd like to hear from either of you kind of on put you on the hot seat. What was the best advice you were ever given? Stay humble and work hard. 
David Millili: Mine was keep your intelligence over your emotions and you always be successful. Awesome. Thank you for that. 
Steve Carran: There go. Hey, thank you David. We are quick on that one. Look at us. Yeah. Really well, Ron, this has been great. I'm sure you're tired of getting ask, I'm sure you're tired of answering questions from David and I so we're gonna bring in Jon, our producer, who's gonna ask you one more question before you get outta here. 
Jon Bumhoffer: Okay. It's been a fun conversation to listen to and having somebody like you who's seen a lot of, been in the industry and you oversee and see a lot of different hotels right now, I'm curious from your perspective on the international side and with World Hotels, what do you see the best hoteliers and operators doing? 
Ron Pohl: This might not be as unique or creative as you might expect, but they're really good at reading the customer. You know, if you first start out, and again, as I said, as an industry, you know, we don't know a lot about our customers or we know a lot and we don't use it, it's one of the two things, you know, Amazon knows everything about us and plays up to it, you know, to the NS degree, and we can learn from that. But then once you have that information, how can we use it to really make a difference? You know, and it could be, this is a silly example, but if I travel and stay for a week at a time and have to send laundry out, okay, well, we know that because it shows up on our folio every time we check out, well, are we as hoteliers using something like that to be able to call up and say, Mr. Pohl, do you need to send laundry out today? If so, I'll come up and get it. How amazing would that be that you did that? And even and I did have this actually happen. I went into my closet to get the laundry bag and slipped and my name was on it. Now, that was a shot that I may or may not use it, and they're gonna have to throw it out before the next guest, but I was blown away that a hotel took that little thing that made, you know, it's the little things that make those biggest impressions and how, however we can find that out, um, about our customers. Is it can be done through technology, it could be done. I'll tell you just another quick story if we have it back when I was a General Manager at a Marriott hotel, it was back in the day that we really wanted to recognize repeat guests. When that whole thing really came out with Marriott, and because we didn't have technology, we would have the doorman when they, when grabbing someone's bags, they would ask the guest, have you stayed with us before? And the guest would answer yay or nay.
So when they came into the front desk, and the desk clerk was there. If the doorman slash bellman grabbed his ear and did this, that means he was a repeat guest. So after the guest gave us a name, the clerk would say, well, welcome back Mr. Smith. And he was blown away that, how did you know that? And it was nothing other really than slight of hand that we were telling that message behind the scenes. And we blew people away with something just that simple. 
David Millili: Must have been a third base coach. That does it for another episode of The Modern Hotelier you, Ron. This is where you get to let people know how they can connect with you, how they can find out more about World Hotels, how they can find out more about Best Western. So, floor is yours. 
Ron Pohl: Thanks so much. And you know, I'm very active on LinkedIn. Please look me up there and connect. Love to be able to continue the conversation whether it's industry related or sports activities. I put it all out there. So, love to connect with fellow hoteliers and fellow cyclists.
David Millili: That's 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 hope to be with you again soon. Thanks for joining us, Ron. 
Ron Pohl: Thank you. Pleasure.