The Modern Hotelier #218: Getting Guest-Facing Technology Right in Hotels | with Robert Grosz
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David: Welcome to The Modern Hotelier, the most engaged podcast in hospitality. Don't forget to follow, like, subscribe, and let us know what you think about this episode in the comment. Steve, who do we have on the program today? 
Steve: Yeah, David. Today we have on Bob Grasz. Bob is the President and Chief Operating Officer at WorldVue. He's a leader in the institutional real estate and technology industry with a 25 track record of success, he's committed to enhancing the customer experience and forming long lasting partnerships with the best of breed technologies. Welcome to the show, Bob. 
Robert Grosz: Thank you very much, Steve. Glad to be here.
David: All right, Bob. So we're gonna go through a format here. We're gonna do a lightning round. We're gonna get to know you better, learn about your career, and then jump into some industry topics. Sound good? 
Robert Grosz: That sounds good, David. 
David: All right, here we go. What's something that you wish you were better at? 
Robert Grosz: Oh, there are many things. The list is endless. I wish I was more disciplined working out, I guess. I guess that's probably one of the bigger things. I do work out when I can, but, uh, man, it seems like I would benefit from doing it every day. 
David: What's the most used emoji? 
Robert Grosz: Oh, a smiley face.
David: What's a luxury you can't live without?
Robert Grosz: A luxury mattress. Makes sense. A good night's sleep is like a superpower. 
David: So that's true. So if you had a time machine and you could go back or forward, which way would you go and what year would you go to? 
Robert Grosz: Wow, that's a good one. I would probably go forward, and I would go forward 30 years. Wow. See how it all unfolds.
David: Got it. What's the best piece of advice you've received? 
Robert Grosz: Best piece of advice. I think the culture eats strategy for breakfast is probably the best piece of advice I've ever had. I think. Yeah, surrounding yourself with people, making sure that they're happy is better than any well-laid plan. So, culture eats strategy for breakfast. Alright, love it. 
David: What's your favorite city and why? 
Robert Grosz: Dubai? 'cause I like the amazing growth. I like the culture. I like the diversity. I like, of course the amenities. I think it's a fun city to be in. So Dubai is my choice. Alright, good choice. 
Steve: Very nice. Very nice. So, Bob, now we're gonna go into your personal background a little bit more about, you know, you and what makes you tick. So you were born in Mitchell, South Dakota, and then you grew up in Minnesota and Wisconsin. How did growing up in the Midwest shape you into who you are today? 
Robert Grosz: You know, I tell you, I think Midwesterners have a really good work ethic. I think they're down to earth. I think they're real people. I think they're authentic and I hope that I carry some of that with me, uh, in, in my travels and the various places I've lived. So, uh, I think it's, uh, provided a really good foundation to build a really exceptional life. Well said. Well said.
David: That's good. Alright, so you went to the University of Wisconsin Whitewater and you majored in finance. How did you end up at Whitewater and why did you choose to major in finance? 
Robert Grosz: So, it started in the eighth grade, so, wow. Not the whitewater portion, but, uh, in the eighth grade, I decided I wanted to get into business and I love the world of finance for some reason. I loved how numbers work. I loved how money worked for. For itself o often. And, um, I just became fascinated with the world of finance. Whitewater was a state school and it was, uh, one of the, the better campuses I visited on my campus tours and, uh, oh, and they accepted me. That was probably criteria. So, that's kind of how I chose it. And frankly, whitewater is an exceptional state school and exceptional in the world of business. So, uh, a lot of successful people have come from University of Wisconsin Whitewater, so. 
Steve: Absolutely. And not only great for business, but great for football as well. Went on a tear from oh seven to 2014, Warhouse Cincinnati Championships in seven years. I can imagine you're a fan powerhouse. Yeah. 
Robert Grosz: I dip back for much mini games, but they're well known, well regarded they are. 
Steve: And it's a fun school as well. I had the pleasure of going there a few weekends and in a few fun activities. Um, but so you mentioned culture as something that you're passionate about.
Um, heard, heard a few story, heard about a story of where, you know, you really brought that culture together, um, through karaoke. Singing Sweet Caroline. Oh my God. Um, can you tell this stuff out? Can you tell us a little bit, if you wanna expand on that story, feel free, but what made you so passionate about culture?
Robert Grosz: So, uh, I don't know if you wanna talk about karaoke or Sweet Caroline or Neil Diamond or culture, so we'll talk about them all. Always. No, I think, I think the, the science of, uh, or art of bringing people together and motivating them. Getting them all to, to have a level of trust each with each other that provides the foundation of, uh, you know, uh, decision making and speed.
I think, you know, that's really what, how I would define culture is the ability to talk to other people and get them to know you, like you, trust you, and then help each other. Right? That's, that's kind of the foundation of how I view culture. Karaoke iss a, an excellent tool. Provide for that. So I think that's why I like karaoke. That's great. And of course Neil Diamond is Neil Diamond, who doesn't like singing Neil Diamond songs, I dunno. 
Steve: Absolutely. Is that your go-to karaoke song, sweet Caroline or anything by Neil Diamond? Probably Anything by Neil Diamond.
Robert Grosz: Yeah. Any Croner? Any Croner. Frank Sinatra, you know? 
Steve: Yeah. Can't go wrong with any of those. Well, that's great. Now we're gonna learn a little bit more about your career, how you got to where you are today. So. In your early, earlier in your career, you worked at companies like Equity Residential, US Real Retail, castle Cable Services, and EcoStar. All kind of in the real estate or technology space. What lessons did you learn in those e in those earlier days that you still take with you today? 
Robert Grosz: I mean, my foundation, my earliest, uh, uh, career was really in real estate. And real estate is all about return on investment. That's, that's how you, how you build something that creates value, uh, that you can get a return on, and then, you know, leverage that into an excellent business, always have been fascinated by technology. And, um, ever, you know, since my early days, uh, I love technology and so operating in the scene between technology and how it enhances the experience of a guest or a resident at a, at a multifamily or a hotel property was always something that just came natural to me and my entire career has been involved and engaged in that, in that space, whether it's a little working for a real estate owner and manager, or working for a technology company like EchoStar and Dish Network and now of course at WorldVue, I've always kind of operated in that sea and, uh, and got a lot of intrinsic value from providing value, uh, with technology and in a multifamily or a hospitality real estate venue. 
David: As you discussed with technology, you've had many executive roles, everything from Dish network, bongo, wireless. What has always kept you drawn into the tech space? 
Robert Grosz: You know, it's how technology affects people and, you know, affects experience. You know, technology can make things really, really easy, uh, and almost magical or technology can be difficult and make things too complex. And I think the art of, of navigating technology and being able to manage technology and be able, being able to introduce it to human beings, to people to provide better experiences has always been something that's driven me. And that's kind of  what I love doing and, uh, what I see doing until the end of my career. That's great. 
Steve: So for the past six years, you've been at WorldVue and have worked your way up to president and Chief operating officer. One thing that you have kind of attributed to your success is quick decision making and your philosophy on loyalty. Can you tell us a little bit more about those two things and how it's helped you? 
Robert Grosz: Yeah, I think speed is something that differentiates companies and people from others and being able to take a risk and being able, able to, being able to look at things quickly, uh, but then make a decision, stick with it and follow through on it, is something that's it's not common, its an uncommon value. So I've always looked at how do we do things fast and quick, because ultimately that's really what people want. You know, loyalty, of course, is kind of being steadfast and sticking, sticking to the group of people that you're with and making sure that you're surrounding yourself with people that are, are, are much better than you and trusting those people.
And I think that the, the, that factor of being able to make decisions quickly. And know when you made a mistake and then reverse on that. Not be, not being afraid to say that you've made a mistake and that you've failed, because failure is just, uh, another step on the way to success. So, uh, you know, those, those things are very, very important. And you're right, I've kind of built my whole career around those two areas. 
Steve: Failure is a step to success. I like that. It might be a Modern Hotelier or Bumhoffer sticker coming up here. 
Robert Grosz: Yeah. Well, I'll take the royalties just a small amount. You got it. You got it. 
David: So for those who aren't familiar with WorldVue, can you share more about WorldVue and what it is that you guys do?
Robert Grosz: Absolutely.  I love to, it's one of my favorite subjects. So WorldVue’s been around, uh, since 1975, so it's almost 50 years. I think our 50th birthday's in December, and I call it a heritage company because we have been focused on hotel technology, even before technology was even a thing in hotels. The first generation of WorldVue was actually under a different brand called World Cinema and World Cinema focused on TV providing content to TV and it's, it was mostly Hollywood movies that were looping on A-A-V-A-V-C-R in a hotel. And that was even before cable and much before satellite tv. But where, you know, the, the founder of our company, Chet Dixon, who passed this June, unfortunately, uh, and was, was a great man, um, and really laid the foundation for a people first culture here at.
At WorldVue World Cinema he was a traveling salesperson in a different industry and, uh, would find himself coming back from the, I think it was an oil field sales job. And he came back in West Texas to the hotel room and there's nothing to do. And he said, I think this TV's gonna be something that people are gonna wanna watch in a hotel.
So he started the business and he really started the industry. And about 15 years ago, about 10 years ago, really, we really started to see TV experiences impacted by networking, technology and streaming and things like Netflix. And, um, the, the brand started to create standards around that. We jumped on that and helped that disruption in the early days.
And, uh, and trans transformed ourselves to being, uh, a network based company. So we com we, we designed, deploy, and support converged IP networks, which also include wifi, but they also now include of course, the interim entertainment applications, the TV applications. That you're used to in a hotel today.
And then the future for WorldVue is about cloud-based services, applications that depend upon an IP network that's robust and reliable in a hotel. And there are lots of areas that will go, lots of directions that will go because computational power becomes greater and greater and less and less expensive and more and more ubiquitous, and with that comes things like, how do we leverage AI to improve the human experience of hospitality? Not replace people, but make them more effective and make them more people-centric as opposed to routine processes. So that's kind of about, that's where we've been, where we are going.
Steve: That's great. So in the past you have said that WorldVue is a service company and not necessarily a technology company. What do you mean by that? 
Robert Grosz: Yeah, so it's taken from Zappos, you know, they were a service company that just happened to sell shoes. We're a service company that just happens to deploy technology and love technology.
So again being a great company is about what happens, a great company in our space, the technology space. What happens when something goes wrong? How do you respond? How do you correct it? Um, how do you think about how it's affecting people during the process of correcting it? It's not just about answering a phone call or replacing something, it's about how do you, how do you really navigate that process of making sure humans are taken care of? And that's all about service. So service is the core of our DNA and lots of people can deploy networks. Lots of people can deploy 'em really, really well.
But it's what happens after you deploy this stuff that, you know, five years, 10 years later. We've had customers that have been with us for, you know, uh, almost 40 years now. And, you know, that's saying something. Something we didn't just deploy and forget it, we deployed and um. Took care of them. And we intend to do that as long as we're in business.
Steve: That's great, and you're not only talking the talk, you're walking the walk. I, I heard it was, I believe it was earlier in your career, a major hotel client had a wifi outage during a huge convention. Mm-hmm. And you were armed with a flashlight and pure determination crawling through the hotel ceiling to troubleshoot a tangled mess of wires, is that a true story? 
Robert Grosz: It was a different company, but yeah, I had that experience. Yes. That's crazy. Not a lot of technical expertise other than I knew how to turn the flashlight on, but it's all about the effort and it's all about caring. You know, it's about caring about the people and it's less about the technology, it's more about the people.
Steve: So now we're gonna dive into the thought leadership part of the podcast. So one thing that I, I'm interested to talk to you about is mobile technology. You know, we've seen it obviously impact the hospitality industry, especially since COVID. But what have you seen the impact on the guest experience?
Robert Grosz: Every guest that enters your hotel, uh, carries a mobile device. Now, regardless of the age, you know, I know that, that my kids are, are, uh, use iPads and cell phones too. So it's become something that's ubiquitous with every single guest. And mobility is paramount in the world of hospitality, uh, because everyone's on the go they're not at home, they're in your hotel. So mobile technology is very, very important of course, and it's become, the oxygen connectivity has become the oxygen of the network today. So from that standpoint, mobile technology is kind of why we're all in business making that mobile technology seamless and work really well and not, you don't wanna have guests jump through a lot of hoops to get online. You want it to be a reliable experience. You don't want them to even think about it. We would be happy if no one ever knew what our name was from a guest standpoint. We just wanna make things work and, uh, you know, if something goes wrong or if there are changes on the property, if there property's going through a property improvement plan, we wanna be there as a value added partner to that.
And, you know, mobile technology is everything. Then you look at the guest experience in terms of the room entertainment experience, the, the big TVs that are in the room now. They're getting better and better and the quality's higher and higher. You know, it's not unusual to see a 55 inch 4K TV and even a select service or limited service hotel now.
And so when a guest walks into that room, it can't be a clergy experience. It can't be, uh, grainy and, uh, you can't have pixelation on the, on the video screen 'cause it's gonna make you look terrible as an amenity provider or a hospitality provider. As the hotel, and we know that that's very, very important.
We also wanna be able to take content that's on a mobile phone, like an iPhone or an Android phone, and cast it to this big str big screen experience because we know a lot of the guests carry their content with them on their mobile device, including subscriptions from home to various streaming services.
And it could be streaming services that are for international travelers that aren't common, uh, in the us. Uh, but having that experience where you can actually cast that picture, cast that content on your screen, and uh, have the guests feel like they're home, that makes hospitality special, makes your hotel special, and it keeps the guests coming back.
It keeps them not caring as much for what the, what they paid as they in the room, as much as it is that they're provided. They're getting an excellent experience and they feel like they're being taken care of. So, yeah, mobility is at the center of it all. As long as it's attached to a converged IP network that we build and operate, then everything's gonna be fine.
Steve: Do you have any predictions where we're gonna see mobile technology go in the future? I'm just thinking, you know, I come from the sales space and one of the things that. Was big when I was selling was mobile check-in, and I heard from a lot of hotels, oh, nobody wants mobile check-in, in, you know, 2019 before COVID, and now it's a pretty common thing.
So in the five years we've seen that transformation pretty, you know, standard in our industry. Do you have any, uh, any trends that you're seeing that that in five years is gonna be standard? 
Robert Grosz: Well, mobile check-in is a good example. I agree with you completely. I think, uh, five years ago that was, uh, a pipe dream, but today it's a reality in most hotels. I think that personalization is paramount five years from now. I think that the experience that a guest is going to have staying in, uh, a hotel is going to be, uh, amazing, almost magical in terms of what that. That experience is personalized to that individual guest. So if you're a subscriber to a certain streaming platform, it will automatically be part of your guest experience without even thinking about it just because you are a subscriber to that streaming platform. I think preferences and guest preferences are going to be better than they ever been, be before recorded, and better than they've ever been before in terms of knowing. What your preference is in terms of when do you like to eat dinner?
What do you like to have for dinner? Do you want a formal dining experience? Do you want a casual dining experience? Do you want room service? And just knowing that is gonna be part of the hotel experience, it's gonna be just an elegant way to gain services, if you will, or have an experience in a hotel.
So personalization and uber personalization is gonna be something that is gonna be a thing five years from now. 
David: Yeah. All right. So you knew this one was coming. How is AI transforming the guest experience in hospitality? 
Robert Grosz: How do you spell AI? 
David: I'll give you us a head start.
Robert Grosz: A. yeah. So, you know, I think AI, you know, everyone's saying that, that we should be scared of AI 'cause it's gonna replace people and there's gonna be huge unemployment and um, you know, it's gonna be the end of the world. Or certain people say that, not everyone. I think AI empowers the personal experience. It allows a human being to connect with a human being in a different way, in a more meaningful way, because you're actually making everything else for that, that employee and that associate and that guest easier.
You know, you're, you're able to, uh, provide an experience, almost anticipate the type of experience that that person wants. And fulfill that and doing it, uh, do it in a meaningful way, doing it in an authentic way and making that, that, uh, experience special. So I think AI is gonna empower the human experience.
We're gonna have more employees than we're gonna have fewer because, uh, it may be those more employees are gonna be more effective. Right? There are some things  in the housekeeping realm I think that are gonna be automated, that are gonna be excited. And you might look at, uh, how robotics does that. In conjunction with an AI powered increased computational power, uh, experience that was all fed by a network.
But I think that's gonna allow us to, to take those resources that are, are stuck, doing things like making a bed and, uh, make them more focused on the human experience. And so that's where I think we're going with ai. I think it's a very exciting time to be alive and, um, I think, uh, those who, uh, ignore it and store it away are gonna be behind the times. So that's what I see. 
Steve: Agree a hundred percent. So one thing I'm curious about, whether for a hotel that is a new build or maybe going through a redesign, why do you think technology should be part of the conversation? The design conversation from day one instead of waiting until the design has been decided on?
Robert Grosz: Yeah. No, this is something I evangelize all the time, and the root causes it of it is because you wanna be relevant to your guests. To be relevant to your guests. The guests all use technology. So if you have an inferior technology deployment at your hotel, it doesn't matter how much you spend on everything else, it doesn't matter even about the location of the hotel, uh, you're gonna be, you're gonna be not relevant to your guest.
So if relevance is important in. Design, redesign, a property improvement plan, or building a new property, then you're gonna wanna make sure that a foundational element of your design involves the proper technology. And I'm not talking about investing in technologies for technology's sake. I'm talking about having a well-designed platform that's meaningful and also focused on how is this relevant for a long, useful life, right?
You don't wanna replace technology every three years. I remember there was, uh, a property years ago when you have the old iPhone docking stations, a very high-end apartment community, and they built in the old iPhone docking station to the apartment unit itself. And all of a sudden the iPhone changed the docking station and that became irrelevant and they had to replace it and it was, it was a poor investment and you don't wanna look at things like that. What you do wanna invest in is strong infrastructure. So, um, whether it's cat six wiring or fiber all the way to the room or fiber throughout the hotel, handing off the cat six wiring, making sure that wiring is. Ample and going in the right locations and accessible. I think those are really, really good design considerations and frankly, it’s a small investment for a great return. So that's what I would recommend in terms of improvement plans and design 
David: Some great tips right there. That makes sense. So building off that, what do brands, hotels need to consider when standardizing the guest facing technology? 
Robert Grosz: Useful life. Yeah, useful life. Making sure that an investment has, uh, at least a seven year time horizon, if not longer. The longer the better. From that standpoint, making sure that the, the technology's relevant to the guest and that technology will be around for a while. That's why investing in a network is probably more wise than investing in sort some sort of a novelty, you know, things like that those are really important considerations.
Steve: So I, I have follow up question from that. You know, we're in an age where technology is evolving, you know, on a monthly basis. I'll even say that we have hardware, things like Apple coming up with new chargers. Yeah, sure. Every few years. But if you look at how AI has changed even since January, yeah. I mean it, jumped leaps and bounds. Yeah. So how do I, I know you kind of mentioned this, but I'd like to dive a little deeper on this. How do hotels stay ahead of the curve and they don't, they aren't investing in this technology. Yeah. That's expired in a year or so. 
Robert Grosz: Yeah. I think it's about developing the relationship with a trusted partner. I think that making sure that you have people in the space that, that live and breathe this technology, whether, whether it's the AI technology or network itself, or the in-room entertainment or the common area, uh, camera systems that are more and more prevalent. Making sure that you have a, a partner that really is embedded in that industry, but also listens to your needs and has a long history of being involved in your space. Of course I'm promoting WorldVue because we've been in business for 50 years. But, but it's, uh, but it's very important. There's, there's a lot of great competition out there that have that criteria, and I think it's one of the more important things that you could do if you're investing or owning a hotel property.
David: So, Bob, what advice would you give to someone interested in becoming an executive in the hospitality tech space? 
Robert Grosz: People first, focus on people, focus on team. It's not about you as an individual, it's about the team. It's about the company. It's about your mission. You know, if you focus on what does it mean for me, you're gonna end up in a, in a tight spot.
You might have some success 'cause of your, of your talent and your, your intelligence. But at the end of the day, those who win in this space. Embrace that concept of surrounding yourself with people that are better than you at things, and making sure you develop a trust relationship with them, and leverage that relationship to make fast decisions like we spoke about before.
Don't be afraid to fail. Fail fast and then correct. Right. I think those are the criteria that you really need to embrace if you're gonna be a successful executive for the long term in the hospitality tech, space tech is changing and has changed so much in my career. I've been in the business for over 30 years now, and you know, we've gone from, I don't even wanna think of what we've gone from.
We've gone from things like a 16 KA ramp. 16 kilobits of RAM to what we have today where we've got two gigabits or two terabyte bytes of hard drive space just on this computer that's not even that expensive and mobile technology. Right. I remember the first mobile technology I experienced was this brick cell phone that was humongous, and I think it took a charge for like 30 minutes and it cost like 1100 bucks.
Right. And the price hasn't come down on the iPhone. But, uh, but no, it's, you know, being, being versatile in terms of the technology, technology will, will change and the cycles of technology changing are becoming more and more rapid. Six months from now, AI will be completely transformed from where it's today. A hundred percent. And that's why, you know, it's not about being that technology person. It's about being a people person. That's about the short, uh, I made a long answer out of that, but it's about being a people person. 
Steve: Yeah, that makes sense. Very well said. Very well said. Thank you. So Bob, we have have been, we have been asking you questions this whole time, so now we're gonna turn the tables and let you ask David and I a question.
Robert Grosz: Wow. Okay. Well that's good. That's good. You know, so you're obviously in the space where you are getting the word out, right? You're building context around. Having touched bases with different opinions and different points of view and different experience sets, where do you think that is going in five years? How do you think this format, will this format be relevant in five years or will it be completely different with, with different type of video blogs and all that stuff? What do you guys think about that? What do you think we'll be doing this in five years? 
David: I don't think the change is gonna be that great, at least in our content and the way we deliver it, because at the end of the day. Whether we were sitting by a campfire with our horses in the background, or we're here on, you know, the Riverside platform. I think the, the conversation and the, the education and the learning, and I think, you know, and what we're trying to do is just get people like you who really help educate the industry and the hoteliers as a group.
So I don't see as much change as people might think. I mean, I think the format could be different. We might, you know, be ai, uh, driven. Uh, there might be things that are. Are different, um, on how we deliver it, but I think the messaging and what the. The overall content will be pretty much the same. That's my 2 cents.
Robert Grosz: Interesting, 
Steve: Interesting. I'm not gonna disagree. I mean, David, I think it's fun to look back at when we first started a podcast, how many podcasts were out there, and now seeing how many podcasts are in the hospitality industry, it is quite a bit more, I think people are realizing the value. Podcasts. But I think one thing we're gonna see not only in hospitality but with hotels and other industries as well, is video content.
I think people are hungry for more video content and especially kind of that short form content. I'm curious to see how that's gonna evolve. Obviously, more studies are coming out where it's not the healthiest thing to sit on Instagram or TikTok for hours a day. We understand that. So is that gonna evolve?
I'm not sure, but I think, you know, uh, websites, we're gonna see a lot more video content instead of seeing maybe that room type that first, that picture first got taken when the hotel opened, you know, 10, 5, 10 years ago. I think we're gonna start seeing videos of room types, the event space, restaurants, you know, more things in the hotel.
So, I think overall video content's just gonna get more and more popular and I don't think. Podcasts or any, some video podcasts like us are gonna go anywhere either. 
David: Yeah, and I just was telling somebody yesterday, I think people are a little saturated with the pure blogs and the infographics and things of that nature, and they really are just, as Steve said, they really just want that human touch and video is the really, the only way you can get that, in my opinion. 
Steve: Yeah. And to your point earlier, it's a lot more personal seeing somebody than, you know, getting content on a video than like seeing David s and you Bob than maybe reading a blog or something like that. 
Robert Grosz: Yeah. So good. That's good follow up question. Not on that topic, but, so in all your travels and all the interesting people you've spoken with, what excites you about the future of hospitality?
Steve: Oh man, I think the personalization side of things, and I think David and I started, one of the cornerstones of this podcast, and I remember this conversation like it was yesterday, was we see so many people on LinkedIn, but we don't know who they are. Right as people, we'll hear them talk about their companies and you know what, they're passionate about the industry, but more understanding the why behind that, and understanding why people are passionate, you know, why people are excited about certain things. I think that's kind of the, the thing that we're gonna see more personalization and uh, that's what it gets excited. That's what excites me about the podcast is learning about you. You know, I'm from the Midwest. You're from the Midwest. Like, you know, finding those commonalities with some people that we've never met before. But having these fun conversations and, and what we learn after sitting down with somebody for 35 minutes. 
Robert Grosz: That's great.
David: Yeah, and I think probably for me, you know, being a lot older than Steve, the encouragement for me is that there is an awareness that hospitality is a career and there is a movement in trying to get people into our industry.
And then even in our industry, there's really great movements around just making sure that there's more women in leadership roles, more minorities and things of that nature. So I think there is this. This great awareness in that hospitality is a real profession, not just a job. Yeah. It's a career. And that's, that's one thing that excites me.
Robert Grosz: It's a fantastic career. A fantastic career. 
Steve: Absolutely. Absolutely. Bob. Great questions. Great questions. Yeah. So, uh, our producer, Jon, also from the Midwest, Michigan guy. Right. He has been listening to this whole conversation, so we're gonna kick it over to him for the last question before we get you outta here.
Jon Bumhoffer: Perfect. You laid out some really good like principles for how. Hotels should approach technology or, or consider. And when they're designing a property, I'm curious, are there any examples that you have in your mind of hotel groups or single properties that are exemplary or maybe models in getting guest facing technology?
Right. Whether they're like a partner of WorldVue or not. I'm curious if there's anything that come to mind or what are they doing that that you think is. The right, the right way to do it? 
Robert Grosz: Yeah, that's a great question. There there are several examples of companies that at least in my opinion, do things right. And that's because they invest in the relationship. They spend time, they have a resource or resources that are dedicated to the guest experience and how technology impacts it. And they're not afraid to invest money. And it's not just a, a cost center for them. It's an investment they measure the return on investment through better guest experiences and, and making sure those guests come back and, you know, making sure that the, the.
Those guests spend more money because the experience is just, is perfect. You know, there are companies out there, you know, like, uh, like Concord and Remington, Ashford, Remington. There are so many, I can't even start. sI'm gonna forget a lot of them because. Most of our customers meet that criteria where they care enough to search out the right partner and invest in them.
It's not just, I'm gonna check the box, I'm gonna run through an RFP, and if you're 5 cents cheaper, I'm gonna choose you. That's always the wrong decision, always the wrong decision. You know, you have to make sure you're investing in the, the, the, the relationship and the people. And it's not just about, uh, I'm gonna pay you the least amount of money and then go away.
So the ones that are doing it right have that contrarian type of mindset where they're really investing. They're not, not, not afraid to invest, they're not afraid to put someone in charge of our relationship and, uh, and make that their full-time job. There's  a hotel chain called Nobu the sushi.
Oh, yeah. Nobu. Oh yeah. Nobu Hotels. I think they're doing it right 'cause they've got a very dedicated person that travels the world focused on nothing but this. Right. And they work really well with us. So I'll give a shout out to Nobu and, and Rodney. Uh, um, it's, they're a great company to work with and for, and they're not the biggest, but they definitely care about their guests and the experience.
I'll probably get myself in trouble not mentioning more people, but, um, I'm sure we have limited time unless. You're saying we have unlimited time. That's a whole story. We wish we did. Just pull up my CRM and go through it. 
Jon Bumhoffer: So, there you go. No, that was really good info. 
David: Okay. Yeah. Thank you. Well, that does it for another episode of The Modern Hotelier, Bob. This is where you get to let people know how they can get in touch with you and how they can find out more about WorldVue. 
Robert Grosz: Sure. I don't know if you throw out my email address. I don't mind if you do that. You can also go to LinkedIn. I've got some relevant content. I try to do a weekly newsletter, which is relatively a new thing for us. But I'm putting some of my thoughts into a weekly newsletter or go to worldvue.com and you'll see that content on there too. So, lots of ways to get ahold of me. 
David: All right, great. Well, that does it for another episode of The Modern Hotelier, the most engaged podcast in hospitality. Whether you're watching or listening, we appreciate you and we'll be with you again soon. Thank you for joining us, Bob.
Robert Grosz: Thanks for having me, been fun.