The Modern Hotelier #106: Taking Indie Hotels from Good to Great | with Mandy Murry === David Millili: Welcome to a special edition of The Modern Hotelier. We're coming to you from the green room at ILC in Sausalito. Steve, who do we have today? Steve Carran: David, today we are joined with Mandy Murray, CEO of Hospitality Concierge. Thanks for sitting down with us, Oh, thanks for having me. This is We're excited to have you. So to kick it off, you were raised in the Salt Lake City area, correct? How did that shape you into who you are today? Mandy Murry: I should have known this was coming because you know the first question I get, I'm gonna maybe be inappropriate here, but is I'm a Mormon. So I will just say it, like I was raised Mormon, um, I left Salt Lake City to really begin my career. So I started my career at the age of 16 as a travel agent. And I have a degree in travel and tourism and I moved Harbor Island in the Bahamas and took a sales and marketing for a private island development and that was a drastic change from Salt Lake City so you can imagine going from a big city. you know, how I was raised, and then go to an island where I tasted my, you know, first sip of Dom Perignon. Steve Carran: just Mandy Murry: Well, that just set the stage on fire for travel for my whole life. So I've always loved to travel. I call it cloud surfing. Yeah. Um, and so that's, that set the stage, so here I am at ILC. that's great. David Millili: And so tell us more about your first job in hospitality. Mandy Murry: Well, like I said, I was a travel agent. So, a neighbor that lived two doors down from me, uh, growing up, she worked for a travel agency and she said, I'll, I'll hire you on cause I had to find an internship. And so I went to work with her and she really molded me. Her name was Gypsy. And I give her credit so many times because she was like, no, you got to talk to people on the phone. No, you've got to do this. And she just really shaped me in, in what that was. And I loved, you know, like booking these packages for these corporate clients that are like, I'm gonna take my wife to Bora Bora. And so I'm booking these luxury packages and I'm like, this is the life I wanna live. Yeah. So that's, you know, I did that for two years and moved on to American Express corporate travel. And then I went to the Salt Lake 2002, um, Olympics, and I was the travel specialist for the VIPs of the torch relay. Wow. And you know, that just. Set my career in motion. It's kind of a little mod podge, I guess. Uh, you know, David Millili: That's great. Steve Carran: So now you're hospitality concierge. CEO there. Tell us a little bit more about Hospitality Concierge for those that might not be Mandy Murry: Right. So, my husband and I owned a hotel in North Carolina. So we were an all inclusive hotel. We sold it two years ago and Hospitality Concierge was born. So it is, it is me. I do have an assistant, um, and I am a consultant with independent and boutique hotels, um, inns and bed and breakfasts all over this country. I've done some work in Mexico a little bit, um, Across the Pond. and so now that's just what I do. So I help people strategize on you know, operations, marketing, branding, communications, so Every hotel is at a different place in what they need and so my goal is to come in and figure out what their goals and dreams and desires are, hence the Dream Bigger pillowcase we'll talk about later. so my goal is to get them to their dreams, right? Like is it, do they want to sell? Do they, do they just want to like increase revenue, increase experience? And we start from there and then we develop a strategy and a plan and we help them, you know, exceed their goals. Steve Carran: How do you take a hotel to the next level? Like, how do you take them from good to great? Mandy Murry: Wow so I basically have the strategy that I used in our personal hotel. My, my husband was there 30 years, I was not, so I'm not going to pretend that I was there that long. but I came in and I said, we need to, enhance, branding needs to be everywhere. you need to be out there everywhere. You need to be in front of journalists, you need to be in front of a lot of different things. And. your website and that, that guest experience was everything. And so we just enhanced everything that was going on. And so how you take a hotel is you look at what they're doing and you look at the gaps and you say, how do we fill in these gaps? Where's the best like ROI right now with the investment money that you have to do? Because a lot of independents don't have a lot of money on the table, right? And so It's really just going, what are you doing? What do you have? Okay. Where can we fill in gaps and how can we immediately either increase exposure or increase the revenue? And we just go from there. It's a strategy. Yeah. And everyone's different. They're all, every location is different And it's fun. I love it. Actually. I love it. It's a good challenge. David Millili: It seems like for us this year, everyone we've been talking to is all about the guest experience. So maybe can you dive in a little bit more of how hotels should be leveraging Web, their website, video, and really to enhance that guest Mandy Murry: Yeah, absolutely. So, you know the The guest experience is, is everything. And when you're looking at a website, right, we're not 1999. We're not even 2009 anymore. Right. And even 2019, like we've drastically changed and so many websites out there have not really enhanced themselves and changed. And so I think you and I have, Like talked about this, right? Um, briefly, kind of a couple of weeks ago, and we said, you know, like video is everything and just look at what we're doing. All of us are scrolling on our phones every day and what we are not reading anything. We're watching a video. We have the sound turned off because we're watching the video in a conference, right? Or at a dinner. And we're We're, always like, on. And whether that's good or bad, right? I think there needs to be a break from social media. So this isn't just about social media, but it's giving guests the experience. So when they come to a website, they should feel like they're immediately placing themselves sitting there. So if they're coming to this podcast, right, they want to be sitting right here with us. And they want to be having the conversation. They want to be having the coffee we're having or the cocktail we're having. And they, so it's, How do you visually do that? And video is a huge component. and I believe websites are, they're rapidly changing because they have to evolve with what the consumer expects and they want. And there has to be an engagement factor, whether that's video, whether that's being able to contact and text somebody right from, you know, right from a website. So it's all changing and it's, it's fun because when you see implementation. really does increase David Millili: guest room and hotel referrals. Absolutely. Steve Carran: So you mentioned it, we're not in 2009 anymore, right? If hotels keep doing the same thing that they've been doing for 10, 15 years, they're gonna get the same results, right? Do you have any tips for hotels, on independent hotels specifically, on how they can step up their game? Mandy Murry: Yeah, I think, um, I had this conversation with, um, Tom at Coral Tree, right? So we said to him, we're like, He's like, you know, like sometimes we just think like in the old school and he's like, I don't want to be in the old school. And so I've, I've just said, you know, do you know about this technology, do you know about this technology? And he's like, no. And so I think it's having, whether it's a a coach, or, you know, even, even if it's a marketing company, right? Like it doesn't have to necessarily be marketing, but being in the know, going to understanding what's out there. Because you have to evolve and change and if you always have that old school thinking like this will never work Oh, we have to hire somebody that's had 25 years of hotel experience. That's really not what you want You want somebody that is personable somebody that's passionate somebody that cares And that can be coachable and trainable because sometimes you're gonna get the best results right there Steve Carran: Agree. David Millili: So tell us more about Resortcore, the trend, and how should indie hotels embrace that? Because I have not heard that before, and so I'm very interested. Mandy Murry: You don't know what Resortcore is? No. Okay, so Resortcore is this common term on social media that is all about, um, And I'm going to use like the Ritz, right? Okay. So you go to the Ritz Carlton and you buy the sweatshirt and maybe you buy the slippers and maybe they've co branded with Louis Vuitton. I don't think that they have, David Millili: but let's just, Mandy Murry: let's just, like all the co brands are out there, right? Like you've got Gucci and North Face coming together. So all these things. Co branding opportunities are happening. So, Resort Corp. is like, this is where I was. You want the bag even if it's just a beach bag and so it's this like, hey, I was at The Ritz today, or I was at this beach club and wherever that is. So, indie hotels need to embrace this trend and, and this is why. So, we took this small space, right? I, I, I want to say 10, 15 square feet and we, we were, when my husband was in charge. He was, he's gonna hate that. We took this space and he was doing, you know, twenty, thirty thousand dollars a year and, and we enhanced it. So you have the branded t shirts, you have the branded hats, you have, you have all this brand stuff with a little mix of other stuff, but Resortcore is truly about the apparel, or the accessory that you can carry or wear. and you can take a small space and you can start doing 100, 000 a year, which is what we did. So, first year that we came in and we really enhanced it, we brought it to 100, 000 a year and hotels are realizing, right? Chains are realizing, like, this is a thing. And so it's, it's sort of this badge of honor. So, resort core is a badge of honor. So, how do indies embrace that? Make it unique? do something that's, that's stylish? And that's, some, somebody wants to wear because that's a thing. It's a form of advertising. Guess what? They paid you to market your hotel. So David Millili: great. That's smart. yeah. really smart. Steve Carran: I love that. besides SEO, how can hotels stay top of mind for potential guests? Mandy Murry: Well, I think the first one, Steve Carran: Oh, Mandy Murry: social media is a thing. And I think it's like 40, Google, said this maybe last year, it might even be more than this now. So 45 digital touch points before. A guest chooses a new hotel. 45 digital touch points. So why is social media important? Why is Google Maps important? Why is Apple Maps important? Because people are booking directly from there, not even just from the OTAs, right? So your search engine optimization needs to be top of the line to drive, especially with an indie right? So you're not throwing all that money to OTAs, but you also have to have all the video. And that's not just on social, which is why it's important when people come to your website, right? that it's driving that engagement. And so there's other ways too. So most indies may not even think about this. Are you going to your local chamber and staying ahead in your conversation with them, even if it's once a month, Hey, this is what's going on. Here's our event schedule. Are you, if you have events that you can invite local people in, are you posting that at all the coffee shops? Do you have strategic partners? that you can piggyback off of right and that's not just taking advantage that's what are you doing for your strategic partner as well and are you partnering with somebody that's coming to your hotel to do an event so it's strategic local partnerships it's staying in front of press and being very thoughtful in how you're staying in front of press it's not just a press release it's not just a phone call but what are you doing to stay in front of press and when I say press, I guess that does include influencers as well. But I think that's a whole nother topic. So we're not going to go there. but there's, are you strategically thinking about your local partnerships and how to stay in front of people? Because while you're not always, necessarily like bringing in locals, as an indie, you are, if you have a F& B but. Are you going with your chamber and doing that? Because guess what? They have a reach and an expansion, And so it's, all about strategy. Steve Carran: Being intentional with your community. Mandy Murry: Absolutely. Steve Carran: Love that, David Millili: Yeah. So we talked earlier, so like we said, the buzzword is experience or guest experience. And so how do hotels embrace that, deliver it without it feeling forced or feeling that Disney or that fluffy kind of. Generic, we were talking to a lot of people here and it seems like there's that, there's the effort, but there's also the, not the knowledge on how to actually make it authentic. Mandy Murry: So I think we come back to this, what is luxury today? And for me, luxury is this, it's, personal and luxury and personal means something different for everybody. For me, it was like, and I feel, great when they give me the Dyson hairdryer, But you also feel great when you have some people are like, well, no, I want to have this private tour. yeah. The Disneyland factor is not what people want anymore. They want obscure. They want something that's a little bit edgy, but still within their comfort zone. and that you have the people that are like, just give me full throttle. I want to go in and take my phone. And I'm going to go on this adventure for a week. Don't tell me where I'm going, like these kidnap things. Have you heard about that? but at a hotel, It, People just want to feel like they're at home and is your home completely staged all the time, right? Is it like perfect? That's not what people want. It's not even what they want anymore with video consumption. And so it's truly just going. Okay, let's make sure it's all relaxed. Like we can curate everything. So we've been asking everybody two questions, and I'm going to start with the first one, which is, how do you feel about the fact that you've been able to create and design an experience not over the top, and it's, welcoming? So just look at it as, when you're creating and designing an experience, is it something that you would do, right? Or is, does it invite you in like it feels like home? David Millili: Right. That Makes sense. Steve Carran: love that. So we've been asking everybody two questions So what do you think is the biggest challenge facing the independent hotel sector Mandy Murry: this year or In 2025, In 2025, I think the biggest challenge is technology and embracing you know, nothing, nothing. Every year I feel like that. Every year, nothing speaks to each other, but when, but there's so many things that are on the market and coming out there. And I think it's. embracing like the old school, like getting going, let's get rid of the old school thinking and let's, let's look at new technology like it exists. So let's start looking at it. Let's start making some changes and let's really look at our story and how telling it. Steve Carran: Absolutely. David Millili: and I think you're right, I mean I was talking to, I won't name the brand, it was a soft brand, but they wanted to do tech stack audits of their properties, but I said you're missing a major component, you're not, you don't want to know what is the current tech stack, you want to know what they're also missing, what technologies are available that they should be using, because just to kind of catalog and say, well this is the CRS, this is the CRM they're using, the property management system, so, anyway, so it's a great point. So. Now's the time we'll come back in a year and see if you were right, but what are your predictions for hospitality, specifically Mandy Murry: independent David Millili: hospitality, for 2025? We're almost there. Mandy Murry: Wow. My predictions for 2025. Um, I mean, experience is still going to be, it's all about the experience. Um, but I believe that independent hotels have a huge market share. Come like for themselves, right? I think it's, it's been here and it's coming, but, but look at Hilton. They're about to open up a dedicated office to lifestyle. So everyone knows that it's about, it's about that cool factor, right? Or that, or that unique factor, right? If the trending hashtag is unique stays, that's what people are wanting and doing. So I think that unique, curated, great storytelling. is going to be all about 2025. And I think independents are the most nimble, creative, and flexible to do all of those things. And so I think we're, we're looking at a, a year of storytelling. David Millili: Yeah, I'd agree. I've got one self serving question real quick before we go. So we do a segment each month on Hot Topics and for that month and it seems that, since we started that a couple months ago, it's every month there's a, there's an independent brand that's getting gobbled up by a bigger brand that I think in some cases hurts us as independent hoteliers. That's my background. What are your thoughts, just, really curious what your thoughts are on that and you think that's just going to continue to where? in 10 years, there won't really be any true independent. They'll always be, once they become successful, they'll just get gobbled up by the Mandy Murry: I think there's always going to be independents at what level. That I don't know, right? I mean all of the brands have come after this. I did a speech at a bed and breakfast association conference and I look at a bed and breakfast or a small inn and some of them some of these owners are some of the best at hospitality and creating this beautiful experience and why do all these big brands now offer bed and breakfast rates like it's a play on words in a little bit and this hospitality. And if you talk to any hospitality company, like we just want the innkeeper mindset. And, so there's always going to be people that, want to get into the industry and they want to start a hospitality business, whether it's a boutique hotel and inn or a bed and breakfast. To me, those are all one and the same, because everyone's a boutique, everyone's a unique stay. And This sector is always going to exist in this industry, but the brands do want these places and they even want the small inns and bed and breakfast and they're making phone calls to be to find out if they can buy some of these places, right? But then you have zoning and ordinance and real estate, like all these things like play a role in what this is, but it's always, going to exist, but it's going to be fun to watch what happens in the next 10 years in hospitality and especially in the independent space. David Millili: Agree, agree. Steve Carran: And if you need any awesome pillowcases, you know where to go right here and always dream bigger as well. So Mandy, thank you for Mandy Murry: by. Thank you so much. It's great to have you So fun. I really Steve Carran: you coming out. Mandy Murry: Absolutely. I appreciate you guys both. David Millili: Thank you so much. We appreciate Steve Carran: Thank you.