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We sit down with Susan Graves, a former hotelier turned solution provider, to explore the future of hospitality. Susan shares her passion for modernizing the industry through sustainability, automation, and AI, all while enhancing the guest experience.
Discover how easy-to-use and affordable solutions can significantly impact guest and employee satisfaction. Susan discusses innovative approaches like automating linen inventory management for predictive budgeting and ordering, which streamlines operations and boosts efficiency. Learn about the importance of providing bite-sized, mobile-friendly training modules that empower staff without disrupting daily tasks, ultimately leading to superior guest service.
The conversation also delves into sustainability in the hospitality industry, highlighting solutions that reduce energy expenses by up to 40% and lower greenhouse gas emissions. Susan emphasizes that sustainable practices are not only environmentally friendly but also financially beneficial, attracting eco-conscious travellers and improving hotel reputation.
This episode is packed with actionable insights on leveraging automation, AI, and sustainable practices to modernize your hospitality business. Whether you're interested in improving operational efficiency, enhancing guest experiences, or embracing sustainability, this episode offers valuable strategies for driving long-term success.
Don’t forget to subscribe, like, and comment to stay updated with the latest insights from Hospitable. Join us on the journey to modernize and sustain the hospitality industry!
Timestamps
[00:00:25] Modernizing the hospitality industry.
[00:04:44] Automation in the hospitality industry.
[00:07:26] Repetitive questions at the front desk.
[00:12:10] Elevating guest experience through technology.
[00:15:23] Guest experience innovation in hospitality.
[00:20:01] Utilizing underutilized urban spaces.
[00:22:49] Opening up new revenue streams.
[00:25:08] Sustainable solutions in hospitality.
[00:28:20] Sustainability in hospitality industry.
[00:33:16] Modernizing the Hospitality Industry.
Quotes
00:00:13 - "Our most valuable asset right now is our people."
00:03:23-00:03:34 - "I want employees to be able to be happier at work. I want guests to have a better guest experience and let the automation take care of some of the workflow where it can and let the people work with the people. So that's what this industry is all about."
00:06:08 - "Yeah, that's what I said. Like, where were you when I was managing hotels? But like, Something as simple as like, how do we reduce repetitive tasks?"
00:09:32-00:09:43 - "a necessary question, but does it have to be answered by the desk clerk or could AI step in with a real human voice"
00:12:32 - "the guest experience by freeing up the human from repetitive tasks and repetitive calls and repetitive questions to be able to deal with the human to give them a better guest experience."
00:15:43-00:15:54 - "Yeah, great question. I think the brands are hungry for it. I meet with a lot of brand personnel now. They're hungry for it."
00:18:24 - "The whole context of creating the guest experience changes."
00:20:43 - "Everyone talks about it, but not everyone's doing it."
00:22:18-00:22:28 - "In this position, this actually created a wonderful job for her, and she's making more money than working three jobs running around. That's amazing."
00:26:32 - "I actually found solutions that actually save you money."
00:29:44 - "A property that's including sustainability, 70% will swing right now."
00:31:32-00:31:43 - "I want to bust the myth on this. Like it seems scary, but when you break it down base layer, there are some easy steps you can implement to already do ABC."
00:34:40 - "Hospitality is a tremendous industry."
00:35:30 - "And to have people, folks out there like yourself, who are looking at how do we create change in the most effective way possible so that we can reduce the headache of implementing new stuff is going to be super impactful."
Connect
Experience Alive: https://www.experiencealive.com/
Susan Graves: https://www.linkedin.com/in/suegraves/
Omniboost: https://omniboost.io/
Rob Napoli: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robnap/
Rob Napoli: https://www.robnapoli.com/
Show Produced by: Niranjan Deshpande (Nick), Broken Frames Studio, www.brokenframesstudio.com
Creators & Guests
Host
What is Hospitable?
Hospitable is a podcast that discusses how to make hospitality MORE human through technology.
Hospitable focuses on discussing the leading challenges facing the hospitality industry and to explore the latest trends, technologies, and best practices that are shaping the industry. Each episode features interviews with hoteliers, restaurateurs, chefs, industry analysts, and other experts who share their insights and experiences on topics such as customer experience, sustainability, innovation, staffing, and more.
Hosted by Rob Napoli
00:00:00:04 - 00:00:09:22
Susan Graves
My goals really for the industry is defined, easy to implement solutions that are affordable and make the highest impact for the guests and associate.
00:00:10:02 - 00:00:12:18
Rob Napoli
So how do we give our creativity back to him?
00:00:12:23 - 00:00:27:04
Susan Graves
Our most valuable asset right now is our people. We're short a million people in the industry right now. It's only going to get worse. The bottom line is, how do you automate some of the repetitive tasks? Elevate the most valuable asset you have your labour to a higher need.
00:00:27:06 - 00:00:38:19
Rob Napoli
In your opinion, kind of an inflection points where hoteliers or hotel brands should be looking at what automation, what AI do they want to leverage to create some kind of experience, whatever that may be.
00:00:38:23 - 00:00:47:03
Susan Graves
Technology doesn't take jobs but actually enhances the opportunity to grow revenue. When you're growing revenue, you need people to do that.
00:00:47:05 - 00:01:00:07
Rob Napoli
Travelling has gotten expensive the last few years, and so people are looking more for the best deals versus loyalty. And I think with the right tools, the right process and the right operational efficiency is really what we're going for it.
00:01:00:09 - 00:01:23:19
Susan Graves
And make more money. Hospitality is a tremendous industry, and that's why I have so much passion around helping modernize it and make it continue to be super fun for the people that work in the industry and the people that stay there.
00:01:23:21 - 00:01:48:22
Rob Napoli
Hey all we are back again with another episode of hospitable. I'm your host, Rob Napoli, and today got a special guest for you. Is Sue Graves and Sue and I connected on LinkedIn. And as they're building our networks out. And Sue is a former hotelier. I worked for quite a large brand for a number of years and realized that there's a better way to reduce turnover, bring innovation, create a guest experience.
00:01:48:24 - 00:02:14:05
Rob Napoli
And so since being a hotelier, Sue jumped out on her own and started working with large brands and corporations and hoteliers to really modernize the industry. Sue and I was talking kind of pre show. Europe is ahead of the U.S when it comes to modernization of cloud and smart technology, and Sue was just so freaking passionate about bringing that to the stage that she's last shown business so Sue
00:02:14:07 - 00:02:19:23
Rob Napoli
I know we're going to cover a lot of topics today. I'm super excited to have you on the show. So thanks for joining.
00:02:20:00 - 00:02:48:07
Susan Graves
Thanks a lot, Rob, I appreciate it. Great job on the intro. Yes, I did spend a lot of time a lot of time working for a large brand. and loved it. I worked in five different brands under that one umbrella and so got to see a lot of how different types of brands do things within a bigger umbrella of brands and, you know here comes the pandemic, right?
00:02:48:07 - 00:03:11:21
Susan Graves
And everybody's got to do stuff different. And I feel like, hotels are in that space, too. They've got to do things different. I mean, turnover, you know, this industry dropped 85 to 90% of its employees overnight. And the churn is real. the average turnover for hotels right now is about 73%. you know, that doesn't allow for a consistent guest experience.
00:03:11:23 - 00:03:30:06
Susan Graves
knowledge goes away. You know, you don't have that typical inherent knowledge from a desk work that's been there, you know, five, ten years or even 2 or 3 years to be able to give a consistent message for a guest. So some of these things have been automated, and I'm going out and interviewing companies. I've interviewed probably 450 companies in the last two and a half years.
00:03:30:06 - 00:03:49:24
Susan Graves
I don't work with 450. but I work with the top 20 to 30 that have the best solutions that make the highest impact for both guest and employee satisfaction. which is what's necessary. I want employees to be able to be happier at work. I want guests to have a better guest experience and let the automation take care of some of the workflow where it can.
00:03:50:01 - 00:03:55:01
Susan Graves
And let the people work with the people, so that's what this industry is all about.
00:03:55:03 - 00:04:18:03
Rob Napoli
I love that for content contextual standpoint, right Omniboost is data unification platform. And we created to hospitable to talk about how to make hospitality more human through technology. Right. And like how do we give one of our kind of key missions at the company is how do we give more creativity back to humans, right, especially in the hospitality industry.
00:04:18:05 - 00:04:38:05
Rob Napoli
And so I you know, that's what resonated when you know, we connect on LinkedIn and we started having a chat. And I love like how you're headlining this hospitality pro and solution provider, reducing expenses using AI and other technologies to increase the value of your asset. And I think it's really clear, you know, where your passion lies in this industry.
00:04:38:05 - 00:05:12:15
Rob Napoli
How do we leverage those different automation tools, right? Omniboost is a key player in that. There's so many different tools. We think of PMS. This is POS you know, all the different systems out there which we'll get into. But I think today is gonna be a lot of fun because talk about AI. And now there's a couple of things I really want to kind of get into with you is somebody who worked for one of the largest brands in the world and at different sub brands underneath to now seeing and working with so many in the top 20, 30, what speak brands or kind of boutique how AI ML how can be leveraged in
00:05:12:15 - 00:05:34:19
Rob Napoli
the space you know, how does that impact the guest experience is something you highlighted. And then take the third part, which, you know, I was reading an article prior to this recording, about sustainability and how sustainability is actually, not as complicated as some think. And how do you leverage that into the lifecycle of creating the modernization of hotels?
00:05:34:19 - 00:05:51:05
Rob Napoli
So there's kind of a three key topics for today. So jumping right in into it, you know what got you excited about AI ML and why is that such a big part of like who you are today. Like where was like there's obviously an inflection point working in the industry where it's like, there's got to be a better way.
00:05:51:05 - 00:05:58:01
Rob Napoli
So what was that inflection point for you? Walk us through that experience that like kickstarted to where you are today?
00:05:58:03 - 00:06:19:13
Susan Graves
Yeah, I'll tell you what. What makes my day is when I'm sharing with somebody my reaction when I share one of the solutions with somebody and they're like, that exists. Like, really? How'd you find that? I'm like, yeah, that's what I said. Like, where were you when I was managing hotels? But like, something as simple as, like, how do we reduce repetitive tasks?
00:06:19:13 - 00:06:46:21
Susan Graves
You know, the hospitality industry, you know, we're the sixth or seventh largest when it comes to, you know, worker injury. Okay. So it's a very injury prone industry because, you know, we're moving all the time. And so how can you take some of the repetitive tasks vacuuming. You know, you're moving the arm and you're moving the legs in the hips every single day in the same way.
00:06:46:23 - 00:07:08:13
Susan Graves
So I mean, there are robotics that can vacuum the hallways, right? Vacuum the large banquet space that gives you an opportunity to take that valuable asset. Right. Our most valuable asset right now is our people. Right? There's a labor scarcity right now. We're short a million people in the industry right now. It's only going to get worse. It's not going to get better.
00:07:08:13 - 00:07:30:15
Susan Graves
It's going to get worse. People just aren't having kids when we don't have the employees we need. So the bottom line is, how do you automate some of the repetitive tasks and elevate the most valuable asset you have your labor to a higher need? So that's what I sought out to look for is like, how do we is there something that can replace hand counting linen?
00:07:30:21 - 00:08:00:14
Susan Graves
Yes there is. I found a solution that automates linen inventory and gets sent to your inbox on a daily basis using technology. now you can make predictive budgeting, predictive ordering. it's all RFID tagged. the chips actually outlast the linen. So it's an amazing solution. And, you know, these are simple things. You know, I remember when I was a hotel manager and I'm like, hey, Joe, go count.
00:08:00:14 - 00:08:21:00
Susan Graves
You know, go count floors 3, 4, 5 and six and tell me how many bed’s Joe is not going and counting. Three, four. And but he's going up there and saying is approximately 200. I mean, it's inaccurate. The current system is inaccurate Joe doesn't want to go count that. Sorry, Joe, but Joe doesn't want to go count the bath towels and the hand towels and all that every month.
00:08:21:02 - 00:08:41:07
Susan Graves
So what do we do to replace that? And I have Joe working with a guest or a fellow employee to improve their speed, improve the guest interaction, improve guest satisfaction because they get their room faster. So we can flip those rooms when you reallocate that resource to a higher need. So, those are that's just one, couple.
00:08:41:07 - 00:09:00:08
Susan Graves
I talked about robotics too, but, you know, the other one is from the front desk standpoint, you know, the repetitive questions that take place for a front desk clerk are honestly insane. They're necessary questions, but it is a desk clerk have to answer it. So let me give you an example. Do you accept pets? What time is your checkout?
00:09:00:09 - 00:09:19:11
Susan Graves
What time does your restaurant open? Do you have a pool? Do you have a spa? How do I sign up for spa services? I need to get my bill. That I need a copy of my bill. Those are just real quick off the top of my head. You know, questions that happen, maybe a hundred times a day.
00:09:19:13 - 00:09:45:12
Susan Graves
So while the desk clerk is standing at the desk looking great, ready to greet their guests, checking in and wanting to get them in their room quickly, they've got to pick up that phone and answer that pet question. It's a necessary question, but does it have to be answered by the desk clerk? Or could AI step in with a real human voice and answer the most repetitive questions?
00:09:45:12 - 00:10:07:00
Susan Graves
Taking all that load off the desk clerk so the desk clerk can assist the guest in getting checked in, and pay attention to the human in front of them. So these are all, you know, that solution can reduce call volume off the desk no less than 60%. There's a thousand room hotel in Atlanta that implemented this. They dropped 80%.
00:10:07:06 - 00:10:17:13
Susan Graves
That's high. 80% of their calls went off the front desk clerk and into AI to be answered. And they could pay attention to the guest in front of them.
00:10:17:15 - 00:10:40:22
Rob Napoli
Yeah. I mean, that's also really interesting, right? Is let me think about but one, there is a website where if you are a little bit tech savvy, you should be able to find that information pretty easily on a website. It not that's another conversation, but you think about all those kind of questions. And so we look at these, you know, there's some folks out groups that are being very digital first and then, you know, there's the conversation industry.
00:10:40:22 - 00:11:00:09
Rob Napoli
There's people who want a very unique human to human guest experience. And there's those that want to be there. They need to use this get in the room without needing to talk to somebody that you're kind of looking at, that you just use a great example about cleaning up the front desk. How does you know when you think generationally, you think about where the industry is going?
00:11:00:11 - 00:11:28:13
Rob Napoli
Where do you think the biggest kind of inflection points are for hoteliers? Is it, you know, deciding if you're going to be catering to digital natives or you want to be some experience or you want to look at what are, in your opinion, kind of, those inflection points where hotel hoteliers or hotel brands should be looking at what automation, what AI do, they want to leverage to create a some kind of experience, whatever that may be.
00:11:28:15 - 00:11:50:04
Susan Graves
Yeah. it's pretty simple for me, Rob, just because of all the solutions that I found. But you take that front desk example, you know, the human in front of you needs you needs another human. The person on the phone just wants the question answered. Do they want to be put on hold? No, they just want a quick what time is your restaurant open?
00:11:50:04 - 00:12:10:13
Susan Graves
That's not anything that is going to stop them from staying with you. They want the answer as quickly as possible so they can get off the phones and make their dinner plans. Right. So and they can also make a reservation. Right. So okay I want to make a reservation. It will transfer them automatically to the right person without a human having to do it.
00:12:10:19 - 00:12:29:19
Susan Graves
So now what you're doing is you're just saving the human to deal with human issues. Right. The person in front of you, you know, wants to talk about the area and you know, they're in for recreating, and they want to know what time the football game starts or they just want to talk to you. Well, now you freed them up to do that.
00:12:29:19 - 00:12:53:24
Susan Graves
So what you're doing is you're enhancing the guest experience by freeing up the human from repetitive tasks and repetitive calls and repetitive questions to be able to deal with a human, to give them a better guest experience. You're also elevating the level of the associate. The associate doesn't come to work every day saying, gosh, I hope I get 150 calls with people asking me what time the restaurant opens.
00:12:54:01 - 00:13:10:24
Susan Graves
No, they want to deal with a human. You think about these kids coming out of college, you know, these kids coming out of college want to work at, you know, they grew up with technology. They want to work in an environment where they're taking care of people. They don't want to push paper. That's not why you're hiring them.
00:13:10:24 - 00:13:32:07
Susan Graves
That's not why they went to school. And that's not why they engaged in hospitality. You engage in hospitality to create human experiences and improve guest experience. Now you've just opened the floodgates for creativity. They're not stuck, you know, at the desk doing repetitive stuff. Their mind is open. Do I wonder how I can help Mr. Smith have a better guest experience?
00:13:32:07 - 00:13:34:03
Susan Graves
Because they have time to do.
00:13:34:05 - 00:13:57:05
Rob Napoli
Interesting I think that's a really, you know, important kind of piece. And we think about the guest experience, and it's really interesting to see how brands are looking at the guest experience, whether it's tech enabled, whether it's human enabled through tech on different areas. I think that's such a really cool and unique thing. And if you look at you brought up, you know, the turnover rate and the old days, right?
00:13:57:07 - 00:14:17:24
Rob Napoli
The old PMS said, you know, there's stuff you out there because you work for a brand that still has, PMS that may or may not have been touched and, the time of Napoleon Bonaparte day, right. You know, we're if you didn’t know the hot keys and there's so many hot keys that literally left and left technology if you didn't transfer those hot keys analogies, it's like you have to retrain you.
00:14:17:24 - 00:14:52:12
Rob Napoli
You lose so much knowledge. And some of these new PMS systems are so, you know, simplistic, and in the best way possible, thinking about the user experience for that front desk person to be able to have the power to move it over things quickly, make decisions to give the best guest experience possible. And I think we've seen some really cool innovation on the tech side from PMS through different, POS systems, the way that you could easily, you know, pay at the table and move so much quicker to get in and out or experience that one.
00:14:52:12 - 00:15:18:12
Rob Napoli
I think that is so much so cool to see that happening. And there's a big disparities and disparity with sort of older systems that are starting to you know, the conversation this year has been when are those on-prem, solutions going to change? And finally make the push to cloud enabled, which I think is really unique, having worked in that space, you know, what do you think should happen in that transition?
00:15:18:17 - 00:15:38:04
Rob Napoli
We talked and kicked off show our talk a little bit. You know, Europe is ahead of the U.S in terms of innovation, especially on the, kind of cloud side of things. What do you think should happen in the industry, especially with some of these bigger brands? because that affects the guest experience for these big brands, big rollouts, new systems, new training that's going to affect their guest experience.
00:15:38:04 - 00:15:43:16
Rob Napoli
So what do you foresee happening over the next few years as it really I think good.
00:15:43:18 - 00:15:56:14
Susan Graves
Yeah. Great question. I think the brands are hungry for it. I meet with a lot of, brand, personnel now. they're hungry for it. but, you know, they're still in a position where they're working.
00:15:56:14 - 00:16:20:08
Susan Graves
In corporate headquarters in a lot of silos. So, you know, that takes. And I'm not suggesting you just work in a vacuum, but those silos and getting with people and helping them understand, you know, sometimes, you know, when you're adopting technology, you're integrating into, you know, the PMS system, you're integrating, you know, it involves I.T. It involves engineering. It involves.
00:16:20:10 - 00:16:45:06
Susan Graves
So there's so many departments that have to get involved because it's important to understand the impact for their department and how they can help support the innovation. So all that takes time. So yeah, I think there's a play out there. They're hungry for it. What I need them to do is find a faster way to get it going, because guest are definitely impatient.
00:16:45:12 - 00:17:07:11
Susan Graves
Yeah. they don't want to wait 2 to 3 years. They're like, wait, this is out here now. So-and-so has this. Why can't you guys do this? I give you an example. There's you know, we used to hate Americans used to hate QR codes until the pandemic came along right? Now it’s working on so, I mean, there's a solution provider, the that I work with that has a QR code for ordering.
00:17:07:11 - 00:17:25:19
Susan Graves
So imagine, you know, and I put myself through college waiting on tables. So I get this, you know, you hand them the menu. Well you're on a three items. So the first thing you have to do is you hand on the menu, you come back and they want, you know, that steak tartare or whatever it is. And you're like, well, I'm really sorry, Mr. Smith.
00:17:25:19 - 00:17:44:17
Susan Graves
We're out of there right now. Yeah. I mean, imagine if you could have of today, you know, menu offerings, not having to have that awkward play with, you know, you're trying to create a great guest experience. You got a great waiter or waitress, you know, but the first thing they have to do is tell you what they don't have on the menu.
00:17:44:17 - 00:18:06:23
Susan Graves
So if you're using a QR code, a lot of that stuff can be changed in real time. updated. Even your beers and wines can be changed. so you're not having to have that awkward conversation. You can go right into. And if they're using this system at other locations, the really cool part about it is it saves the guest history.
00:18:06:23 - 00:18:28:10
Susan Graves
So if a guest orders a margarita every time they have dinner, now you put that position, that waiter or waitress in a position to say, hi, Mr. Smith, welcome back. Would you like that Margarita instead of what can I get you to drink? Right. So the whole context of creating the guest experience changes. And now they're like, oh my gosh, you know what kind of margarita I have?
00:18:28:12 - 00:18:37:12
Susan Graves
Yep. We do. We have it in the system you always get and you always get x y z. And so what does that do that enables the guest empowers the employee.
00:18:37:14 - 00:19:01:00
Susan Graves
Enables the guest to have a better experience because they don't want to spend a whole lot of time talking about what drink they want. I mean, if you're a guest and a waiter or waitress knows the drink you want, typically or they have an option to say no, what else do you have? You know. But what I'm saying is you've got an empowered associate that has information about a guest that they never had before.
00:19:01:04 - 00:19:08:17
Susan Graves
How are you using that information about a guest to help them have a great experience?
00:19:08:19 - 00:19:35:19
Rob Napoli
Absolutely. And I love they brought that up. I mean, you use a great example of ordering, from an integration standpoint, we actually have a couple partners that do that. and technology enable that. That is such a unique thing that can make a difference in so much of it. And you talk about, you know, I asked that question about the bigger brands that the PMS, you know, we found a way to actually work with, the, the fossies the on premise stuff, like, you know, we have a solution for that.
00:19:35:19 - 00:20:08:14
Rob Napoli
But, you know, that is limited to an explorer file versus what you could do with an API or a webhook and the amount of data collected, how you leverage that data and statistics to make better, quicker, more educated decisions for your guests in real time. And then providing that as, you know, a way to create, memorable guest experience, but also longevity and a customer retention, like those things that, really make a difference because, you know, traveling has gotten expensive, the last few years.
00:20:08:14 - 00:20:30:06
Rob Napoli
And so people are looking more for the best deals versus loyalty. And I think you're seeing big loyalty play is huge. And, you say and I got airlines, I have a couple of hotels that I really like to say I, my loyalty points and statuses and things like that. But you also have to realize, you know, what is the value of that loyalty?
00:20:30:06 - 00:20:53:16
Rob Napoli
What is the value of that customer, and how do you get them in the door? How do you get to keep that. And there's different tools out there. And with the right automation integrations, guest experience, you can really capture that in a way that I don't know if everyone talks about it, but not everyone is doing it. And this is where I think the myth of AI and ML is like, there's so much it's not taking jobs away.
00:20:53:16 - 00:21:16:19
Rob Napoli
It's meant to really help you do your job better. And there's really practical ways to implement those solutions. Whether it's the phone that you talked about, it's the QR code, whether it's on the accounting side of things, where you can make sure your accounting numbers are better yourself than manually check what you have automation for it. There's so many ways to create better systems, better processes, and collect better data, right?
00:21:16:19 - 00:21:22:21
Rob Napoli
With the right tools, the right process, and the right operation efficiency is what really we're going for.
00:21:22:23 - 00:21:49:19
Susan Graves
And make more money. Yes, I can give you a real live example of something. there's an urban location, that has this expansive pool and pool deck. Okay. It's beautiful, but it wasn't being utilized. Okay. And so I said, well, what would it look like if you invited the community to come and utilize that asset, make money, buy beer from your bar, get pizza, get food and beverage.
00:21:49:24 - 00:22:08:10
Susan Graves
Let's just leave it at that food and beverage. Let them get a little sun. Let them enjoy a pool. They might not have. And they did it. And guess what? There was a I was having lunch with the GM and the waitress came over and she said, are you the lady that recommended that solution to my general manager?
00:22:08:10 - 00:22:31:09
Susan Graves
And I said, yeah, I am. How's it working out? She goes, I just want to thank you. She goes, before this, I was working three jobs. I didn't have any insurance. She goes, we have so much business now. I quit my other jobs. I'm working full time here and now I have insurance for my kids. I mean, my heart went out, so, that's just a clean example right there of look, technology doesn't take jobs.
00:22:31:09 - 00:22:54:04
Susan Graves
It actually enhances the opportunity to grow revenue. When you're growing revenue, you need people to do that. You need people to work with the customer and create a better, customer experience. So this in this position, this actually, you know, created a wonderful job for her. And she's making more money than working three jobs, running around.
00:22:54:06 - 00:23:19:20
Rob Napoli
That’s amazing you know that's so cool that there is so much opportunity for Yeah, I think the other thing that hotels can really leverage just their impact in the community. Right. Depending on if you're in airport, hotel in an airport versus, you know, in the city center versus, you know, kind of in a destination location, all of those create opportunities for you to engage in the community.
00:23:19:20 - 00:23:48:18
Rob Napoli
You said right I do think that when you, take the approach of how do we create that? So we want our guests to come in, but especially restaurant activation. How do we bring in others into the hotel that may have never thought about staying here? Because they came, the restaurant, they saw the amenities. They saw the experience they had imagined, or actually walking through the lobby that could create a, you know, a new customer and there's so many things of activation that I think hotels can do.
00:23:48:18 - 00:24:11:21
Rob Napoli
And they have thought of that. Theory is great, but execution is always the hard part. So how do you actually find ways to execute quickly and efficiently that open up opportunities for revenue and for our growth, which is, you know, the example you gave is really, I think, a great way to just like something kind of simple, quick and easy and opening up that community to the community that opened up lots of opportunities.
00:24:11:23 - 00:24:39:13
Susan Graves
You have this thing implement. They had this thing implemented in two days. Now, not only that, okay, so I just talked about the hotel, added a new revenue stream they didn't have before. Okay. So now they've got a new revenue stream. You got an employee who now has and she's an FTE now. So she's getting benefits. And so it it increased. You know the, the number of jobs at her property.
00:24:39:15 - 00:25:14:14
Susan Graves
In addition to that, as you previously indicated, Rob how many people are coming in there to tan and use the pool or just to relax and with friends and have some f&b and they end up getting married there. So the point is, is that if they don't see it, you can't do anything. And there are a number of leads that they've gotten this hotel has gotten that has led to, several weddings and, banquets out of it just by opening, you know, that little piece of the pie there that's not being used when the guest is at work all day
00:25:14:16 - 00:25:22:05
Susan Graves
How do you open that up for others to come in and see your beautiful facility? Yeah.
00:25:22:07 - 00:25:42:04
Rob Napoli
I love it. So, you know, I know that we've talked a lot about kind of where different solutions can help open up the guest experience and automation I had we also talked a little bit, pre show about some sustainability options and how sustainability it's a buzzword just like AI and ML it's very it's something that everyone's thinking about.
00:25:42:07 - 00:26:04:05
Rob Napoli
Everyone's talking about. but in hospitality, I think it's always a little bit, maybe harder to understand how what are some of the solutions or things or conversations you've had because you are passionate about, you know, also making hotel chains, brands, hoteliers more sustainable in the way they do things. And both from the guest experience but thinking sustainability overall.
00:26:04:05 - 00:26:11:02
Rob Napoli
So what are some of the things that you see in a conversation that you've been involved of when it comes to sustainability and hospitality?
00:26:11:04 - 00:26:32:04
Susan Graves
Yeah, I'll tell you, it's a growing, conversation. a lot of people are asking me about it. And so, I've actually found solutions and I kind of want to be a mythbuster here a little bit. Rob, because, you know, a lot of hoteliers and hotel owners are running from the word sustainability because they're like, that cost more money.
00:26:32:06 - 00:27:02:17
Susan Graves
Well, I actually found solutions that actually save you money. One solution in particular, you know, can monitor your energy and help you reduce your energy expenses by 46%. I hate to go that high because people freak out. They're like, there's no way. But it has been tested. It is true. but I'll stop at 40. Okay. So if I said, hey, implement the solution with less than a two year ROI, reduce your energy expenses and your greenhouse gases by 40%, right.
00:27:02:19 - 00:27:29:07
Susan Graves
And in its current state, you know, the hospitality community is using 1% of total greenhouse gases around the world. That's a lot. We use a lot of water. if you think about, you know, some I was on another podcast and it's like, what can some people do immediately? And I said, well, there's one thing you can do immediately that doesn't cost any money at all, and that's training.
00:27:29:07 - 00:27:46:14
Susan Graves
I said, you know, when I was a housekeeper, first thing you did when you go in the room is you turn on all the water because you got to get the toothpaste off the sink and you got to get the soap scum off the, the shower walls because it makes it easier to clean. I said, nowadays, chemicals can do that a lot better.
00:27:46:14 - 00:28:06:06
Susan Graves
But what would it look like if you just trained your housekeeping team not to turn the water on? You know, I mean, those that's a very simple thing, but I bet most housekeepers are still doing that. I mean, they don't want to scrub that toothpaste and soap scum off the tub, and but they need it clean so that water right heats it all up.
00:28:06:06 - 00:28:37:12
Susan Graves
But from a sustainability standpoint, there's also, you know, I found, I found a solution that actually monitors the and can, measure the, E which is the environmental. The S which is the social and the G, which is governance. You have a lot of players out there that and solution providers that are focused on the environmental, but there's not a lot that can actually drive the ESG energy and actually utilize that data to increase the value of your asset to the banks.
00:28:37:14 - 00:29:00:05
Susan Graves
And this solution can do that. So let's just say you're in a merger and acquisition right. You're in that M&A space and you're trying to sell your hotel. And you've instituted some of these solutions but you haven't tracked it. You can enable this solution provider to support you with all the stuff you've done and, you know, put in as an improvement.
00:29:00:07 - 00:29:16:20
Susan Graves
you can also take advantage of IRA dollars right now, which is the Inflation Reduction Act. in its current state, you don't have to have it instituted by the end of the year. But if you start something before the end of the year, you get a 40% discount on a sustainable solution that you're implementing into your hotel.
00:29:17:01 - 00:29:44:01
Susan Graves
So there's a 40% savings right there right now that's available. And you can institute a sustainable solution that can cut your energy costs by 40%. I mean, these are really great solutions that are saving money and saving the environment. You can do both. And employees, you know, travelers today, 70% of travelers today will switch their loyalty to a sustainable property.
00:29:44:06 - 00:29:55:19
Susan Graves
Yeah, property that's sustainability. 70% will swing right now because you've got a whole new traveler and a whole new generation of travelers coming into the space right now, and they care about that.
00:29:55:21 - 00:30:21:21
Rob Napoli
Yeah, absolutely. And that's and that's a really important topic for hoteliers. Brands understand is that it's doable. Everything is doable. It's just you have to try the right solution. The right operational efficiency is and you know, it's a lot of education. And I think everyone is afraid to, it's great to talk about all these things. So use all the other buzzwords that we do, all the things.
00:30:21:21 - 00:30:39:15
Rob Napoli
But there's a difference between like talking about it and actually doing something about it. And so many certainly there's a lot of talk and very few are actually walking at the top. Right. And I think we need to see more walk the walk than talk the talk, especially in today's day and age when there are so many people wanting to travel.
00:30:39:15 - 00:31:03:02
Rob Napoli
There are so many people that want to be, you know, to enjoy the experiences of travel with sustainable brands, with brands they believe in, with technology they believe in. And I think that is a big key driver that we understand. But we're still trying to figure out how do we implement and leverage, because the other the flip side of it is hotel technology, hospitality technology.
00:31:03:02 - 00:31:27:12
Rob Napoli
There are so many different technology players and things, and they don't all finance and sandbox and yada yada have I mean, Omniboost exists for a reason as a data connectivity layer and data unification and data flexibility for that reason. That's a really help tie these things together. And it's really important for us all to think about how do we make things more efficient, more effective.
00:31:27:12 - 00:31:46:15
Rob Napoli
And so I love that you're already thinking about that, having these conversations and sharing and sharing this, you know, being the mythbuster, I think that's a really cool thing. I want to bust myth on this again. It seems scary, but when you break it down base layer, there's an easy steps you can apply to already do ABC.
00:31:46:15 - 00:31:50:08
Rob Napoli
I think that's such a cool thing to think about.
00:31:50:10 - 00:32:13:19
Susan Graves
Yeah it is. And I you know, one of my goals really for the industry is define easy to implement solutions that are affordable and make the highest impact for the guests and associate. That's like my brand I guess you could say. So I'm not looking for hard stuff. I'm looking for the easiest stuff that you can turn on, like the linen inventory one.
00:32:13:19 - 00:32:32:19
Susan Graves
All you have to do is start ordering your inventory from a different person. You still have to order it. That's all you have to do. And all of a sudden within 6 to 9 months, you'll rotate all that linen now and you have transparency with your third party as well. If you have it in-house or if you have a by third party.
00:32:32:22 - 00:32:56:04
Susan Graves
So these are just easy to implement solutions that are somewhat turnkey. I don't want to put it all the way turnkey there. It does take training. and there's a little bit of technology that has to be put in. But it's pretty simple and very affordable. Most of the solutions that I'm finding and the teams that I'm working with are outstanding when it comes to training.
00:32:56:04 - 00:33:17:03
Susan Graves
I mean, I'm working with training solution providers too, because gone are the days where you get everybody in a classroom. You get everybody in a hotel banquet room. You say, okay, we're going to have seven hours of training on this. And the chef's like, hey man, I gotta I had a banquet for 3000. Yeah, sitting in there doing this training, you know, but the training has to get done.
00:33:17:03 - 00:33:40:15
Susan Graves
So I went out and found solution providers that actually can provide training in a tick tock type, you know, format 3 to 5 minute bites. You know, they can take the module. It goes right into your ATS system. You know, no more, you know, H.R. Professional emailing the chef saying, you know, it looks like you're missing three people.
00:33:40:15 - 00:34:04:17
Susan Graves
Here's their names. Can you get them to take the training? Why are we paying an HR professional to send an email to a chef we should be training their staff, you know, on the line to get better food for the guest. Right? So what can we do to take that place? Well, you empower the employees to take that training when they have time to take that training as a group or an individual, you give them the tools to do so.
00:34:04:17 - 00:34:33:04
Susan Graves
They can either do it on their phone, mobile, or they can, you know, do it on a computer that's available for them at work. And that automatically rolls into that ATS system. You know who's done it and who hasn't. And you can send an alert to the employee themselves. So all these solutions exist. Now it's how do you get these rolled out to, you know, to a group that the a segment of our industry that is woven into the fabric of every single community and that's hospitality.
00:34:33:05 - 00:34:57:13
Susan Graves
Hospitality is everywhere. You hop on a flight, that's hospitality. You go to a football game, that's hospitality. You know, you go out food and beverage, stay in a hotel. Hospitality is a tremendous industry, and that's why I have so much passion around helping modernize it and make it continue to be super fun for the people that work in the industry and the people that stay there have a better guest experience.
00:34:57:15 - 00:35:26:10
Rob Napoli
I love that and think that's such, a really cool, it's a really cool brand that to have when you're thinking about that modernization and the things that you do. I think it's a super cool that there's continued focus on how do we I mean, implement this and how do we make it easy. And that's the name of the game is brought up that you know, there's some bigger systems are going to be changing.
00:35:26:10 - 00:35:46:16
Rob Napoli
The industry is going to see a lot of change next year, for the better. But that doesn't mean it's not going to be painful. And to have people, folks out there like yourself who are looking at how do we create change in the most effective way possible so that we can reduce the headache? of implementing new staff is going to be, you know, super impactful.
00:35:46:16 - 00:36:02:13
Rob Napoli
So, you know, Sue I appreciated, the time today. And I know we could probably talk for hours. You know, I know we, you know, what have been great said, if I'm not mistaken, you're at hitec I think I saw people grabbing you for a few interviews, but we didn't get a chance to connect at hitec
00:36:02:13 - 00:36:22:03
Rob Napoli
But for sure, next time, I'm sure I'll be seeing you running into each other. We'll do this in person and chop it up even more. follow by the so many conversations. But, for those listeners out there who's tune in this episode, how do they find you? Sue what's the best way to get in touch with you and what you're doing if they have about any questions or want to chat?
00:36:22:05 - 00:36:40:19
Susan Graves
Yeah, sure. So probably the easiest is LinkedIn. Susan Graves, I'm the lady in the red dress. if you want to send me an email, you can do so, sue@experiencealive.com. There's no spaces in there. so those are the best two ways to reach me. And I would love to have a conversation.
00:36:40:19 - 00:36:54:10
Susan Graves
I'd love to support whoever's in the industry, leadership, position or any position. Help them understand some of the, obstacles they might be having. And if I can help them with the solution and be a pleasure to help them that.
00:36:54:12 - 00:37:18:12
Rob Napoli
Well, I will make sure to add both those the email address and your LinkedIn directly into the show notes will also make sure to have a link to your website, experience alive. That's make it really easy for folks to find you Sue appreciate the, just the inside of the conversation. A lot of fun. And your, entire recording, you're about to go out and, do another one of your passions.
00:37:18:12 - 00:37:31:21
Rob Napoli
You got a few swim meets coming up, and you're going to be out in the water training. So enjoy that time off. and the best of luck to you and the competitions ahead. And, looking forward to catching up with you. you know later in the summer.
00:37:31:23 - 00:37:35:13
Susan Graves
Sounds great. Rob, it was a pleasure. Thank you so much for having me on the podcast.
00:37:35:16 - 00:37:54:14
Rob Napoli
Of course. And those that they're listening, that's been another episode of hospitable. Thank you so much for tuning and as always, be a tier one. And make sure to like, comment, subscribe, review, let us know, what you thought about the episode and if you've got, guest, topics ideas, hit us up. Let us now we appreciate hearing from you.
00:37:54:14 - 00:37:57:03
Rob Napoli
Until next time, stay hospitable. Take care