The Modern Hotelier #95: Delivering Inspiring Experiences in Iconic Places | with David Barry, President of Pursuit
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Steve Carran: Welcome back to another episode of The Modern Hotelier. We are really excited to release this episode with David Barry from Pursuit. David, what were some of your takeaways from this episode?
David Millili: What I loved about it was that Pursuit their focus on not only the guest experience, but the employee experience and their commitment to just really creating a great environment for their guests and their employees. And you know, David's comment on just be staying curious if you're looking to get into this industry was probably key, key advice for me to people that are looking to get into hospitality.
Steve Carran: Absolutely. Absolutely. As somebody who loves the guest experience, um, I mean, the experiences that they're offering right now with, these great locations. And he said the views are something that can bring everybody together. I love that quote, but I also love how, you know, his story of how he got into hospitality.
I think that's one of the funnest things to learn about our guests and, uh, how he got into it. was a great story and now he's running the company. So, excited to release this episode and let us know what you think.
David Millili: All right. Enjoy everyone. 

David Millili: Welcome to The Modern Hotelier. I'm your host, David Millili.
Steve Carran: I'm your co host, Steve Carran.
Jon Bumhoffer: And I'm the producer, Jon Bumhoffer.
David Millili: who do we have on the program today?
Steve Carran: Yeah, David. Today we have on David Barry. David is the president of Pursuit Collection. Pursuit is a collection of attraction and hospitality experiences, thoughtfully united by their unique power to inspire and innovate. As a brand, Pursuit weaves elements of wonder and amazement across a range of art forms.
Awe inspiring experiences. David is a passionate leader with a strong track record of achieving great success and award winning hospitality. Welcome to the Modern Hotelier, David.
David Barry: It is so fun to be here with you. Thank you so much for having me.
Steve Carran: Thank
you. So, David, we're going to jump right in. We're going to go through a couple sections. We're going to do a lightning round. We're going to learn a little bit about your personal background, your career, and then we're going to jump into some industry topics. Sound good?
David Barry: Great.
David Millili: All right. So, what was your first job?
David Barry: quite an expansive lawn cutting enterprise. I discovered early on that cutting lawns was one part of the work, but getting contracts was an easier part of the work. So if I could enlist an army of my friends at that time to be doing the lawn cutting, and I could travel door to door and sign people up for more lawn cutting.
And so, uh, Entrepreneurial growth, my dad deducted depreciation and maintenance off a very old lawnmower which prompted me at the age of eight to go buy my own because I had to go look up depreciation at the library and I thought it was all BS so I thought, alright, this thing's fully depreciated, I'm going to go buy my own.
David Millili: That's good. Something you wish you were better at.
David Barry: Guitar. I'm terrible.
David Millili: Growing up, did you have a role model?
David Barry: You know, I think it's always a combination of things. It's parents, it's, uh, I had a very, very intelligent uncle who, uh, was a Jesuit, who, uh, was the first, you know, doctorate in communications in Canada, built a university. So he was someone that always would give you an unvarnished point of view of whatever you might be doing, and that generally with the purpose of helping steer you in a better direction.
So 
David Millili: What's a luxury you can't live without?
David Barry: Great food.
David Millili: What's a place you've never been to, but you'd most like to go?
David Barry: Hmm, think about that. Place I've never been to, but I'd most like to go? The moon.
David Millili: That's the first one else off the planet. Um, if you had your own late night talk show, who would your first guest be?
David Barry: Could they be living or dead, or do they have to be living?
David Millili: We'll give you, we'll give you the option.
David Barry: You know, I'd like to spend some time with Paul Newman, and the reason is, I think, both as an actor, as a, Motorsport enthusiast, but also as a philanthropist. And I think, you think about what jobs would you do if you weren't doing the job that you were doing and, and so late night talk show host would be something I'd be interested in.
David Millili: Great. So last one, you've got a time machine. You can go into the future or into the past. Which way are you going and what year are you going to?
David Barry: David, I'm from the future, so I'm going back to the future and uh, I would go a hundred years from now and see just what's happening within the hospitality world.
Steve Carran: That was great. Well, I'm looking to connect after this to learn a little bit more about what, what, what's going to happen in the next coming years, but, so now we'll get into a little bit more of your personal side. What makes you tick? So you grew up in Canada, is that correct?
David Barry: I sure did. I grew up in Montreal, a little town that now if you were to go there, it, you know, it's kind of homes upon homes upon homes. But when I was growing up, it was very rural. you had maybe one house on the circle and then, you know, 500 yards, maybe another house and then maybe a mile before another house.
And so, was something where, you know, at that time, Growing up, I mean, there were no mobile phones. Your parents, I was the youngest of five. So frankly, I think my parents were exhausted most of the time. They were like, I'm going out to play. They're like, see ya, you know, don't get arrested or fall into a well or something.
But, you know, you're kind of on your own. So the benefit of that is, experiences. I love to ski. I love the outdoors, all of those things. So that, that was really my passion.
David Millili: Now, did you go to college or did you just jump right into your career?
David Barry: That's a great question, David. So, what's interesting with my journey is I, at the age of 16 left home. I had 49. I was excited to go on adventures. And, the reason I had 49 is my dad gave me some money for a, standby airplane ticket. That's a whole other story. Thanks, Ben. I was excited, I, I went west and then my journey continued and so I was passionate about skiing and my thought was always that I would return to school at some point.
then things just started to accelerate. I, I wanted to be a ski teacher and a coach and so went through the levels within Canada and got what's called your Level 4 which is the, the highest level of ski teacher and coach in the country and was passionate about that and then that led to then the business and then that led to the next thing and the next thing.
So, luckily. I worked for some great people, some great teachers, and, uh, I remember getting a copy of the Essentials of Managerial Finance textbook from my boss at the time, and he highlighted all the chapters I should read and what parts of the chapter I should read, and he crossed out the chapters I should not read, which included things like tax,
and, uh, but basically, basically his view was, cause he came from the same background, that if you apply yourself, if you ask Questions, if you're curious, if you're interested, there's really nothing that you can't learn.
And so, that became my journey. And I worked each winter sort of teaching on the ski side. And do you remember that movie, Dirty Dancing?
You know that hotel style? So, where I grew up in the hotel business, my first hotel jobs were in a place called Gray Rocks Inn, which no longer exists, but was a phenomenal wintertime ski week program, and in the summer was one of those amazing resorts, you know, linen tablecloths, 750 guests, three meals a day, the gardens, the chefs, the whole thing, and the experience growing up there was a feeling of the show, that as guests were checking in, you felt responsible for delivering and bringing things on stage.
And I was lucky I got to do many, many different things from, you know, time in a laundry, to working in the front office, to working in the marina, to, you know, accounting, and a whole bunch of different areas. And so you kind of learn as you go.
Steve Carran: That's great. And you kind of led into my next question here. So you, like you said, you're a level four Canadian ski instructor, part of their alliance. Did you have any wild experiences while you were, were you a part of that alliance?
David Barry: Yeah, well, I mean, teaching is interesting. And if you're going to make it a profession, right, you want to work in a place that you can actually afford to live. And so it's very different. You have. weekend ski instructors that are great and they've got a level of qualification. Then you've got full time year round or full time winter season folks that, are working, you know, at a, at a professional level.
And, and there's quite a hierarchy in Canada and the Alpine countries in Europe where those certifications are global. in the sense that whether it's the International Federation of Mountain Guides, which is not a certification I have, or the CSIA Level 4, which is a certification I have that, that then connects you with the rest of the world.
So if you want to go to New Zealand, or you want to go to Switzerland, those are all certifications that are recognized on a global basis. And it's fun, you actually get to figure out, you know, things like learning styles and adult learning and, and how do you help people change. And then if you're coaching elite athletes, or you participate in any kind of It's the psychology behind that, and you'd be quite surprised, it's very similar to motivating and directing a team, because you're looking for, where's Steve Carran's switch in the back of his head, that click, you flip the switch, and all of a sudden he becomes the most motivated, focused person on the planet to go be successful.
And so the leadership connection from coaching and teaching a sport is very much related to leadership and connection when it comes to running an organization.
Steve Carran: That is great. So now we're gonna move on to your career, how you got to, to where you are. So you started out your career kind of on the sales and marketing side at a few resorts in Canada. What did those early days in sales and marketing, how did that help you into your role as a president today?
David Barry: Again, if you go back to that time, I mean, this is, this is pre internet, right? You weren't using email for contracting. You were, there was still, you know, if you had a Telex machine, that was a big deal. Then I remember unpacking the first fax machine, which is hilarious. You know, this thing, everyone's staring at it like it's magic and then obviously technology coming.
But if you think about it, the principles of sales, There's often a perception that successful salespeople are the showy personality, the big personality, and that can work in some environments. My sense of it is far different. I think our most successful people are really those that are problem solvers.
And they, they basically are working. So I'll give you an example. We're going to talk a little bit about, about Jasper in a while, but we've spent the last Thank you a week or so. Me personally with our senior salespeople talking to all of our tour and travel partners from around the world because they're dealing with some challenges in that particular market due to a natural disaster.
So these things, they transcend and the benefit of having earned your living, you know, basically cold calling and at that time visiting travel agencies and other things, you have an appreciation for what those sales folks do. And it also gives you a level of determination, right? You know, not much is going to stand in your way if you put your mind to it.
David Millili: So in 1997, you moved over to Intrawest. You worked your way up to CEO of the Alpine Canadian Mountain Holidays Division, what were some of the key strategic things that you implemented during your tenure there to contribute to the success?
David Barry: So it actually goes a little bit sooner than that. So 1990, 1991, Intrawest bought its second resort. So think of it, it was a Western Canadian company and basically had real estate development in and around Vancouver and Whistler and it owned Blackcomb Skiing Enterprises and Whistler and Blackcomb, the two massive ski areas north of Vancouver, We're separately owned.
And so Blackcomb was the upstart. It was the underdog. It was the company that, uh, was always coming, you know, with something innovative, something different. And so Hugh Smythe, who is a legendary character in skiing, led the operations group within the ski business for Intrawest. And, early on, I had been through the, the CSIA thing, which is a connection, John Earl, who was the general manager at Blackcomb.
I had been an examiner on one of my courses, so Jon and I knew each other, and so, in 1991, as Intrawest was expanding in Quebec, they were looking for someone who could come and lead marketing and sales for the development at Mont Tremblant, and if you're on the East Coast and you've traveled to Mont Tremblant, you've seen the transformation.
But in 1991, every tire was bald, every motor was broken, I think we had nine felony arrests in the first year, and that was within our employee group, I mean, it was a, it was a fantastic journey of recreation. 1994, I got a phone call from Hugh Smyth who said, Hey, do you want to move across the country and come to Blackhall?
And we've got an opportunity for you. And I thought, okay, this is, this is like going from one part of the industry to quite a big step into the other part of the industry. So, we packed up and moved across the country and, Settled in Whistler, and I was there until 1997. In 1997, similar conversation.
Remember when airplane tickets were paper? He kind of walked down the hall, Hugh Smyth, and said, Hey, like, we're buying this resort in Colorado, and I think it'd be great if you could go down there and take a look, because we might want to send you with this acquisition. I said, okay, I'll think about it.
Came back 10 minutes later. So have you thought about it? And I said, yeah, I have. And he handed me a paper airplane ticket for, for Annie and I to go to Colorado. I thought, okay, that's a bit, that's a bit direct. So that became then the next thing. So we changed countries in 1997 and moved from Whistler, to Summit County in Colorado, and I joined the team at Copper Mountain. Which was our first ski area acquisition, or second actually, in the U. S.
Steve Carran: That is great. And then from there, you went to Trust Company of America, and then in 2015, you became president of Pursuit Collection. For those that may not be familiar, can you give a little bit background of what the Pursuit Collection is?
David Barry: Yeah, so Pursuit is, and, Pursuit, we don't really call it Pursuit Collection, we just call it Pursuit, and so Pursuit. Pursuit from our perspective, so we're an attractions and hospitality company. We own and operate big sightseeing attractions in some of the most iconic locations in the world, and then we vertically integrate with hospitality operations including lodging, food and beverage, retail, transportation.
So, interesting thing with pursuit is, what is a common thread for human beings across the planet? And I'd like you to think, regardless of religion, regardless of ethnicity, regardless of nationality, what is something everyone in the world loves?
Beautiful view.
It's a common theme, right? And, and so anyone in the world coming somewhere and seeing something beautiful is a connector.
And so really our view is that we have an amazing collection that we own and operate. This isn't a management company of somebody else's assets. We own and operate, our businesses and we are fortunate to have some of the most iconic Unforgettable and inspiring locations in the world. An example would be in Banff, you know, we have, significant operations there, including the Banff Gondola, Lake Minnewanka boat tours, two great hotel properties, and the foundation of the company goes all the way back to, you know, 1895, roughly when the Brewster brothers, were first, the first sort of guides taking guests through the Canadian Rockies.
And, uh, did that, and that evolved into transportation, and then we pivoted over time. And so we operate today in three countries. The United States, so specifically in Alaska and Montana, Chicago, Las Vegas. Then we operate in the Canadian Rockies, from Banff to Jasper. And then also in Vancouver, and then we operate in Iceland, and which is an amazing place we can get to talk about, but Iceland, we have two great attractions there, one is Flyover Iceland, and the other is Sky Lagoon, which is a beautiful experience, that really takes advantage of the geothermal waters of Iceland with an amazing view.
David Millili: Since you became president of Pursuit, do you have a favorite experience or a favorite moment?
David Barry: That's like, who's your favourite kid, David? How do you answer that?
David Millili: Give us, well, you can give us, how about give us two, that way you don't.
David Barry: Well, I think there's a couple of things that I really like. One I mean, what I enjoy is watching our teams interacting with guests. So one of the first things, it doesn't really matter where it is. It's in situations where, and I'll give you an example. You know, we, we had a guest recently that was there, you know, traveling on her own with three small kids, minivan, battery dies, trying to figure that out in a parking lot.
One of our engineering teams in one of the hotels notices. that she's standing beside her minivan. He goes over, figures out it's the battery. She's got a cruise she's got to get to. He drives her to the cruise, gets her and her kids on the cruise, comes back, gets a battery, puts it in her car, takes the old one away, leaves a note and says, you know, hope you had a great day, love providing hospitality.
That, no one told him to do that. He did it because we talk about treat people the way you would want to be treated. We talk about when visitors come from around the world. Take them by the hand and bring them backstage into our world. So that kind of experience and there are examples everywhere across Pursuit of great team members creating memories for guests.
Steve Carran: That's awesome. So I'm curious about this. Um, you and I are both in Colorado, you're in Denver, I'm in Fort Collins, and currently there are wildfires popping up all over. I was in Estes earlier in the week, went there, had to go a different way because one way was blocked off by a fire, came back, and there was another fire started.
That almost blocked us in Estes. Now, Denver's in Colorado aren't the only places that are having fires. You're currently dealing with fires in Jasper. can you tell us a little bit more about what's going on there and, you know, kind of how you're handling everything?
David Barry: Yeah. So, so firstly, I'll start with maybe bringing everyone up to speed. And, and, um, if you've watched the news and, and unfortunately, I mean, it speaks to some of the challenges with, you know, what you may see on the news, but it's things like, you know, if you see a reel of at a particular. type of, you know, maybe it's destruction or fire, but Jasper experienced a forest fire that went out of control, at the early part of last week.
As the fire was moving close to town, there was an evacuation order, so we evacuated 675 staff, about 2, 000 guests in different directions, so obviously an evacuation at great scale. So first, I would say the most important thing is that we prepare and train for those eventualities in a national park environment.
Jasper is one of The two very large national parks in the Canadian Rockies that sit in that corridor from the town of Banff to the town of Jasper and they connect to each other, but they are truly Some of the most iconic national parks on the planet. So with that evacuation comes a series of activities.
The fire within about 24 hours accelerated and entered town on the southwest end. And so if you could imagine something, if you were to walk outside your house today and look around, imagine the left side of the street dramatically affected by fire and the right side of the street, your flowers are still hanging in their baskets and your lawn looks fine and there's this strange sort of connection.
So, In the fire efforts, obviously, the most important thing is we, very fortunate, No loss of life through this experience. about 30 percent of town has been severely impacted, with many of our hospitality neighbors and friends. And, you know, we have 25 employees and team members that have lost their homes.
And so, First, I think our biggest focus right now is you're helping everyone deal with this type of circumstance and how do you help with that. 70 percent of Jasper is unaffected by fire and Parks Canada has done a terrific job, the municipality of Jasper has done a terrific job of managing the fire impacts, continuing to work to prevent wildfires from circling.
And the other important point is that municipal infrastructure is all intact. So what's powerful there is in other fire disasters that you've seen. If you lose your municipal infrastructure, water, sewer, power, administrative capacity, all those things, it has a dramatic effect on the ability to rebuild.
But in Jasper, all of that infrastructure is intact. And so now, we're obviously helping guests from all over the planet re route itineraries, we're helping team members who may be facing particular challenges, we're supporting our own team members and employees through financial support, Mental health support and a variety of other things.
And we're working on what are the appropriate plans to take as we work to reopen and do that with the various authorities that are in charge of dealing with the fire situation. So again, back to positivity, no loss of human life, ability to reopen in the coming weeks. We have other things that we will reopen like the Icefields Parkway and the Columbia Icefields when the time is right.
And you know, we'll find that out in the next four or five days. And so I would say spirits are high and Alberta is a place that is quite unique. And I would say that the energy that I feel in talking to folks, it's a little bit like the ball cap on your head, the ball cap gets turned backwards and somebody goes to their truck to get their tools because we're going to rebuild.
And I would say the spirit of Jasper, this incredible, authentic place is way more powerful than any impact from any fire. And so Jasper will be rebuilt. All of the different companies and entities are coming together, whether that's ourselves, Fairmont, you know, CN, uh, you know, WestJet, all the leading companies in that market are all talking to each other, Rocky Mountaineer, uh, great businesses that are all very collaborative and, uh, teams are, are really gelling and doing all the things they can to support both within the organization, but also guests and citizens within the community.
Steve Carran: that's, you know, we do have these natural disasters and they happen, right? But, you know, I was actually talking to a guy in Estes and he couldn't get to his house. to get his medication because it was blocked off by fire. but he, you know, one thing he brought up was just how not only Estes Park, but kind of, and I'm sure it's the same as that Jasper, just how it sounds, how everybody comes together and they help the victims of the fires.
And, you know, kind of, they help them on that mental well being path as well, because I can't imagine how I would feel if my house got burnt down, right? Like, You're not left with anything, but just how these communities are coming together. And it seems like, you know, especially with, uh, with how your, how your hotel, it seems just, just a very good culture with the battery store you just shared, you know, how you guys are going to kind of help that, help Jasper recover and build up stronger than it's ever been.
David Barry: Yeah, I'll give you an example. So I was on a comms call with various team members. Gosh, whatever day it was last week, it was quite early in the morning. And, of the eight people on the call, four had potentially lost their homes. It turned out to be a smaller number, but at that point, four of the eight people on the call working through the comms process had potentially lost their homes.
So I, we paused for a second. And just checked in with everyone to say, Hey, if you need to go pay attention to that, or you have other things that are more important than this call, we can handle it. And the response I got was, DB, I can't do a thing about my home right now. But you know what I can do? I can focus on communication with my team.
I can make sure my team is fed, sheltered, organized, getting paid, all those things. So I'd rather focus on that, if you don't mind. And I'm like, you bet. Let's go. So that's the spirit that you have within Pursuit. And it really, in these times, that's when you see the strength of this organization and their commitment.
Steve Carran: absolutely. Well, thoughts and prayers to folks at Pursuit, Jasper, and everybody else that's been affected by all these fires in North America. So, now we're going to turn a little bit, we're going to go into a little bit more about industry thoughts. Understand how you got to where you are. So, one of your focus areas at Pursuit is to put together bolster culture to deliver the best possible guest and employee experience.
Can you shed a little bit more light on that and how you're doing that?
David Barry: well it came from this discussion about a mission statement, right? So I have a belief that if a mission statement is more than one sentence, no one on the planet will remember it. If it was written, If it was written by committee, it'll feel and look like it was written by committee and they generally have the same words involved in them and ours was to create something that was powerful.
So our mission is simple. It's connecting guests and staff to iconic places through unforgettable, inspiring experiences. So that means you've got a commitment as leadership in two directions, right? You're providing authentic, connecting experiences for guests that are visiting. So let's start with that.
No one goes to Iceland. to experience the Canadian Rockies. No one goes to Alaska to experience Montana. So if everything's the same, nothing works. And so you really have to think about what is authentic about the places that people are visiting and build upon that authenticity. So whether it's programming, At a naturalist level and you're telling a story about a particular lake or the hiking experiences or other stuff that we do, but they have to be unique to the place.
And then you look at your team members and say, all right, how do we provide the kind of experience for our team? So first, can voices be heard? You know, Steve, imagine you're 21, you've just joined the company, you're working in a hospitality job, do you have a great idea? So, my brother, I work for you.
You don't work for me. So my job's to listen to those things and make sure that you know that your voice is heard. And we're not perfect, but, you know, we survey multiple times in a year. This last survey, we got over 10, 000 comments. I read those 10, 000 comments probably six times each. And so when you think about it and it's little things like, Hey, our wifi doesn't really work.
And, you know, we don't have TVs like, so wifi is really important. And then we figure out, okay, well, you know, with. various other things, can we supplement Wi Fi and make that work? Or, you know, my uniform's not really waterproof, and I'm on a boat in the Gulf of Alaska, and that doesn't really work. So then you, you can respond and deal with these things.
So our intent to recommend SCORE for Pursuit is a great place to work. It's 77.
And that's a powerful score. Am I happy with 77? Well, for a minute, but I'd really like it to be 97. So the point is you just keep working it. And we make mistakes. We're not perfect. There's stuff we don't do well, but our commitment is there to listen and to then fix.
And I think that's really important. Well, 
David Millili: for hoteliers, is there any specific or just, you know, some low hanging fruit advice on how they can incorporate more experiences into their property, especially destination type?
David Barry: I think it starts with a couple of things, right? So let's pick Iceland. H& M is a great retailer. And if you forgot to pack your socks and you're in Reykjavik, going to H& M to buy socks is a great thing. But it's the same H& M store you might have in Chicago, or you might have in Los Angeles. And so that's not a reason to go to Iceland, even though H& M is a great retailer.
So in Iceland, you're looking for particular experiences that really speak to Icelandic culture. And so I think it's slowing down and taking the time. So the question I would urge people to ask themselves is, all right, we're here in this hotel somewhere in the world. Asking the group, sitting down and saying, what do you want to be famous for? And starting there, because you can't do everything. Maybe the property's not at the highest level of finish, so luxury might not be a category. But I think in each property, if you all get your heads together, you can decide what you want to be famous for. You create that vision, and then everything you do connects to that vision.
And then you work it and work it and work it. And the other would be values, like, like the values of a company. We only have four. They're really simple. Safety first, because we have guests riding gondolas and boats and a variety of things. The second one is honor place, which ties into your question. You want to honor place.
So what does honor place means? Well, you know, if I'm working in a kitchen, it means I'm honoring my station and I'm paying attention to what's going on in the rhythm of it. Or if I'm cleaning rooms, I'm, I'm honoring the job that I do. It also means that I'm faithful to. The ethos of what is that, say, national park or that particular destination.
The third core value is anticipate, which is easy, be on your toes, not your heels, right? Think of what does the guest want? Like, how many times have the three of us, four of us gone to a hotel, it's 11 o'clock at night, and they give you the thing about the spa, and then they want to talk about, here's the seven dining rooms we have in the hotel, and, you're just asking for a merciful end.
Can you just give me my key and send me to bed because I'm tired, right? Especially if you're a business traveler. So, it's trying to help people understand, you know, how do you then connect with people in an authentic way. And our final core value is bring your best. And you know, people say, what does that mean?
And I ask them, well, what do you think it means? You know, Steve, did you bring your best today? And then, if they can say yes, then we build on that. So, whatever your core values are, make them come alive.
David Millili: great. Yeah, I'm trying to get my teenage son to honor his bedroom, uh, and keep it clean. Anyway, so, man.
wow. Anyway, I have a good SNL skit I'll send you about somebody trying to check in. But anyway, so, sustainability is a big part of what you guys do at Pursuit. Can you tell us why it's so important and some of the things that you're doing?
David Barry: So, I'll start with something basic, and this is challenging in this sort of present environment Particularly in the United States, because something like sustainability can be very polarizing. But I would say, let us lift ourselves up to a different level and ask, Okay, have we figured out the next planet we're going to run to if this one fails?
And the answer is no. So, we best take care of the planet we have. So that's the first sort of principle we work with. So we have developed a program where we publish annually a report and it's called Promise the Place. And it focuses on three categories. One is sustainability. One is what we call respect.
And it's how we then connect in with, different cultures, different people, what are the stories we can tell that represent those things. And, it connects into things like we make sure there's no wage disparity between men and women. And, you know, little things, but it all resonates.
We have 36 different languages that team members speak. you know, what is the second language spoken within Pursuit? Here's a pop quiz question. Other than English, what's the second language?
Steve Carran: French
David Barry: Tagalong. From the Philippines. And you would ask that question, like, oh my goodness, how do we know that? Well, because in our surveys, we ask all the various things.
And so we have a great, uh, contingent of amazing folks that come from the Philippines to work on our operations. And so it's important to understand that culturally. so back to the question then of, you know, how you make these things all work, promise the places about respect. And the final one is community.
So what's the first thing a weak company cuts when their financial position is weak? They cut participation in community programs. They cut donations. They, they do all the things which begins the spiral downward. So our view is that we're strong. The Modern Hotelier, David Millili, Steve Carran, Stayflexi, CEO, LodgIQ, Dr.
Elizabeth Haas, Pierre Gervois, Revinate, CRM, CEO, LodgIQ, Dr. Elizabeth Haas, Pierre Gervois, AIG, Dr. Elizabeth Haas, Pierre Gervois, Clingendael Institute, friend shoring, Rem Korteweg, So, what do you do with your waste, and how do you transport it, and what are the things? And so you have all the, whereas Colorado, you know, and certainly where I live in Boulder, you know, the alternate universe, you can, you could basically compost anything. You could, you know, put a cow carcass in a garbage field. They'd probably compost it. I don't know. Like it, it is an interesting journey. So these things all connect, and so Promise the Place is our annual commitment where we publish. To the world, how we're doing. And we do not greenwash things. We, we articulate like, hey, that's not working very well. We got to fix it.
And we've stumbled on this and we've made some mistakes. But I think the honest communication is also very motivating for our workforce.
Because I'll tell you, back to your original question, David, it's young people, they want to know and they value who you are. They want to know who are you as a person, and then where are we going as an organization?
And then the third question is, they want to know, do you see me? You know, do I matter? And I think if you can answer those three things, then it's super powerful. It gets a group of people going in a direction, and that energy is so powerful.
Steve Carran: That is absolutely true. So one of my favorite things about hospitality is the various backgrounds that people have. Some people have worked their way up from a dishwasher, now they're CEO. You yourself, you were a ski instructor, you're kind of on the ski side, the experience side, worked yourself way up to now president.
What advice do you have for people? You know, maybe the younger generation of somebody who is kind of maybe in your situation where they're like, I don't know if I want to go to college. I don't know, you know, really where I want to, where I want to go yet. What advice do you have that, to that person that kind of follow their dreams and, you know, maybe someday become president of their own company?
David Barry: Subscribe to the Modern Hotelier podcast.
Steve Carran: That's,
David Millili: answer, good answer.
David Barry: I think seriously though, so if you go back to, okay, let's go back to 1981 in Quebec, the little town I'm living in, there's no internet. Internet is not available. Maybe if you work at NASA, there's internet, but you know, in, in rural Quebec in 1981, no internet. there's not a lot of business books to read.
I'm at an entry level job, so I don't have a lot of extra resources. Podcasts do not exist and resources are limited. Okay. Time travel. Today, pretty much anything in terms of great advice, great leadership, people you can learn from is all online and available. Inexpensively, you can consume material. So the smartest people I know are probably also the most curious people I know.
And they read and they absorb and they ask questions and they learn. That'd be my first advice. Become the most curious person that you can be. Second is, never hesitate to ask someone for an informational interview. and it's interesting. Young people sometimes are intimidated by that. I had a young guy reach out.
He, and cause I spent four years in finance and tech and he wanted to enter the financial services industry. And he cold called me on LinkedIn or sent me a message cold message on LinkedIn. And he said, I'd like to talk to you. And I thought, okay, well, I'll talk to him. I was hit. I was that guy. I'm going to talk to him.
And I said, so like, how did you find me? He said, well, Your picture looked like you might be friendly, so I thought it was worth a shot. So, he ended up, we're going through this process, and he's putting himself through school. He's working for a roofing contractor in Phoenix, Arizona in the summertime. Well, boy, howdy, that shows some grit, right?
So, if he's willing to do that, well, I'm going to help him. And we had conversations like, dude, I'm going to Venmo you some money so you can buy an iron, because you can't go to a job interview in that shirt. Like, you're going to need to iron a shirt and other things. But That gift we can give to people coming up below us is the greatest gift of all.
Is that our Our experience, our knowledge, our care for them, our interest in them. and that's back to that third thing of like, do you see me? Well, yeah, I see you as a person and I'm willing to help you. And I think and keep moving, be, be excited, be curious, be passionate, be willing to take some calculated risks.
And, you know, if you make a bad decision, you join a company that doesn't fit your values. Don't hang around there. If it doesn't fit your values, get out of there. Go somewhere else. Cause if you've got talent, there's going to be opportunity and network, network, network like crazy. Be thankful, send thank you notes, interact with people.
And then, you know, from an aspect of work, it's, it's being, you know, somebody asked me, we do live town halls every month and our team members can ask any question live. It's hilarious. And the questions get better and better and better. So one of the questions was. How do I get promoted? I said, well, it's easy.
Be the best person at your job that anyone has ever seen. And that will show that you can, you're ready for the next. And also train everybody around you to be better than you at your job. And that will give you an opportunity to move, move forward.
Steve Carran: That is great. So we've been asking you questions this whole time. We're going to turn the tables a little bit and let you ask us a question.
David Barry: As you look into the future, what do you think is going to be the most innovative, the most disruptive, and the most interesting thing in terms of hospitality technology in the coming 24 months?
Steve Carran: AI. I love where AI is going. I have a lot of big, big hopes for AI. But one of my things that I really want AI to accomplish is to mundane tasks that hoteliers are doing. And I want That to be incorporated into the hotel, so then the hoteliers can then focus more on the guests, give those unique guest experiences, show that they really care about their guests, and go above and beyond.
So my, my big thing, which is the most generic answer you can give these days, um, is, is AI. But David, what about you?
David Millili: Yeah, no wonder you wanted to go first, you took the AI. But um, no, for me, I think, so first of all, I've been at this a long time. I managed hotels, I switched to the tech side in 2000. For me, I have to answer it a little bit different because there's so much technology that we're not utilizing in our industry that I would hope over the next 24 months, whether it be AI or whether it be SMS or whether it be virtual reality of properties where people can see things better from their home rather than just a standard picture.
For me, there's so much out there. and I'm selling in hotels every day, so I'm a little biased, but it just feels like getting the ownership groups, the management companies, and GMs, the, you know, the, the directors of sales to embrace the technology that's out there and realize how much it's going to help themselves and their guests, their staff.
You've hit on some great points today. So for me, I would just love in the next 24 months, people to just say, okay, enough's enough. We're going to start to embrace technology and we're not going to be scared of it. Um, you know, I always say to people, my current role, I'm helping with revenue management and a lot of people don't want to embrace it.
So I say to people, when's the last time you used a physical map to get to a destination? And people say, well, why would I do that? I said, exactly. You've got a GPS, which basically pulls all this data, shows you where there's accidents, where there's traffic, and it gets you from point A to point B most efficiently.
So there's so much technology that can do that in hospitality. Everyone's just scared it's going to hurt the guest and it's not. So that would be my long winded, you know, dodge the question and not talk about AI too much
David Barry: Yeah, great, great answers, fellas. That was good.
Steve Carran: That's great. So David, I know this is your favorite part of the show. I know you have sat through us just so you could get to this part of the show where Jon asks you a question. Uh, so now I am going to take a step back and David as well, and I'm going to have, let Jon take it away and ask the final question here. 
Jon Bumhoffer: Well, first off, I just wanted to say that, like, this was an incredible episode listening to you talk so many nuggets, I think, for hoteliers or people in the industry from just that mindset at the beginning of learning, you know, that attitude of you can learn anything, what that leads to, and then going from you just said it, what do you want to be known for?
What do you want to be famous for? I think those are huge, like, mindset things to get behind. And so I kind of want to Have you answer with this, this question with that in mind, you have a ton, I mean, like, of beautiful properties. You like, the locations are second to none. So what would you say, like, have you hit the, the mark of what are we known for?
Like, what would you say makes you guys, like, the properties, everything stand out besides the, besides the locations, which obviously do a lot of the talking for you. But, I'm curious what makes, makes what you guys do stand out. 
David Barry: You know, Jon, it's a great question. I think each one, it's one, it's being really careful with experience design. So if you think of the, the journey of the boutique hotel, and if you grew up, like growing up in Montreal, you know, we do the, we do a road trip down the East coast of the U. S. in a station wagon.
I'm the youngest of five kids with my parents in a station wagon with no air conditioning and like a highlight of the universe was staying in a Howard Johnson's. And why did my parents pick a Howard Johnson's? Well, one, because I think they were just exhausted, two, like, it was hard to make a bad decision because it was a Howard Johnson's and there was a restaurant there and so like from a brain factor of trying to figure out what are you going to do with five kids, it was easy.
But think of technology, what it's done for understanding and learning about boutique hotel properties. So now, with the internet, you can see the views, you can see the rooms, you can understand the ethos. I have a great friend, Jon Grossman, who would be a great guest on, uh, The Modern Hotelier. And Jon's company is Mark and Rose Hospitality, and one of the things that's most amazing with that is his curation of music.
And so in the property at La Playa in Carmel, you go downstairs into the lounge and you there's a reel to reel recorder with curated music and you just want to stare at the reel to reel and watch the thing go by and this connection to music. And so music is a soulful part of what that property is all about and the journey into Old Carmel.
So for us, we tend not to look at it in an ensemble. And what we ask is each property and each attraction, we ask the question, what do you want to be famous for? And so we're not a branded house. We're a house of brands, and with the benefit of a house of brands is that you have this opportunity for uniqueness.
And if everything's the same, well, then there's, there's no fun, you know, because you go everywhere. It feels the same. Our view is completely different. We want things to be unique and special to the place, and it comes down to curation and menu design. It might be particular furnishings that are unique to the place, or transformative things.
Our strategy is quite simple. It's refresh, Build, buy. So refresh means you take an asset and by injecting energy, repositioning some capital expense you create a new experience in a place that needs it. Build is we pick something on a project that we know we can put a particular attraction there or we build a new hotel.
And then buy, we're looking for a business where A founding entrepreneur is at the end of their career and they're exhausted. They have no family that wants to step in and they're looking at us and, and the thing that drives it probably the best in our direction is a view that We will, Pursuit will be a safe haven for the team that they've spent their life building and the attraction that they've spent their life creating.
So Malin Lake Boat Company in Jasper is probably the best example of that. Founding entrepreneur. As I walked around and had conversations, you know, I have a genetic defect, right? I pick up trash no matter where I am. So I'm picking up trash and I'm, you know, taking pictures of guests that are trying to take pictures of themselves.
You know, where you step in and say, can I, can I take that picture for you? And So the founder, you know, is he's looking at me going, wow, this guy cares about hospitality and that's our team is like that all across the board. It's not just me. So that is part of what drives the strategy. So again, you look for what is unique about this place.
What can we build upon that's credible? Is there authenticity to this story? Can we encourage an authentic connection to place through menu, design, music, other things? We're one of the first organizations, I think in the world where intellectual property. and participation with a First Nations group, for Night Rise at the Banff Gondola.
And, you know, the, the Stoney Nakoda people and how we put that together and using their storytelling and, and their financial participation and intellectual property. And so that's, again, something very unique that you do that creates something you want to go visit, if that makes sense.
David Millili: So that does it for another episode of The Modern Hotelier. David, this is where you can let people know how to find out more about Pursuit, maybe connect with you on LinkedIn. Plug away, please.
David Barry: Yeah. I mean, by all means, please do connect on LinkedIn and, and, uh, love talking to folks. If you're someone early on in your career and you're wondering, okay, how do I keep moving? You know, there's things you can think about. We talked a little bit about that. And then obviously if you want to learn more about Pursuit, just go to pursuitcollection.
com and a lot of information is there. And thank you so much for having me. What fun this was.
David Millili: So that does it for another episode of The Modern Hotelier. So whether you're watching or listening, we appreciate you.