The Modern Hotelier #199: Inside Viceroy's Development & Growth Strategy | with Mark Keiser
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David Millili: Steve, who do we have on the program today?
Steve Carran: Yeah, David, today we have on Mark Keiser from Viceroy. Mark is the President of Development where he leads the global growth and brand expansion. Viceroy is known for its collection of luxury lifestyle hotels that combine bold design. Inspiring settings and authentic local experiences. With more than 25 years of hospitality, mark has guided the development of iconic brands across the industry, and now oversees Viceroys expanding portfolio worldwide. Welcome to the show, Mark.
Mark Keiser: Thank you. I really appreciate both of you having me on.
David Millili: All right, so Mark, we're gonna go through a real quick lightning round, get you some questions in there, talk about your personal background, your career, and then jump into some industry topics. Sound good?
Mark Keiser: Sounds great.
David Millili: All right. So what's something that you wish you were better at?
Mark Keiser: Oh, so many things, something I wish I were better at, skiing for one.
David Millili: All right. What's a luxury you can't live without?
Mark Keiser: That's a great question. A great steak.
Steve Carran: Nice.
David Millili: A good answer. So if you had a time machine and you could go into the future or go back into the past, which way are you going and what year would you go to?
Mark Keiser: Great, great question. Wow, you think you prepare for these things, then that comes outta here. You know, I've been, you know, I've got an 8-year-old daughter and so there's a lot of like, history type, you know, questions that come up in our household and I think that that leads me towards going back into, into the past. And, you know, I would have to go to like the revolutionary period in the US and I think, you know, how incredible, you know, for people to come across essentially the world and create a new, country and now we're so fortunate, you know, to be able to go to all the monuments and buildings and, you know, and learn everything that happened. And so that's what I would do. I don't know if it was 1776 or, you know, a couple decades before, but you know, the revolutionary period.
David Millili: Okay, great. What is your favorite city and why?
Mark Keiser: I have to say New York, I mean it's home and you know, it's one of those places where I never thought I'd be here for 20 plus years, but it's really hard to leave. you know, in terms of relocating. You know, it's probably one of the most oppressive places in the country if you can't leave. you know, but fortunately with a job and travel, you know, I'm on the road quite a bit and coming back to New York, you know, always energizes me.
Steve Carran: Love that. Love that. So Mark, now we're gonna dive into your personal background, kind of what makes you tick a little bit. So you grew up in Baltimore, Maryland?
Mark Keiser: I did. I did.
Steve Carran: How did growing up in Baltimore shape you into who you are today?
Mark Keiser: I grew up in, you know, a pretty innocent suburban setting. Walked to elementary school, took a busa middle school and, and, you know, high school until, driving started and. I'm not sure. I mean, great sense of values, community, you know, it was an innocent, you know, upbringing, we drove across country to Mount Rushmore.
We'd go to the beach, you know, but we weren't flying out west for skiing and traveling across Europe and all these things as a, kid. but what what did have a big IM impact was in my sophomore year of high school, my father took a job in Puerto Rico, uh, working for the university, well, working for a tech, a software technology company that was automating the university's, otherwise manual function.
So, admissions course enrollment, all those things. And so he was down there for about two years and, uh, would travel home every other week. And we had the privilege of going down a few times and we'd often stay in, um, in nice hotel. So, um, El San Juan, the Kendo Plaza, he lived at one point, at Palm del Mar.
And I just got the bug of didn't know these places existed and didn't know that you could have a career, working in the hotel industry. And so that, that had a big impact on sort of my interest you know, in, in the hospitality field.
David Millili: Yeah, so maybe elaborate on that a little bit more. So you went to Cornell's hotel school, that's where you got your degree. How did you know what was really, what you got interested in hospitality? What drove you to end up going to Cornell and really, you know, study?
Mark Keiser: So both my parents went to Cornell, neither in the hotel school. My mom was human ecology. My dad was AGC, and so I knew about it. I'd been there for a reunion, at some point during my childhood. And the fact that Cornell had, you know, the preeminent hotel school was sort of the draw. you know, I was familiar with, with the university and knew, you know, Ivy League, obviously I, my parents were pretty discouraging of the idea, you know, my mom was very much a believer that. I should go to a school like Duke, you know, get an economics major if I wanna be in the hotel business. You can always decide to do that. But why start so specialized and you know, it, it turned out okay. but what I, found out. A few years, years, you know, into Cornell is, or at least reflecting back on it, I equate it similar to learning a language, you know, once you learn a second language learning a third or a fourth is a lot easier than learning that second language and. There's such a focus when you're at Cornell on learning the hotel business, that if you decide that you wanna go into some other business, you've learned one in detail, uh, or at least as much as you can as a college student.
But you've learned how to learn about a business, uh, or an industry. And so I think that that is actually a really interesting way, you know, to think about. Might be a really hyper, specialized field so early on, you know, as an academic career.
Steve Carran: Sure, sure. I understand that you got really excited about hospitality as a career, being a foreign exchange student. Uh.
Mark Keiser: That's true.
Steve Carran: So can you tell us a little bit more about that? Like what about being a foreign exchange student? Got you so excited about hospitality.
Mark Keiser: So I talked to my parents into letting me go to France my junior year of high school. And it's obviously a little unusual 'cause most people, if they go away for a year, they do it, um, during college and. It's complicated as a high school student because you don't wanna miss a year. I certainly didn't, but I found a program called School Year Abroad, where they bring over a math and English teacher. So you stay on schedule, for graduation, you have to take, you know, maybe an extra history class, because at least at the time, you need four years of, of history. But you can otherwise graduate on time.
And so, we were given the ability to travel outside of school hours, you know, so if weekends or, you know, France has plenty of holidays and with permission from your parents, you could go off and take a train to wherever and, you know, that was not glamorous, you know, accommodations. But you know how great to be.
I was 16, turning 17 at the time. And you know, with friends who are also learning, you know, French at the same time, everybody had some different level of experience with the language or, or proficiency in the language and. I just found it an amazing and liberating and like to see, you know, in this case a very small part of the world. I think I just went to France and Spain, you know, during that year, and maybe Switzerland, but, that cemented, you know, my interest in the hotel business.
Steve Carran: That's great. That's a good story. I can't imagine traveling abroad at 16, but very cool. Very cool. So now we're gonna dive into your career a little bit, how you became the president of development at Viceroy. So earlier in your career you were at Prime Hospitality and Wyndham, and I understand at Wyndham you were challenged by your boss or manager. To be the GM of three hotels in Austin. You explained this experience as some someplace where you were making all the mistakes as you possibly could. Can you tell us more about the background, that experience, and what you learned being the GM of those three hotels in Austin?
Mark Keiser: So I got hired outta school to go to Wyndham. They were launching a hotel brand called Home Gate Studios and Suites. It was still in, so the infancy of extended stay hotels, and they needed somebody to help the president of the brand. And, to your point, Troy Pentecost challenged me, even now, you came from Cornell.
You was a smart kid, never worked a hard day in your life, blah, blah, blah. Yeah. It's 20 years ago. So I'm off a little bit on the. Paraphrasing. Forgive me, Troy, but along those lines and I called Bluff. There's one under construction here in Dallas, you know, ultimately he took the challenge and or took the bait. And while that hotel was under construction, prime Hospitality came along and bought the real estate holding company of, of Home Gate and paid Wyndham a fee to go away as the operator they wanted to own and operate them themselves.
And they asked if anybody was interested in joining. within Wyndham. I had some options. With Prime. I told them that I was slated to be the general manager of this hotel under construction, and they said, well, how about this? Help the new incoming president for six months or so help open a few hotels that are under construction and pick a market where if you're good at it, then you'd have a multi property opportunity.
And those two markets were Indianapolis and Austin. And so having gone to Cornell, I chose Austin. Um, I don't think you have to go too far to make that choice at you, 28 years old. so I opened a newly constructed hotel in Austin and, yeah, I hired the whole team. You know, most of those people were the wrong people as it turns out.
And, you know, I think there was an assumption that I knew a lot more. No one had asked if I'd ever worked in a hotel before. The answer to that would've been as a bellman one summer in Myrtle Beach. and so nonetheless, you know, the team that supports openings there, you know, expected that I'd worked my way up in some capacity into a GM role and, and knew things that I didn't.
And so that, you know, clearly contributed to mistakes. But super proud. After, you know, a year and a half or so, we were in great financial shape. We were always like really strong on the revenue side because the market was on fire. But, um, no turnover for the last, you know, six months. And they offered me a role to run the other three properties in the market.
I didn't accept that. I went back to Wyndham and took a job in corporate finance and, uh, was super happy. I always wanted to have operations experience. I, I felt like that was. Super interesting. I, you know, at some point I always thought I wanted to be the general manager, but I, I decided I wanted to be more on the business side and that like year and a half of intensive operations experience at a very small level, you know, um, was formative.
Steve Carran: Absolutely.
David Millili: And then your career, you know, you've moved into leadership roles into into the development side of things with Starwood, hotels, eos, what kind of led you and what made you passionate about getting involved in that side of the business? 
Mark Keiser: It was really a gentleman named Jerry Thay, who unfortunately, uh, is no longer with us, but he was. Head of the luxury brands within Wyndham and, you know, for, you know, for the audience. This was Wyndham that was spun out of Trammell Crow, different from the Wyndham that Sendent bought and then renamed their company.
So it was hotels like the Anna Toll in Dallas, but in Arizona. There were the boulders and, a few other properties then in Puerto Rico they had an extensive portfolio. remarkably Kendo Plaza and El San Juan hotels that I stayed at in high school were part of Wyndham at the time. And Jerry was responsible for growing, fixing asset, managing the luxury portfolio.
And, I was moonlighting with him from my job. Corporate treasury. I had asked my boss at the time, Judy Hendrick, to like, let me experience some other departments outside of corporate finance and she was super supportive of that. And so I found myself working with Jerry, who, brought me to every meeting, gave me a front row seat for how he negotiated.
He, ultimately A few years later when I was thinking about leaving Bear Stearns and wanted to move to Starwood Hotels, he was then working for our Puerto, one of our Puerto Rican partners and was a, a big supporter of my candidacy for, for the job at, at Starwood. And ultimately we did a couple deals with him and his, his Puerto Rican partners.
Early in my, my Star hotel days. So he was very influential in, in, you know, early and then maybe a few years into my career on the, on the business development side.
Steve Carran: That's awesome. So a next question is a two part question for you. So you're now the president of development at Viceroy. Where are you're spearheading Viceroy? Growth strategy when you're looking at new hotels that could potentially fit within Viceroy, are there any criteria of those hotels that are essential, to align with the Viceroy brand?
And then as far as a growth strategy goes, what's next or what's your current growth strategy look like?
Mark Keiser: Sure. Thank you for the, for the question. So, to your first point of like, what are the characteristics of a or a hotel, we wanna be competitive in the market with other. Luxury products, other, we sometimes say luxury lifestyle. we're deliberately positioned below ultra luxury and we wanna be something a little more youthful, a little bit more fun than, more traditional luxury.
And so. urban versus resort varies. You know, we're, uh, we're not going to mandate a spa in an urban property if we don't think that there's business to support it, or that it is necessary to be competitive on the room, product side of the business. you know, a great food and beverage experience is so important today.
but we can have more modest F&B operations, a single bar and a single restaurant. Or we can do more robust with multiple venues and a rooftop. we really, don't wanna over program the hotels, but we also wanna generate, highly profitable hotels for our owners on the resort side, you know, it, it varies.
You know, we, one of the things when Highgate bought Viceroy. Portfolio was pretty diverse. The Riviera is 40 40 individual villas. then you contrast that with Cabo, which is this, you know, architectural, very modern, expression and, you know, 190 rooms of hotel condos and fractional units that all go sinto a rental program. Sugar Beach is more appropriate from a look and feel to a Caribbean island and sitting in a UNESCO World Heritage site.
It sort of goes on and on. So as we were thinking about the future of the brand, we weren't going to use as a hallmark of the brand, some level of consistency of look and feel, or that every property has the same amenity package. We really. You know, looking at what the portfolio was, had to design, you know, the future of the brand around, that reality, which is so appropriate for what customers want today in our view.
Like they, want to have a Riviera Maya type experience there and a very different, experience in, Snowmass or in Portugal. probably the one that is gaining the most. Attention is certainly one that's, uh, near and dear to my heart is Sun Valley. this is a property that is, call it 75 rooms with a dozen residences. Um, some of which will go back into a rental program in the heart of Ketchum, a mile from the, the lift taking up to, to the mountain and, sun Valley for those that.
Generally a very affluent community. cosmopolitan wants great retail food and beverage wellness offerings, and. Hasn't had a luxury hotel despite the profile and affluence of many of the, the homeowners there and, and visitors. And so we feel incredibly fortunate to be involved and to be able to deliver what we think the market has been wanting.
not so large that it attracts a customer that's gonna disrupt the fabric of what Sun Valley is. Large, large enough to have, you know, to be a social hub, you know, for the community as well as for our guests. And so that's super exciting. we've leaned in pretty heavily on standalone branded residences, which.
Is a, a validation of the brand that people wanna to live in a building where the brand comes to life, not just through sort of the sign on the door, but really the experiences and activations that we're bringing to these, to these properties. vice Story has been fortunate to been in the residential building, uh, business since, let's call it 2007, when the sales for Viceroy Snowmass first started.
Maybe a year before, but roughly that time. So, call it 20 years. and we've seen really strong interest from very established partners, development partners in South Florida, in, in Mexico, in the Caribbean. And one of the components of why we love that business is that. These become, these owners become very loyal guests.
and if you choose to buy in a Viceroy and, and immediately upon, you know, signing the purchase contract, you, you become a top tier client of a advisor with all of the VVIP. perks that you would as though you travel to a hundred a year at advice hotel or whatever it may be. So, um, so we're seeing great engagement from the buyer community, which we love. 
David Millili: And so for those who are watching or listening, you know, we've talked about, and you've, you've said, you know, lifestyle, luxury, and maybe explain a little bit more in depth what is the Viceroy brand and what best, what best way to represent that.
Mark Keiser: Yeah. So as we look at the landscape of luxury hotels or luxury lifestyle hotels, you know, however you wanna categorize the positioning for, for Vice, what we see is a lot of brands talk about experiences as something that their guests are interested in doing. Yet we saw an opportunity to really do it right, and to own that piece of the industry space. And what I mean by that is we believe that today's customer, no longer, you know, wants to sit by a pool or play golf in a gated community, in a far flung location, that's available locally. It's available domestically. And when, uh, travelers are looking to go to, Italy or Portugal or, Tokyo that they really wanna come back with a knowledge and memories that were created of doing something that enabled them to understand the culture, you know, differently than they could have if they, traveled domestically or, stayed at home. And so, what we saw is that. Sometimes there'd be an experience like a tequila tasting at a Mexican property in a more traditional luxury brand, and they would guide you through an experience of perhaps how to detect certain notes within the tequilas. But the tequila offerings in front of you would be bottles that you could buy in New York or LA or wherever you are.
For us, it's really about. Bringing in local purveyors, local artisans, giving you access to bottles that you can't buy readily in the US you might have to carry back while also giving the education of how tequila is made or what region of Mexico it comes from, and all of those components. And what we've done, in order to do that is we've really engaged with our, our team members to ask them what they think we should show off in their town.
And so our newly opened property in Portugal in the Algarve called Viceroy Ombria One of the, front desk associates said, well, do you think anybody would wanna go to my family's, um, like honey farm, like beekeeping business? And we're like, that sounds pretty awesome. And so now our guests get like fully suited up in beekeeper gear, go in, you know, bees, thousand bees swimming around.
And that's such a different experience than when you're having breakfast and the waiter or waitress says. Oh, just so you know, the honey in your jar right there came from some bees on the roof, like, right. Like we want you to really experience it and whether you go home with a little jar of honey that you helped to create, like it's irre irrelevant, right?
Like you tell that story, for years. Um, and your kids tell that story for years and that's really the emotional connection that we wanna establish with our guests.
Steve Carran: That's incredible. Well said. So now we're gonna dive into the thought leadership, kinda what's happening and what you're seeing in the industry right now. So one of the segments I feel that's changing the most is the luxury segment. It is evolving, I guess not, I don't know, more quickly than other segments, but definitely is on evolving more. I guess, define and what do you think of the luxury space evolving? Anything you're seeing?
Mark Keiser: I mean, to your point, Steve, you know, it's a space where the spending has accelerated, um, and not just in room rates where. I think all of us have experienced a sticker of shock of, where we wanna go, where we wanna stay, and what that costs today. But, beyond the room rate, we find that the luxury consumer is, very prone to, to spending for experiences, spending for food and wine and all the components.
What things that are unique and different. we see a tightening of the belt, within the core of the industry, whether it's upper upscale, upscale, certainly as you go down into the, you know, economy segments. And there's, uh, you know, almost no upper limit on the, on the luxury side. We opened a mega villa.
If that's a term in St. Lucia, uh, the owners of the resort built a home for their personal use, um, and have offered it, you know, to rent, you know, during periods when they're not there. And it's, you can rent it as either five, seven or nine bedrooms. It sits on the ocean, it's full of their personal collection of art.
And you can rent that and experience that for, you know, let's call it 60 to 70,000 a night. And, clearly they don't want just anybody staying there because they did put priceless, you know, nearly priceless works of art into the, the residence, but that's a very specific customer who a travels with a big enough group to want, you know, let's call it nine bedrooms. But also, you know, has that sort of disposable income. And we have bookings, you know, for festive. We have bookings, you know, through all first quarter for that, for that, uh, for that residence. And. You know, that shows, you know, one of the areas where, you know, and that customer doesn't wanna sit in the villa all day. Right. so that's why we find it such an interesting component or segment in the business today.
Steve Carran: Interesting.
David Millili: As you look and you see some of the trends that are taking place, how is Viceroy really capitalizing on with them on property?
Mark Keiser: It starts pre, you know, before this day to be fair, David, you know, that communication in advance is critical because we have such enormous resources at our hotels, everybody does. it's how you harness them, you know, whether it's associates that their families have businesses, associates that work in other businesses they know, you know, the locales, you know, better than than we do. Even though we're, running the hotels. So it's really getting to know your guests and getting to know what they wanna do, and then providing a customized experience as best you can. you know, and I say that as best you can is, you wanna have some consistency, you know, to your offering.
And we're not a private home, you know, but, but to the extent that somebody wants certain experience, others may also. And if we can turn that into, you know, into an offering for, for our guests. but I think it really starts, you know, if it's a first time guest at the hotel or first time customer, within the vice versa system is, is communicating with them pre-arrival.
Steve Carran: That's great. So Mark, specifically in the luxury space, where are you seeing the most opportunity for growth right now? Or even to create more revenue?
Mark Keiser: So geographically, the emerging markets. Are, you know, super dynamic and, I, look to the Middle East, whether it's Dubai and Saudi, I look to, to Asia. you know, the quality of product that's being built, the money in flows into those economies. It's just at a pace that's so different than what we're seeing in the US or Europe, or South America today.
And it's super exciting. And you know, there's not just the physical buildings that are being built, but also, you know, the workforce that is engaged and the level of energy and optimism when you go into. Dubai, for example, is so different than many of the places where I travel in the us, where there's uncertainty and you know, in Dubai it's like everything is going up and, and, and people's personal income is going up.
And, you know, if they were fortunate to have bought a starter apartment, then that's now worth multiples of what they paid for. And they're, they've moved into the next apartment. we're trying to capitalize on that.
David Millili: So is there any lessons or advice that you've received from either you know, someone you considered a mentor, or someone you worked with that you. Carry with you today and, and, and try to make sure that you always remember that. 
Mark Keiser: yeah, there's probably a couple things. So, you know, first and. I pushed early in my career, you know, to take sort of step up roles that I didn't necessarily have the experience for, you know, but I had the desire. and that early in your career as possible and doing that later in your career is probably, may not end as well. Like, there's a lot of things you should not consider hiring me to be responsible for today. But, uh, but early on, like, you know, playing a role in, in different groups was very helpful. that, and then I, I think the other piece is just, you know, being available, you know, to people who are earlier in their career and, letting people tag along, right? Like, you don't need to create a whole program for somebody, but, letting them be on calls that they're interested in being on, introducing them as somebody who's, gonna listen in and learn. And, you know, I've never, found any resistance to people been speaking with.
I think it provides opportunity, you know, in careers to figure what they wanna do. and so those are probably the two things I would share.
Steve Carran: That well said, Mark, well said, so Mark, we've been asking you questions this whole time, right? So now we're gonna turn the tables and let you ask David and I a question sounds great.
Mark Keiser: So, please send the name of five to seven owners that are looking for a brand like meite, that's your homework. I appreciate, you know, both of your time. I love to hear where people are like where they love to travel to. And I'd love, you know, it doesn't have to be one place. It could be, you know, a couple top places if that's easier for each of you. 
Steve Carran: All right. I mean, I don't think it's a secret to anybody who listens to podcasts. I love like outdoor. I love being outdoors. I love kind of the experience travel and stuff like that. So I love going into the mountains. I love going to small mountain towns where sometimes the cell service might not work well. But I really enjoy just kind of getting off the grid. And going places where, you know, it's a little bit, I come from a small town, Wisconsin, so I enjoy being in those small, specifically mountain towns or, or almost country western towns as well. So those are the places that I, I really love to kind of travel to the most, kind of those, maybe those second tier, third tier, even fourth tier cities. So not a big city guy anymore, but yeah, that's, that's just me. David, what don't you?
David Millili: Yeah, no, I think for me a little bit opposite, but I mean, I love the, the cities I think from, you know, just growing up in the suburbs and then, you know, working in New York, I kind of always have this. Interest of how does the city compare to New York, and what's it gonna be like? So, you know, for me it's really more about the people I'm with and if I can get somebody local, whether it's a big city or an off the beaten path, you know, smaller town.
To me it's who's that I've just learned over the years that whoever that person is that is helping you plan your accommodations or pick the restaurant if they're local, that just brings this whole nother, it's like sunscreen. You don't have to worry about getting burnt, you know, someone's gonna take care of you. So that's what I would say.
Mark Keiser: I love that expression, Steve, for you. Recently I made an investment in a company called Conservatory Collective,
Steve Carran: Okay.
Mark Keiser: There's a collection of almost 70 properties that are generally luxury, although luxury could be Catskills luxury, or it could be, you know, African safari luxury. And, everything from Antarctica to British Columbia fishing to a chalet on Denali in Alaska. So there's some mountain properties in there for you. David, they skew more far flung than urban, so you're gonna have to stick to, uh, to some of our hotels.
Steve Carran: You guys have the Viceroy Snowmass here in Colorado, so that, that is one on my bucket list I gotta check out. It's in the mountains, it looks beautiful, so that, that one's on my bucket list. So we'll get a Viceroy property in there. Don't worry about that.
Mark Keiser: Yeah. And one of the cool things that we did last year for, uh, for uh, an industry group was we hosted lunch on the mountain, and typically this group would eat at the cafeteria at the top of the mountain, everyone scramble for, for chairs, and instead we were, just the side of a cliff, you know, with great catered food from Vice Story of course, and some drinks and just a Bluebird skies above. It was amazing.
Steve Carran: Incredible. Incredible. So, mark, our producer, John, he's been listening this whole time. He has one final question for you here before we get you outta here.
Jon Bumhoffer: One thing you said early on was that you, you landed that first GM job without, you know. Without any hospitality or hotel experience besides that short stint as a bellman. And so if you could take yourself back to those days and, and put yourself in somebody's shoes, who's maybe in that position, what would be like one or two things that you wish you had somebody had told you or that you knew at that moment? And it's probably a lot of things you just didn't know that you didn't know, right. But I'm curious if any there's any like, you know, big things that come to mind.
Mark Keiser: To be fair, I was prior to being the GM, I was helping the existing GMs figure out, like this business model, which was a hybrid of like a Wyndham Garden Hotel in an apartment. So, while I had never been behind the front
Jon Bumhoffer: Yeah. So maybe on like on property
Mark Keiser: Yeah, I'd never been on property. But, you know, I like to tell. I kind of a funny story, which is when the auditors came to conduct, you know, a fairly standard audit of the operations of my hotel and my direct supervisor had had not stepped foot in my hotel in the first eight months that the hotel had opened. He sort of purposely left me alone, but also he had a lot of problems in the rest of the portfolio. When he got home to Austin, he just would go home and spend time with his family. but he also thought it'd be interesting to see what would happen. And so the auditors come to your hotel, they immediately ask the front desk agents to let them count their drawers.
Right. And so let's say there's supposed to be $300. They count each of the drawers. There's 300 in each of the drawers check. Then they asked me to open up the safe in my office, and there's, let's say it's supposed to be 500 in there, and there was like 21 bucks. And the guy's like, where's the rest of the money?
I'm like, that's so glad you're here. Like I've been sending these receipts back to corporate and they're not like sending me the money. And he looked at me like, like he didn't know how to react because. 1 0 1 apparently is that you drop your deposit short of whatever cash you needed to use during the course of the day so that the safe always has $500.
You never send receipts back to the corporate office like anybody who's ever like. Then a front office manager knows this, probably half the front desk agents know this and I had no idea. And it is an enormous red flag when they don't, when you don't have the cash on property that you're supposed to have.
So, you know, that I think encapsulates all the stuff that I didn't know, that I didn't know, what I would, you know, probably have done if I could go back in time, was let me shadow an existing general manager for 10 days. You know, probably could have been a lot longer, but like, just as a minimum of like, go somewhere for 10 days and just live the life of whatever they do do, and then go to your own hotel, but I just think it's probably like better advised to like, have some other job in a hotel before you're in charge of the thing.
David Millili: That's funny. Alright, well that does it for another episode of The Modern Hotelier. You're the most engaged podcast in hospitality, so whether you're watching or listening, we appreciate you and hope to be with you again soon. Thanks for joining us, Mark.
Mark Keiser: Thank you. Really appreciate you including me, and I'm a big fan of your show and congratulations all your success.