The Modern Hotelier #160: Behind the Scenes at Virgin Voyages | with Colin Hughes
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Steve Carran: Welcome to another episode of The Modern Hotelier. Today we are joined by Colin Hughes from Virgin Voyages. David, what were some of your favorite takeaways from this conversation?
David Millili: He was a great guy. Uh, he really kind of just drives home why Virgin is so successful and, you know, going in, I didn't know. How it was gonna feel coming out. I wanna get on a cruise, a virgin cruise, so he got me excited about going on a virgin voyages cruise.
Steve Carran: I agree with you. I've never been on a cruise, but man, am I excited about it now. I just loved how he talked about the sailor experience, right? Which they, that's what they call. Of their guests, but talking about the experiences that they have and how they've really thought about the, the sailor experience being less stressful once you arrive on these ships, it seems like everything's included.
You don't have to worry about tipping, you don't have to worry about food, and the dining options sound incredible along with the entertainment. David, I think we gotta go on a cruise. That's, that's my big takeaway from this episode.
David Millili: Sounds like a plane.
Steve Carran: Awesome. Well, enjoy the episode and, uh, let us know what you think.
David Millili: Enjoy it. 
Welcome to the Modern Hotel, your hospitality's Most Engaged podcast. I'm David Millili.
Steve Carran: I'm Steve Carran.
Jon Bumhoffer: And I'm Jon Bumhoffer.
David Millili: Steve, who do we have on the program today?
Steve Carran: Yeah, David. Today we have on Colin Hughes. Colin is the Director of operations and experiences at Virgin Voyages. Colin focuses on the end-to-end sailor journey and maximize onboard revenue opportunities to drive experience and profitability. Welcome to the show, Colin.
Colin Hughes: Thank you, Steve. It's a pleasure being here.
Steve Carran: Excited to have you.
David Millili: for joining us. So we're gonna go through. Lightning round. We're gonna get to know you a little bit better, your background, your career, and then we're gonna jump into some industry topics. Sound good?
Colin Hughes: Sounds good. Thanks David.
David Millili: What's something you wish you were better at?
Colin Hughes: staying in one place,
David Millili: Okay. What's the most used app on your phone?
Colin Hughes: WhatsApp
David Millili: What's a luxury you can't live without?
Colin Hughes: Experience.
David Millili: What keeps you up at night?
Colin Hughes: Nothing. I'm a very chilled guy.
David Millili: What's the best piece of advice you've received?
Colin Hughes: If you are talking, you're not learning
David Millili: That's good advice. What's your favorite song or your favorite band?
Colin Hughes: favorite song or favorite band? I have to go with a virgin one.
David Millili: Got it. All right. Cool. That's it.
Steve Carran: Very good. Very good. Well done, Colin. So now we're gonna go into your background a little. Bit a little bit about what makes you tick. So in 2019, you became the first US citizen of your family. Where did you originally grow up?
Colin Hughes: I grew up in, uh, Manchester, in England.
Steve Carran: Oh, very cool. Very. How did growing up in Manchester shape you into who you are today?
Colin Hughes: Mm-hmm. Well. I have a lot of good mentors around me. Uh, I have a beautiful family, and I always wanted to travel all the time. I tried to leave when I was 16. My mom pulled me back. I tried to join, uh, Royal Caribbean and when I was 18 and they said, come back when you're 21. And then I, uh, got to join a ship on my 21st birthday. So it was interesting. Uh, I love Manchester. I go back, uh, maybe once, twice a year. Uh, but it, it shapes you up to, uh, appreciate your surroundings. Like, for instance, I live in Florida. It's beautiful weather all year round. And, uh, I'm blessed.
David Millili: That's great. So did you go to university or, or did you just jump right into to working?
Colin Hughes: I went to, um, business and finance and uh, I did like a course in college. And then after a year, I decided to, I, I got into how do I get to travel? And I spoke to some people. They said they were doing casinos. so then I jumped into the casino business, and then I, uh, I joined ships when I was 21. So I guess I was just trying to travel, enjoy the world.
Steve Carran: That's awesome. So this is one question I gotta ask just because I really look up to Richard Branson as an entrepreneur and he has obviously built a pretty awesome empire I'm assuming you've met Richard, on cruise ships or anything like that. Do you have a favorite Richard Branson story, or if not, maybe a favorite cruise story?
Colin Hughes: Yeah, so when I first met Richard, we were still building the, the ships. And, uh, we'd signed, uh, with the Port of Miami that we were going to build a terminal in partnership. So we went to the Standard Hotel in, um, south Beach. And if you ever wear a tie, uh, Richard Branson cuts it off. so we cut off the, the Mayor of Miami's, uh, tie, uh, and then, um, I took a book, uh, Richard Branson book for him to sign.
and overnight, my son at the time was like two years old. He did like a drawing in the book, like a, like a circle. So, um, Richard, uh, put in there to Harry, uh, nice drawing. And Harry's like nine years old now and he's still working out who Richard Ranson is.
Steve Carran: That is awesome. That is great. So, now we're gonna dive into a little bit more about your career, how you got to working at Virgin Voyages. So before you started working on cruise ships, you mentioned you always wanted to get into travel. What were some of the jobs you worked before your 21st birthday working on cruise ships?
Colin Hughes: well before I, before I went to Crues. What did I do? Oh, I worked in music stores in warehouses. I did a little bit of everything, just to try and learn as much as I could.
Steve Carran: Very cool. Very cool.
David Millili: great. And so we know that you joined, uh, celebrity Cruise on your 21st birthday. You talked about how you really wanted to travel. how did you end up in the cruise business rather than some other industry that would, would help you or get you to travel?
Colin Hughes: Yeah. Uh, I ended up in the cruise industry, uh, because. You can, all they required was two years experience.
David Millili: Right. 
Colin Hughes: so I got the two years and then, um, I listened to all the stories in the break room from people who had lived in The Bahamas, they'd lived in, in America, they'd lived in different countries, and it was fascinating to, to listen to them.
And that's all I, so then basically I thought cruise ship would be, a good way to get paid and travel the world.
Steve Carran: So in 2018, you joined Virgin Voyages. What made you decide to come to Virgin? 
Colin Hughes: I'd been on the cruise ships for 22 years with, uh, Royal Caribbean Celebrity Cruise Lines, 15 years on board and seven years in the office. And then. When Virgin goes into industries, they always wait for the right opportunity and they disrupt it. And it was just like an opportunity of a lifetime.
But to get this job, at the time it was a, a manager's job and I went for an interview, uh, with, uh, the senior vice president of, um, like food and beverage at the time. the CEO of the company. I'm like, I'm interviewing with some big people here. And then I thought, um, I thought I'd got the job.
And then he said, you need to go for an interview with the CEO now. And it was interesting because the CEO asked me, do we have the right experience? and I thought, well, I can say yes you do, and get the job. I can be honest, and I was super honest. I said, I think you have a good way there, but you, you need to do some tweaks here and there, and I would like to maybe have the opportunity to look at the experience and make sure we have the right one for, for the sailors and for the crew, and so we can make sure that we have this beautiful, uh, epic sea change for all.
I thought I left the room. I thought never get the job. And then they called me like one week later and I got the opportunity. So it's amazing. Sometimes I would say be honest. 'cause uh, they might be somebody listening. I.
Steve Carran: That's great. And you said sailors right there. You call your guests on, on your cruise ship sailors, is that right? Kind of a little unique thing that Virgin does.
Colin Hughes: Yeah, it's like the virgin voice. We call the guests, uh, sailors. We call cruises voyages. 'cause we find, we find it's more than a cruise. It's a, it's a epic experience.
Steve Carran: Sure. That's awesome.
David Millili: Yeah, when I saw that in the questions, I actually Googled, what do they call passengers on cruise ships, because I wasn't sure if we had the right terminology. So I'll, I'll change something a little later. So you're the director of Operations and experience. Can you tell us what your focus is day to day?
Colin Hughes: Yeah, so I, I oversee, the spot operations, uh, the casino, um, retail, um, and tattoo. Um, so what, what I've done for Virgin is obviously we we're building a new ship now. So we look at the new build, we look at the technology, for the crew, uh, and for how the sailor experiences that we look at. We work with all our partners on revenue opportunities and then, uh, we obviously look at all the sailor surveys.
and then we just continue to build. A great thing about Virgin was we only launched our loyalty program, uh, last year. So once your loyalty program's out there, you need to be sure it's the right one. 'cause it's hard to make changes once it's out in the public. So we was able to keep changing things all the time when we listen to sales, listen to crew, and that's why we won over 200 awards because we had an amazing opportunity.
Steve Carran: That's incredible. That's incredible. Well, very cool. Now we're gonna get more into the industry thoughts question. And I'm really excited about this. Colin, you are the first person we have had on from the cruise industry, so I feel like we have a lot to talk about here. but from the start, Virgin seems to really focus on the unique sailor experience.
What makes Virgin voyages different from your traditional TR cruise experience, and what can hotels take away from that?
Colin Hughes: So what Virgin does is they look at the landscape, see what every other cruise line is doing, and is there a gap. so maybe hotels can look at that in their cities and say, is there a gap for an experience? Uh, 'cause you don't wanna put too many of the same experiences in the same location. So there was no cruises for adults only.
So Virgin said. Let's do it. And um, what's interesting is like even I have a kid, uh, a child, but when we leave the child with some family member or some friends, we go and have vacation with everyone else's kids. So this is a place where you can truly be kid free. And that's one of the biggest things that, that they like.
And then we wanted to make it, simple for the sailor, uh, to make it like an all inclusive. So when you go on your luxury brands, most of it's all inclusive. But when you go on your, like our brands in the middle, like modern luxury, it's basically you pay for it as you go along. So we said let's do this.
Let's include, uh, the gratitude and tips ' cause in the ticket price. 'cause people don't really know how much is.
Steve Carran: Sure.
Colin Hughes: 'cause people are coming from all over the world. And then, we took away, uh, the dining, restaurants. So generally on cruise lines, you get a big dining room on three floors and you'll go and eat there.
And if you want to eat outside of that, then you can book in a, like a specialty restaurant, but it's gonna cost you X amount. we said, you know what, let's take away the dining room and let's, do, um. Specialty restaurants all over the ship, and you get to choose and build your experience of where you wanna go.
So if you wanna go to a steakhouse, you wanna go to Mexican, you wanna go to, we have this thing called test kitchen. It's really cool experience and we have many more that you can choose from. so you can do that without worrying about how much it's gonna cost me and my family, because it's all in the price.
We included fitness classes. 'cause we feel like that is, should be part of everyday life. If you, if you wanna go enjoy. If you don't wanna go, we have this thing called detox retox. You can party as much as you want or you can just relax as much as, uh, as you want. And the biggest thing we did, was we give free internet cause every Cruise Lion was charging for internet. So he said, well, let's give the internet for free because. That's basically mandatory now. Everybody needs it. and if you want premium, you can obviously upgrade for a price. Um, but we did that and plus we give, um, everyone, uh, water, we put water machines all over.
we don't have like plastic bottles. We on board, so it's like sustainability. So we encourage people to bring, uh, their water, uh, bottles with them, or you can purchase it in our, uh, in our shops. We give people, so for free. Um, and we did all this for crew as well. So basically in your, in your ticket price, it's about 1000 to $2,000 depending on what you do, and then for the crew. And like if you are on the internet every day, you were paying like four to $600 a month, you know, in all these for all we did for crew, it makes 'em more passionate. It helps 'em do their job when they're off work. They can connect with their family or they can play their video games, do what they wanna do, and basically changed it for the whole industry. I think. Look, you could see there were cruise lines looking at how do, how do they, uh, do this? but also the crew got benefits across the cruise line world.
Steve Carran: It seems like a very stress-free environment for a sailor, and I guess for a crew member as well. When they're off work, they get to relax a little bit, that it's, everything's just included.
Colin Hughes: Yeah, exactly. Yeah.
David Millili: So you, you, you touched on a couple of points, but Virgin. A great attention and focus on personalization. So for the Sailor journey start to finish, is there anything in there from a personalization side that we, we need to know about?
Colin Hughes: For, for personalization, we have lots of opportunities for you. We have 'cause virgin's all about. different experiences. We just had one, now we call the celebration cruise. sir Richard Branson goes on board. Our senior leadership goes on board. Nick Jamas was on there.
we have this thing called like Scarlet Night. You have a huge pool party and then we'll invite some famous artists. Boy George was, uh, uh, last year on, on some of our ships, DJing at the party. We, we have like comedy festivals if you are into that. We have, uh, famous comedians in America, and we have ones in, in, in the uk.
if you wanna do like, like bar tabs, like say you, you just don't worry. What, what? Worry about your cost of drinks. We do like bathtubs for you. So you can do all that before you go. So there's a lot of interesting things that we can do for you. Before you get on board, so when you're on board, all you need to do is worry about relapsing.
Steve Carran: That's great. That's great. This I'm really curious about, it's a huge topic for hotels right now, and that's sustainability. David, I feel like we talk about this almost every episode of the podcast, how hotels are being sustainable, but we, I really have no idea on the cruise side how cruise ships can be sustainable. How is Virgin focused on sustainability? Virgin Voyages focused on sustainability. 
Colin Hughes: So. 'cause we're quite fortunate, uh, we have a lot of virgin companies who's huge on sustainability. We, and we work a lot with like Virgin Unite.
Colin Hughes: so the first thing we do, let's talk about Virgin Voyages. there's certain ports in the world, like Port of Miami has this technology where, you can basically plug in the ship and you can use, um, electricity that's clean from the port that you're in. So instead of using your diesel engines so basically that's like cutting emissions down by about 85%.
Steve Carran: Wow.
Colin Hughes: Not all ports in the world have it, but all of our ships have the opportunity to plug in if that avail, if that's available. So you'll start seeing no smoke roof from the ship, it's amazing that, that they've gone this far. We are also trying to get like a net zero footprint, by 2050. So we are working with marine industries worldwide and our partners in the cruise line industry to get like sustainable fuels. 'cause um, if we can get sustainable fuels that can capture the CO2 emissions, again, that's a huge step forward.
and then for what we can't do is, um, we have a we virgin Unite. In the Caribbean islands, uh, we plant like mangroves and, um, that puts oxygen back into our universe. So we also look at natural, how can we offset our footprint, uh, naturally. And then we work with, uh, charities as well and try and recycle everything we, we have, like, you know, when you're doing your furniture, all this stuff, sometimes it might not be good for you anymore, but it could be good for somebody else.
So we try and do as much as we can to not discard anything and put everything like clean our footprint basically.
Steve Carran: sure. I can't imagine how big that outlet is in the, uh, port of Miami to plug into a cruise ship.
Colin Hughes: Yeah. It's, it's interesting. And then on board we like, I'll give you an example of a spa, ' cause that's one of our, my areas. We have elements in that, which is a B Corp, uh, company. They have like facial um, and all array of things that you can do in there. And it's really good for the environment, the way everything is naturally sourced. And I recommend anybody to visit our spas 'cause it's very good for you.
Steve Carran: Awesome.
David Millili: That's great. So what tech. Are you seeing in cruises that you think hotels could benefit from?
Colin Hughes: One, one cool thing is like, uh, people like, surprise and delights. You know, when you go, when you go to a hotel, they, they want it to be like something that you can enjoy, enjoy being in that space. So. When you walk in for the first time in our cabin, you'll see that the lights come on. with a sensor, the curtains open, the TV comes on, music starts playing.
Um, we do small things like, uh, we do like rain showers in there, uh, mood lights. Um. If you wanted to watch like a, a movie, uh, you can press on your, on your tablet and all the lights close. it's like a, we have different, uh, light settings for different things, but it's also good for sustainability. So what happens is, 'cause our ships go all around the world in hot countries.
Once you leave that room, all the, all the lights go off, and then the curtains close. So it keeps the room cool.
David Millili: Right.
Colin Hughes: So it also saves us energy on the ac. Um, so I think hotels could benefit by depending on, you know, where they are in the world by little, uh, technologies, uh, like that. And it doesn't cost that much.
Steve Carran: Very smart. So you've had a, a front row seat to some big shifts in hospitality. Cruises has have really emerged, and grown, and the market has expanded in the past few years quite a bit. What emerging trends are you seeing right now that you're really excited about?
Colin Hughes: I think everyone can guess it's, uh, the ai, you know, so what a lot of people have. anxiety with it. I've worked on cruise ships now for close to 30 years, and the majority of cruise ships, 60% of, uh, your time is spent front of house and, and probably the same in hotels.
Especially for leadership. And then 40% of your time is working on all of the admin stuff, the boarding stuff, you know, that you need to get, get done. everyone can spend like billions of dollars on their hotel properties or their ships. Uh, but if you don't get the right heartbeat, which is your crew.
Then, your experience is nothing. So what we keep saying is if we use ai, we can increase the time from spending 60% front of house to 90% front of house. because now you have the people come from back of house into front of house. you can basically be with your, uh, sailors for us, guests for everyone else, listen to them.
Uh, experience what your crew are going through. With the technology that you have, on hand. Plus if AI, you can invest small amount of money that you can afford or, or lots of money. Um, so I think AI is gonna help, every, resort hotel or cruise ship to increase and enhance, experience front of house.
David Millili: So it seems as if this is a very important time. For the next generation coming into hospitality or cruises, what advice would you give to somebody who's looking to get into hospitality or more specifically, cruises? 
Colin Hughes: Yeah, I would say like, if you've done your university, you've done everything and you, are happy, you just wanna go and travel for a bit, I would recommend it highly because if you just wanted to take a break. Uh, you could work in restaurants, you can work in casinos, you can work in spas.
Uh, you can even do like, uh, theaters and, show. We have, um, a dance, uh, rehearse. Well, we have a entertainment, studio. in Orlando. So there's lots of opportunities there. And all the other cruise lines do as well. So if you wanna travel the world, get paid for it, learn about all different, countries in the world.
'cause for me, 'cause I know a lot of people around the world, anytime I go to a country. We get to really experience it, you know, and they tell you where to go, what to do. so it's great. I'd say travel is one of the biggest educations in life.
Steve Carran: Absolutely. A hundred percent agree. So kind of to that point, you have traveled all over the world. What is your favorite cruise destination? Or I'll even expand that. Where's your favorite? Place you've ever been?
Colin Hughes: Hmm. This is a tough one. Uh. I do, you know, I like, I do love Hawaii. Yeah, I love it. It's beautiful. There's so many things to do there and we used to spend like three days there, so that might, you know, sway my, uh, Alaska's amazing. Yeah, I think, I think, you know, the world does some amazing place, but America is some, some beautiful places to go to.
Australia is really cool, but it's a long, long way away. and in Europe it's just full of history. You know, Europe is just, what's great about Europe. You can go there with your friends and you can be in France one day and then you can be in Belgium the next day. Like United States, you can drive five, six hours and we're still in United States.
It's a huge country and there's lots to do, but I would say it's good for people to travel as well. So there's lots of places to go to. I think the most important thing is that you're with the right people.
Steve Carran: Love that. Love that. Have you been to every continent?
Colin Hughes: Not everyone. No, not 
Steve Carran: No. No.
Colin Hughes: I'm missing little bits of Asia.
Steve Carran: Okay. Have you been to Antarctica?
Colin Hughes: I've been to Antarctica. Yeah, we went to Chile. Yeah,
Steve Carran: Wow. Very cool.
Colin Hughes: We did that on the, when we did like South America and again, that's cool as well. South America, Argentina, Chile School. I lived in, uh, South Africa for 10 years as well. That's a beautiful country
Steve Carran: Wow. 
David Millili: So basically you're saying you love the world and you don't have one specific spot that is your favorite.
Colin Hughes: just say make sure you travel the right people. That is the
Steve Carran: There you go.
David Millili: Yeah. That's That's great advice. So can you tell us what's next for Virgin Voyages?
Colin Hughes: Yeah. So we, we have another ship launching, uh, called The Brilliant Lady that's on August 21st. She leaves out of, uh, Portsmouth and then she'll be in New York, uh, September 3rd. We have a few days there to showcase her and then she'll be doing, um, out of, uh, Miami. And then she goes, we go over to the West coast.
So with the brilliant lady, uh, our ships are like, uh, like super yachts. Um, so they're very wide. so we can't, our first three ladies can't fit through the Panama Canal. If you don't go through the Panama Canal, it takes you like three weeks around the South America. So we had to make a brilliant lady a little bit slimmer 'cause we wanted to show her off to the West coast.
So in 26 she'll go to like, uh, the west coast to like Alaska and uh, um, like California, et cetera. So we're excited about that 'cause we've never got our ship over there yet.
David Millili: That's great.
Steve Carran: Wow, that's really cool. And I just have to ask this. I've personally never been on a cruise ship. Is there any tip. For tricks or advice you would give to somebody who hasn't gone on a cruise, maybe why they should go on it, or if you do go on a specifically virgin voyage cruise, what experience they have to do besides the spa that's already, we're already doing that.
Colin Hughes: So our entertainment is world class. We have this, uh, show called, uh, dual Reality. And the red room again, that's a good thing. 'cause it's a multi, uh, multifunction room. It can be like dual, dual reality. You have, um, seats either side and the show is in the middle, so it's very immersive. You can go as close as you want.
And then we have the tradition, traditional seating where the stage is at the front, and then we have a, a nightclub setting where you can remove, uh, all, all of the seats. But due reality, like is the first show I know of. That was created, on a ship, and has gone on a world tour on land. Generally the, shows are done on land and go to sea.
David Millili: Right. 
Colin Hughes: it was really cool for us, uh, to, to do that. So I would say you gotta go to a show. So Virgin has a lot of, um, uh, shoutouts to its brand. So like, thank yous if you would, if you will. So on deck seven, when you walk in, in, in Miami, the, the Virgin record stores there, uh, so you, you have a DJ there, and he's, and then we have a two, uh, deck, uh, floor, uh, nightclub.
And it's called The Man, but the the man is, uh. The, the record, uh, studio of where Virgin Records started. 
Yeah, so there's a, there there was a record called, uh, in 1973. I'm not sure how old your audience is, but, uh, the Tubular Bells by Mike Oldfield and that was the first hit for Virgin, um, records. and basically that is the theme tune for The Exorcist.
Steve Carran: Oh wow.
Colin Hughes: And once it came out, that movie, it was, number one, I think in the uk, not number one, it was in the top 10 for over a year. It was in the world. And, and that basically made, Virgin records and then, uh, Richard Branson was traveling the world and he found there was a gap for airlines and they sold Virgin records and they created Virgin Atlantic.
And then. You can all of the like 40 plus brands, the to space, you know, Virgin Galactic, Virgin Voyages, none of this would've been created if it wasn't for that, song. So he gives a shout out on our ship called The Manor to that recording studio.
Steve Carran: Is awesome. It's everything is just tied in between the brands, which seems really, really cool. 
Colin Hughes: Yeah, there's some beautiful, nights we have in there. we have comedy shows in there. Sometimes we have, uh, different theme nights. Uh, it's just an amazing night there. You're not many two deck night floors on the cruise ship. And Virgin really knows how to do music.
Steve Carran: That's awesome. That's awesome. So Colin. Thank you so much for, for joining us this whole time we've been asking you the questions. So now we're gonna turn the tables and we're gonna let you ask David and I a question.
Colin Hughes: oh, for David first, what has been one of your, favorite experiences, um, in a hotel?
David Millili: we just came from the Hotel Lafayette in Chiyote. Um, I think I'm sounding saying it right, the restaurant there. I've never had an experience like that in my life. I mean, I've, I've traveled the world, not as much as you, but I've, I've traveled a lot and have had some pretty amazing dinners and, uh, I think you hit it right on the head because not only was the food great, but you know, John, Steve and I, we, we get along behind the scenes and so just that night was just kind of cool, enjoying this.
chef prepared meal for us, and we were getting all this great attention and everybody in the restaurant was looking at us like, who are these guys? They must be somebody, because, you know, the chef keeps coming to their table and checking in on 'em. So that for me, being the old guy out of the modern hotelier crew, that was, that was a really cool night.
Colin Hughes: That's cool. And then for Steve, I know we talked about it before, but when are you gonna come on Virgin Voyages?
Steve Carran: Hey, whenever I, I might need to check out this new cruise ship. So, we're gonna be in Miami later this year, so we might have to have to work something out, but hey, whenever, whenever I can, I'm gonna, after this I'm gonna chat with my wife and we're gonna look at what cruises are coming up. So we'll be in touch, Colin, don't worry about that.
Colin Hughes: but the question for you really was, um, choices. So, uh, I know I, I watched one of your podcasts recently and you were talking about choices and. It, it resonates with us as well. 'cause um, we talk about high tech and we, we give people that choice, but a lot of people want like, just gimme a piece of paper, you know, and gimme what's going on. So I think, what is your favorite choice when you go to a hotel? I.
Steve Carran: Ooh, so I found this out actually recently when I was going to, a hotel in Denver. I love to be sold. I love all the choices. Like I, I love the early. Check options. I love the upsell options before, but my favorite choice, I think whenever I go to any hotels is kind of what experiences they have. Big into the food and beverage side of things.
I like kind of, David said when we went to Lafayette, chiyote was there, and I always love exploring kind of the hotels and, you know, I, I can be a little, I could see myself being annoying to travel with because I love just to see what every aspect of the hotel or cruise ship when I come on there. my favorite experience probably is.
Is around the food and beverage side of thing, but that probably will change when I come on a virgin voyage and I step into the manner and I'm in a two story nightclub. That will probably be one of my favorite experiences.
Colin Hughes: cool. Well, I have to go to this Lafayette though.
Steve Carran: Oh, it's great when you get to the West Coast for, uh, for the cruise ships, you can, you can head into San Diego.
Colin Hughes: but our, our food is amazing. I mean, Levi, who, who oversees everything he is, worked with signature chefs all around the world. It's an amazing experience. And the crew just make it, you know, they put the, the icing on the cake.
Steve Carran: Absolutely. And I, I remember like when, I don't know when I maybe was first going to hotels when I was younger, it was like the food and beverage for the hotels. It wasn't anything to write home about. But now we're seeing some of the best restaurants I. In cities or in the hotels. So it, it's just been really fun for me to kind of see the evolution of it.
And since we go to quite a few hotels, we get to sometimes have some, some great dinners as well. And like David said at the Lafayette, that was a great memory that we'll always have of us three hanging around and having some great meals. So. Absolutely. Well, this has been great. John, our producer, he's been listening the whole time behind the scenes, so we're gonna let him ask you one more question, Colin, and then we're gonna get you outta here.
Jon Bumhoffer: So, Colin, you've traveled the whole world, um, probably many times over. Had a lot of different experiences. I'm curious whether it's, uh, travel a place or a different experience or whether it's like a hobby or something that you have, what has been a big influence on your, your role, um, as director of operations and experience?
Is there some sort of experience or, or something in your life that you would say is a big influence on how you approach your role? 
Colin Hughes: a big role model of mine was, Steve Jobs. So what I loved about him was like, no more than three words on a slide. put the experience, draw the experience out. don't put a budget on it. Like see what you wanna do from, from the, from the beginning, uh, to the end. And then obviously everyone has a budget.
but. Don't oversell something they don't have a budget for. So I think what I learned is like I I, I go into rooms, I listen, um, I read a book once. Like I, I left Cru Ships when I was, how old was I? I was like, let's say 2011. I left cruise ships and went to the office and uh, I was listening to people in the office and I was thinking, no wonder.
We can't get anything done, you know, on the, on the cruise ships. So I was too much a ego. so I read a book by Dale Carnegie, how to in Friends and Influence People. I started like basically networking people. And rather than, you know, let's be honest, show them open in front of everyone. Let's go and have a coffee and talk about this.
And I find, networking, and I always say to, the teams that I work with that don't come to me with problems. come to me with the solution that we have at the moment and then we can work on a solution in the future. And the biggest thing I tell everyone is like, you have, uh, two ears and one mouth, so listen twice more than what you talk.
And that really helped me. Just recently, I did a career day, at my, uh, son's, uh, school for third grade, fourth grade, uh, fifth grade. I shown them the old records in Virgin. Um, we got a captain, uh, basically to show them, around one of our ships. took him to the bridge, took him to the engine room, and then you could, he could see they were getting a little bit bored.
So then, um, he took him to the pizza place, to the arcade we have. and the kids were like, I. I fought you an adult cruise. Why do you have ice cream? Why do you have pizza? Uh, what is going on here? And it was, it was really interesting to see that. And then we even got, um, we have two as two astronauts did like a video for us from Necker Island. and basically, one of them was an artist and then she was saying how she became an astronaut. Everyone was an engineer, so. I guess what I like to do is inspire people. and like Sir Richard Branson, was dyslexic He couldn't, read properly, so he had to surround himself with leaders and trust them and that's how he's been able to build his brand.
'cause you can't do anything on your own. So I guess you learn to listen and be a team player, and decide on, what experience you're gonna put out in public to what your budget is.
Steve Carran: You bet. You're definitely the coolest day, our career day. That's for sure.
Colin Hughes: Oh yeah. Yeah. They, they loved it. And, and we even give them lots of, uh, we do like festivals. Um, so we had the Food and Beverage Festival, and we had this like, Asian theme and we had all these bags and we, we give out maybe like 150 bags with, um, you know, the fans.
Steve Carran: Yeah. 
Colin Hughes: all the kids are like flicking the funds, flicking the funds all over the show.
And I seen it, like I did this like maybe six weeks ago and I still, when I drop off my kid at school, I still see the bags and the fans and it was, it was a cool day. Uh, but they get to see so many different careers. And in England I never seen that like, uh, well I was in the school many years ago, but we didn't have it. Like, it was really cool 'cause he had everyone there. From all different lives, so the kids were like just really enjoying that day.
Steve Carran: Very cool.
David Millili: That's great. Well, that does it for another episode of the Modern Hotelier. This is where Colin, you can let people know how they can get in touch with you, how they can learn more about virgin voyages or just Virgin in general. So plug away.
Colin Hughes: So you, you wanna learn about virgin voyages, you just need to book a cruise, uh, book a voyage or go to virgin voyages.com. But, uh, it's, it's an amazing experience. You'll love it. and for me, you can catch me on LinkedIn, I'm sure you'll have it in this, uh, profile. I.
David Millili: Well, that does it for another episode of the Modern Hotelier Hospitality's Most Engaged Podcast. Whether you're watching or listening, we appreciate you and hope to be with you again soon. And thank you for joining us, Colin.
Colin Hughes: Oh, thanks for the opportunity. It's been amazing.