WEBVTT - Project HQ for Gen Z Lifestyle Lodging

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<v Speaker 1>Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news. This is Bloomberg Business

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<v Speaker 1>Week with Carol Messer and Tim Stenebeck on Bloomberg Radio.

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<v Speaker 2>Well, it turns out that what Gen Z and millennials

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<v Speaker 2>want when they take a vacation is a bit different

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<v Speaker 2>than what previous generations we're looking for when they went

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<v Speaker 2>on vacation. So bye bye clubs, Hello wellness clinics. That's

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<v Speaker 2>the bet that our next guest is making. He's the

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<v Speaker 2>CEO and chairman of SBE. It's hospitality group that manages

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<v Speaker 2>and operates hotels, restaurants, lounges and nightclubs. The company has

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<v Speaker 2>partnered with Wyndham Hotels and Resorts to launch a new

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<v Speaker 2>smart lifestyle brand called Project HQ Hotels and Resorts with

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<v Speaker 2>us as SAMs Aeri and the chairman and CEO of

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<v Speaker 2>SBE joining us from Miami. Sam, good to have you

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<v Speaker 2>with us. I'm so interested in the differences between generations

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<v Speaker 2>in terms of what they want when they go on

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<v Speaker 2>vacation or or or when they're away from their homes.

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<v Speaker 2>Talk to us a little bit about what you found

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<v Speaker 2>in these differences, the market research that you did and

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<v Speaker 2>what you learned.

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<v Speaker 3>Thank you, Thank you for having me. No, it's been

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<v Speaker 3>an interesting journey. I mean from a guy like me

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<v Speaker 3>who started in the hotel business about twenty two years

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<v Speaker 3>ago and I was building brands for myself. I don't

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<v Speaker 3>think we had a generation name. But back then we

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<v Speaker 3>were admiring these new emerging category called boutique hotels and

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<v Speaker 3>that was a very interesting, very very small lane that

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<v Speaker 3>guys like Ian Schrager and Andre Belas and w had

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<v Speaker 3>really formulated and it was very very you know, very

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<v Speaker 3>unique for a traditional hotel operator or a big public

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<v Speaker 3>company hotel company to understand that design, food and beverage,

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<v Speaker 3>you know, at the highest level exclusivity in these hotels

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<v Speaker 3>were going to be you know, exactly what they are

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<v Speaker 3>today in the world called lifestyle. And I think that

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<v Speaker 3>same thinking right looking at things completely different and also

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<v Speaker 3>trying to understand a new consumer for us at SBE

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<v Speaker 3>because we built the largest lifestyle company in the world,

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<v Speaker 3>forty one hotels around the world branded residential, and we

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<v Speaker 3>were building to an aging consumer like myself. But what

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<v Speaker 3>we noticed about four or five years ago is that consumer,

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<v Speaker 3>the fastest growing and most coveted consumer across the board,

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<v Speaker 3>and hospitality were this next generation and to us, you know,

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<v Speaker 3>building you know, for me as a forty eight year old,

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<v Speaker 3>to try to identify what's important to somebody who's nineteen

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<v Speaker 3>twenty twenty one all the way up to thirty five

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<v Speaker 3>was probably not going to work. And I didn't have

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<v Speaker 3>the relevancy. So we decided to really kind of double click,

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<v Speaker 3>as they say, or dive deep into the world, into

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<v Speaker 3>their world, and to do that, we were able to

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<v Speaker 3>really understand as a whole new language, a whole new

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<v Speaker 3>language and relevancy and things that are important to this

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<v Speaker 3>new upcoming consumer, the fastest growing consumer in hospitality globally.

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<v Speaker 3>And you know, we decided to really partner with the

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<v Speaker 3>people that they think are important and understand the mindset

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<v Speaker 3>from various different celebrities, YouTubers, entrepreneurs that are relevant in

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<v Speaker 3>that world. And we've done that, I think, very convincingly

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<v Speaker 3>and really understand that this new consumer has different KPIs,

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<v Speaker 3>different things that are important to them, authenticity, experience. They're

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<v Speaker 3>not spending money on things that we were spending money

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<v Speaker 3>on when we were growing up, like homes and cars,

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<v Speaker 3>and they really want a really authentic voice and the

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<v Speaker 3>only real brand that has spoken to them in the

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<v Speaker 3>last five to ten years has been Airbnb, and that's

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<v Speaker 3>a very interesting way to look at their mindset. And

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<v Speaker 3>with Project HQ, we really focused on building a very

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<v Speaker 3>interesting ecosystem around multiple brands, multiple experiences.

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<v Speaker 4>Think maybe you could walk us through a few examples

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<v Speaker 4>of what are we actually going to see in these

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<v Speaker 4>new hotels and resorts, an example of what it looks

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<v Speaker 4>like when a resort caters to the next generation Gen

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<v Speaker 4>Z millennials. Does this mean, you know, more spas, more

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<v Speaker 4>smoothie bars, maybe less nightclubs building in the hotel? What

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<v Speaker 4>is this actually going to look like?

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<v Speaker 3>I think our perspective has been, you know, food is

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<v Speaker 3>really the key of experiences in hotels, food, design, accessibility,

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<v Speaker 3>and also authenticity, which is a big word, you know,

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<v Speaker 3>but really authenticity means building brands that resonate with people

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<v Speaker 3>that really stand for something right. So obviously for us,

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<v Speaker 3>we've built a huge business in the past around full

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<v Speaker 3>service and you know, very glitzy, glamory type environments. Those

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<v Speaker 3>don't really we've seen it in our clubs and restaurants. Curly,

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<v Speaker 3>they don't resonate to that next demographic, So we've kind

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<v Speaker 3>of pivoted into building more. We call it democratizing food.

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<v Speaker 3>You know, we've gone to all of our James Very

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<v Speaker 3>chefs and we've asked them to create a premium QSR

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<v Speaker 3>version of what they've done for us in full service.

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<v Speaker 3>We've now partnered with fifteen YouTube phenomenons, you know, you

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<v Speaker 3>know people at entrepreneurs that that these people follow, they

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<v Speaker 3>connect with and we've created food brands with those folks.

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<v Speaker 3>I think, you know, I think the property scale also

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<v Speaker 3>has has a lot. I mean, we were now within

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<v Speaker 3>our pipeline looking at resorts in Europe, in the Caribbean,

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<v Speaker 3>urban US markets that are smaller, that don't have three

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<v Speaker 3>hundred four hundred rooms, but also have you know, a

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<v Speaker 3>sense of you know, a sense that isn't overwhelming. And

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<v Speaker 3>we're layering in and a lot of our plan is

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<v Speaker 3>done through conversion. We're taking old buildings and bringing them

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<v Speaker 3>to life and and I think from our perspective injecting them.

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<v Speaker 3>I think you led the segment with wellness. I think

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<v Speaker 3>it's not necessarily just about wellness. It's about longevity, it's

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<v Speaker 3>about understanding, you know, technology. I mean a lot of

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<v Speaker 3>the things that we're doing are partnering with companies with

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<v Speaker 3>MRI scanning, bone density scanning, giving the tools to better

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<v Speaker 3>understand what's going on on the inside of your body,

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<v Speaker 3>so then you can affect kind of the long standing

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<v Speaker 3>health benefits, which I think is very important to this

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<v Speaker 3>demographic and psychographic more importantly. So that's kind of how

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<v Speaker 3>we look at it. It's a comprehensive approach. There isn't

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<v Speaker 3>a magic bullet. I think it's just a commitment to

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<v Speaker 3>authenticity to this group with people they trust.

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<v Speaker 2>I'm wondering how you're thinking about the demographics of the

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<v Speaker 2>people you're trying to attract. Right now, we only have

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<v Speaker 2>about a minute left, Sam, but we do hear about

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<v Speaker 2>the way that younger consumers in this country are struggling

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<v Speaker 2>and they don't necessarily have the discretionary income to spend

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<v Speaker 2>on stuff like this. How are you thinking about that

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<v Speaker 2>just in the last forty five seconds we have.

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<v Speaker 3>Yeah, listen, I think from a perspective of discretionary income,

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<v Speaker 3>the subset is they're spending more money and experiences than

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<v Speaker 3>they aren't traditional So the money that they do have,

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<v Speaker 3>their spending it and experiences. So we're trying to create

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<v Speaker 3>very accessible experiences from a price point from the hotel

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<v Speaker 3>room all the way down to kind of the common

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<v Speaker 3>areas and areas of the resort or hotel, and ultimately

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<v Speaker 3>I think it's really it's really we're investing in the future.

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<v Speaker 3>It's fifty six percent of today's traveler or under thirty

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<v Speaker 3>five years old, so we're investing in the future. And

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<v Speaker 3>a partnership with Windham gives us one hundred and five

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<v Speaker 3>million members, of which a lot of these people are

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<v Speaker 3>in that subset already that we can help unlock with

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<v Speaker 3>our with our hotel partners and assets all around the world.

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<v Speaker 2>Sam's Aarien is the chairman and CEO of SB, the

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<v Speaker 2>hospitality group that manages and operates hotels, restaurants, lounges and nightclubs.

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<v Speaker 2>He joins US from Miami. They partnered with Wyndham Hotels

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<v Speaker 2>and Resorts to launch a new smart lifestyle brand called

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<v Speaker 2>Project HQ Hotels and Residences