The Man Behind Hospitality’s Top Events on the Biggest Threat to AI

0:00I'm Alexi Khajavi and you're listening to Sweet Success.

0:07You've just checked in to Sweet Success. Join me, Katie Cline, for exclusive conversations with hotel executives, hospitality leaders, and industry innovators. Together, we'll uncover the strategies and techniques these masters of hospitality relentlessly refine. Whether you're already in the industry or just starting out, tune in every week to unlock the secret to your sweet success.

0:36Hello, everyone, and welcome back to another episode of Sweet Success. I'm your host, Katie Klein, and today I'm thrilled to welcome Alexi Kajavi to the show. Alexi is the Group President of Hospitality and Operational Real Estate at QuestX, a leading B2B experiential events and media platform. He oversees an international portfolio of industry-leading editorial, data, research, and live events, such as the Hospitality Show, in partnership with the American Hotel and Lodging Association, and NYU International Hospitality Investment Forum. He also developed the international expansion plans for QuestX, which led to the launch of IHIF Asia in Hong Kong.

1:18Alexi, thank you so much for joining us today. Thanks, Katie. It's nice to be here. I was really fascinated checking out your career history, I have to say. Can you tell us how you found your way to hospitality and what ultimately led to your current role at QuestX? Yeah, I mean, it is quite a diverse career, but there is a through line through it. And it is really hospitality and travel. I graduated in 97 from the University of California and was born and raised in California and San Francisco. And at that point, the.com, the internet was just booming and coming out and a lot of startups in the city.

1:59And so there was three OTAs that were started in 1997, Booking.com, Expedia, and the one that I joined. So hence why I still am working 35 years later. But that really started off just my career in travel and hospitality. We travel a lot as kids and as a family, but it's a beautiful industry. And once you join it and you get an opportunity to join it, it's hard to leave. You either love it or you probably hate it. So I started at this OTA and really that then led to a consulting opportunity. that was in doing feasibility studies and travel in Central America. That then led to joining a group of investors that launched a airline and a vertically integrated travel company in Central America based in Costa Rica.

3:00Lived down there for about eight years and then came back and came to San Francisco and joined an advertising agency or a creative agency. Many of our clients in that agency were in the travel or the outdoor space. And then, you know, randomly got a phone call from the former CEO of Quest X in 2014. And he had been referred to me. And I really didn't understand what the call was about. He didn't need marketing services. He didn't need creative services. He just wanted really kind of advice and consulting. And honestly, I joined as a contractor, as a consultant, but then they were acquired by private equity in late 2014.

3:49And they offered me an opportunity. That was the first employee that they had hired under that new private equity ownership. And really, what we do, which is very much what Skiff does, is an amalgamation of its media, its events, which is essentially just education and information, live events, getting people together, those buyers and sellers, a more knowledgeable market is a more effective market. And then really pulling together research and education and all of those, and then offering marketing services or sponsorships as our monetization model, all of those are kind of bits and bobs of what i've done in all of my previous careers or at least you know chapters in my career so really it is kind of the amalgamation of uh of my 30-year career um and there is something very special about informing and connecting uh you know that is a noble uh cause it's something that uh you know every day i i put my head down on the pillow and I feel really privileged to be able to do it and to do it with some very good people, you know, at QuestX in very exciting and wonderful communities or markets like travel, hospitality, and real estate.

5:08I mean, there's overwhelmingly good people in each of those. So, yeah, it's been a very diverse career. It's had a lot of international stints in Central America and Latin America and Asia. But, you know, overall, it's led me to this for the last 12 years, which is the longest tenure I've had in any chapter. But I really love it and I feel very privileged to be able to do it on a daily basis. I agree with what you said too about travel and hospitality being such a special industry and really attracting people that by and large are hospitable, which means a lot when you're working with these people or connecting these people, as you said.

5:49And with travel as such an important through line throughout your career, You've also moved around quite a bit. You said you're from, or you at least started your career in San Francisco, Salt Lake City, I know you've lived in, Costa Rica, you mentioned eight years, Boulder, Cambridge, London. How do all of those places and experiences shape the way that you live today, you approach your work today? Yeah, I mean, I'm a big globalist, right? I believe in a global world and a global economy and trade and liberal markets that are engaging with one another. I mean, that's travel, right? If you're in the travel industry and you're not a globalist, there's something really, really wrong with you.

6:35Whether you're an outfitter in Bozeman, Montana, you want to tap into foreign markets that want to come in and see Yellowstone or do fly fishing or whatever it might be. So here's a global industry, even though some of it is very local. Real estate's the same way, right? It's a street corner by street corner business. But at the end of the day, it's affected by global markets, economies, and financial instruments, and capital as well as people are moving across the world. So in many ways, the businesses that I've worked in have always been tapped into a global economy and a free global movement of people trading goods.

7:14um so living in foreign markets has uh just been a uh really kind of a footnote to to that that belief but also that uh my career personally it's there's no better thing than to to live in a in a in another place and particularly a foreign country because you really truly don't understand um you know a culture or a language as you ever could by living in that place on a daily basis and So that really has been a benefit for my career. International business is a skill in and of itself. And people that have had the opportunity to work in foreign markets and live in those foreign markets and run businesses or run portfolios really do have, I think, a leg up on how to operate in a global business environment or global market for that matter.

8:08So all of that really has helped in my career because I run a global portfolio and I have in other businesses as well. But then there's the personal side, which is my two daughters were born in Costa Rica. So they hold U.S. and Costa Rican passports, which is not a bad thing. They were raised in their early years in Costa Rica. And then, you know, we lived several years in the UK and London. And that gives them a perspective of the world that, you know, that we are a global community. And the knock-on effect of that is that you actually start to understand, you know, your home country more by leaving it and by living overseas.

8:54And so, you know, I feel certainly like a global citizen, but I think I've become more American in many ways simply because I've lived overseas. And I truly appreciate and love the things that are American, if you will, because we do have a culture and an incredible country, good and bad. And so, you know, that that's really been a major impact on my my professional and my personal life. and it's been an absolute gift to have been able to do it. I lived in the UK for six years as well. I completely agree with what you're saying. I think because we are a melting pot of a country, all of my life until I moved abroad, you were very used to people introducing themselves by their lineage, right?

9:42Like we'd be like, I'm Irish, right? Because my grandparents are from Ireland, what have you. And then I moved to the UK and I had friends who were from Ireland and very quickly I realized I can't introduce myself as I'm Irish. I have to say I'm American, right? So you're exactly right. I felt that too in terms of it almost making me more American by leaving and realizing certain stereotypes and which ones are accurate and which ones maybe I want to intentionally steer away from. And I think for me, New York and London, you could argue there's not too much of a difference, but you and I both know that there definitely is.

10:20Even from little words to, if you call a restaurant and you want to make a dinner reservation, you would say, I'd like to make a booking as opposed to, I'd like to make a reservation. Just those little words that you tweak to try to fit in a little bit more, even though of course with my accent, I'm always going to stand out. But Costa Rica, I imagine was much more of a culture shock. Did you speak Spanish prior to arriving? What made you move there in the first place? and how did you assimilate into the country? As you said, having children there, that really makes you local. Yeah, it was, you know, as we were talking earlier, I was doing feasibility studies for a boutique consultancy and some of the projects that we were working on were in Costa Rica.

11:04And that group, you know, that consultancy found an opportunity to make an investment in, which was really just an operating license of an airline that was Costa Rica based, but it had an operating license that was scheduled flights. So it's called Part 121, which is a bit too technical, but it basically allows for an airline to fly scheduled flights versus another airline, which is a charter. And the value of that operating license is huge. Even though there was no infrastructure, they were deeply in debt. And so a group of individuals put together an investment and a business plan. That was the summer of 2001.

11:52And we had all the funding in place. And the idea was to build a vertically integrated travel company with the airline at the core, hotels, a booking or a travel engine. So it was sort of bringing all these things that I had done a little bit and some other really smarter people involved. um we had the ceo of xerox or the former ceo of xerox as an investor an angel investor in that so we really had a very very creative talented group of people um obviously 9-11 happened uh on in september and you know buying an airline in central america suddenly seemed like a really silly idea um and bad timing um being i guess you know adventure capitalists that we were we went ahead and made the investment and we ended up becoming the fastest growing company, not even travel company in Central America for a few years.

12:45There's a sort of a local award that recognizes those businesses. And it was an incredible experience. I mean, we really connected a region. We grew from just being in Costa Rica to being Panama, Nicaragua, even Colombia with Costa Rica as the hub, if you will. And we were connecting all these destinations for travelers and business to move freely throughout that region where, frankly, 120 miles could take you five hours. So we had flights using different aircraft. And honestly, that experience was just an incredible startup. Aviation is hands down the hardest business that I've ever operated in.

13:34The budgeted margins of an airline is 10%, if you're lucky. And that's assuming oil doesn't go above 100 a barrel. It's assuming your insurance doesn't shoot up its insurance. It's assuming your labor issues. All of those are really kind of massive costs that are almost 90 % of your business, which in some sense are all out of your control gives you a 10 % profit at the end of the year. So it's a tough, tough business, which really, you know, in my later sort of chapters of my career, you know, when you're operating in a 10%, if you're lucky, but profit business, suddenly when you're at 30, 40%, you know, it feels pretty good.

14:23And it gives you, I think, some cushion to innovate and create and adapt and be more agile and more forward thinking. So it was a really exciting time. And we, you know, Costa Rica was absolutely emerging as, you know, as one of the top travel destinations in the world. I was down there between 2003 to 2010, you know, somewhere in that timeframe. So it was just an incredible time to be in that region. And yeah, we ran hotels and we were the national carrier. And we had a travel company and it was an incredible ride. And just a really, you know, a beautiful country with beautiful people. Just a wonderful region to be in for, you know, about eight years.

15:11Did you speak Spanish before you arrived? You know, I grew up in San Francisco, sort of right on the, in the Mission District and I played a lot of soccer. And so most of my friends when I was growing up were from Mexico or Central America. So I spoke a weird Spanish, I would say, you know, I could definitely demand that you pass me the ball in the midfield. That didn't necessarily apply too well for business. But I deeply immersed myself. And by the time, you know, within a couple of years, I was, I wouldn't say I was fluent, but I could get through. I could speak to, you know, the president of the country, to, you know, my colleagues and friends in a social environment.

15:53You know where I most struggled, though, was at the hardware store. You know how you go to a hardware store and you're like, you know that little thing that goes with that thing? And then it does that, you know, because you don't know the word in English. Well, you're doing that in a foreign language and you realize, oh, my God, I am completely unprepared for this conversation. So the hardware store was really my toughest place to speak Spanish. When I lived in the UK, one of my best friends was from Peru. She had lived in Brussels, so she spoke Spanish, French, and English. And what she told me about learning a foreign language was the hardest part was being able to convey humor and to convey your actual personality.

16:38Would you agree with that? Most definitely. And my fallback is always just a little bit of humor can lubricate the friction in a social environment. So, yeah, I'm not sure I was very funny for those eight years, probably. Of all the places you've lived, which is your favorite? You know, I love California. It's my home. I don't live there anymore. But the West of America, whenever I'm a window seat, I always choose the window seat. Yeah, I just need to look out. And, you know, so you're always looking down. Whenever I'm in the western part of the US, I know I'm home. So that area, all the way, I'd say, from the Rockies to the coast of California is definitely home.

17:31But in terms of all the places I've lived outside of home, London, for me, is a very special place. I just really love the energy of London. I love the English. um i also just love the diversity that you find in london it's not just london of course i mean i love you know manchester and the cornwall and wales um and i love being at the doorstep of europe and even the middle east i i don't know how you know whatever powers that be it did really put the uk in the middle of the the world i mean it just kind of feels like you're six hours from mostly everything um so living there is uh was a was a real treat and uh and i always and i go back often.

18:16I'm there every few weeks. So that's a whole special place in my heart. And I've still got a lot of friends and family in Scotland. So I really do love the UK. I agree. I always say that London has everything I love about New York and nothing I don't like about New York. Yes. And to your point, the Brits are very funny. English humor is a national sport. Yes. And it's English. So I could sometimes kind of compete with my own humor. Exactly. With the English, because they're very funny. They are very, very funny people. And if nothing else, they can laugh at us. So we're still included in the joke.

18:55Yeah. And at themselves, because we're just sort of distant cousins at this point. Exactly. Exactly. Well, in your current role, you really have one of the broadest views in the industry. Your role spans hotel operations, hospitality, real estate, asset management, hospitality, real estate investment, leisure travel, luxury travel, meeting and incentive travel, bars, restaurants, and all of the suppliers, advisors, and innovators that fuel those industries. Wow. That's a lot. That sounds like a very busy day. What is your favorite part of the business and why? First of all, the people I work with.

19:36I really have the privilege to work with some incredibly talented people um that that that are deep in each of those specific niches of travel and hospitality and in real estate um but there is a there is a through line again through all of those markets um you know uh operational real estate is operational because the how you operate the business in the bricks of that building has a direct impact on the valuation of that real estate which makes it very, very unique, right? It makes it frankly more interesting. It's not just the real estate component. It's not just the financial engineering of how you underwrite a real estate deal.

20:20It's how you operate that hotel or that bar or that restaurant and increasingly, you know, entertainment and sports. So that really, you know, connects the operational side of hospitality to the real estate side. And then, of course, you have the travel and the meetings and convention demand side, which, again, is who's coming to your hotel? How are they getting to your hotel? What services do they want at your hotel? How do you accommodate to that demand? Customer demand and experiences are not static. They change. Gen Z wants something different than baby boomers. You know, a meeting and convention like we just had needs, you know, entirely different set of needs and requirements than, you know, a family traveling for a weekend trip to New York.

21:11So all of that has a connection. And then, you know, in real estate, we're also in multifamily and affordable housing. uh that's because a lot of the capital that invests in hotels also invest in residential it's the world's largest asset class but increasingly what we're seeing is that multi-family particularly is not just about renting the one bedroom apartment uh and paying your monthly rent and being done but particularly younger but also interestingly older generations are looking for amenities in their living. And so that could be certainly a gym, that could be a rooftop bar, that could be a spa, it could be co-working as people aren't working in the office five days a week.

21:59So they need a co-working space in that multifamily apartment. All of that is hospitality. And apartment or residential owners and landlords and operators don't have that experience. while hotel years do. And so you're seeing this really interesting blend of lodging and living come together in very fascinating ways. You're seeing it really, I think, more, it's more advanced in Asia. We tend to still, due to permitting and zoning in the US and even in the UK and Europe, keep lodging and living separate, right? You have to have your living there, your residential there, and your hotels there. And so they're kept more separate.

22:45But in Asia and emerging markets, they're all sort of coming together, in many cases, on the same floor plate or in the same building. And that's really fascinating. I think you're going to continue to see more of that. So that's something that we're really zeroed in on at QuestX in my portfolio. Because living, lodging, health, wellness, lifestyle, all of those things come together you know people are no longer separating like they were their their personal needs and wants from their professional part of their life from where they live and and we want to be at the forefront of that but yeah it is a it is a diverse portfolio it's a global portfolio and frankly we've got good people we've got excellent people that help us advance and inform and connect the professionals that work in each of those niches of travel, hospitality, and real estate.

23:41You also oversee some of the industry's most influential conferences. Can you give a very quick overview of the events that you lead and what makes them each unique? Yeah, so I'll start by portfolio. So in real estate, we have hotel investment forums. We've got them, you know, we We have NYU, IHIF in New York. We've got IHIF EMEA in Berlin. We have the annual hospitality conference in Manchester, UK. We have a resort and residential in Athens. And then we have IHIF Asia and Hong Kong. You know, the only continent we don't have is Middle East and Antarctica. You know, and maybe soon to be. Because again, we truly believe in global capital moving as do travelers.

24:28and then we have multifamily and affordable housing which are assets that are here in the u.s so we inform and we connect professionals that work in those industries uh and we're looking to expand those right residential home where you live uh is an issue taking on the affordability uh as much here in the u.s as it is around the world and then we have really more of our hospitality group which is about all of the products and services that go into running hotels, bars, and restaurants. In that market, our flagship event is the hospitality show. We do that in partnership with the American Hotel and Lodging Association.

25:04And that event is really to a platform to connect all of the individuals that are responsible for running hotels profitably. And so all the products and services that go into that and running hotels as well as bars and restaurants is increasingly more complex and challenging. Then we have the Bar and Restaurant Expo. We have another event called Vibe, which is really just tailored towards national chains and their beverage strategies. And then we have a hospitality management media platform. So that's really, again, to support the effective and optimized operations of hotels, restaurants, and bars.

25:50And then we have travel, and that's really our luxury travel. And that is connecting the suppliers of travel, cruise, hotels, destinations, tour operators, outfitters, with luxury travel advisors. So we have probably the largest and most qualified database of active luxury travel advisors in the US that are booking both domestic as well as outbound travel. And we connect and inform that community of travel advisors with the suppliers in luxury travel. And that's really the sort of breadth. It's the real estate, which is the largest, hospitality, which is the operational side of it. And then it's the travel group.

26:35Wow, that is a lot of incredible events. And I'm curious, as someone who's hosting this many events, but also attending this many events, I think attending a conference can be overwhelming for some people, particularly if they're not used to the conference circuit. Have you noticed certain qualities or things that people do that maybe make them say that was a successful event versus not? Like, how are they networking? How are they spending their time? How are they preparing in advance or following up after the event? That is a really good question, Katie. And it's an important question because there's nothing worse than even if somebody registers and attends any of our events and they come and spend half of that event on their phone, in their room, they serendipitously engage with a few people, but then they go home and they really just sort of say, was it worth it?

27:36that's in a short term to long term, that's a real negative for us. But it's a real waste of time on their part. And time is the most precious currency we have in today's world. So there are things that we can do and are doing, but there are also things that attendees and sponsors need to do to do better. So I'm really glad you asked that question because the ROI of live events is should not be serendipitous and it should not be spontaneous and it should not just be by chance. So, you know, a couple of things that I would recommend for people to do is to really engage with what the program is and to build a pregame schedule.

28:24Know where you're going to be, make a commitment to what sessions you want to participate in, why, and build that schedule. Number two is build some free time in because things will happen. And then I think you've got to understand if you chose some sessions to go to, you clearly have an intention to understand more about that issue or to meet those speakers. Meet those speakers, right? I mean, those speakers are not there just to be talking heads. We are now building into each of our sessions a post-session meet and greet because what we call them content-fueled networking. You know, people network around common interests, around common business.

29:14So if there's a topic that you're interested in with topical experts that were on that panel, let's give them 20, 30 minutes after that session to then engage one-to-one. The next thing I would do is really just scour through the attendee list and know who you want to meet and why, And then be prepared that it's not easy, right? Some people can walk right into a circle of people and stick their hand out and introduce themselves and be very comfortable with that. Other people, not so much, right? And it has nothing to do with your age or your gender or anything else. It's just different personalities.

29:54But it's almost like anything. It's like a muscle. the more of these you go to the more events you go to the better you get at them there is a skill and one of the things i think that we are doing and we need to do a better job of meaning we as quest x but i would also argue as an industry is we serve some very uh senior level uh executives in the industries that we're in. So for example, NYU, this conference is known as where the top investors, operators, advisors gather. I mean, there are, we've heard multiple times over the last two days, there are investors and funds that come to NYU that don't go to any other conference.

30:42And that's the seniority of it. We take pride in that. It's part of the value that we deliver. That can be intimidating. right um and what it means is is that because of the ticket price because of the seniority a lot of the younger uh professionals uh in our sponsors companies or just in the industry they don't get an opportunity to come whether by price or by privilege or by seniority um so we're trying to introduce more uh opportunities for those individuals to come because you know if your target audience is uh you know uh a 60 year old white male i don't care whether you're selling you know chocolate bars or uh porsches or an event you know it's not exactly it's not entirely representative of society some of that is just the markets that we serve real estate is dominant male.

31:43I mean, you just, you don't have to, you can just look around, right? Some of these industries, that's not us. That's just the way it's been. And it's not intentional. It's just happens to be that way. So I think that can be intimidating as well. And we don't, we don't recognize that sometimes that I think it is intimidating. But again, I think what we're trying to do is to give the opportunity for individuals, younger, diverse, a female in some of our markets, whatever it might be that brings in that diversity to that community. One, to introduce that this is a diverse industry and it can be diverse or more diverse.

32:20But second, those individuals that get the opportunity to come, they start to build that muscle of how to speak, engage, lean in, have conversations, ultimately join a panel. because the more you do that, the better you get at it. And then the more opportunities it gives you to do more of it. And so I think there has to be a plan for anybody attending an event or else you're going to leave unfulfilled and unsatisfied. That's not good for them. And ultimately, it's not good for us either. Yeah. I like your advice for attendees. And I think it's equally relevant for speakers sometimes too, because like you said, the speakers aren't just there to be talking heads.

33:08Well, sometimes, you know, being a publicist for many years, the executive schedule is they come in, they do their session, and then they leave. And it is a shame, not only for attendees who want to talk to them. So I love what you're building in of like having dedicated time for people to chat afterwards. But also exactly what you just touched on for that spokesperson to be able to hear the other conversations that are happening in the room or meet different people or hear different perspectives. It can be equally, if not maybe more important for those spokespeople as it is for just the rest of us attendees.

33:46Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. NYU IHIF is one of the most important events of the year for the industry. Can you explain what it is and why it has become such a significant event? So the hospitality real estate market is what has become an asset light sector for the last 30 years. But it continues to increasingly become more of an asset light in that. And ironically, if you don't work in the industry, most people don't realize this, but Marriott doesn't own the hotel real estate. They operate it. And in many cases now, they don't even operate it. They just provide the brand, provide the guidelines, help in booking and technology, but provide a brand standard and a cohort of Marriott Bonvoy members that want to come to the site and book your hotel, whatever it might be.

34:49And therefore, in many cases, the owner is different that owns the building. And in some cases, increasingly, there's an operator, what we call a third-party operator that sits in the middle of that. And then you have all of the advisory, the brokerage, professional services, the legal, the tax. So it's a very fragmented and multi-sided ecosystem. And all of those need to come together, particularly around a transaction. So there's a disposal of an asset, there's a seller of an asset, there's a buyer of an asset. That is the core of what we do across our hotel investment events, whether that be in Europe or Asia or here in the US.

35:34So we're really connecting the buyers and sellers. Our primary audience are the capital funds, the hotel investors. Those are really overwhelmingly private equity, but sovereign wealth, institutional capital, which could be pension or insurance companies. We're seeing a lot of family offices get into real estate and increasingly hotel real estate, high net worth individuals as well. So, you know, those are the primary sort of, let's say, audience. We focus on them more than anything. The content is meant for them. The quality of the people in the room is meant for the investor. And we had 703 investors with us the last 48 hours, representing over 700 billion US dollars in hotel assets under management.

36:28So just a huge amount of capital and active investors that are making decisions. And so we bring them together because they're the buyers and the sellers. And then obviously the operators, the third-party operators, the brands, the advisors, the legal, the tax, professional services, the ecosystem around that. So it is an industry that's fueled by, like most industries, information and connectivity. but what is really so special about nyu and this platform that we have in hotel real estate is at the end of the day it's really based off of relationships these are large-scale deals they're complex deals they take a lot of time and those relationships and that trust has to be built up um we we know that that that relationships that have led to a deal if you reverse engineer year from that deal, we know that they've met at our events.

37:24We know that they've built that up through our events. We know that they sort of gain conviction or confidence or lack thereof, in some cases, at our events around markets or assets or asset classes. And so that informing and connecting of those investors with the rest of the ecosystem is the value that we bring to the community. What would you say emerged as the biggest theme or maybe themes from this year's event? Yeah, there was a few. So one is there continues to be almost a decoupling of what's happening in the world with the sort of unbridled optimism of the industry. When you look and you the open the morning newspapers.

38:14There's a lot of volatility from geopolitics to macroeconomics to everything in between. You know, we've got, you know, war in Iran, we've got a war in Ukraine and all the things that we, you know, we all know about. Consumer confidence is down. CEO confidence is down. And we've got a K-shaped economy, which means you have the haves and, you know, the have-nots, just to be blunt. However, you heard a lot of optimism and a lot of bullishness the last 48 hours. And I think a lot of people are just questioning, you know, what's going on here? Why is there so, how can there be so much volatility, uncertainty, and frankly, even just empirical economic indicators that, you know, inflation is back, you know, interest rates are are not going down anymore they might even go up we heard a few people say if the market is absolutely on a bull run doesn't seem to slow down you know spacex is gonna you know go public at 1.8 trillion dollars i i think people and you heard a lot of that sort of positivity that optimism let's be honest right some of that is is is putting on a uh a confident face for the markets.

39:38We have a lot of companies here. Their CEOs are public companies themselves. So they're telling a story, a story that they believe in. And that story is underpinned by their belief that travel is no longer a discretionary purchase. That people, particularly after COVID and COVID proved it out that, you know, a pandemic aside, people want to travel and they will continue to travel. They may trade down. So if they were going to go on a luxury trip, they may now go on a mid-scale trip. They may not travel international. They'll stay domestic on a road trip. They may not travel for 10 days, travel for five days, but they will still travel.

40:25I believe that. I don't think that that's a falsehood. I don't think that they don't believe it. I think they believe that. And I believe that as well. But we all know that, you know, if you choose between food on the table or rent and taking a trip, well, you know, under Maslow's hierarchy of needs, you're going to put food on the table. um so that issue is a really it's a nuanced one it's a really interesting one and and it's not just hospitality that's at the the center of that i mean i think we're all trying to figure out you know the the the information doesn't correlate as much as it used to this used to mean that those two things are now almost sort of decoupled and and i think we're all trying to figure that out a little bit, whether it be in hospitality or CPG or other industries.

41:22So particularly in industries that ultimately are discretionary, right? You don't have to travel to the Greek islands for you to live. I mean, I feel like I do, but again, I think that issue is a big issue. And I think people, that really was a theme. The second theme that's coming out of that, which I think is deeply related is AI, which is somewhat cliche at this point, but it's not, right? It is absolutely the topic. And it's one of those topics that is unique in that there's more questions about it than there are answers. And the pace at which AI is not only the adoption of AI, but the impact that AI is having is unquestionable.

42:17I mean, by the time we're back here next year, it's going to be a completely different landscape of AI or AI affecting the competitive or industry landscape for that matter. And so I don't think, and I think we're all sort of questioning, well, what is that? And there was a lot of questions or the right questions is going to, you know, is it going to have an impact on labor? Is it going to make us more productive? When are we going to see it on the P &L? No one's really pointed to, we've used AI and it has had a, you know, 400 basis point impact on our NOI at the property level or at the corporate level.

42:55So we're all just sort of like testing it and, you know, it's in our pockets and we're using it and we feel like superheroes because now we've got this powerful agentic AI in our pocket, but it really hasn't translated to a, you know, verifiable actual statistical, you know, improvement of this or X or Y. That I think is really going to be a big topic. We all know it will be, but I think what's more interesting is that we don't know how it's going to evolve. There are the doomsday sayers and there are the optimists. You know, I'm an optimist on it but i but i i do think it's going to have a massive impact not only in our industry but i think the third thing that's again related to the first two is is that ultimately live humanity as we were talking a few minutes ago and the ability to inform and connect people getting people together with people will become a premium in such an ai dominated world which we're you know there's no question ai adoption and the slop that comes from it is going to going to proliferate that makes getting really the right people together in a room whatever you define as the right people active investors you know cool people hip people it doesn't matter but getting the right people in a room together in an ai dominated world will be the premium uh for years to come And so what we do, events, hospitality, travel, going out to dinner and breaking bread, that can't be replaced by AI.

44:38So I actually think the underpinning of hospitality and finding its way into healthcare, finding its way into transportation, finding its way into other industries. and um you know danny meyer who won the jonathan tish active citizenship award um you know is the pioneer of enlightened hospitality he was very articulate in saying that hospitality really is the underpinning of all other industries you know healthcare is going to be now more the back office is done by ai what how do they create a premium service or how do they create a better service in healthcare well you do it by being hospitable they're not they're not as good as hospitality as we are and so i think hospitality has always looked at other industries with this sort of longing this sort of you know uh embedded jealousy of god you guys are so smart you're so much better you're so much more organized you do technology better and la la la well i actually think they're gonna now be looking to hospitality and saying how do you guys do this how do you yeah you anticipate a customer's needs or guests' needs or a patient's needs if it's healthcare?

45:49How do you personalize and make someone feel special even though they're buying a car or getting their checkup? So I think those themes were interesting. Some of them I think are unanswered and need to be played out. And some of them we'll probably still be talking about for certainly next year. Was there something that didn't get a lot of airtime that you thought should have been talked about more? Yeah, I think labor is an issue that is really at the forefront. Labor and politics did not get as much, I think, airtime as I expected. And to explain what I mean by that, one is the industry of tourism and hospitality is treated as an export.

46:40And that's because in many cases, you're serving customers that are from out of town or out of the country. And so even though it's a domestic business, your customer base is outside of that municipality or outside of the country. Look at the World Cup, right? Whether or not that plays out well, which is another theme that emerged. and because it's an export, both local politicians, state politicians, and federal or national politicians use it as a tax and regulate industry because the constituents or the customers of that product, a room night, a flight, are not your constituents. So you can tax them and not get you know voted out um so we increasingly see the hotel industry and the hospitality industry being taxed and regulated not just in the u.s but we see it in the uk as well uh bed bed tax and room night tax and you know many other uh taxes and so forth that's a big issue because it really uh has an impact on one the profitability of the of the industry um but second it's not actually true because really, I think one of the most emerging and frankly, innovative trends in hospitality is that you should be a hotel for both locals and guests and out-of-town.

48:13And I'm sure you've seen that as well, right? You know, a hotel is a very special place in a neighborhood. And it's not just for, you know, out-of-towners, but you increasingly see locals engaging the F &B. There's membership models that are coming out from hotels, gyms, and so forth. So that I think that that political issue is definitely one that I was expecting to hear more about. The second was labor and minimum wages, which are being implemented again politically in places like New York and L.A. And that one is an interesting topic because on one hand, again, you're enforcing for hotel employees unions a minimum wage, which again will have an impact on hotel profitability.

49:02but I actually heard a lot of hotel years and hotel owners endorse livable wage, right? I mean, no one's sort of an industry that is so vehemently working on human trafficking can't talk out of both sides of its mouth and say, well, you know, we don't want to pay a livable wage in New York to our housekeepers or to our staff. So I think there was a lot of discussion, but there were sort of behind the scenes around, look, I can't be taxed. I can't be mandated. All of this is going to come out of my profitability, which is already a very difficult environment to operate and drive profits in. But at the same time, you heard a lot of, I think, behind the scene hotel years say, look, we can't have this disappearing middle class because ultimately then we lose that entire market, which is filling our hotels.

49:53We're not all in luxury hotels. So I think that those Those two themes were themes or topics that I was expecting to hear more about. I know that the American Hotel and Lodging Association is really working hard and tirelessly to lobby on behalf of the industry in both those areas of tax, labor, and just support from the political environment. Because hotels are economic drivers. They drive labor and employment. and all those things matter. And we can't continue to treat the industry as an export and then we're just going to tax it and regulate it because then we're just going to lose these hotels and that has a knock-on effect.

50:39You moderated a handful of discussions this year. Was there a comment or a moment that genuinely surprised you? Yes. It was a couple, which is good. Yeah. One, again, labor related is an investor mentioned that in New York, AI is running up against the CMAs, which are the management agreements with unions. that in many cases the unions this is not new by the way they can um weigh in on technology that uh reduces workforce hours overtime that i think is uh i i knew i've known about this as part of the you know collective bargaining collective bargaining agreements but it's really fascinating to think that with ai coming on you you have then a a contractual agreement with your workforce that can actually reject that technology innovation coming online.

51:46That's going to be an interesting one to watch, right? Because I'm not sure. Well, one that we shouldn't be stopping innovation. But again, this is where I think regulation is going to need to come on board. Second, the other one that I thought was really surprising was that the mid-scale is coming back. You're starting to see rev pars in mid-scale hotels, which, you know, the middle's been messy for years now. You know, it's sort of related to this K-shaped economy that you heard a lot about. So to see increasing rev pars at that mid-scale level, I think is really interesting. The thought process was is that it's just you're activating a market.

52:31Some of that's related to data centers, you know, that are being developed. those construction workers that are building data centers, you know, they're not staying at the four seasons. You know, I do think that there's perhaps people are trading down from the upper upscale into midscale because of the cost of gas and so forth. So to our discussion earlier, they still want to travel, but they're going to just trade down from, you know, a$250 a night to 150 or whatever it may be. But I think that's, that was an emerging thing that we haven't seen in quite a few years as well. But we are seeing a lot of transactions starting to come up, not to the levels that we were pre-COVID.

53:10And you're starting to see some markets that we haven't seen perform very well and be any interest in, like San Francisco, my hometown. It's AI driven again, but the transaction market and the valuations in San Francisco have certainly bottomed out and seem to be on their way back up, not to where they were. So again, things are always changing They're ebbing and flowing. But yeah, there was some interesting themes that certainly emerged over the last couple of days. Alexi, you were such a fantastic moderator and emcee throughout NYU IHAF. One thing I wanted to ask you is how did you get that stage confidence?

53:50I think it's really intimidating for a lot of people to be holding a mic in a room that big on the stage with very big name guests. Have you always felt really confident on the stage? Or is there any actionable tips you could give listeners and viewers who maybe are looking to be a bit more confident in settings like that? Practice. I mean, I have had professional training in public speaking. And so that gave confidence of some fundamentals in public speaking. Then that leads to practice, whether you're presenting to a board or to an executive team or to your own team, for that matter. every opportunity with a group of people in presenting information is an opportunity to hone that craft of public speaking so i mean i would just encourage anyone to you know raise your hand uh take on a challenge uh and and get opportunities ideally don't start in a room of 2 000 people but you know maybe maybe two people uh and build your way up from there but then at the end of the day, be yourself.

54:58Don't try to be someone else. The tips are articulate, be clear, practice what you're going to say, and tell a story. Even if it's a financial report or a business plan or a story, actually tell a story. Humans react to storytelling. There has to be a story behind all of that. But definitely be yourself. You know, people gravitate towards authenticity. So you can be executive, you could be funny, you could be endearing, but whatever it is, just make sure it's being true to who you are. Would you agree that people have to be bad at it first? Like, do you remember earlier speaking opportunities that you did where you kind of cringe now or did you just always have this natural gift?

55:54No, for sure. I can think back on presenting either not being prepared or just not having the skill set earlier in my career. And again, the worst part is not being prepared. And I've certainly done that in the past, either intentionally or unintentionally. That's kind of egregious, right? Because that's an own goal that you did to yourself. but at the end of the day even uh if you make a mistake but you're being yourself most people will also find that endearing i think right because it it's um it shows that you're like anybody you know yeah you're human you make you make a mistake you pick yourself up and you you keep going so it's a it's a skill and some of us are better at it naturally than than others but it's a skill like any other skill that can be learned and can be practiced and can be honed I think your point about storytelling is so crucial.

56:48And I saw that from my perspective in the audience as well. One of my favorite sessions was one that you moderated with Anthony Scaramucci. And you both in that session were able to weave in data with storytelling. And it kept me really engaged as an audience member. Whereas some of the other sessions where someone was just giving me data, I found myself having to pull myself back to paying attention. I think it's quite interesting with what's happening with AI. And you're hearing this a lot of like, AI is going to be able to give us all that data. So if you're going to just deliver data, how can you do so in a human way to be able to bring something different than a machine could do much quicker?

57:31and I think a way that you did that so well was in that conversation with him, you wrapped with something called the Proust questionnaire. You pulled a few questions from that. So can you tell us first what that questionnaire is and what made you think to weave that into your session? Yeah, now I'm nervous. I feel like this is going to come back, boomerang back to me. Marcel Proust was a French novelist and he played a parlor game that became known as the Prost Questionnaire. And it's really a set of questions that is meant to get to the very nature of your character and your soul. And it is still a parlor game that I'll play.

58:15I don't call them parlors, but pubs or dinner parties. And it used to be actually a feature in Vanity Fair magazine. I don't know that it is anymore, but it was kind of this way to take an individual celebrity in the Vanity Fair days and just kind of get them into a different, peel back the onion and really kind of ask them questions that you thought, wow, I never knew that about said person because they were always talking about whatever their craft is. So that's the point is, again, to show that these individuals are human beings with all of the nuances, complexities, and sincerities that humans have.

59:03That is what I loved about it. And as a very longtime publicist, I think I'm a little allergic to talking points. I can see right through them. Half the time, I can see executives still reading their briefing document, which part of me is very happy. They're actually reading the briefing document that the publicist worked so hard to create. But then the whole point of the brief was just to prepare you and then give it off the cuff. And I think that's what you did so well in that session was you really got us into him as a person. And so now I'm going to turn it around on you and we're going to do a quick rapid fire of a few post questions to you.

59:40So first one, what is your idea of perfect happiness? Being with my family. What is your greatest fear? Failure. Which living person do you most admire? My wife. Which words or phrases do you most overuse? I don't think they're appropriate for this podcast.

1:00:05When and where were you happiest? Right here, right now. Oh, but your family's not in the frame right now. my daughter actually she's stayed with me at the hotel here for the event you know by the ocean in the ocean the ocean is my happy place if I could be in the ocean I'm pretty pretty darn happy what is your most treasured possession oh man Katie you got some good ones on me well i don't possess my family right right so they can't be in this one no they can't be in this one and the bank still possesses a bit of my house so you know honestly uh my watch uh why i got this in a sort of a successful exit quite a few years ago um i'm not a material person But I like this because it's an explorer and it has this 24-hour dial that I always leave to the time zone of my home.

1:01:27So wherever I'm at in the world, I can just easily look and it's got this orange dial that always points to what time it is at home. and it's just sort of symbolic of both a successful sort of professional achievement the fact that I do travel a lot but it always is sort of this symbolic connection for me to home wherever I am in the world so I like it and I you know I tell my kids I'm gonna pass it off to them they're like yeah whatever just give me the house I don't don't even care about the watch so well when they hear you speak about it on this podcast which I'm sure they're avid listeners too.

1:02:06Totally. A hundred percent. They will change their mind. There you go. Perfect place to end that questionnaire. I think that really illustrates the point of what you did so well on stage, which is really just bring the humanity to the forefront. Thank you. Alexi, I want to ask you the last three questions that I ask every guest. And the first is, what was the best hospitality experience that you have ever had? Wow. That is a great question. I've had so many, fortunately. I've had so many. I was on a trip and we were in Geneva. My daughters were very young and I was there with my wife. I don't remember why we were there.

1:02:47I think we were living in London at the time. And they had made up the sofa in the room to be like these little nook beds. and they put like teddy bears in them and little reading lights and they bought these books. We were blown away. We went in, I think it was just one bed and we were gonna stuff the kids into the bed with us and so forth. And we didn't ask for it. We didn't request it. It's always, and that's just what comes to mind. I've had fortunately so many. It's always the anticipation. You know, if you can anticipate a guest's needs, it's like sports. If you can skate to where the puck is, that famous Gretzky quote, that's the alpha.

1:03:40You know, that's the all-star play. And it's really the same in hospitality. If you can anticipate someone's needs, you are in a different echelon of hospitality magic. On the opposite side of that adorable example, what was the worst hospitality experience you've ever had? I've had quite a few of those as well.

1:04:06It's honestly just where you are not being listened to. I mean, coming from aviation, having worked in that industry before, flying's pretty brutal. It just is. And it's not always the airline's fault. Because you have to pass through so many government security and so forth. But I got to be honest with you. I pretty much hate flying these days. I don't get any joy in saying it, particularly since I'm in the air quite a bit. But it's just not fun. It's not – I can't remember the last time somebody made me feel special in any part of the flying experience. and it's gotten pricey and it's gotten worse.

1:04:56And you just look at any product that you don't feel special. You're paying more for a product that's worse off. And you just have to accept the fact that a healthy portion of the time, something will go wrong. Yeah. It's pretty bad. It is. And you're not the first person to bring up flying when we get to this question. And everyone's kind of miserable, right? I don't see very many happy people in the sky. Especially the associates. I think it stems from them. It does. And we heard a lot about that yesterday from Danny Meyer. It's like happy investors in hospitality lead to happy employees, lead to happy customers, and it becomes this virtuous circle.

1:05:42And so to your point right there, you just echoed what Danny Meyer said, which is, look, if you can create that virtuous circle, which is not easy, it will work and it creates that flywheel effect. But yeah, aviation is not in that flywheel effect at the moment. Final question for you. What does hospitality mean to you? And is there anyone, it can be a person, it can be a brand that you think has truly mastered it? Not to be too philosophical, but I think hospitality is a way of life. I think we talk about it as an industry. I think we talk about it as a service. I think we talk about it as a program that I go and study at university.

1:06:24I think hospitality is an ethos. I think it's right there in between Buddhism and Stoicism. So I give it the highest regards, and I get on my knees, and I pray down to it every day or pray up to it. I really do believe that hospitality is a higher calling, and I think hospitality is what the world needs more of right now. So hospitality is my life pursuit and I think it should be everyone else's and I think we need a whole hell of a lot more of it right now. And anyone, a person or a brand that you think has mastered it or not yet? I think many have gotten close to it but I would say hospitality is a journey, it's not a destination.

1:07:12Beautiful. Well, Alexi, thank you so much for joining us today. This has been so wonderful. Thank you, Katie. I really enjoyed it. All right, everyone. It's time for today's sweet summary, where I break down the key insights and actionable takeaways from today's conversation. For a while, travel and hospitality were almost dismissed as something that was a nice to have. It was seen as non-essential, discretionary. And the thinking was, if budgets tighten, people stop traveling. Similarly, the thought was, as technology advances, we'll be able to travel less, as if that was a good thing. I remember years ago, there were conversations in hotel brand boardrooms about if virtual reality would replace vacations.

1:07:59Would consumers choose to skip the plane ride if they could put on a headset and explore the world from their living room? Thankfully, COVID proved how fundamental travel is to the human experience. a sentiment that was echoed in this conversation with Alexi. It took him from online startups to launching an airline in Costa Rica to overseeing some of the biggest conferences in the world. Different jobs, different countries, same underlying mission, connecting people. Which is why I found his perspective on AI so fascinating. As Alexi shared, artificial intelligence will continue to get better and better at answering direct questions, analyzing data, and automating routine work.

1:08:45But as it does, the things it can't replicate become even more valuable. Human connection, making someone feel welcome, anticipating someone's needs. The things that can never be outsourced to a computer. That desire for connection is the foundation of his work today, overseeing many of the biggest events in our industry. His takeaway was clear. Relationships lead to deals. The biggest opportunities rarely happen because of one perfectly timed email or LinkedIn message. They happen because people build trust over time. That's why he encourages attendees to go in with a plan, identify who they want to meet, leave room for organic conversations, and remember that networking is a skill you get better at with practice.

1:09:36The same principle applies to public speaking. The people who leave the biggest impression aren't necessarily the smartest people in the room. They're the ones who communicate the most clearly. Alexei's advice was simple. Be articulate, practice, and tell stories. Facts inform, but stories connect. And in an increasingly AI-driven world, connection is quickly becoming the most valuable currency we have. And that concludes another episode of Sweet Success. If you enjoyed today's conversation, please subscribe, rate, and review the show. We all know how important those five-star reviews are. I also want to say a massive thank you to each and every one of you for tuning in.

1:10:19It means the absolute world to me. And I'd love to hear from you. If you have ideas for future guests, new topics to cover, or even just want to say hi, don't be shy. Message me through our website, sweetsuccesspodcast.com or on social media at sweet success podcast. That's sweet like hotel suite. Once again, I'm your host, Katie Klein, and I'm super excited to see you all next week.