How Hotel Teams Build Collective Excellence

Glenn: [00:00:00] Everybody. It’s your hospitality friend, Glenn in Greenville, South Carolina, where I’m honored to be hanging out at PEACHCON with Hospitality America’s president and CEO Ben Campbell over here. How are you doing?

Ben: [00:00:10] I’m good man. It’s an exciting time.

Glenn: [00:00:12] I’ll tell you. Speaking of exciting times, I love getting out on the road. I know those of you who know me know I like staying home, but I really I really love getting out on the road and being with, you know, with groups that I don’t normally get to be with with the people that aren’t just the big investors and the financiers and the brand people and, and seeing what they’re experiencing on a day to day basis. And we’re here at your annual conference right now. I should ask you a question at some point. Tell me a little bit about why you put these things together, how it brings the team together, and why even bother doing these kinds of events?

Ben: [00:00:44] Yeah, it’s massively important for us because if we we all have to come together, get on the same page. We have to build our culture, what we call our community. Yeah. Oh, in a single vision of where we want to go. So, you know, we we’ve had a pretty good year, but we have big aspirations of what we want for next year, and so we all need to align on what that is and get on the same page and go.

Glenn: [00:01:06] Well, you guys are celebrating your 30th anniversary, as you can see over here, but you really operating very stealthily until I did 4 or 5 years ago, maybe or so, now you’re ever more present. And I’m thinking with because you’re out more visible, that tells me you want to grow, you want to take on more opportunities. And I think as you continue to grow, it becomes more important to bring people together in the same room.

Ben: [00:01:29] Yeah. I mean, it is for growth. It is. But it’s also for, you know, talent acquisition. You know, when we look at our across the hotels and as we grow, we need to constantly improve in our talent and what we bring on. And so that’s what these moments are really key for, is making sure that what we’ve been talking about today is being better today than we were yesterday, being better tomorrow than we were today. And so that’s what a part of that growth mindset is.

Glenn: [00:01:54] Yeah, I really, I really like that attitude. What do you hope that everyone who is enjoying lunch right now goes home with after this event? Because I find I go to a lot of places. It’s great. We’re together, we’re great. But what about after?

Ben: [00:02:08] Yeah, a big thing for us has been value what we’re bringing. So we say we have three key, key stakeholders that we make promises to and keep promises to. And that’s our team members, our owners and our guests. And so each one, we have to bring value to every day in different ways. And so one of the things that we’re, we’re talking about today is how are we bringing that value to our guests? Because we do need to be charging more because the cost creep is real. And so that’s what we’re focused on is getting creative ways, making.

Glenn: [00:02:39] People feel really good about spending the more money that they have to spend.

Ben: [00:02:43] Like you said, not discount, right? But spending more and feeling good about that, right?

Glenn: [00:02:48] That’s a big that’s a big lesson I think everyone always needs to take away from discounting is bad and it gets harder to get back your, your average daily rate. If you discount, if you make people feel valued, if maybe you throw them a free cocktail, it’s easier than lowering your rates and stuff like that.

Ben: [00:03:02] I think we need to put that message as loud and as far as we can. Yeah.

Glenn: [00:03:06] Well, now I could get into a whole philosophical conversation away from Hospitality America. But what strikes you so far as we’re, you know, in day one here, how people are reacting, how people are responding, how people like being together and learning from each other.

Ben: [00:03:18] Yeah. When you have 30 years of history, you have a long history, a long legacy. And what we’ve been speaking about and during our conference is, you know, standing on that legacy, standing on that foundation gives us a really good launching point of where we want to go. We have to do things differently in the future. We all do. We all have to adjust and adapt. And we are, we’re constantly upping the game and, and maturing as a company. And so that’s what we’re focused on.

Glenn: [00:03:43] What’s one thing that you’re focused on as an organization that you’re really excited about to take you into the future?

Ben: [00:03:48] I would say that a lot of it is around the systems that we have in place, but also the the talent, the people that we have in this room inspire me every single day. We’ve talked about it earlier. We’re in the people business and we are in the people. We are people doing business with people. And so we have to further those relationships. And I think that’s the number one thing that I’m excited about. We have a great future ahead of us as an industry. We just need to grasp it. Ai is the kitschy thing right now. And the technology, I think that’s going to be ever present. But at the end of the day, it’s foundational people doing business with people.

Glenn: [00:04:26] It’s always what it’s going to come back to. Don’t get carried away, focus on being with each other. I think that’s a really great message for your team to take away from this. Anything else that you want to add?

Glenn: [00:04:39] No, I.

Ben: [00:04:40] Love it.

Glenn: [00:04:41] I love it. Well, thanks, Ben, for having me at your event. It’s been absolutely fantastic. And remember, it’s really important to get your people engaged. Corporate event like this is really a great way to share ideas. But more importantly, what I really like, Ben, then is you’ve got people from different parts of the country that may or may not have met before coming together and being able to rally behind the same cause. And then in the future, give each other support.

Ben: [00:05:02] Yeah. I will leave you with one. Okay. Great. Sorry. No. All right.

Glenn: [00:05:05] Listen, I’ve wrapped up shows like, ten times before I actually wrap up a show. Yeah.

Ben: [00:05:09] 30 years of history. We have a long. We have a long road ahead of us. And it’s a foundational aspect of 30 years that we lead every day. And so we make promises to our owners, to our guests, and to our team members that we keep. We’re not perfect, but we surely strive to be. And we have a big, bright future ahead.

Glenn: [00:05:28] That’s awesome. Well, if anything is like the experience I’m having here at the Embassy Suites, Greenville, you guys are very much approaching perfection. So appreciate you know, I love I know you’re going to keep striving, but I’m way satisfied. I want to thank you guys for making it all the way into the video, like, share, subscribe, all that kind of stuff. And learn more about our friends over at Hospitality America. They’re doing absolutely incredible things. He’s been. I’m still Glenn. See you all later. Bye, everybody.