The Modern Hotelier - 001 -Anthony Melchiorri
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Welcome to The Modern Hotelier presented by Stayflexi. I'm your host, David Millili. 

Steve Carran: And I'm your co-host Steve Carran

David Millili: Who do we have today?

Steve Carran: today?

we have on the one and only Anthony Melchiorri, uh, Anthony is well-known for being the host of hotel, impossible on the travel channel. Uh, but currently Anthony is the president of Argeo Hospitality and the cohost, No Vacancy with Glen Houseman. It's also common to see Anthony speaking, hosting or producing some type of hospitality content as well.

So welcome to the show, Anthony 

Anthony Melchiorri: You forgot, David Millili's luggage carrier 

Steve Carran: David Miller, 

Lee luggage carrier. 

David Millili: all right, so Anthony, we've got really three sections. One is going to be kind of a quick get to know you. So people who've, you know, heard you talk or seen you on LinkedIn. Get to know you a little bit better. The second will be about Hotel Impossible, your career. And then the third is really just about advice and industry trends and things of that nature.

So what was your first job in hospitality?

Anthony Melchiorri: My first job was. Embassy suites, Overland park, Kansas. Um, uh, I was a night auditor and then I was the breakfast person and stayed there when I was in the air force. Part-time for a couple of years,

If you don't count bus boy and valet Parker and Frankfurter, giver out her, 

David Millili: Do you have a favorite hotel?

Anthony Melchiorri: Um, La Residentia in Majorca, Spain at the Plaza hotel. And of course my favorite, the Algonquin.

David Millili: What's the weirdest thing you've seen. And I would tell,

Anthony Melchiorri: um, the weirdest thing I've ever do, that's like asking, you know, the Pope, what was the most

David Millili: give us one. 

Anthony Melchiorri: earth? Uh, the weirdest thing I've ever seen in a hotel. Um, Hmm. a gun, a gun underneath the bed. 

David Millili: What do you think you'd be doing if, if you weren't in hospitality?

Anthony Melchiorri: Uh, legitimately being your luggage carrier. Um, I would be, I'd probably be a professional poker player. 100%.

David Millili: That's I picked

Anthony Melchiorri: You knew that,

David Millili: Yeah. Who was there? Somebody who you admired growing up, someone you looked up to,

Anthony Melchiorri: um, growing up? Um, no. Cause my, my life was so chaotic. I didn't really, as you know, I was a busy person when I was growing up, um, and lot going on just trying to, um, keep it together. But I would say the first person that I really admired was general Colin Powell. He was the first, first person I remember really idolizing

David Millili: you could trade places with some, someone for a day, who would it be?

Anthony Melchiorri: no one,

David Millili: Not me.

Anthony Melchiorri: no.

David Millili: Okay. Do you have a secret talent that nobody knows you have?

Anthony Melchiorri: I can juggle

David Millili: That's pretty good. What's your favorite adult beverage?

Anthony Melchiorri: you answered that.

David Millili: Johnny Walker blue. Uh, what is it? What's a sound or noise that you love.

Anthony Melchiorri: Oh my kids, my kids, anything. And as you know, my, my kids are not kids anymore. They're adults. My twins are 22 and my baby is 19. But late last night we went to the Sebastian, uh, comedy thing, pop Barkley, and just watching my kids laugh was like everything.

David Millili: why is Coney island so special to you?

Anthony Melchiorri: Because my father painted the parachute ride that my dad died when I was two. So any time I see the parachute ride... Matter of fact, I always say, if you see me, like on Instagram, taking a picture of me near the parachute ride in my car, that means I'm having a day where I really need like focus and I need support.

So I go there to get focused and support from my dad 

David Millili: What's a perfect day like for you in Las Vegas?

Anthony Melchiorri: Why don't you answer that, David?

David Millili: Sitting at the poker table for 18 hours. Uh, if you could have a superpower, what would it be?

Anthony Melchiorri: Um, the ability to make sure my kids are always okay.

David Millili: That's a good answer. so I've been out with you a lot. People recognize you, they scream out Anthony. Who's the, who's the person you get mistaken for the most when you go out? I know some of them, but who do you get the most where people think you're somebody else?

Anthony Melchiorri: I would say it's very close, but it's, um, Pitbull and very close. Second. Howie Mandell. Which I don't see how he Mendell the ball. I don't see either, but whatever. I got Tom Selleck a couple of times.

David Millili: well, I like the story you told when the guy, I think it was at a Marriott, you were checking in, the guy said your Howie Mendell. You said, no, I'm not. The guy just kind of looked at you like, yeah. Yeah, you are man.

Steve Carran: Yeah. 

Anthony Melchiorri: I know a woman who was checking me, knew who I was and she was, she was floored she was so embarrassed. And to this day he thinks I'm Howie Mandell.

David Millili: All right. So I've written down the word, but what's the, what's the best word to describe you?

Anthony Melchiorri: fair.

David Millili: Oh, I didn't have that one. I had passionate and intense. Those are my two guesses.

Anthony Melchiorri: The reason I say fair is cause my social media manager, uh, asked a whole bunch of people that that know me and said, describe Anthony, uh, your favorite word. And a lot of passion intention came out, but Alex, uh, Goldstein, who's a producer of my show and he's producing some things for me currently. And just produced the, um, icon \ show for HBO when he's doing lives. Benelli documentary, very talented young guy. And he said fair. And he saw me for nine years on set where, I had a reputation being pretty intense, because we had a LA a real show as you know, going on. And, um, I wasn't gonna take any crap from anyone.

And so a lot of people say, well, he's difficult to work with. He's intense, he's passionate. But he said, he's fair. And that was my favorite word to describe it. Cause I am fair. I'm a very fair person.

David Millili: I agree. All right, Steve, let's get us going with the second part.

Steve Carran: All right. All right. Sounds good. So, Anthony, now we're going to learn a little bit more about you, kind of what, you know, where you grew up, what makes you take things like that? So, uh, you grew up in Brooklyn, correct?

Anthony Melchiorri: Correct.

Steve Carran: Was there anything that really shaped you to make you who you are today? Uh, from growing up in a place like Brooklyn?

Anthony Melchiorri: Uh, my dad died when I was two. My mom, uh, Doing things she had to do to put food on the table. As David knows, there's a movie about my life story that stars James Caan, Lewis Lissa Malano called wise gal. So growing up in that environment where I had a mother who was very strong, uh strong-willed and do what you got to do, the performance table kept us clean, made sure that we didn't get in trouble.

We could easily got in trouble and very, very powerful force, and somewhat unpredictable. So I think, you know, it was funny. Cause the other day I realized when my daughter walks into a room, she sums up the room in a second. And she grew up in a pretty comfortable life. And I saw the room in second too, because I never knew when I opened the door, what I was going to get. Right. 

So I would say the death of my dad really changed the trajectory of my life.

Steve Carran: Awesome. Thanks for that. And then, uh, you joined the Air Force, a little later in life. How did that prepare you for hospitality? 

Anthony Melchiorri: I was 19 years old. Um, a couple things. One I was, promoted, fortunately to protocol officer, which is the most dangerous job in the military because I have to pour really hot coffee and, you know, hot coffee is really dangerous. So as they're talking about top secret things, the B2 bomber was on our base. Uh, the stealth bomber, I should say. We had 150 Intercontinental ballistic missiles, and I was in those top secret meetings, pouring coffee. So I realized I saw one of my colonels. He became a general eventual, but he walked out of the room He got a, I don't know whether it was a text message or someone came in, I can't remember and said there was a problem.

So he left the meeting room, it was a top secret meeting and he, um, left and by an hour later, he came back into the meeting. And weeks later, I said, Hey, Colonel, when you left, what was that all about? You know, cause you never left meetings. He was the commander. And he said, we thought we had a, um, a nuclear default, which means a nuclear weapon was armed.

And he walked out of that room and it wasn't, it was a, it was just a computer error. And he looked at that room, like he was just going to church and came back. Like he just came from church. And so like, I mean, when you're sitting on nuclear weaponry and the people that you report to handle nuclear, nuclear weaponry, you kind of start to realize what leadership's all about.

Steve Carran: absolutely Absolutely. Did you learn to keep your cool and intense 

situations like that? As well as 

Anthony Melchiorri: That, that, that took me a while. Um, I probably. I don't know, David, maybe you can answer that. You see me in intense situations. Uh, do I keep my cool, how do I handle myself?

David Millili: I think you handle your cool very well. I think it's, um, I think it's when somebody is trying to push your buttons, but goes too far does something that's just unacceptable. That's not just when someone's just being an ass. I think that's what will set you off. But I think for the most part, having seen you in situations and dealt in certain things, you're, you're very.

You're very calm. If you're, if you're heated, there's a very good reason. Like if you, if you lose your temper, there's a very, very good reason. It's not like you're just a hot head.

Anthony Melchiorri: And honestly, I CA I remember the last time I lost my temper and the last time I lost my temper was in Daytona Raceway 10 years ago, no, seven years ago with my, one of my producers. And I still regret it w it was something she did that wasn't right. But I kind of lost my temper and I don't yell and scream. I'm not that guy. I'm just not, but, um, a lot of people would say, no, Anthony, you've lost your temper a lot more than that, but I get intense. I don't lose my temper. I get in. And so I'll get real direct with somebody and I'll tell people what the standard is and what's acceptable, not acceptable, but I, I, I kind of grew up with kind of a lot of stuff in my house.

So I didn't really, I don't like yelling and screaming.

Steve Carran: There are people would say you're a very fair person. 

Anthony Melchiorri: it depends, I would say the last 15 years year. Um, but there's a lot of people that probably would cross the street if they saw me because, I have no problem, asking people to, you know, you're not welcomed on set or you're not welcome to hotel anymore. You know, one of the things I've learned in managing businesses is.

Really high standard, high quality people don't like me mediocrity. They hate it more than I do. And so when you allow mediocrity to happen, even if I like that person, even if I want that person to stay, my team will not function at the highest level. So, you know, I am not the smartest person in the room by far.

I am not the most intense person in the room by far. I'm not even the most passionate in the room by far. But I have to maintain that standard for everyone else in the room, because we've all been around where somebody is mediocre and we're all like, why is that person get to get away with that crap?

You know, when we all hold ourselves to a high standard. So I have no problem holding the standard and being very 

direct. 

Steve Carran: That's awesome. Kind of speaking of holding that high standard, you went through the process of renovating the Algonquin hotel. So I wanted to know what was that process like? Um, what kind of, how did, how did you decide what to do next then? You know, what was that? 

Anthony Melchiorri: Well, when you look at a renovation of a historic property and a lot of us have been through it. It's, it's normal. It's like, it's nothing that extraordinary. A lot of general manager have done it. A lot of hotel people have done it. And they've done a lot more than I have. What made the Algonquin unique is it had not been turned around for 30 years and it was an icon that everybody forgot about.

It was, it was dusty. It smelled like cat pee and financially it wasn't hitting the mark. The union was very aggressive towards the management and controlled the hotel. So, and I had an ownership that brought me in and said, don't ask for permission, ask for forgiveness. That's like giving a crack addict crack. Right? It's like, what are you serious? Say? Yeah. As I, he goes, just, don't screw it up and you won't get fired. I said, okay. So that's all I needed to hear. And you know, I did things that were unconventional and David knows all these stories. Uh, one time I unfortunately had to go toe to toe with a union delegate and I got his attention and I got everybody's attention.

Uh, and he became somebody who supporting me. I gave everybody in the hotel, my phone number, the first two weeks I was there. Uh, I had a meeting with my entire team and I said, the managers don't know what you're doing. And some of them will be here in a couple weeks, some of them won't.. One lady literally left, one manager left the stage that day and never came back.

And I gave my phone number to the staff and said, when will you understand the union contract? And we understand how to run this hotel. We'll run it right now. You guys run it and let us know if you need anything. Here's my cell number. And this young lady queen, when that young lady older woman said, uh, um, you're crazy for giving everybody your phone number, cause everybody's going to call you in the middle of night, the only person to ever use my phone number, that was a line employee was queen.

So it really shook people. One, I stood up to. Squared up by them. I won't tell you the story. David can tell you offline. And, uh, the other was, I gave my phone number out and then I started to do things with my team that made the hotel money, made the union members money. Uh, and it was some of the best years we've ever had.

And we were just one great team. So, you know, turning around the historic hotel, a lot of people have done it. This hotel in particular, we had to do with. And the renovation took us 28 days and the New York times said the only thing I turned around in in July of that year was the Algonquin hotel, uh, that on time I should say.

And, uh, we did it for just $3 million. We did all soft goods and, um, it was crazy. It was a, it was a crazy to do it. We shut it down for the first time in the history, you know, and as Mike Lyons, our 50 a year person that, that was at the OGAP for 50 years, said to me, the depression didn't shut it down, world war two, didn't shut it down. Anthony Melchiorri is going to shut down the Algonquin, pats me on the back and said good luck with that boss. And that scared the living shit out of me. And 28 days we opened it up and it was, it went crazy. Uh, we, we turned it around and, and, and more importantly, we doubled the money for the owner and that was kind of w and the union had pride back in the building.

The hotel had a name again, and, uh, it was just fun. It was just fun and scary as hell.

David Millili: But are you still, so you do do a lot of speaking engagements. Do you still get nervous?

Anthony Melchiorri: Uh, as you know, I have horrific stage fright. I had crippling stage fright. And I figured out that for the first couple of years I was doing this, I had a moderator, even if I had to pay him myself, I had him come on and help me. And then I was great. I was on stage. I was great. If I have moderate, I can be on stage naked and I don't care.

Um, and then recently I changed last two years. I take the stage of, I'm not really, uh, nervous anymore. And it's just because, um, I know what I need to be comfortable. And I just did one last week and I'm doing the one on Monday. And, uh, last week I was probably the least nervous I've ever been. And I got the longest standing ovation in my career.

So I figured it out

with. 

David Millili: people were there?

Anthony Melchiorri: 1500, 2000. And, and it was, it was probably, the most comfortable I've ever been in my life on onstage. And, um, this week it's a Q and a with IHG and, um, you know, I'm doing it with a friend of mine. Who's a vice president, Jim Keller. So I'm looking forward to that. Um, and now, you know, that's a Q and a, so that's typically easy, but yeah, and I think I like that question because everybody looks at us, right, David, and it's like, oh, you know, you can do anything.

And, oh, you're so lucky and all that. And we know each other very well that we've had ups and downs and we have all insecurities. And I liked that question because no one, everybody laughs at me when I say I have stage. fright Because like, what are you talking about? You did a TV. show Nine years that camera went on and David was there the first day.

I wasn't even nervous. I wasn't even close to nervous. I was nervous about doing a good job, but I wasn't nervous about being on TV. Cause I, I kept on bumping my head into the camera cause I didn't recognize I was on TV. So that was never a problem for me getting on stage in front of one person or 10,000 people, w w it was something that really, really, um, I had to overcome and I like talking about it because I D I have overcome it.

I didn't talk about it maybe a couple of years ago as much, because I hadn't overcome it. And I was afraid, uh, because I was afraid. I don't know why I was afraid, but now I love it because that was something that almost took me out. Like literally almost took me out. And the thing I love the most is I'm doing speaking gigs.

I love them 

David Millili: Well, you're you're I mean, not just because you're on the show, but you're very good. I mean, everyone I talked to who knows that we know each other always, or they've seen you speak, or they always are like, wow. I saw Anthony. He did a great job. Do you have one? That's your favorite was the one that you kind of like finished and you were just like that. I couldn't, I couldn't do this. I couldn't do another one better than this?

Anthony Melchiorri: I don't have a favorite, but I will tell you one that stands out. I did a one for Cornell and the kids are Cornell and I did it for free. And I did it because of the college and they, um, uh, I was honored to do it. And this young lady wrote her paper to get into the hotel school based on my show. And based on me. Amanda, who's still a friend of mine and she was just lovely and they could have invited anyone.

Matter of fact, Mr. Marriot's grandson was in the class and they, instead of inviting Mr. Merritt, they invited me and I was supposed to talk for, I think, 50 minutes. I had a moderator with me at the time I did two hours and 50 minutes. And I didn't realize it because I was talking Q and a and I didn't want to leave.

And I felt like I had just got on stage. You know, a lot of the younger generation gets a bad rap. One. I think what they've been doing the last couple of years, I think they're going to be the next great generation. I really believe that because they've been through hell. Like we all have, but they're 20. Somebody was doing a review of my kid who works in the hotel business and said she's resilient. And so I think she's resilient for a number of reasons and one, because the last couple years she had to be. So that stood out that the Cornell kids and really the college kids, not as probably programmed, they're a different breed, man. They're just, they're smart. They're, they're passionate, they're hardworking, you know?

And um, so those always stand out, but that, that one session really stood out. And then another thing, they brought me to dinner at the hotel Statler, and we're sitting around the table, maybe the executive team of the student body and there's maybe 20 of them. And I asked how many kids now this is a kid that never been to Europe until he was, yeah.

The TV show. Uh, no, actually I went with my brother wants to meet my family, but anyway, he, he, um, I said, how many people by show ads have been to Europe? And they all laughed at me because kids are going to Cornell many years since they were like three. So they were very worldly and, uh, really admire them.

David Millili: So you you'll get a kick out of this one. So can you explain to those who are either watching or listening? What's a missile pilot.

Anthony Melchiorri: You know what I love about you, you did it with a straight face and you did it with like, like just complete, like a great tone. A missile pilot is when you and your best friend, rest his soul, uh, Russell Herbie hooks, uh, go into a bar in Warrensburg, Missouri. And, uh, you're single. And you tell the girls that are trying that you're trying to dance with that, your missile pilots.

And they said, what's a missile pilot, and this is not true. Just, I don't want to like, you know, Steve, get you and think this is true. I was like, well, we're the missile base. So who do you think flies the missiles over to Russia and then jumps off the missile and they're like, you do that. Yeah. There's a little thing.

And you jump and we, we, we pilot it and then we jump off. Uh, everyone always believed us, but a real missile pilot sits in the silo and, uh, shoots off missiles. 

Steve Carran: And everybody believed you. Nobody's 

second. Guess you on that one? 

Anthony Melchiorri: you said I got taller and handsomer.

Steve Carran: Oh, 

Fantastic. Fantastic. That's great. So, Anthony, I kind of want to ask you a few questions or w you know, shift the topic here to Hotel Impossible. Um, I I've seen this show. I thought I, you know, watched it years ago and loved it. How did you really get the idea to start Hotel Impossible? 

Anthony Melchiorri: Um, well I had a friend of mine. Yeah, it offered me the CEO job of his company. And for two reasons I couldn't do it. And that have been the most fun I've ever had working with my best friend in his company, but I just decided I wasn't right for me at that time. And, uh, I S I was tired of making, I've worked at, uh, Tishman at the time, and I liked Tishman and I liked a lot of people I've worked for in the industry, but I literally was tired of making rich people richer.

Uh, that was kind of my statement to myself. I'm like, I'm just tired of this. It's like, I think I'm good at my job. I think I've, I've done a good job, but like, I want to teach the business and I want to build my own brand. So I got the idea for the show. Um, we've helped our friends like David and other people.

They helped me. And, um, before I knew it, I was, um, I got lucky, you know, it was right time, you know, uh, preparation and opportunity, equal luck. And, uh, I worked hard. I went through a lot of money for two years, staying out, trying to get the show done. Um, and right before I was about to, you know, say I can't do this anymore.

I went through my F-you fund. Uh, they called me and said that they're picking up the show and that was probably professionally to have happiest day in my life because I just intuitively knew people wanted to see this show. And there's not been a hotel show in America. That's been successful ever to this day, outside of our show. 

And it took someone like me and my team that didn't have anything. I have everything to lose professionally. Cause if I really screwed up and didn't do a good job, I would never be able to be invited back into the hotel industry. So that's who I served. I served the housekeepers and the front desk, people in the managers and owners who would watch the show and they never caught, cared about ratings.

Never cared about producers, never cared about travel channel. I just cared about the hotel owner and their staff. And if I did that, I, and I said the things that a lot of vice presidents of brands and Joe man just can't say. I mean, the only times in an airport, probably never am I not in an airport where people would come up to me and go, oh my God, yo, you changed the way I check into a hotel.

Or I wish I could have said that to my boss. Is like I said, the things and it's not a hundred percent non-scripted David's been on set. He's knows it's a hundred percent non-scripted and I created it hope, you know, I started creating it. My team helped me and I helped produce it and I hosted it. So everything you saw was what I wanted and never wants to travel channels, say curse less, curse, more, be funnier, you know, look taller.

They never gave me a note. Not to say on set with producers, they always tried to give me notes and you know, that didn't work out so well for them.

David Millili: Well, you didn't even when you started, when you didn't even have I correct me if I'm wrong, but in the beginning you weren't even sure you want it to be the host. It was just more about getting it made. Not about you being host or you having a show.

Anthony Melchiorri: that's why I love about having my best friend interviewed me because you know, missile, pilot, and you know, like no one knows that because everybody knows my personality thinks I want to be in the front. I love producing. I never have to be on TV and other day in my life and I never have to be on the mic.

And that day in my life, if I can make a living producing. I do want to do keynote speaking the rest of my life because I enjoy it. But, um, I actually try to force them to not have me as host. But that wasn't worked out because, um, the person that I would have had to manage that was the host would have probably stabbed me in the neck. You know, cause 99% of, of what you saw was impromptu.

Like it just happened. I mean, it was just 100%. I remember being on a, on a set in.. I was call it California, and it was a really bad pool. It was disgusting. It was a filthy pool. And this gentleman named Brett, you can look him up, Brandon Bragga. He was, he's a big producer in Hollywood. He emailed me one day and he said, listen, I do a lot of things you do on set.

You've taught me how to be a better manager. And this guy did cosmos with Neil, uh, uh, Tyson and he's done star Trek. He's done everything. And he's, he is one of the biggest producers in Hollywood. Matter of fact, I was with him at dinner one day and he's talking to Steven. I go, Steve. Spielberg. So he's a big shot.

And he was on my set because where I was, oh Louisiana. I was in Louisiana with my daughter onset of, because I was going to go to his set, cause he was in Louisiana shooting the show, my daughter, cause she wanted to be in theater and movies. And he came to my set and he was standing there with his assistant.

And I'm just flabbergasted that this guy is even interested in my side or my show or me. And we're done with this hour and we're supposed to be five minutes within an hour. It was crazy. I was chasing an owner. He threw a shoe at me. Uh, it was just crazy. He called the cops on us. It was insane. And he, and he said to me, he looked at me and he goes, I didn't see you rehearsed that.

I go, here's what. He goes, that was real. I go do those a hundred percent real. That all happened, like just impromptu. And he couldn't believe it because when I've been on his side, obviously it's very regimented. And so that's really what I enjoyed most about the show. But also why I think it resonates with not only hotel owners, where a lot of managers is, uh, we deal with nonsense all day long and you know, something just happened to my company that I run.

And if I had a camera on me for the last day and a half, um, it would have been maybe the best show in the episodes because it was nuts. It was absolutely nuts 

David Millili: yeah, that's the number one question I get asked, um, about you or the show is what was that real like? Is that, that that's, that's like scripted, right? And I'm like, no, no mama. Actually, if somebody does try to script it like that, everything blows up. I'm like people get fired and I'm like, no, it's real.

So what was your favorite? Is there? I know, yeah. I mean, I think you did. How many, a hundred plus episodes?

108. What was your, was there 

Anthony Melchiorri: other to other spinoffs that we did.

David Millili: at five-star secrets and extreme hotels, correct?

Anthony Melchiorri: And we did another show that I came on as a voiceover, a hotel showdown.

David Millili: That's right. Was there one episode that was your favorite of hotel? Impossible. When it really felt like, wow, that was maybe the 

most 

Anthony Melchiorri: was thinking. 

David Millili: or

Anthony Melchiorri: Show other than the pilot. I did their first real show. We did was the one down in Florida with, with a family. And with these young girls and, and, and we were able to help the family, but, but I'm going to go to the last show we ever did. It was the hundred and eighth show. And, you know, you've heard me say this, David.

I was like, I want the last show to be our best show. And the last show was our best show. It was the best crew I've ever had. Um, it took us five seasons out of the nine to get the crew that I was most proud of. and I never stopped. And David heard old nightmare. I'd never stopped. I'd never even our director who was with us the first five seasons.

We just fought all the time. And finally, I just had it and it was like, it's either him and me and I still love him to this day. We're friends and I wish him nothing, but the best. I just couldn't take it anymore. I was too stupid to realize I could let them go the first season, but he was great.

He helped me, but he was just too restrictive on lighting and positioning of camera. He would never tell me what to do, but like, we'd have to walk through a door three times and I'm like, I'm done with this. And then the other person that did our pilot with us came back. He was our director and he would just like, it was a shit show every day and it was great. It was like we were running into walls. Cameras were falling downstairs. We were falling off the back of mopeds and snowmobiles and it was crazy. I almost killed myself five times. The more I almost killed myself, the more he loved it, it was just there's. And it's so funny. Somebody just said to me recently, who's a big, big fan of the show said, um, what happened in the fifth season?

It changed. I go, what do you mean? And it was a subtle change. Like it just gotten quicker. And it was like, that was a change of directors. And with the last show was so intense. And the owners were saying horrific to the employees that I threw a chair across the banquet space. And I didn't do it on camera because I wouldn't have done it on cam.

I was just so frustrated. And the camera man said, Hey, can you do that again? I was like, unless I'm telling you that, you know, I can't do it again. And I went into my, and I went into my green where my trailer, cause you couldn't stay in a hotel because we have bedbugs everywhere. And I remember being in my trailer and the camera was coming in and I kicked the door close.

I was like, do not come in here with that camera. And the director came in and I, and I broke down in his arms. I started wailing like a three-year-old because I've never seen someone treat good people the way these two pieces of shit owners treated these employees. And I was so proud that the last show was our best show.

And I always said, one day, I'm going to get tapped on the shoulder. And the show is going to be done. Only 200 shows in the history of American television have ever done nine seasons. I'm one of them. So when I got tapped on the shoulder and say, Hey. No, but if I go with him, you can call me and tell me it's over.

They just didn't pick it up anymore. I was so satisfied and David can tell you that I was, I was the only one that was not upset because I was waiting for day one for it to be tapped on the shoulder said no more. Because the percentages of doing a show for nine seasons and doing it your way is 1e-07%.

Like I did it my way, my show for nine years for nine seasons, I don't think any shows like that. Maybe

anything. 

David Millili: and I tell you what I tell people, you know, what's amazing is about with entertainment, shows, movies, plays, whatever there's voices, people sing. It's so subjective. Somebody has to like you. So it's not like sports where wow. That kid throws 102 miles an hour. Yeah. He's, he's pretty good. He's gonna, he's gonna make the major leagues or this guy's an all-star quarterback.

It's so subjective. So to, to, to do it and get that, you know, obviously has got to feel, you know,

Anthony Melchiorri: Well, you know, I'm probably really two things. One, I had the best teams and the people work their asses off so hard and made me look good. You know, I was doing all the fun stuff while they were doing all the hard work. You know, me and my producer, Alex, we talk about the time he prevented me from getting whacked in socially by a Hitman.

And that's a true story. Like he literally shut down the show because you said you'd get whacked. If you went to that hotel, you, they would've killed you. And he wasn't. And so I had so many great people around me. So I'm beyond honored and proud. And the only reason there was a show me here all the time, people are like, oh yeah, everybody else.

It literally was. I mean, it was just me being able to be, it's like watching a kid in a playground, right? It's like, you, you have to build a playground and your parents have to put protective barriers. So you don't kill yourself, but you get to play in the playground. And that's what happened for the show.

They put me in a protective playground and no one told me what to do. And it was, it was the most fun. And I'm also the most proud of our focus group. When the, when the pilots and the first three episodes before it was on air, they, they go through focus groups. Everybody goes through Anthony Bourdain.

Everybody went through them. And to this day, I understand that my focus group was the highest rated focus group in the history of. All of the channels on, on, uh, on scripts at the time and authenticity, believability, understanding of content. I was the highest rated and that to me was my favorite because it was just me.

I didn't, I didn't water it down for anybody. I didn't care, I really don't to this day. I don't care. I mean, if you don't like me to like me, and then the other thing is, I don't know. I don't know if I've ever read a bad comment about the show online. You know, people say I'm full of shit and I'm a, you know, I'm an asshole and Napoleon complex and stuff like that, but the show I've never gotten a BA I don't remember, uh, Dave getting a bad comment on a review on the show.

I don't remember if you go, if you go to, um, I am deep, not IMD B. Um, uh, I think Amazon, the ratings were really high. Even I MDB the range.

David Millili: Again, I mean, you know, a lot of times I talk to people or if I have conversations about the show or about you and not telling them that I've known you for, you know, 25 plus years, it's, it's, it's always positive. Like I've never, I've never had to say to someone like, what, what do you mean?

Why didn't you like it? Or what did you think? The, again, the question I always get is that wasn't, that wasn't real, right? That's, that's, that's fake. Right? And I'm like, no, it's real.

Anthony Melchiorri: Can I ask you a question?

David Millili: Sure.

Anthony Melchiorri: Why on the pilot episode of Hotel Impossible, where you cut and you will make the pilot episode,

David Millili: Well, I had done such a great job that Anthony was nervous that they were going to give me the show. So he actually pulled them aside and said that you just got to cut that out. It's not going to work it's, you know, and that's, I mean, that's the truth. And

Anthony Melchiorri: what was the, what was the, what was the asshole thing that I asked you to do? I asked you what was it? Was it?

David Millili: you tried to take my tie off. Yeah. So here I am trying to be a good friend drive all the way out to friggin Montauk, you know, and I, yeah, I don't do TV. So I got a tie and I'm presenting this website that we're going to do, and I'm all wired up and he comes in and starts to, you know, says, oh, you shouldn't have a tie on I'm like, this is live with the recording.

What do you I'm like, I don't know what to do. I'm like, I'm screwing up the whole, the whole show. But, uh, it was good. It was fun. 

Anthony Melchiorri: Yeah, it was fun, but unfortunately he didn't make the cut I think there's one shot of your website that goes about that quick, right?

David Millili: still online. Mike, a section of the show is online on the travel channel and I was, did the day in the life of Anthony Melchiorri. You

to the offices. Yeah, 

Anthony Melchiorri: Which is one of the most liked videos I have online cause my kids were involved, but my kids still, no, I think it was my kids, but uh, it's my kids, like in college, their friends will find it and they just stay just brutalize my children.

David Millili: that's funny.

Steve Carran: Fantastic. So Anthony kind of go in the other spectrum now, any show that was. Brutal, which was tough, which you remember 

that just sticks out to you. 

Anthony Melchiorri: No, I'm not saying that to be like every one of them. Every one of them, I almost threw up. Every one of them I lost a couple of pounds. Every one of them, I didn't think we'd make it. Every one of them, I threatened to quit. Every one of them, I was scared shit. 

Um, the thing about how TV works. You have a script, you have producers and there's a budget and you go and you rehearse and you hit the script and the actors act, and the light is light and the cameras camera, and everybody does what they're supposed to do. And it's over. It's like, you know, it was surgery. Like, you know, the script you're going to go in there. You've done the surgery a hundred times and there's sometimes there's expected things, but you're prepared for it. Most of the time. Now imagine being a producer and a director and the camera guy. You don't have a script. You have no idea what's in my brain. I don't know if I can get the show in the can because I don't know if there is a show. And we show up with a budget that we have to get a show.

For me, it was hard, but for the imagine being around me and you have to trust me so you don't get fired because we go back without a show, we're all screwed. So until I got the show and I didn't get the show in my brain until the second day afternoon of the third day morning, and I would turn to the director, like sometimes, oh, we got the show.

Good. It'll be fine, whatever. Until I said it out loud. We didn't have the show, because I still was very scared. And sometimes I'll like, I'll come off scene and I'll just look at it directly. I go, we got the show, see you later. And then, uh, and then for the next day and a half, I'm like, so calm and cool. And I'm so happy and yeah, I'm still doing what I have to do and be an intense, but I got to show yo there was one show we did up in the Catskills.

Um, the, uh, show runner who's basically in charge, took a very expensive $5,000, uh, walkie talkie and threw it at a tree about 10 feet from my head. That's how angry he was because I was walking off the show and after he broke the camera and it was pouring rain and I'm laughing at him and I go, Rob, um, we got the show, bro. And I walked out and that was it. And we got the show in two days. We didn't turn it around and the guy was piece of crap, but we got the show. Now, I I, my job is to do the best I could. I did. And I got the show. Would I I've walked out if we didn't get to show? Of course, I still would've walked out, but I knew it was coming to an end and the owners going to through us out. So I told them, let me go and whatever it was, I said, let me go do that scene. And he was remembered, David, you probably remember this where they had the three contractors, the roofer, the mold expert, and somebody else. I said, I have to have that scene before he throws us out. Because if I have that scene, the audience is going to hear those experts say, you got to bulldoze the place where you had to kill somebody.

And that's what they said. And I was like, drop the mic. I'm gone because he's not going to do it. And I go, what do you want from me? He goes, I want you to leave. I say, bye. And then I got a radio thrown at my head.

Steve Carran: Do you, do you have any nervous ticks when you enter a hotel? Just from like all the other bad hotels you've seen? You, do you check for bed bugs every time? Do you open up the drawers, anything you do now entering a hotel?

Anthony Melchiorri: Well, the nervous tick I have when I'm doing a show is I'm not fun to be around the first day. I'm probably.. You probably don't want to talk to me or be near, even if David's on set, like you don't want to be near me. You only, like you don't want to have a drink with me. You don't want to go to dinner with me probably the first few days.

You don't want to be near me. I'm not because I'm going to like throw anything at you, but I'm just like, I can't see your face. I don't remember your name. I can't hear your voice. I'm just petrified. Right, David?

David Millili: Well, at that goes into the intense, the passionate, the focus. I mean, I think that's.. Knowing you, or having spoken to you some of those days, or maybe mistakenly called you, you can tell you're very focused on what you're doing.

Anthony Melchiorri: Yeah. So, so that's my nervous take is like fiercely competitive and fiercely hyper-focused to the point where literally I can't hear you. Like literally I hear cause I, I don't. So that's a, if that's a take. And then, I would say, I immediately noticed demeanor, not so much dust or cleanliness or signs of the dirty or lights of their out.

I immediately noticed the first employee that I see, whether it be the person picking up trash in the, in the parking lot or whether it be the front desk person. That is the thing that I really kind of have a problem with. On the other hand, when I see I was just at the new hotel in Vegas, my friend Shannon runs the new Resorts World. She runs the whole complex and she put me up at the, uh, what's the fancy one day. Um, it's it's resorts world, it's Conrad, and it's the other one. Anyway, very beautiful hotel. I walk in and I was just like, wow, 20 foot ceilings. And that we've all seen beautiful hotels before, but it was something about this.

And I come out of the elevator and there's this young lady and I needed to, I didn't know where the men's room was and she had this beautiful uniform on it. And you say that's a beautiful uniform. Is that your uniform? Is that your clothes? Your thoughts are uniform. Isn't a beautiful? actually, they bought it from Cintas, which I'm actually a sponsor of.

So that was fun. I would just remember just like this uniform was so gorgeous. I didn't even know what the girl looked like. I was just like, I didn't want to be like rude, but I was like, I was just gorgeous and she's taking me to the, to, to just direct me to the bathroom. And as she's directing me, she's pushing up the chairs in the exclusive VIP, uh, uh, salon casino with her hip, with holding drinks, directing me in his beautiful outfit, as she's pushing the chairs in and engaging me in a beautiful conversation. And then said, sir, enjoy your stay and pointed me to the bathroom.

And that resonated with me because it was class from the second I met the young lady to the second. She dropped me off at the bathroom. She was class. So I really notice demeanor.

Steve Carran: Awesome. 

David Millili: Uh, Steve, I'm going to ask one quick question, then we can jump ahead. But I've been to a lot of your properties. I know a lot of people you work with you're, you're very good at identifying good employees are good partners. As you look back and you've even had a magician who was a bellman at one property, uh, that was, I thought, you know, just genius the way that, that kind of played out, being in the lobby and seeing him entertain kids and people.

Is there a trait when you're interviewing somebody, there's something that you are looking for when you interview somebody that you think is good for, for hospitality?

Anthony Melchiorri: Yeah. You know, it's interesting, because I just, um, I'm feeling a little less secure because I just had something blow up on me the last two days where I hired somebody that just literally in 24 hours didn't work out. And they had this trait.. So 99.9% of the time it works. This time unfortunately, I think there were some other issues that I didn't recognize, and I want to talk about it here. but, um.. Don't care about me, care about wanting to do a good job.

A lot of people talk to the general manager, talk an owner, or talk to a vice-president and they get nervous. Then add on top that people know my face sometimes, and know my name. They get nervous when you can sit there and not really care about impressing me, but care about doing a good job for yourself that impresses me. And I've been in those meetings with kids or older people where they don't give a shit if I live or die. They just want the job and they want to do a good job. And they want to prove to themselves they can do a good job. So that is a trait that I look for. If you get caught up in me or caught up in that, you're nervous around me.

I don't like that because it's not just that maybe I'm this guy that people know. It's that you're just insecure and that's okay because I'm insecure and I've been insecure my whole career. But there is there something that resonates when I see somebody that's comfortable with just answering the questions and not trying to impress me.

Steve Carran: Awesome kind of along those lines. Do you have any advice for somebody who's just getting started in hospitality? 

Anthony Melchiorri: I think David, uh, I'd like to hear your response to this as well. See what you can do for people. David is very much that person. I wasn't and I'm learning to be more and more. But see what you can do for people. The more you can do for your staff, the more you can do for people, the more you can do for the owners, the more you can do for your guests.

The further you will go when you are worried about. So actually on a podcast, you said this to me as well, the more you're focused on you, you're not going to get very far. So even on set, I was always focused on, does the cameraman have what he needs? Did we have a good lunch? Are they staying in a nice hotel?

You know, are they comfortable? Are they happy? Are they being treated? The reason that our director finally got fired because he had a bad temper and it was, it was kept away from me for a long time. Uh, in the beginning I saw it, then it went away because, you know, I told him if that ever happened to him and put a camera in his head and.

I saw it at Daytona, Florida, with this guy, Nick, who was a great cameraman and the show was in the can. It was the last scene. It didn't mean anything. It was 118 degrees was humid. We're all sweating. We're done. I mean, there's literally sweat going down my back. He's sweating and he's a great guy and he did one little stupid thing, maybe. I don't even remember was no big deal. And he flew into him and I just happened to hear it. And I was the end of him. So making everybody have what they want and what they need makes you go further. And the good news is when you do that, you can hold people to a standard. Cause there's no excuses, there's no excuses.

I just gave you everything you want. You know, it's like, I'll give you an example. We were in New Hampshire and we're at dinner. And I know when my producers trying to keep something from you, so we're at dinner and I see the producers texting each other and like, okay. So I get up, I go behind leash and I go, Lisa, what's going on?

No, no, no. We got, I go, what's going on? Well, the general manager is causing a problem at the hotel, but we're down so we're just kind of, they're going to have to deal with it. I was like, they go up, let's go. And Lisa came, Maddie came. But my D my show runner says, Hey, I'm eating dinner. I was like, I don't care.

I have my iPhone. And I have these two goodbye. I'm leaving. And as I'm leaving, I jump in the car. He jumps in the car, still chewing, and we get there and I phones. We have one of the best scenes in hotel, impossible history, right. Because they believed in me because they know that I will always do everything for them.

I needed them at that moment because I knew and instinctively that was going to be a great scene. And the guy threatened to beat the living crap out of me. So it was a great scene. And then we really, do you remember that scene? You remember that.

David Millili: No, I said it tends to happen a lot. People threatening you on the show.

Anthony Melchiorri: That's happened about six times with people threatened to kill me,

David Millili: pretty much every episode.

Anthony Melchiorri: but no one ever jumped. There was one guy in California, big guy. Unfortunately, when I left, there was a tragedy at the hotel cause people didn't listen. But anyway, I don't want to go into that. But a big guy, six foot, three, 320 pounds. He came into me and then I remember I took my water bottle down.

I stepped into him and I go, let's go, buddy. I was like, you're a big, tough guy. That'd be a really tough guy, but don't walk away from me now. And 10 minutes later, I'm with him and he's remembered this David, his show, his head is on my shoulder, weeping like a three-year-old. And he said, thank you so much for your kindness.

So, because I stood up to him and wasn't afraid of him, I was like, dude, you're doing the right thing, but don't come here. Were you thinking of a tough guy you're going to scare me? I don't, no one scares me. Those scare me. The only thing that scares me, my wife and my kids. Nobody else scares me. Like, so you wanting to put me in the ground.

It doesn't scare me. That excites me. Yo, I'm crazy. So, so I don't want to fight you. This last thing I want to do is fight anybody. I love you, man. I want you to be successful and him and I cried and it was re it was one of my favorite scenes.

David Millili: Well, I think what people, you know, when Steve think of advice, I think what a lot of people forget is that the word hospital is in hospitality. And if you don't want to be that person who takes care of people, then you're in the wrong business. And that that person could be a guest. It could be another employee, but, you know, it's, it's like, think about the times when you've checked in and the person's like checking in.

You're like, no, I'm standing here with my bags nine 30 and then I've just taken a walk around the neighborhood. And you're thinking like, that's not this person shouldn't be, shouldn't have this job. So I think people just forget that. And some people get into it because they think it's glamorous or hotel.

And, I can tell you, I, you know, I, I lived on property for many years and it's, it's not always glamorous. It can be pretty, you know, pretty tough.

Anthony Melchiorri: Yeah, I think we have a need people like us. Um, and I just realized it not too long ago. I am hyper competitive. And so is David w differently. You can see I'm hyper competitive. You don't know that about David, but he's hyper-competitive. And we have a need to take care of people, right? I don't have a need to be your friend.

I don't have a need for you to have dinner with me. I don't have a need to go house and play with your kids, but I have a need to, if you need my help, I will take care of you. If you're in my hotel. Even if I don't like you, I need to take care of you because that is my job. You know, I just went through my old file from the Lucia hotel.

It's about that big, and there's about a hundred continental bath. There's a hundred common cards and every common card says your team was great. They made me feel comfortable. It made me feel at home. You made me feel at home. Like I would like I'm aggressive, but like, I literally have a need to make people happy.

Like my family, like last night we left the half hour. I left the Sebastian concert a half hour at the Barclay center to pull my car around. I parked on the street, got there an hour early. So when he came out, we can get in the car and just go, like, whether it be my kids or my wife or, or, or, or my neighbor, like I have a need to make sure I facilitate stuff.

So in the hotel business, I just have a need to facilitate stuff.

David Millili: Hmm. 

Steve Carran: that. I love that kind of a question. Um, here, how can, how can hotels get creative with what they have, uh, you, you had the $10,000 martini. If you want to talk a little bit about how you came up with that idea or the backstory behind that feel free, but any advice for hotels on how to get creative with things like that and bring in, bring in revenue? 

Anthony Melchiorri: Yeah. Stop trying to be creative. Okay. And stop trying to make something up, right. Walls of a hotel can speak. So if you have a brand new hotel, or you have an old hotel, like we did. It's easier with an older hotel, cause a lot of history. Listen to the walls, listen to the history, understand the history.

The martini on the rock came about because we're famous for Martinis. and We're famous for proposals, put the two together and there you go and it blew up. It was the biggest thing in the world. But because we stayed true and I fought to stay true because our PR company was giving me ideas that I hated. So I fought, I fought, I fought to stay true. On a new hotel, find the thing either in the neighborhood. I just, I just got a call from three kids from Boston university that are working on a hotel. I won't mention it in, um, Boston. And they're like, we're tasked with a marketing idea and this is what I said to them. I say, I ain't giving you one, but everything you're saying to me, you're talking about marketing.

You're not talking about PR. You're talking about long-term. You're not talking about right now. I said lightning in a bottle. Think of something that's lightning in a bottle. And they said, we're thinking about something with a unicorn. I said, okay, what is Moxie? And I'm sorry, I guess I just gave her the way it's the Moxy hotel.

And they're like, um, what was boxy mean when somebody that's got Moxie, you know, it's got an attitude. I said, so if you want to use unicorn and make the unicorn have Moxy. And, uh, and I said, I don't know what that means. All I know is you need to find lightning in a bottle and you need to find it based on what the hotel is.

Don't try to make something and say, you're trying to be somebody else. You know, like I am me and the reason I've had any success in my life, or David's saying success in his life. And Steve I'm sure the same thing with you is because we are who we are. You know, David will be a little more politically correct to me.

I won't be okay. I just won't, I don't care. I'm not going to hurt anybody's feelings. I try not to, but I'm going to say what I have to say. I'm not going to be rude or disrespectful, but if you ask me a question. You're going to get the real answer. So when you, when you, when you're doing PR for a hotel or marketing, give them the real answer.

You know, my favorite commercial of all times is outside of the, uh, here kid. Here's my Jersey with Joe Green, from your, you know, the cult commercial and Pepsi, commercial, what is it? 

Cocoa, Pepsi, Coke. Um, the best commercial I've seen in a long time was when Domino's remember, when the CEO of Domino's said, we suck we're going to suck less tomorrow?

Do you remember that? He goes, we're not as good as we think we are. And then, and then you hear a voiceover goes, no, you didn't. And he goes, yes, I did. And we're going to be better. Their stock price went through the roof. The next. And they turned around. He was honest. That was the greatest PR campaign in the history campaigns.

What did he do? He was true to who he was. We suck, we're going to suck less tomorrow. Cause that's our goal, your goal, my goal, David's goal is to suck less than you did yesterday. You know? And when he did that, I was just like all praise, man. You're the greatest CEO in the history of CEO's

Steve Carran: I love that. I love that. So just be authentic, be authentic with your surroundings and your culture. 

Anthony Melchiorri: yeah. And be authentic, but don't be authentic to be authentic, you know? Like there's people like, you know, they're like, you know, from Brooklyn, so they really didn't overplay their Brooklyn hand. Right. It's like be who you are. You know, sometimes I'm really, really, really kind. Sometimes I'm really direct.

Sometimes I'm really Brooklyn. Sometimes you think, you know, very rarely, but maybe you think I went to an Ivy league school that happens once in a while.

David Millili: So right now, there's, you know, obviously, you know, there's, COVID, there's labor issues. Um, and it's kind of, you know, when you're on LinkedIn and you're talking to people, it seems like that's all people are talking about. What's something that we should be talking about in hospitality that you don't hear people talking about?

Anthony Melchiorri: Communication. And I'll give you an example, David, you know, if I say to you, what's the problem between the front desk and housekeeping. What's the problem between reservations and sales? What's the problem between union and the general manager? What's the problem between the owner and the general manager?

You and I will write down a list and we'll probably come up with the same list, right? So we have the same problems trying to get a different result, using the same systems, right? Give you an example. Right now I have a friend that just paid $1,200 to stay at a hotel in Miami. He works really hard to family business.

He was three days in Miami pay $1,200 for a decent room. And he said to me, I went into the store yesterday and he said, um, Is it weird? Like, is it common that they don't clean the room anymore? I think with any cleaning room the whole time? No. Did they bring towels? No. They didn't ask you at the front desk if you wanted service? No. They didn't tell you they don't do daily service? No. So he wouldn't have been upset and he's still got really upset, but like no one told him, sir, we don't offer daily service. Do you need us to offer daily service? It's an extra charge or we don't do it, but we will bring you towels, just call the front desk.

We will take out your garbage is called the front desk. And he would have been cool with that. So they have the low, we have the lowest staffing we've ever had in our industry. We have the highest prices we've seen ever right now. Right now this month is the highest prices we've ever seen in the hotel industry period. Not since the pandemic. Ever.

So we have the highest prices. We're not coming down on the prices, go to Orlando right now, $1,700 for a room. And we have the lowest staffing standards that we've ever had. And if you listen to my podcast, CEO, say it, Anthony, I lowered my standards. No choice. Mediocrity right now is acceptable because I have no choice.

Okay. It is what it is. You can't find staff. You want high prices to keep your hotel going because you had two bad years. Communicate that. Do it in a funny way. Do it in a way that your, staff can, embrace it. Communicate. We suck at communication in our industry, because we're always trying to hide and we're always trying to be perfect.

And so instead of telling the guests was paying $1,200 a night, that you're not getting cleaning services, they got to ask me in a coffee shop three days later saying, Hey, did I get screwed? I said, no, you got, you got what's happening in the industry. So we really suck at communicating. We make believe we're communicating. And another, the second thing is we need more diversity in the C-suite. We need less middle-aged white guys in the C-suite. We need people coming up in this industry from different backgrounds, whether it be female, whether it be minorities, whether it be people with handicaps, whether it be people that don't look like me.

Because we represent everyone. And I think that there's been a lot too many middle-aged white guy sitting in a C-suite for too long, making the same bullshit decisions that they've made for years. Some of them are great. Cause I talked to them a lot of them on my podcast, but I think that that's the problem.

And, um, I'm sorry, did I give you my real honest opinion? I think I did.

David Millili: It's a really good point. And, you know, I stayed at a property, just a quick, funny story. It was in Florida and I was, I was just baffled. I was like, what are on the screens that these front desk agents are looking at? Because I'm walking by them and no, one's looking at me, nobody's making eye contact.

And then I go to check out and, uh, somebody had, I got a hookup for a room and the guy says to me, the front desk agent says, uh, would you like me to email you your receipt? And I said, uh, yeah. I said, do you have my email? Cause I wasn't sure because somebody else had made the reservation for me. He goes, that's a really good question.

And then there's this awkward, we're staring at each other and I'm thinking, all right, every other time I walk by, you're looking at the screen. This is when you need to look at the screen to find out if you have my, you know, dress. And he says, why don't I, why don't I write down your email address? I said, great.

He goes, what is it? I said, first name. He 

writes down first name. I said, last name. He writes down last name. And then he, I said, NYC, he wrote NYC. And I said at Gmail, and guess why I didn't get, I didn't get, I didn't get my email. I didn't get a receipt,

Anthony Melchiorri: Well, your email is first name, last name, nyc.com.

David Millili: I mean, I picked something that was very short, very easy to remember, but, uh, but you're right. The communication is really, um, it's, uh, it's bad. So that's a, that's a great point.

Anthony Melchiorri: We talk about standups, right? Somebody was on my podcast yesterday and you change the world with stand-ups right. I remember when I was Nickelodeon and we have a standup 15 minutes, everybody come around. And there was a problem with purchase orders and it was 1500 room hotel with 2000 employees over five acres. I was the vice-president. It was a big deal of turning this hotel around. And so one day, uh, I remember somebody coming to my office and say, Hey, purchase orders. I know we need this thing to that signature, the opinions and whatever. And yes, it's all through the internet, but nobody signs into it. And I said, okay, how about this?

We bring all the purchase orders to stand up every day. And you spend five minutes, cause every person that needs to sign those purchase orders are there. And we spent five minutes signing purchase orders and then we go by that day. And we solved the problem. That's what we don't do in our industry enough.

We don't communicate. We can, we've solved a problem like that. And that to me right now, we have to not so much apologize, but we have to communicate the new standard. Right. A lot of people don't want service. A lot of people love, like I do going to the front desk, grabbing a soda or water, grabbing a sandwich.

Okay. Parking my car right in front, going upstairs, locking my door. And, you know, and being left alone to the next morning. And then going downstairs, getting my real quick breakfast, getting in my car right outside the door and leave. That's what most of us want today. Especially if we're on business. So just so we're giving you what you want, just communicate that to people so they know what to expect. 

Steve Carran: Kind of along those lines, what do you see the future of guests experience going? 

Anthony Melchiorri: Very personalized. Very very, I will tell you what I want and what I don't want. I want a text message. I want you to put my reservation on my key. I want to open up my door with my key. I, I want a robot to take my luggage or I don't want a robot. I like it will be very, very personalized. Um, and technology will dominate. In 10 years, I think it will be hard to find employee in a hotel.

David Millili: Yeah. There's a lot of movement that way. And you and I have talked about it, like you said, you really, you know, once you kind of get in, you don't really want to talk to anybody. You just want to, you want to text. You know, you're texting everybody else. You're texting people in your house who are in another room.

So you're in a hotel. And I think what hope when you talk about that communication, I think it's not only the, hotel employee, the communication to the guest is usually bad. Because a lot of times hotels even adopt technology and they don't even let the guests know that it's there. So I always say hotels do a very poor job of marketing technology.

That's why it's not always successful. So people say, oh, apps don't work or mobile keys don't work. And it's like, well, yeah, are you communicating it? I have mobile boarding pass. Why wouldn't I want a mobile key? Why wouldn't I want to just go to my room? So I think the communication I think is on both sides.

Anthony Melchiorri: Yeah. Yesterday when I went to the concert or the show, I couldn't print a ticket. I had to have the app on my phone and I've never experienced that before. I don't go to a lot of concerts, but I never experienced it before. Doing no, no paperwork. I was like, what do you mean no paper? I can print out the ticket? 100%.

So why wouldn't we, why wouldn't we be and why we get to technology? And. I talk a lot about this on the TV show, you probably heard it it's 10, 4 and more right. If everything's going to technology, the guest experience and the interaction with the employee is limited. So if you do 10, 4 and more, you're guaranteed, your employees will engage.

So what does that mean? Every single time somebody passes the front desk. or Every single time you pass a guest, 10 feet away, you have to acknowledge your existence. Could be just by a little head nod, five feet, you say, good morning, good afternoon, whatever it is. And the more is when you're passing them. And you say, you have a great day or At Nickelodeon, we had little tags.

So he's like, oh, you like SpongeBob? You know? Um, so, so we would engage the guest. If you're doing that. Your mandate it's mandatory if you're walking around the property as an owner or general manager or whatever company you run. It's mandatory that people do that. So if it's mandatory, then you can hold people to a standard and fire them or promote them to customers, I like to say, if they don't hold that standard. If you hold that standard, you can have as much technology as you want. Because people gonna say, oh my God, everybody's saying hello to me. Everybody's always asking me how I'm doing. This is amazing. And so even like, just see the housekeeper and they do that every time I see them, it changes everything.

So I can do mobile check-in. But if I see a housekeeper and she says that that makes me feel good, I can, I can bypass the front desk and bypass room service. But when I'm walking down in the houseman and security guard sees me and says, Hey, you know, have a great day. You know, whatever it is, it changes the environment.

We change the Nickelodeon standard like that. It was on the books. 10, 4, and more was in there was in the policy book before I got there. When I read it, I was like, why aren't we doing this? And we changed the entire hotel within 24 hours just by doing that.

David Millili: Well, that was our last question. We appreciate your time. Uh, as always it's, uh, hopefully I'll get to see you in person soon. I think I'm gonna see you soon, 

Anthony Melchiorri: You're going to be, you're going to be my airport driver. You pick me up to go to the wedding. I invited him to a wedding and then disinvited him within an hour.

David Millili: Yeah, I got all excited. I was,

Anthony Melchiorri: What'd you could still be my driver.

David Millili: I was, I was getting ready to text them. I'll take the beef and then next thing you know, he's calling me and he's like, you're not coming to the wedding. Um, so this is so

Anthony Melchiorri: It was vegetarian. So,

David Millili: yeah, give us, um, you know, plug away. Tell us what you're doing right now. Tell us what you're going to be doing.

Dallas. Tell us a little bit about what's going on in your life. 

Professional. 

Anthony Melchiorri: I don't like doing that. Go online, go to AnthonyMelchiorri.com, go to my podcast, follow me on LinkedIn and Anthony hotels. Uh, follow me on Instagram. If you can't find out what I'm doing or you can't get in touch with me, it's because you are not trying. So anything hotels kind of opens up everything I'm doing.

And, um, but when I really enjoy doing the most is I enjoy being out there speaking to the two people in the industry or out, I spoke to a real estate company last week. I just love doing these keynotes. And if I can do nothing else in my life, but just go out there and talk to people about my experiences and their experiences.

I'm very, very, very happy

David Millili: Great. Well, once again, thank you. And that's it for the modern hotel you're presented by state flexi and we will see you guys soon. Thank you.

Anthony Melchiorri: stay flexi. 

David Millili: Yep. All right, Hank, make,