1 00:00:10,800 --> 00:00:14,720 Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to another episode of the Odd Lots Podcast. 2 00:00:14,760 --> 00:00:19,920 Speaker 1: I'm Joe Wisenthal and I'm Tracy Allaway. So, Tracy, obviously, 3 00:00:20,200 --> 00:00:23,280 Speaker 1: one of our big themes so far for the podcast 4 00:00:23,320 --> 00:00:25,680 Speaker 1: and I guess for the economy overall, has been this 5 00:00:25,760 --> 00:00:31,280 Speaker 1: sort of like shortages and bottlenecks that people have experienced 6 00:00:31,320 --> 00:00:35,120 Speaker 1: across across business, across supply chains in the wake of 7 00:00:35,120 --> 00:00:39,879 Speaker 1: the crisis. Bottlenecks everywhere and in everything, it feels like 8 00:00:40,159 --> 00:00:43,959 Speaker 1: sometimes um And of course one of those bottlenecks is 9 00:00:44,080 --> 00:00:47,280 Speaker 1: in the labor market. Yeah, exactly right, Like this is 10 00:00:47,440 --> 00:00:49,880 Speaker 1: I would say the one other sort of like big 11 00:00:49,920 --> 00:00:52,720 Speaker 1: thing that we have we have yet to really talk about, 12 00:00:53,000 --> 00:00:57,480 Speaker 1: which is that numerous businesses, largely in leisure and hospitality 13 00:00:57,520 --> 00:01:01,480 Speaker 1: but not just that area, have voiced I don't know 14 00:01:01,520 --> 00:01:04,760 Speaker 1: if frustration is the word, but have certainly found hiring 15 00:01:04,959 --> 00:01:07,920 Speaker 1: to be much more difficult than they expected, especially coming 16 00:01:07,920 --> 00:01:10,720 Speaker 1: out of a downturn, and even much more difficult than 17 00:01:10,760 --> 00:01:13,839 Speaker 1: it was pre crisis. And the economists of all kinds 18 00:01:13,840 --> 00:01:17,840 Speaker 1: of theories for why, but it's clearly a phenomenon of 19 00:01:17,880 --> 00:01:22,559 Speaker 1: this environment that makes this moment distinct and is posing 20 00:01:22,640 --> 00:01:28,160 Speaker 1: challenges to various managers and bosses and companies. Yeah, so 21 00:01:28,440 --> 00:01:31,360 Speaker 1: I'm obviously not in the States, so I've sort of 22 00:01:31,360 --> 00:01:34,880 Speaker 1: been watching this issue from a far um. It's not 23 00:01:35,040 --> 00:01:37,120 Speaker 1: such a big thing in Hong Kong as far as 24 00:01:37,160 --> 00:01:40,880 Speaker 1: I can tell, but I've seen some of the anecdotes 25 00:01:40,880 --> 00:01:43,679 Speaker 1: about this, like, you know, signs on the front of 26 00:01:43,720 --> 00:01:46,920 Speaker 1: fast food restaurants saying that they can't open today because 27 00:01:47,000 --> 00:01:49,680 Speaker 1: they don't have enough employees or some of their employees 28 00:01:49,720 --> 00:01:54,480 Speaker 1: didn't show up. I also know it's a very heated 29 00:01:54,480 --> 00:01:57,720 Speaker 1: issue at the moment with you know, it's sort of 30 00:01:57,760 --> 00:02:01,440 Speaker 1: like a classic labor versus capital kind of issue at 31 00:02:01,440 --> 00:02:04,520 Speaker 1: this point, with a lot of the companies blaming workers 32 00:02:04,920 --> 00:02:06,600 Speaker 1: and saying they don't want to come back to work 33 00:02:06,680 --> 00:02:10,560 Speaker 1: because they're afraid of getting COVID or because maybe they're 34 00:02:10,560 --> 00:02:14,560 Speaker 1: getting unemployment benefits through the government and so they don't 35 00:02:14,560 --> 00:02:17,440 Speaker 1: feel compelled to go to work, and then the workers saying, well, 36 00:02:17,680 --> 00:02:19,880 Speaker 1: if you really want us to come back, why don't 37 00:02:19,880 --> 00:02:23,560 Speaker 1: you actually do something to encourage us and raise wages. 38 00:02:23,639 --> 00:02:25,320 Speaker 1: I mean, that's the obvious thing for them to do. 39 00:02:25,480 --> 00:02:28,840 Speaker 1: So yeah, it's it's an interesting one, and I'm very 40 00:02:28,960 --> 00:02:32,360 Speaker 1: very intrigued about this particular issue and how it's playing 41 00:02:32,400 --> 00:02:34,680 Speaker 1: out over in the States. Yeah, exactly right. And we 42 00:02:34,720 --> 00:02:37,600 Speaker 1: have seen pretty dramatic wage growth in the leisure and 43 00:02:37,639 --> 00:02:42,800 Speaker 1: hospitality sectors. Employers are jackie up wages to bring people back, 44 00:02:42,840 --> 00:02:46,240 Speaker 1: but it seems like the effect has only been marginal 45 00:02:46,360 --> 00:02:48,200 Speaker 1: so far. And you know, we hear from a lot 46 00:02:48,240 --> 00:02:50,920 Speaker 1: of economists and they have their charts and they say, well, 47 00:02:51,240 --> 00:02:54,000 Speaker 1: that's you know, here's the effective U I, and here's 48 00:02:54,000 --> 00:02:57,120 Speaker 1: the effective childcare and so forth. But sometimes it's also 49 00:02:57,160 --> 00:03:00,320 Speaker 1: really good to actually talk to someone in the ring 50 00:03:00,360 --> 00:03:02,760 Speaker 1: process and get away from all of the theory that 51 00:03:02,800 --> 00:03:05,320 Speaker 1: economists like to talk about. In fact, I think we 52 00:03:05,440 --> 00:03:08,240 Speaker 1: preferred here it's more interesting to talk to people who 53 00:03:08,240 --> 00:03:11,639 Speaker 1: are involved in shipping or trading lumber or anything that 54 00:03:11,800 --> 00:03:15,120 Speaker 1: someone with a lot of like charts and theories. We've 55 00:03:15,160 --> 00:03:19,400 Speaker 1: definitely gone very granular this year. The other thing I 56 00:03:19,440 --> 00:03:22,799 Speaker 1: was thinking like it kind of gets into the overall 57 00:03:22,880 --> 00:03:28,519 Speaker 1: topic of whether or not behavior has changed after the pandemic. 58 00:03:29,320 --> 00:03:33,640 Speaker 1: Is this a fundamental shift in how people are approaching work, 59 00:03:33,840 --> 00:03:36,440 Speaker 1: like going forward, Are they're just going to be fewer 60 00:03:36,480 --> 00:03:39,600 Speaker 1: people who want to work in hospitality for whatever reason 61 00:03:40,000 --> 00:03:44,960 Speaker 1: or is this actually a temporary bottleneck or supply shortage 62 00:03:45,000 --> 00:03:48,280 Speaker 1: that is going to eventually work itself out. Yeah, And 63 00:03:48,320 --> 00:03:51,440 Speaker 1: just to your point, um, there are like signs everywhere, 64 00:03:51,480 --> 00:03:54,200 Speaker 1: like not only does every place up that has a sign, 65 00:03:54,240 --> 00:03:56,120 Speaker 1: but like you go to a grocery store and it 66 00:03:56,120 --> 00:03:58,880 Speaker 1: says in advance, like sorry for the slow service in 67 00:03:58,920 --> 00:04:01,560 Speaker 1: the line, where have you? Every place has a warning 68 00:04:01,560 --> 00:04:04,240 Speaker 1: about that. It's really wild. Anyway, let's get into it, 69 00:04:04,240 --> 00:04:06,240 Speaker 1: because I'm very excited. We're gonna be speaking with someone 70 00:04:06,240 --> 00:04:09,600 Speaker 1: who's like right in the heart of all this going on. 71 00:04:09,880 --> 00:04:12,400 Speaker 1: We're gonna be speaking with Kurt Alexander. Here is the 72 00:04:12,440 --> 00:04:16,280 Speaker 1: CFO at Omni Hotels, which is a big hotel chain 73 00:04:16,720 --> 00:04:19,640 Speaker 1: that has about fifty locations in North America, all very 74 00:04:19,720 --> 00:04:22,240 Speaker 1: high end, and we're going to get into the nitty 75 00:04:22,240 --> 00:04:28,240 Speaker 1: gritty of hiring and operations at a hotel in this environment. So, Kurt, 76 00:04:28,320 --> 00:04:30,760 Speaker 1: thank you very much for joining us. Hey, good morning, Joe, 77 00:04:30,839 --> 00:04:33,599 Speaker 1: Thanks for having me. Yeah, thank you so much for 78 00:04:33,880 --> 00:04:37,000 Speaker 1: coming on. Before we get into this sort of like 79 00:04:37,240 --> 00:04:40,719 Speaker 1: environment right now, you know, let's say like go back 80 00:04:40,760 --> 00:04:46,880 Speaker 1: to say August, you know, or February before COVID. Why 81 00:04:46,880 --> 00:04:49,599 Speaker 1: don't you just sort of like describe a little bit 82 00:04:49,640 --> 00:04:53,800 Speaker 1: about labor turnover and this sort of like you know, 83 00:04:53,920 --> 00:04:57,480 Speaker 1: the labor needs and the general needs of hotel chain 84 00:04:57,760 --> 00:05:02,480 Speaker 1: like omni. Yeah, absolutely, so pre COVID, it was it 85 00:05:02,560 --> 00:05:07,000 Speaker 1: was really a tough operating environment. Then in COVID really 86 00:05:07,040 --> 00:05:09,200 Speaker 1: magnified and accentuated a lot of the things that were 87 00:05:09,200 --> 00:05:13,680 Speaker 1: going on, which I think has been common across all sectors, 88 00:05:13,880 --> 00:05:16,440 Speaker 1: every pocket of life. That COVID has just kind of 89 00:05:16,440 --> 00:05:19,360 Speaker 1: accentuated trends that were already in place. And so pre 90 00:05:19,520 --> 00:05:24,440 Speaker 1: COVID we had about twenty two thousand employees work for us. Unfortunately, 91 00:05:24,600 --> 00:05:28,760 Speaker 1: over that next kind of sixty days from February to April, 92 00:05:29,080 --> 00:05:31,880 Speaker 1: we got down to about people. So it was it 93 00:05:31,920 --> 00:05:35,440 Speaker 1: was a pretty quick shift. But but you know, pre COVID, 94 00:05:35,520 --> 00:05:37,840 Speaker 1: just to touch on some of the trends and kind 95 00:05:37,839 --> 00:05:40,000 Speaker 1: of things that we were seeing, we were seeing mid 96 00:05:40,080 --> 00:05:44,480 Speaker 1: single digit wage growth in the hourly workforce, consistently turnover 97 00:05:44,560 --> 00:05:47,080 Speaker 1: about thirty percent a year again kind of in the 98 00:05:47,120 --> 00:05:52,080 Speaker 1: hourly workforce ranks, and a particular need for culinary talent 99 00:05:52,480 --> 00:05:57,840 Speaker 1: and so uh cooks, sush chefs, et cetera, even even 100 00:05:57,920 --> 00:06:01,200 Speaker 1: kind of waiters waitresses and like um, but but mainly 101 00:06:01,200 --> 00:06:04,800 Speaker 1: back a house culinary and and it was really not 102 00:06:04,880 --> 00:06:07,280 Speaker 1: even a function of wages, it was more functional skills. 103 00:06:07,520 --> 00:06:09,640 Speaker 1: And so we had a lot of conversations pre COVID 104 00:06:09,680 --> 00:06:13,719 Speaker 1: about how can we kind of build our own workforce, 105 00:06:13,760 --> 00:06:15,640 Speaker 1: so to speak. And you know, we have a lot 106 00:06:15,640 --> 00:06:18,960 Speaker 1: of destination resorts, and we thought about maybe even building 107 00:06:18,960 --> 00:06:22,640 Speaker 1: a culinary school and working with the U. S. Government 108 00:06:22,640 --> 00:06:25,800 Speaker 1: on different immigration programs to you know, get people to 109 00:06:25,839 --> 00:06:28,200 Speaker 1: the States and train them and kind of in effect 110 00:06:28,240 --> 00:06:31,640 Speaker 1: build our culinary talent. You know, food and beverage is 111 00:06:31,680 --> 00:06:34,520 Speaker 1: something that we pride ourselves on omni and and and 112 00:06:34,560 --> 00:06:37,359 Speaker 1: so we were really thinking through ways to solve that 113 00:06:37,440 --> 00:06:40,800 Speaker 1: problem in unique ways. And then and then COVID hit right, 114 00:06:41,120 --> 00:06:46,480 Speaker 1: and what we have seen is again culinary is at 115 00:06:46,480 --> 00:06:48,520 Speaker 1: the top of our list. We we we just can't 116 00:06:48,520 --> 00:06:53,359 Speaker 1: find anybody. So just before we get more into the 117 00:06:53,400 --> 00:06:57,200 Speaker 1: actual difficulty of finding the right people, now, maybe if 118 00:06:57,200 --> 00:06:59,359 Speaker 1: we step back for for one second. So I have 119 00:06:59,440 --> 00:07:01,800 Speaker 1: to confess, the only thing I know about the hotel 120 00:07:01,839 --> 00:07:06,000 Speaker 1: industry comes from um that book Hotel Babylon, which I 121 00:07:06,000 --> 00:07:08,080 Speaker 1: guess is really old now. And then it was a 122 00:07:08,080 --> 00:07:10,960 Speaker 1: TV show that was like on the BBC. I think 123 00:07:11,000 --> 00:07:13,000 Speaker 1: for a while it was actually a really good TV show, 124 00:07:13,320 --> 00:07:17,080 Speaker 1: but that definitely portrayed the hotel industry in a kind 125 00:07:17,120 --> 00:07:21,760 Speaker 1: of like glamorous ish light. Depending on what job function 126 00:07:21,800 --> 00:07:24,720 Speaker 1: you were actually doing at a luxury hotel. Maybe you 127 00:07:24,760 --> 00:07:27,920 Speaker 1: could just give a bit more color on the types 128 00:07:28,160 --> 00:07:32,680 Speaker 1: of jobs available at hotels the types of people who 129 00:07:32,880 --> 00:07:36,640 Speaker 1: typically um might be interested in them. Like, what is 130 00:07:36,880 --> 00:07:41,600 Speaker 1: the proposition of going into the hotel and leisure industry 131 00:07:41,680 --> 00:07:45,120 Speaker 1: as an employee. I think it's a really good question, Tracy, 132 00:07:45,200 --> 00:07:49,080 Speaker 1: and and one that probably varies based on the position. 133 00:07:49,360 --> 00:07:53,040 Speaker 1: I think that at certain kind of higher end management 134 00:07:53,120 --> 00:07:56,760 Speaker 1: level positions it is very glamorous and interacting with presidents 135 00:07:56,760 --> 00:07:59,800 Speaker 1: and movie stars and um, you know, kind of living 136 00:08:00,320 --> 00:08:04,320 Speaker 1: this billionaire lifestyle without being a billionaire. I think that 137 00:08:04,400 --> 00:08:06,960 Speaker 1: some of the back of the house type laborer you know, 138 00:08:07,360 --> 00:08:10,600 Speaker 1: um more more entry level. It's just really hard work. 139 00:08:11,000 --> 00:08:14,840 Speaker 1: And so a steward, for example, is a job we 140 00:08:14,880 --> 00:08:18,080 Speaker 1: have at every hotel, and they they clean all the dishes, 141 00:08:18,320 --> 00:08:21,160 Speaker 1: and they clean all the equipment and make sure that 142 00:08:21,240 --> 00:08:24,960 Speaker 1: it's ready to go, and so very labor intensive, very manual. 143 00:08:25,760 --> 00:08:29,680 Speaker 1: Obviously housekeeping, which I know we'll get into later, is 144 00:08:29,680 --> 00:08:33,280 Speaker 1: a very again labor intensive, just hard job, right. I mean, 145 00:08:33,880 --> 00:08:37,400 Speaker 1: a lot of our housekeepers are cleaning twelve to fifteen 146 00:08:38,240 --> 00:08:42,200 Speaker 1: rooms a day, and if if it's kind of a 147 00:08:42,240 --> 00:08:44,719 Speaker 1: stay over service, in other words, you're not checking out, 148 00:08:44,760 --> 00:08:46,240 Speaker 1: but you're just you're kind of in the middle of 149 00:08:46,280 --> 00:08:48,400 Speaker 1: your stay. Will come in and make the bed and 150 00:08:48,440 --> 00:08:53,120 Speaker 1: give you clean towels, etcetera, etcetera, and and and so 151 00:08:53,160 --> 00:08:56,200 Speaker 1: in those cases, sometimes they're doing twenty twenty or more 152 00:08:56,280 --> 00:08:58,720 Speaker 1: rooms a day, right, So it's a really hard job. 153 00:08:58,800 --> 00:09:03,559 Speaker 1: And amorous and kind of posh would not be adjectives 154 00:09:03,559 --> 00:09:05,960 Speaker 1: to describe it, you know. I like the way you 155 00:09:06,000 --> 00:09:09,200 Speaker 1: put that living the billionaire lifestyle temporary. I've never really 156 00:09:09,240 --> 00:09:11,360 Speaker 1: thought about her articulated that way, but now that I 157 00:09:11,360 --> 00:09:13,280 Speaker 1: think about it, I guess that is exactly what sort 158 00:09:13,280 --> 00:09:16,920 Speaker 1: of fun about staying in a nice hotel is just 159 00:09:16,960 --> 00:09:19,840 Speaker 1: like that brief. It's a very different life, and I 160 00:09:19,880 --> 00:09:22,160 Speaker 1: think living in the brief foray in to the billionaire 161 00:09:22,160 --> 00:09:23,920 Speaker 1: lifestyles the way to put it. I don't know if 162 00:09:23,920 --> 00:09:25,800 Speaker 1: I've ever spent a night in an omni, but I've 163 00:09:25,840 --> 00:09:27,760 Speaker 1: been to the Omni and Austin. It is a very 164 00:09:27,840 --> 00:09:31,720 Speaker 1: nice experience. Last question before we move to the more 165 00:09:32,080 --> 00:09:37,160 Speaker 1: temporary conditions, Uh, in normal times, as you know, and 166 00:09:37,280 --> 00:09:39,000 Speaker 1: I guess as the CFO, you're in a good position 167 00:09:39,000 --> 00:09:40,640 Speaker 1: to talk about this. Can you give us like the 168 00:09:40,760 --> 00:09:45,319 Speaker 1: cost breakdown, like how much of the of a hotel's 169 00:09:45,360 --> 00:09:50,840 Speaker 1: costs are labor versus other things like property and so forth? 170 00:09:50,880 --> 00:09:55,480 Speaker 1: Like what is how much of the how much is labor? Yeah, 171 00:09:55,520 --> 00:10:00,280 Speaker 1: a big piece, um, so in round numbers um. In 172 00:10:00,760 --> 00:10:04,839 Speaker 1: nineteen we did about two billion dollars of revenue and 173 00:10:05,120 --> 00:10:09,640 Speaker 1: our labor cost was about seven fifty million. So you know, 174 00:10:09,640 --> 00:10:11,319 Speaker 1: it's it's kind of like you can do everything right, 175 00:10:11,360 --> 00:10:13,600 Speaker 1: but if if you get the labor part of the 176 00:10:13,640 --> 00:10:17,640 Speaker 1: equation wrong, you're you're going to be wrong. And of 177 00:10:17,720 --> 00:10:22,600 Speaker 1: that seven fifty million of salaries and wages, it was 178 00:10:22,640 --> 00:10:27,400 Speaker 1: it's pretty consistently twenty between kind of the management wages 179 00:10:27,600 --> 00:10:31,440 Speaker 1: and then the hourly workforce. And so rough math is 180 00:10:32,120 --> 00:10:36,040 Speaker 1: we have five six hundred million dollars of hourly pre 181 00:10:36,160 --> 00:10:40,160 Speaker 1: COVID right in twenty nineteen, and you're right from my seat, 182 00:10:40,240 --> 00:10:46,240 Speaker 1: I sit there and say, goodness, gracious, ten hourly wage 183 00:10:46,240 --> 00:10:49,200 Speaker 1: increases on a six hundred million dollar number starts to 184 00:10:49,200 --> 00:10:53,040 Speaker 1: get pretty The numbers get pretty big pretty quick, you know. 185 00:10:53,320 --> 00:10:55,280 Speaker 1: But but but it's not even just the hourly. We're 186 00:10:55,280 --> 00:10:58,760 Speaker 1: seeing the wage pressure everywhere. So let's talk about the 187 00:10:58,840 --> 00:11:01,200 Speaker 1: labor shortage then. And one of the things I've been 188 00:11:01,200 --> 00:11:04,600 Speaker 1: wondering is maybe you could break it down for us 189 00:11:04,760 --> 00:11:08,000 Speaker 1: by factors driving it, because I was just thinking about 190 00:11:08,080 --> 00:11:14,680 Speaker 1: your housekeeping um example, and I imagine that cleaning probably 191 00:11:14,800 --> 00:11:18,000 Speaker 1: became even more labor intensive over the past year or 192 00:11:18,000 --> 00:11:22,199 Speaker 1: so given concerns over COVID. So I'm curious how much 193 00:11:22,200 --> 00:11:25,520 Speaker 1: of the labor shortage is driven by the need for 194 00:11:25,720 --> 00:11:29,160 Speaker 1: more work versus how much is driven by an actual 195 00:11:29,160 --> 00:11:33,440 Speaker 1: supply issue. I guess it's classic demand versus supply, right, Yeah, 196 00:11:33,440 --> 00:11:36,760 Speaker 1: I know, it's certainly can be a supply issue, Tracy. 197 00:11:36,880 --> 00:11:40,600 Speaker 1: And and interestingly, and we're not the only hotel company 198 00:11:40,600 --> 00:11:43,360 Speaker 1: that has done this, but but in large measure, we 199 00:11:43,400 --> 00:11:46,520 Speaker 1: have found people don't want someone else in the room 200 00:11:46,600 --> 00:11:50,520 Speaker 1: during COVID um and so it's it's allowed us. And 201 00:11:50,640 --> 00:11:53,320 Speaker 1: like I said, that many other hotel brands to to 202 00:11:53,400 --> 00:11:56,720 Speaker 1: really go in the opposite direction of Hey, we will 203 00:11:56,720 --> 00:12:00,200 Speaker 1: provide housekeeping services if you want it, but otherwise eyes 204 00:12:00,800 --> 00:12:02,640 Speaker 1: we are going to assume that you don't want it. 205 00:12:03,360 --> 00:12:08,120 Speaker 1: And and that has been um a blessing in some 206 00:12:08,200 --> 00:12:11,040 Speaker 1: ways because we have been so short staffed. But in 207 00:12:11,080 --> 00:12:14,040 Speaker 1: a lot of our hotels now over the summer months, 208 00:12:14,080 --> 00:12:19,040 Speaker 1: you know, we're running rates that are up versus nine 209 00:12:19,920 --> 00:12:21,959 Speaker 1: And then you get into kind of the operational value 210 00:12:21,960 --> 00:12:24,800 Speaker 1: proposition of what am I really getting from my for 211 00:12:24,960 --> 00:12:28,480 Speaker 1: my a night and for us we want to be 212 00:12:28,480 --> 00:12:31,439 Speaker 1: able to differentiate ourselves and give you a great experience 213 00:12:31,520 --> 00:12:33,520 Speaker 1: we can get, you know, and so so. But it's 214 00:12:33,520 --> 00:12:36,920 Speaker 1: truly a kind of a supply problem. And what we're 215 00:12:36,920 --> 00:12:40,080 Speaker 1: seeing is as the demand for labor increases, there's just 216 00:12:40,679 --> 00:12:58,840 Speaker 1: this supplies is not there. Can you just talk a 217 00:12:58,880 --> 00:13:03,719 Speaker 1: little bit about the experience of going from twenty workforce 218 00:13:03,800 --> 00:13:08,280 Speaker 1: around twenty plus thousand, eight hundred. So we had the crisis, 219 00:13:08,440 --> 00:13:11,320 Speaker 1: we had the cute shock when basically everything shut down, 220 00:13:11,720 --> 00:13:15,760 Speaker 1: and we know that numerous services based companies had to 221 00:13:16,880 --> 00:13:21,040 Speaker 1: dramatically reduce their workforce and they received some of them 222 00:13:21,160 --> 00:13:24,240 Speaker 1: received PPP money and then the people who got laid 223 00:13:24,240 --> 00:13:27,800 Speaker 1: off were given expanded unemployment insurance. Can you just talk 224 00:13:27,800 --> 00:13:30,400 Speaker 1: a little bit about how that worked at OMNI, Like 225 00:13:30,440 --> 00:13:32,720 Speaker 1: what were the sort of like basics of how government 226 00:13:32,800 --> 00:13:36,400 Speaker 1: aid and the decision making work. And you know, one 227 00:13:36,440 --> 00:13:37,960 Speaker 1: thing I'm curious about is, like, you know, if you 228 00:13:37,960 --> 00:13:40,760 Speaker 1: could talk like did you keep track of in contact 229 00:13:40,800 --> 00:13:43,800 Speaker 1: with the workers who left or with the layoffs so 230 00:13:43,840 --> 00:13:46,280 Speaker 1: that you know, thinking about reopening, just like talk about 231 00:13:46,320 --> 00:13:50,720 Speaker 1: like how that whole experience went down. Yeah, I still 232 00:13:50,720 --> 00:13:53,600 Speaker 1: have nightmares about it, I think, but um, you know, 233 00:13:53,920 --> 00:13:57,360 Speaker 1: it was really tough, and you know, when it started, 234 00:13:57,880 --> 00:14:01,600 Speaker 1: we had a lot of conversation around how do we 235 00:14:01,679 --> 00:14:05,480 Speaker 1: just kind of keep what we have right in Stars 236 00:14:05,520 --> 00:14:09,680 Speaker 1: and some of these other airborne illness shocks, It's it's 237 00:14:09,679 --> 00:14:13,840 Speaker 1: been a ninety day short term deal. That's that bounces 238 00:14:13,880 --> 00:14:16,400 Speaker 1: back pretty quickly. And you know, at the time, you're 239 00:14:16,400 --> 00:14:18,319 Speaker 1: sitting there, well, is this gonna be a ninety day thing? 240 00:14:18,360 --> 00:14:19,760 Speaker 1: And if so, we want to hold on as main 241 00:14:19,880 --> 00:14:21,440 Speaker 1: art workers as we can, or is this going to 242 00:14:21,520 --> 00:14:24,120 Speaker 1: be a a year long thing? And I don't think 243 00:14:24,120 --> 00:14:27,280 Speaker 1: anybody thought really that in our world at least, that 244 00:14:27,320 --> 00:14:28,960 Speaker 1: it was going to still be going on here eighteen 245 00:14:28,960 --> 00:14:33,600 Speaker 1: months later. And so we're sitting there and we're operationally 246 00:14:33,680 --> 00:14:37,040 Speaker 1: kind of pre capex pre debt service. We were losing 247 00:14:37,240 --> 00:14:39,640 Speaker 1: and kind of burning about a million dollars a day 248 00:14:39,960 --> 00:14:44,360 Speaker 1: just operationally um as occupancies dropping and and and so 249 00:14:44,400 --> 00:14:46,920 Speaker 1: then then you kind of get into the question of, okay, 250 00:14:47,080 --> 00:14:50,400 Speaker 1: well we have all these we have this operational cash burn, 251 00:14:50,440 --> 00:14:53,680 Speaker 1: we have capital commitments that are kind of mid midflight, 252 00:14:53,840 --> 00:14:56,000 Speaker 1: and we have dead service. And then it becomes a 253 00:14:56,000 --> 00:14:58,600 Speaker 1: matter of what do we need to do to right 254 00:14:58,680 --> 00:15:02,560 Speaker 1: size our cost structure. Maybe not to the extreme, you know, 255 00:15:02,600 --> 00:15:06,360 Speaker 1: but let's make some kind of prudent decisions and again 256 00:15:06,440 --> 00:15:09,000 Speaker 1: try to hold our core together. We tried to take 257 00:15:09,000 --> 00:15:12,160 Speaker 1: as thoughtful as thoughtful of an approach as we could. 258 00:15:12,400 --> 00:15:16,000 Speaker 1: Right obviously it's it's kind of a crisis mode and 259 00:15:16,000 --> 00:15:19,040 Speaker 1: and and everybody's going a thousand miles an hour um. 260 00:15:19,080 --> 00:15:21,800 Speaker 1: But but we really tried to maintain the leadership ranks 261 00:15:21,840 --> 00:15:25,320 Speaker 1: at all of our hotels. And after we kind of 262 00:15:25,960 --> 00:15:28,800 Speaker 1: hit equilibrium, I guess of saying, Okay, we feel like 263 00:15:28,840 --> 00:15:32,240 Speaker 1: we have right size the organization. Then it's okay, where 264 00:15:32,240 --> 00:15:34,720 Speaker 1: do we need to add back and what are right decisions? 265 00:15:34,880 --> 00:15:36,840 Speaker 1: And kind of the magic word at the time, as 266 00:15:36,920 --> 00:15:40,960 Speaker 1: y'all will remember, was furlow right we're not we're not 267 00:15:41,120 --> 00:15:44,080 Speaker 1: terminating these people. This is just a temporary furlow. And 268 00:15:44,080 --> 00:15:46,320 Speaker 1: and and so to answer your question, Joe, yeah, our 269 00:15:46,400 --> 00:15:48,840 Speaker 1: hotel and our our hotels and our hotel teams were 270 00:15:48,920 --> 00:15:51,560 Speaker 1: keeping in touch with all these employees and still are 271 00:15:51,600 --> 00:15:53,800 Speaker 1: in many cases. You know. So this is a temporary 272 00:15:53,800 --> 00:15:56,320 Speaker 1: furlow in nature, and we'd love to bring you back 273 00:15:56,320 --> 00:15:59,000 Speaker 1: as soon as really the market conditions allow for it. 274 00:15:59,720 --> 00:16:02,320 Speaker 1: And but even then, we we made investments to bring 275 00:16:02,320 --> 00:16:06,480 Speaker 1: back kind of engineers and um housekeepers to kind of 276 00:16:06,520 --> 00:16:09,720 Speaker 1: do what was right for the asset, which and for 277 00:16:09,760 --> 00:16:14,240 Speaker 1: the business fundamentally, you know, repair all the broken shades 278 00:16:14,280 --> 00:16:17,040 Speaker 1: and blinds and make sure all the light bulbs are 279 00:16:17,120 --> 00:16:20,120 Speaker 1: changed and clean to kind of do deep cleanings on 280 00:16:20,120 --> 00:16:23,080 Speaker 1: on all the rooms, and you know, in anticipation of 281 00:16:23,160 --> 00:16:26,920 Speaker 1: demand coming roaring back, and um sadly in some markets, 282 00:16:27,160 --> 00:16:29,960 Speaker 1: you know, we did those deep cleanings and and the 283 00:16:30,000 --> 00:16:31,960 Speaker 1: sheets of accumulated dust on them, and we're gonna have 284 00:16:31,960 --> 00:16:34,520 Speaker 1: to do the deep cleaning again because just because the 285 00:16:34,520 --> 00:16:37,560 Speaker 1: market is so it's so anemic. But it was a 286 00:16:37,640 --> 00:16:40,600 Speaker 1: very very difficult time and uh, you know, a lot 287 00:16:40,640 --> 00:16:43,560 Speaker 1: of hard decisions, a lot of hard conversations. I do 288 00:16:43,680 --> 00:16:48,040 Speaker 1: think that we treat our people better than most. It's 289 00:16:48,080 --> 00:16:50,720 Speaker 1: always kind of what's the measuring stick, right in terms 290 00:16:50,720 --> 00:16:54,520 Speaker 1: of what we kind of paid them on their way 291 00:16:54,520 --> 00:16:57,120 Speaker 1: out the door with for for their furloughs, And I 292 00:16:57,160 --> 00:17:01,480 Speaker 1: think that has helped us bring people back. I'm more quickly. Uh. 293 00:17:01,520 --> 00:17:04,920 Speaker 1: And you know, as a small, relatively small hotel chain, 294 00:17:06,080 --> 00:17:08,919 Speaker 1: we say, you know, we can't out Marryott Marriott. Um, 295 00:17:09,040 --> 00:17:11,720 Speaker 1: so what what can we do differently? And we always 296 00:17:11,760 --> 00:17:14,560 Speaker 1: say we can know our people. You know, Marryott, you're 297 00:17:14,560 --> 00:17:16,159 Speaker 1: just a number in omni We can know you, we 298 00:17:16,200 --> 00:17:18,679 Speaker 1: can help you chart a career path. And uh. And 299 00:17:18,720 --> 00:17:20,959 Speaker 1: I think that that culture and kind of that family 300 00:17:21,040 --> 00:17:24,800 Speaker 1: or family orientation has helped us, whether this whether the 301 00:17:24,880 --> 00:17:29,080 Speaker 1: labor storm again better than most, although we are still 302 00:17:29,119 --> 00:17:33,560 Speaker 1: being dramatically impacted by So can I just ask, can 303 00:17:33,600 --> 00:17:37,480 Speaker 1: you give us a sort of rough idea of how 304 00:17:37,680 --> 00:17:41,400 Speaker 1: much of your workforce was furloughed um during the worst 305 00:17:41,440 --> 00:17:44,600 Speaker 1: of COVID And then I'm just curious if you know, well, 306 00:17:44,800 --> 00:17:48,119 Speaker 1: I'm wondering what the conversations were like. Uh. You know, 307 00:17:48,119 --> 00:17:52,520 Speaker 1: when you're telling someone we're not letting you go, We're 308 00:17:52,520 --> 00:17:55,520 Speaker 1: furloughing you temporarily, and you know, we hope this passes 309 00:17:55,560 --> 00:17:59,040 Speaker 1: as quickly as possible. What the response generally is. And 310 00:17:59,080 --> 00:18:02,600 Speaker 1: then I'm also wondering if you know what people went 311 00:18:02,640 --> 00:18:06,639 Speaker 1: away and did for that period of time. Did workers 312 00:18:06,880 --> 00:18:10,359 Speaker 1: try to get alternate jobs or did they rely on 313 00:18:10,880 --> 00:18:14,880 Speaker 1: you know, the stimulus payments and the extra unemployment insurance. 314 00:18:15,920 --> 00:18:17,359 Speaker 1: I think the first question was kind of what were 315 00:18:17,400 --> 00:18:21,720 Speaker 1: the conversations like? And you know, people always talk about 316 00:18:21,720 --> 00:18:24,600 Speaker 1: the fog of war. I honestly I had several of 317 00:18:24,600 --> 00:18:28,480 Speaker 1: those conversations, UM, and and people are just in shock. 318 00:18:28,760 --> 00:18:31,560 Speaker 1: The person having the conversation since shocked, the person kind 319 00:18:31,560 --> 00:18:35,840 Speaker 1: of receiving the conversations in shock at the trough, I guess, 320 00:18:35,960 --> 00:18:38,320 Speaker 1: or at the peak, whatever you want to say. We 321 00:18:38,359 --> 00:18:41,640 Speaker 1: had about a ninetent reduction in our workforce, UM, so 322 00:18:41,800 --> 00:18:46,760 Speaker 1: roughly twenty eight hundred. We're about ten thousand right now. 323 00:18:47,200 --> 00:18:52,560 Speaker 1: And and and so you know, it's coming back relatively quickly. UM. 324 00:18:52,600 --> 00:18:55,240 Speaker 1: In terms of what people did, it really really varied. 325 00:18:55,640 --> 00:18:58,080 Speaker 1: You know, again, we had conversations of is it better 326 00:18:58,080 --> 00:19:00,879 Speaker 1: to keep these people on payroll and and you know, 327 00:19:00,920 --> 00:19:04,040 Speaker 1: pay them kind of a minimum wage and or you know, 328 00:19:04,160 --> 00:19:08,520 Speaker 1: whatever their wages and uh, and ultimately we decided that 329 00:19:08,680 --> 00:19:12,199 Speaker 1: in every single state they were better off receiving the 330 00:19:12,320 --> 00:19:15,600 Speaker 1: enhanced unemployment because at the time, I believe it was 331 00:19:15,640 --> 00:19:18,359 Speaker 1: an extra h I think it was six hundred dollars 332 00:19:18,359 --> 00:19:21,760 Speaker 1: a week kind of from a federal subsidy, and then 333 00:19:21,800 --> 00:19:24,199 Speaker 1: you have the state on top of that. So you know, 334 00:19:24,320 --> 00:19:27,040 Speaker 1: right now, I think that with the three dollars a 335 00:19:27,040 --> 00:19:29,600 Speaker 1: week in the states that have not kind of opted out, 336 00:19:30,200 --> 00:19:32,080 Speaker 1: I think it works out depending on the state and 337 00:19:32,160 --> 00:19:33,760 Speaker 1: kind of what they fund, it works out it's about 338 00:19:33,760 --> 00:19:36,280 Speaker 1: fourteen to fifteen dollars an hour, and so at the 339 00:19:36,280 --> 00:19:40,280 Speaker 1: six hundred dollars a week, you know, it was a 340 00:19:40,359 --> 00:19:44,840 Speaker 1: twenty plus dollar an hour job in effect. And and 341 00:19:44,880 --> 00:19:47,120 Speaker 1: so I think a lot of people went on unemployment. 342 00:19:47,160 --> 00:19:50,240 Speaker 1: And I know for myself and and maybe fore all, 343 00:19:50,280 --> 00:19:52,840 Speaker 1: but COVID has been a very introspective time of what 344 00:19:52,880 --> 00:19:55,199 Speaker 1: am I doing? Why am I doing it? And I 345 00:19:55,240 --> 00:19:57,720 Speaker 1: think a lot of people when when they're receiving kind 346 00:19:57,760 --> 00:20:00,800 Speaker 1: of maybe in some cases more than they were making 347 00:20:01,480 --> 00:20:05,640 Speaker 1: working in some of these really hard jobs on enhance unemployment, 348 00:20:06,480 --> 00:20:09,880 Speaker 1: that a lot of that introspection takes place of wow, well, 349 00:20:09,880 --> 00:20:12,399 Speaker 1: maybe I don't have to do that job. You know, 350 00:20:12,440 --> 00:20:15,119 Speaker 1: the anecdotes that I've heard and kind of just talking 351 00:20:15,160 --> 00:20:19,320 Speaker 1: to people is that people enjoy work. There's there's a 352 00:20:19,400 --> 00:20:22,600 Speaker 1: dignity and work, and I think we were created to work. 353 00:20:22,680 --> 00:20:25,080 Speaker 1: And so people, for the most part have gone out 354 00:20:25,080 --> 00:20:28,120 Speaker 1: and gotten jobs. And and the kind of the gig 355 00:20:28,160 --> 00:20:32,200 Speaker 1: economy and the the instat cards of the world are 356 00:20:32,960 --> 00:20:37,320 Speaker 1: allowing people to work when they want and make the 357 00:20:37,359 --> 00:20:39,439 Speaker 1: same or better way just and they were making in 358 00:20:39,480 --> 00:20:42,520 Speaker 1: our business. And you know, and we're competing with the 359 00:20:42,560 --> 00:20:45,119 Speaker 1: Amazons and Walmarts and targets of the world for talent. 360 00:20:46,040 --> 00:20:48,639 Speaker 1: And so whereas hospitality we lost a lot of jobs, 361 00:20:49,800 --> 00:20:52,439 Speaker 1: a lot of the retail like Target for example, they 362 00:20:52,520 --> 00:20:54,440 Speaker 1: added jobs. I don't know if you all have been 363 00:20:54,480 --> 00:20:57,600 Speaker 1: in a Target recently, but there's somebody wiping down carts, 364 00:20:58,400 --> 00:21:02,640 Speaker 1: say in sanitizing that that job didn't exist pre COVID, 365 00:21:02,920 --> 00:21:05,760 Speaker 1: and now all of a sudden, that's a fifteen hour job. 366 00:21:06,080 --> 00:21:10,960 Speaker 1: And so you can make fifteen an hour cleaning fifteen 367 00:21:11,040 --> 00:21:15,639 Speaker 1: rooms today, where you can make fifteen an hour cleaning cards. 368 00:21:15,680 --> 00:21:17,879 Speaker 1: And you know, I think that it starts to become 369 00:21:18,400 --> 00:21:21,439 Speaker 1: pretty evident as to why it is so hard for 370 00:21:21,440 --> 00:21:24,520 Speaker 1: the hospitality in the stry to bring people back to work. 371 00:21:24,960 --> 00:21:27,600 Speaker 1: So let's talk about that further. What you know, we've 372 00:21:27,600 --> 00:21:31,639 Speaker 1: been talking sort of big picture about tight labor markets 373 00:21:31,720 --> 00:21:34,840 Speaker 1: or the difficulty of hiring or the constraints of tight labor. 374 00:21:35,200 --> 00:21:37,760 Speaker 1: Could you put some numbers on that, Like what is 375 00:21:37,840 --> 00:21:42,200 Speaker 1: say turnover or quits or turnover? Look like turn these days? 376 00:21:42,680 --> 00:21:44,359 Speaker 1: Is there a way to compare say, like, all right, 377 00:21:44,359 --> 00:21:48,360 Speaker 1: if you post a help wanted, uh notice on say 378 00:21:48,359 --> 00:21:51,320 Speaker 1: the website or somewhere else, like how many applications you 379 00:21:51,320 --> 00:21:53,280 Speaker 1: would have gotten a couple of years ago for that 380 00:21:53,440 --> 00:21:55,680 Speaker 1: versus now, Like can you just sort of like quantify 381 00:21:55,800 --> 00:21:59,920 Speaker 1: basically what we're talking about with the tight labor markets? Yeah, 382 00:22:00,040 --> 00:22:03,120 Speaker 1: uh uh, this is a pretty interesting kind of snapshot. 383 00:22:03,240 --> 00:22:06,720 Speaker 1: And it's on February one, we had two hundred open 384 00:22:06,760 --> 00:22:10,280 Speaker 1: positions in the company. Right now we have twenty hundred 385 00:22:10,320 --> 00:22:14,359 Speaker 1: open positions, and in the intervening five months we have 386 00:22:14,480 --> 00:22:18,879 Speaker 1: hired over five thousand people. So you can kind of 387 00:22:19,200 --> 00:22:20,919 Speaker 1: you know, you do the math and it's kind of 388 00:22:20,920 --> 00:22:24,160 Speaker 1: hard to add up, right, but how many uh job 389 00:22:24,200 --> 00:22:28,960 Speaker 1: openings would you have had, say, like you know, julyen like, 390 00:22:29,000 --> 00:22:31,639 Speaker 1: I'm totally normal time the way I've been looking at it, 391 00:22:31,720 --> 00:22:35,320 Speaker 1: Joe is in in twenty nineteen, we hired about four 392 00:22:35,359 --> 00:22:38,040 Speaker 1: thousand people in the over the course of the year 393 00:22:38,160 --> 00:22:41,359 Speaker 1: so to replace turnover due to seasonality at some of 394 00:22:41,359 --> 00:22:42,879 Speaker 1: our resorts. It's hard to kind of look at a 395 00:22:42,920 --> 00:22:45,719 Speaker 1: snapshot in time. Um, but but we hired about four 396 00:22:45,760 --> 00:22:49,920 Speaker 1: thousand people in twenty nineteen, and in six months of 397 00:22:49,960 --> 00:22:53,520 Speaker 1: twenty one, we've hired five thousand. But but quits and 398 00:22:53,520 --> 00:22:55,960 Speaker 1: and turn is way up. And at some level, I 399 00:22:56,000 --> 00:22:58,720 Speaker 1: don't even know how to quantify it because in many 400 00:22:58,760 --> 00:23:02,040 Speaker 1: cases not in many cases. In some cases we are 401 00:23:02,680 --> 00:23:06,439 Speaker 1: hiring people and they show up for a day and 402 00:23:06,440 --> 00:23:09,720 Speaker 1: then they don't show up again. Obviously that's a quit, 403 00:23:10,080 --> 00:23:11,920 Speaker 1: you know, But but they kind of get into it 404 00:23:11,920 --> 00:23:13,920 Speaker 1: and they're like, oh, man, I do not like this job. 405 00:23:14,680 --> 00:23:17,000 Speaker 1: And or and we've had a lot of conversations around this, 406 00:23:17,280 --> 00:23:20,399 Speaker 1: I don't like an eight hour shift. I like the 407 00:23:20,400 --> 00:23:22,520 Speaker 1: three or four hour shift. And so we're having a 408 00:23:22,560 --> 00:23:25,760 Speaker 1: lot of conversations around how can we kind of break 409 00:23:25,840 --> 00:23:29,159 Speaker 1: that typical eight hour shift down. And so if you 410 00:23:29,200 --> 00:23:33,000 Speaker 1: want to work from eight to eleven, we can utilize 411 00:23:33,040 --> 00:23:34,639 Speaker 1: you if you want to work from two to five, 412 00:23:34,960 --> 00:23:37,320 Speaker 1: come on, you know. And so I think the breakdown 413 00:23:37,359 --> 00:23:41,040 Speaker 1: of this conventional kind of work week is upon us 414 00:23:41,400 --> 00:23:44,080 Speaker 1: um and tracy to your kind of intro question, has 415 00:23:44,119 --> 00:23:47,560 Speaker 1: behavior changed? In my opinion, that is a secular shift 416 00:23:47,600 --> 00:23:49,600 Speaker 1: that is here to stay. You know, you kind of 417 00:23:49,600 --> 00:23:53,000 Speaker 1: put on top of that the gig economy and with 418 00:23:53,119 --> 00:23:55,960 Speaker 1: Uber or instat card, I can get paid the day 419 00:23:56,000 --> 00:24:00,679 Speaker 1: after I work an omni right now, we have twenty 420 00:24:00,760 --> 00:24:04,080 Speaker 1: six pay periods in a year, and so you're getting 421 00:24:04,119 --> 00:24:06,439 Speaker 1: paid every other week. And you know, so kind of 422 00:24:06,440 --> 00:24:10,680 Speaker 1: this access to your earnings more quickly and work when 423 00:24:10,720 --> 00:24:13,960 Speaker 1: you want. And I think that is a secular shift 424 00:24:14,000 --> 00:24:17,520 Speaker 1: that's here to stay and the one that we as 425 00:24:17,520 --> 00:24:21,080 Speaker 1: employers really need to be responsive to. Just one other quick, 426 00:24:21,480 --> 00:24:26,160 Speaker 1: uh anecdote. You know, during COVID we started these things 427 00:24:26,200 --> 00:24:29,680 Speaker 1: called virtual job fair. So what what used to happen 428 00:24:29,800 --> 00:24:32,800 Speaker 1: is we'd have a in person job fair and the 429 00:24:32,880 --> 00:24:35,239 Speaker 1: kind of the big meeting room at one of our 430 00:24:35,280 --> 00:24:38,359 Speaker 1: hotels we would we'd kind of reserved for the day 431 00:24:38,440 --> 00:24:43,040 Speaker 1: and flyers and Craigslist and local advertisements and obviously online 432 00:24:43,080 --> 00:24:45,560 Speaker 1: and uh, you know, we're kind of marketing and building 433 00:24:45,600 --> 00:24:47,920 Speaker 1: up this event and then people come and they interview 434 00:24:47,960 --> 00:24:50,720 Speaker 1: with interviewing for a housekeeping job, with the interviewing for 435 00:24:50,760 --> 00:24:53,199 Speaker 1: a front desk job or whatever it is, and they 436 00:24:53,240 --> 00:24:55,159 Speaker 1: kind of meet the hiring manager and go through the 437 00:24:55,200 --> 00:24:58,840 Speaker 1: interview process in person. And we started virtual job fairs 438 00:24:58,880 --> 00:25:02,439 Speaker 1: during COVID and so that's a zoom call and and 439 00:25:02,520 --> 00:25:05,199 Speaker 1: you you log in and we do the same marketing 440 00:25:05,359 --> 00:25:09,719 Speaker 1: right flyering and Craigslist, etcetera to kind of gin up 441 00:25:09,720 --> 00:25:14,080 Speaker 1: interest in this. And sadly, in Austin we had a 442 00:25:14,160 --> 00:25:18,600 Speaker 1: job fair where we had five ish reservations of people 443 00:25:18,640 --> 00:25:21,960 Speaker 1: saying they were going to come, and about seventy five 444 00:25:22,080 --> 00:25:26,280 Speaker 1: people showed up. So you know, you sit there and 445 00:25:26,280 --> 00:25:30,360 Speaker 1: in in. In typical kind of pre codd times, you'd 446 00:25:30,359 --> 00:25:35,639 Speaker 1: have five people come and maybe higher right yield. But 447 00:25:35,680 --> 00:25:38,800 Speaker 1: when you only have seventy five people show up, right, 448 00:25:38,840 --> 00:25:43,040 Speaker 1: I mean, it starts to become again that supply problem 449 00:25:43,080 --> 00:25:46,320 Speaker 1: is more accentuated. So I just want to press you 450 00:25:46,400 --> 00:25:48,120 Speaker 1: a little bit more on this point because it's really 451 00:25:48,160 --> 00:25:51,480 Speaker 1: interesting and I think very important. So you mentioned that 452 00:25:51,640 --> 00:25:54,360 Speaker 1: you as a company are looking at breaking up shifts. 453 00:25:54,560 --> 00:25:58,760 Speaker 1: You're holding virtual job fairs. Is there anything else you're 454 00:25:58,840 --> 00:26:02,440 Speaker 1: doing to tice workers. I mean the obvious one would 455 00:26:02,480 --> 00:26:06,639 Speaker 1: be on wages, right, are you paying more? And then secondly, 456 00:26:07,560 --> 00:26:10,320 Speaker 1: what has been working for you so far? Where have 457 00:26:10,440 --> 00:26:16,120 Speaker 1: you seen the most success in terms of getting people back? Yeah, um, 458 00:26:16,200 --> 00:26:19,639 Speaker 1: what are we doing? We're doing We're trying everything, and 459 00:26:19,640 --> 00:26:22,040 Speaker 1: I think it's kind of it's it's been fun and 460 00:26:22,400 --> 00:26:25,040 Speaker 1: it's kind of a real life science lab, right for 461 00:26:25,119 --> 00:26:27,480 Speaker 1: us to try to try things and what is working. 462 00:26:27,560 --> 00:26:32,119 Speaker 1: And we have been doing things like offering free nights 463 00:26:32,480 --> 00:26:35,399 Speaker 1: to people if they come work for us, and for 464 00:26:35,520 --> 00:26:38,440 Speaker 1: our culinary which I've mentioned earlier is a real challenge. 465 00:26:38,880 --> 00:26:43,040 Speaker 1: We've been buying a set of knives for some of 466 00:26:43,040 --> 00:26:45,840 Speaker 1: the kind of the kitchen workers who join us. We 467 00:26:45,880 --> 00:26:50,760 Speaker 1: are certainly paying more, we are offering trainings, and we've 468 00:26:50,760 --> 00:26:53,320 Speaker 1: had conversations. We've not done anything in this direction yet, 469 00:26:53,520 --> 00:26:55,919 Speaker 1: but around student loans, you know, is there something we 470 00:26:55,960 --> 00:26:57,720 Speaker 1: can do to help people with their student loans if 471 00:26:57,720 --> 00:27:00,919 Speaker 1: they come work for us, And so we're trying a 472 00:27:00,920 --> 00:27:03,640 Speaker 1: lot of different things. Ultimately, at the end of the day, 473 00:27:03,760 --> 00:27:09,040 Speaker 1: wages are probably the number one factor, although I would 474 00:27:09,040 --> 00:27:11,440 Speaker 1: tell you in our HR team would certainly tell you 475 00:27:12,040 --> 00:27:14,479 Speaker 1: that people want more than just a paycheck, and so 476 00:27:14,560 --> 00:27:18,000 Speaker 1: what is the employee value proposition that we can offer? 477 00:27:18,680 --> 00:27:21,600 Speaker 1: And again it gets back to career path and um, 478 00:27:21,680 --> 00:27:24,480 Speaker 1: we can know you, help you develop, get you where 479 00:27:24,520 --> 00:27:28,160 Speaker 1: you want to be, help you become, you know, kind 480 00:27:28,160 --> 00:27:30,840 Speaker 1: of thrive as a person in in kind of in 481 00:27:30,880 --> 00:27:33,720 Speaker 1: a holistic manner. Those are some of the things we're doing. 482 00:27:33,840 --> 00:27:38,000 Speaker 1: I think that it's been very market dependent as to 483 00:27:38,040 --> 00:27:43,159 Speaker 1: where it's been easier or harder to get labor. And so, 484 00:27:43,240 --> 00:27:45,840 Speaker 1: for example, we have a hotel in Hilton Head and 485 00:27:46,160 --> 00:27:50,760 Speaker 1: it has been always a notoriously difficult labor market, largely 486 00:27:50,760 --> 00:27:52,600 Speaker 1: because there's just not a lot a lot of people 487 00:27:52,640 --> 00:27:55,560 Speaker 1: that live in Hilton Head full time. And so historically 488 00:27:55,680 --> 00:27:59,520 Speaker 1: that hotel has relied on J one's and H two 489 00:27:59,560 --> 00:28:02,359 Speaker 1: b s to your work visa programs here in the US. 490 00:28:02,840 --> 00:28:05,560 Speaker 1: And one thing that I've not seen written about, but 491 00:28:05,560 --> 00:28:08,840 Speaker 1: I think that it has really been happening is a 492 00:28:08,880 --> 00:28:11,720 Speaker 1: lot of the work visas have been kind of held 493 00:28:11,800 --> 00:28:15,920 Speaker 1: up in the government just due to the vast quantity 494 00:28:16,000 --> 00:28:18,320 Speaker 1: of them, and so there's there's kind of a backlog 495 00:28:18,359 --> 00:28:21,960 Speaker 1: of these visa approvals and so typically for the summer 496 00:28:22,000 --> 00:28:25,000 Speaker 1: season in Hilton Head, they'll have, you know, a couple 497 00:28:25,119 --> 00:28:29,320 Speaker 1: hundred J one h two B work visa employees show 498 00:28:29,400 --> 00:28:31,400 Speaker 1: up and these people will come back every summer, and 499 00:28:31,480 --> 00:28:33,680 Speaker 1: you know, and so it's not it's a very kind 500 00:28:33,680 --> 00:28:37,960 Speaker 1: of normal thing. And in this summer, those people have 501 00:28:38,000 --> 00:28:40,320 Speaker 1: not been cleared through immigration to be able to come 502 00:28:40,360 --> 00:28:43,360 Speaker 1: here um and work. And so you know, I think 503 00:28:43,400 --> 00:28:46,640 Speaker 1: that in markets like that, we could offer fifty an 504 00:28:46,640 --> 00:28:49,120 Speaker 1: hour for some of our open positions, and there's just 505 00:28:49,160 --> 00:28:53,400 Speaker 1: not even there's not even people that will that are 506 00:28:53,440 --> 00:28:55,480 Speaker 1: able to take that job. Let me ask you a 507 00:28:55,480 --> 00:28:59,240 Speaker 1: really simple question. You have fifty locations and spread out 508 00:28:59,280 --> 00:29:03,280 Speaker 1: throughout the US. I assume that some are in states 509 00:29:03,320 --> 00:29:06,200 Speaker 1: that have already ended there enhanced unemployment and some that 510 00:29:06,240 --> 00:29:09,000 Speaker 1: are continuing. How big of a this has been a 511 00:29:09,000 --> 00:29:10,520 Speaker 1: big source of debate, and I feel like you should 512 00:29:10,560 --> 00:29:13,000 Speaker 1: have some insight into this. How much has it moved 513 00:29:13,000 --> 00:29:16,160 Speaker 1: the needle in terms of ease of hiring workers in 514 00:29:16,240 --> 00:29:20,640 Speaker 1: the states where the expanded UI has already gone away? 515 00:29:21,200 --> 00:29:24,480 Speaker 1: As you guys know, this is the classic debate for 516 00:29:24,680 --> 00:29:29,040 Speaker 1: US several months why aren't people working? And I will 517 00:29:29,040 --> 00:29:31,719 Speaker 1: tell you this in Texas is one of those states. 518 00:29:31,960 --> 00:29:35,160 Speaker 1: Florida is one of those states um that have kind 519 00:29:35,160 --> 00:29:40,280 Speaker 1: of opted out. And when the news broke that Florida 520 00:29:40,640 --> 00:29:46,960 Speaker 1: was opting out, our application kind of increased by about 521 00:29:48,480 --> 00:29:51,680 Speaker 1: well the day that the news broke that. In other words, 522 00:29:52,040 --> 00:29:55,160 Speaker 1: the subsidies is still going for several weeks. And so 523 00:29:55,240 --> 00:29:59,600 Speaker 1: I think it is absolutely a factor that that people 524 00:29:59,640 --> 00:30:03,360 Speaker 1: are not going out looking for jobs because the marginal 525 00:30:03,600 --> 00:30:05,560 Speaker 1: value of going to work for fifteen dollars an hour 526 00:30:05,720 --> 00:30:08,280 Speaker 1: versus being on enhanced unemployment at fifteen dollars an hour, 527 00:30:08,360 --> 00:30:12,080 Speaker 1: it's a really hard value proposition. That being said, I 528 00:30:12,160 --> 00:30:15,120 Speaker 1: think that there are a lot of other dynamics that 529 00:30:15,160 --> 00:30:18,719 Speaker 1: are causing people not to work. I do think that COVID, 530 00:30:18,920 --> 00:30:21,280 Speaker 1: you know, in hospitality, you are on the front lines, 531 00:30:21,680 --> 00:30:24,760 Speaker 1: interfacing with people that are coming in from around the country, 532 00:30:24,840 --> 00:30:27,880 Speaker 1: around the world in some cases, and it is a 533 00:30:28,000 --> 00:30:31,920 Speaker 1: risk oriented job. When it comes to COVID, you know, 534 00:30:31,960 --> 00:30:34,920 Speaker 1: you read about childcare and kind of difficulties with that, 535 00:30:35,040 --> 00:30:37,120 Speaker 1: and I think that is becoming less of an issue, 536 00:30:37,160 --> 00:30:40,560 Speaker 1: although during COVID it was a very real issue. We're 537 00:30:40,560 --> 00:30:43,240 Speaker 1: we're seeing we we are seeing more traction Joe in 538 00:30:43,600 --> 00:30:46,600 Speaker 1: the states that have ended the hands unemployment. The Kentucky 539 00:30:46,640 --> 00:30:48,240 Speaker 1: I think, was one of the states that rolled out 540 00:30:48,520 --> 00:30:51,120 Speaker 1: and we will actually pay you to go back to work. 541 00:30:51,440 --> 00:30:54,800 Speaker 1: And I think that's a pretty creative way for the 542 00:30:54,840 --> 00:30:58,960 Speaker 1: government to really incentivize a lot of this. And we've 543 00:30:59,040 --> 00:31:02,520 Speaker 1: we've done well our hood hell in Kentucky, although it 544 00:31:02,640 --> 00:31:04,960 Speaker 1: is still challenged even there, right And so I think 545 00:31:05,000 --> 00:31:09,560 Speaker 1: fundamentally what I'm seeing is that hospitality jobs are just 546 00:31:09,920 --> 00:31:12,320 Speaker 1: hard jobs. And so I've read of stat I think 547 00:31:12,360 --> 00:31:17,000 Speaker 1: that there's like nine million people currently unemployed. Um and 548 00:31:17,320 --> 00:31:20,160 Speaker 1: I'll I'm scared how many of those people want or 549 00:31:20,320 --> 00:31:23,200 Speaker 1: would be willing to work in a hospitality job. I 550 00:31:23,240 --> 00:31:26,040 Speaker 1: will actually tip my cap to you, Joe, and to 551 00:31:26,120 --> 00:31:30,800 Speaker 1: some of your colleagues at Bloomberg, you know, reading you 552 00:31:30,920 --> 00:31:33,640 Speaker 1: all and your perspective on this has has informed my 553 00:31:33,800 --> 00:31:37,000 Speaker 1: decision making on what we're doing with wages. I think 554 00:31:37,040 --> 00:31:40,040 Speaker 1: if left to my own devices, I might say, well, 555 00:31:40,120 --> 00:31:43,680 Speaker 1: let's just pay the temp company they do an hour 556 00:31:43,800 --> 00:31:46,640 Speaker 1: that they want, because maybe this is a temporary deal 557 00:31:47,200 --> 00:31:51,440 Speaker 1: with enhanced unemployment, and come labor days and labor markets 558 00:31:51,440 --> 00:31:54,720 Speaker 1: gonna be washed with a washed with people. But but 559 00:31:54,840 --> 00:31:57,040 Speaker 1: we've made the conscious decision that instead of paying the 560 00:31:57,040 --> 00:32:00,440 Speaker 1: temp agency twenty five an hour, uh, to kind of 561 00:32:00,480 --> 00:32:04,160 Speaker 1: have the contract worker we want to control and in 562 00:32:04,200 --> 00:32:07,680 Speaker 1: effect have the quality control of employing our own labor 563 00:32:08,080 --> 00:32:11,320 Speaker 1: and in some cases paying eighteen twenty bucks an hour 564 00:32:11,800 --> 00:32:14,120 Speaker 1: for some of these entry level jobs that may have 565 00:32:14,160 --> 00:32:17,040 Speaker 1: been at twelve, fourteen, sixteen dollars an hour. Pretty good. 566 00:32:33,920 --> 00:32:35,680 Speaker 1: So there is one thing I wanted to ask you, 567 00:32:35,760 --> 00:32:38,920 Speaker 1: And this has also become part of the you know, 568 00:32:39,720 --> 00:32:43,160 Speaker 1: motive conversation that's going on in the States. As far 569 00:32:43,200 --> 00:32:45,080 Speaker 1: as I can tell, it's also part of like a 570 00:32:45,200 --> 00:32:49,440 Speaker 1: joke that goes around, which is that you know, workers 571 00:32:49,440 --> 00:32:52,120 Speaker 1: in manual jobs are told that they're going to get 572 00:32:52,120 --> 00:32:55,280 Speaker 1: replaced by robots all the time, and then suddenly there's 573 00:32:55,280 --> 00:32:59,200 Speaker 1: a labor shortage and the companies want them back. So 574 00:32:59,520 --> 00:33:01,760 Speaker 1: I guess just curious on your take on the on 575 00:33:01,800 --> 00:33:05,520 Speaker 1: the automation issue. Is the experience of COVID and the 576 00:33:05,600 --> 00:33:09,720 Speaker 1: labor shortage going to be something that pushes more companies 577 00:33:09,800 --> 00:33:13,960 Speaker 1: to find different ways of automating jobs um so as 578 00:33:13,960 --> 00:33:16,480 Speaker 1: to avoid this in the future. Or has it sort 579 00:33:16,480 --> 00:33:21,960 Speaker 1: of shown the importance of having human labor. Yeah? Wow, 580 00:33:22,600 --> 00:33:25,000 Speaker 1: For us, we are a people business. And we are 581 00:33:25,040 --> 00:33:27,880 Speaker 1: always going to be a people business for us, kind 582 00:33:27,880 --> 00:33:31,000 Speaker 1: of the human touch, and when you check into a 583 00:33:31,040 --> 00:33:35,280 Speaker 1: hotel and you're greeted by a real person smiling, saying 584 00:33:35,320 --> 00:33:39,200 Speaker 1: welcome to the omni, we think that's fundamentally different experience 585 00:33:39,240 --> 00:33:45,120 Speaker 1: than a chaosk However, I think that what covid is 586 00:33:45,120 --> 00:33:48,880 Speaker 1: is doing and what is happening with lower end wages 587 00:33:48,960 --> 00:33:51,840 Speaker 1: and the twenty plus percent wage growth that we're seeing, 588 00:33:52,600 --> 00:33:56,640 Speaker 1: it's going to make the business case for automation much 589 00:33:56,680 --> 00:34:01,200 Speaker 1: more compelling. And so if you're paying somebody twelve dollars 590 00:34:01,240 --> 00:34:04,800 Speaker 1: an hour and you amortize the cost of a bought 591 00:34:05,080 --> 00:34:08,319 Speaker 1: for example, at a dollar fifty or two dollars an hour, 592 00:34:08,600 --> 00:34:12,480 Speaker 1: you know that's an okay return when you factor in 593 00:34:12,520 --> 00:34:15,400 Speaker 1: all the programming, development and everything else in R and 594 00:34:15,480 --> 00:34:18,120 Speaker 1: D in effect to make that work. But the value 595 00:34:18,120 --> 00:34:20,879 Speaker 1: proposition gets a lot better when you're paying somebody twenty 596 00:34:21,160 --> 00:34:23,480 Speaker 1: an hour, you know. So, so I think that yes, 597 00:34:23,520 --> 00:34:26,400 Speaker 1: it's going to accelerate it, particularly in things like accounting 598 00:34:26,880 --> 00:34:29,920 Speaker 1: in the back of the kind of back office, whether 599 00:34:29,960 --> 00:34:35,319 Speaker 1: that's hospitality or auto dealerships or you guys were talking 600 00:34:35,360 --> 00:34:37,440 Speaker 1: about some things on odd lots that I don't even 601 00:34:37,520 --> 00:34:41,000 Speaker 1: understand that with Defy Defy and cryptocurrency and like, but 602 00:34:41,040 --> 00:34:42,479 Speaker 1: you know, I think I think that what you're gonna 603 00:34:42,480 --> 00:34:48,279 Speaker 1: see across every industry is kind of more automation and 604 00:34:48,400 --> 00:34:52,680 Speaker 1: streamlining in the back of the back office, and companies 605 00:34:52,719 --> 00:34:56,520 Speaker 1: are gonna be making different strategic decisions on kind of 606 00:34:56,560 --> 00:34:59,120 Speaker 1: guest facing as to how they want to position themselves. 607 00:35:00,200 --> 00:35:03,200 Speaker 1: I'm so glad Tracy asked this because my my head 608 00:35:03,280 --> 00:35:06,279 Speaker 1: was going in the same direction, like and you described it, 609 00:35:06,360 --> 00:35:10,560 Speaker 1: like hotels, Many of these businesses are like they're human businesses, 610 00:35:10,600 --> 00:35:12,800 Speaker 1: and even you know, for a long time, like there's 611 00:35:12,840 --> 00:35:15,879 Speaker 1: not much productivity growth in a hotel, like the same 612 00:35:15,880 --> 00:35:18,759 Speaker 1: way you might get from say, like manufacturing, but our 613 00:35:18,880 --> 00:35:23,799 Speaker 1: omni hotels in someone sense more productive, uh than they were. Like, 614 00:35:23,880 --> 00:35:28,240 Speaker 1: how have you learned to make do with resource constraints 615 00:35:28,320 --> 00:35:31,800 Speaker 1: that you haven't had that you didn't have pre crisis. Yeah, 616 00:35:31,840 --> 00:35:34,960 Speaker 1: it is incredible how efficient we are right now. And 617 00:35:35,120 --> 00:35:38,440 Speaker 1: and we we had a kind of a planning session 618 00:35:39,080 --> 00:35:41,600 Speaker 1: about a month ago, and we really had to group 619 00:35:41,880 --> 00:35:47,760 Speaker 1: these efficiencies into sustainable or unsustainable efficiencies. And in many cases, 620 00:35:48,560 --> 00:35:52,920 Speaker 1: the efficiencies that we're seeing are unsustainable, but in some 621 00:35:52,960 --> 00:35:56,680 Speaker 1: cases they're not. And so you know, productivity gains of 622 00:35:56,920 --> 00:36:01,280 Speaker 1: like I mentioned earlier, not cleaning someone's room, that's enormous 623 00:36:01,360 --> 00:36:05,040 Speaker 1: productivity gains uh And and the question then becomes, well, 624 00:36:05,040 --> 00:36:08,600 Speaker 1: what does the market start to demand in terms of services, 625 00:36:08,640 --> 00:36:11,319 Speaker 1: And so we've had conversations around Okay, well, you know, 626 00:36:11,400 --> 00:36:13,680 Speaker 1: a big word that you'll hear in the hotel industry 627 00:36:13,680 --> 00:36:17,080 Speaker 1: has cost per occupied room um and and it's really 628 00:36:17,160 --> 00:36:19,960 Speaker 1: just all the direct costs that go into you staying 629 00:36:20,840 --> 00:36:24,360 Speaker 1: in a room. So obviously you have the cleaning. You know, 630 00:36:24,400 --> 00:36:26,440 Speaker 1: the cost to clean the room. You have the linen 631 00:36:26,520 --> 00:36:28,719 Speaker 1: and the cost to launder. You have the shampoo and 632 00:36:28,760 --> 00:36:31,480 Speaker 1: soaps and everything that people love to take out of 633 00:36:31,480 --> 00:36:34,319 Speaker 1: the rooms, and and and they should write and kind 634 00:36:34,320 --> 00:36:36,920 Speaker 1: of these guests supplies that that we replenish when a 635 00:36:37,000 --> 00:36:40,000 Speaker 1: room turns over. And cost pro occupied room. During COVID, 636 00:36:40,520 --> 00:36:42,799 Speaker 1: even with all the enhanced safety so we we were 637 00:36:42,840 --> 00:36:46,279 Speaker 1: wrapping all of our remote controls and giving people sanitizing 638 00:36:46,320 --> 00:36:49,520 Speaker 1: wipes and masks and everything like that, that only added 639 00:36:49,560 --> 00:36:53,040 Speaker 1: about fifty cents to our cost pre occupied room, and 640 00:36:53,040 --> 00:36:56,840 Speaker 1: and just order magnitude on average, our cost pre occupied 641 00:36:56,920 --> 00:37:00,920 Speaker 1: room is maybe thirty five bucks, you know, kind of 642 00:37:00,920 --> 00:37:04,919 Speaker 1: fully loaded with utilities and everything. My point is that's 643 00:37:04,960 --> 00:37:08,040 Speaker 1: not a lot. And and we are starting to kind 644 00:37:08,080 --> 00:37:11,560 Speaker 1: of roll back some of our COVID. We're not wrapping 645 00:37:11,560 --> 00:37:14,319 Speaker 1: our remote controls and plastic anymore, so we're kind of 646 00:37:14,320 --> 00:37:18,239 Speaker 1: getting away from that. And so our cost projected room 647 00:37:18,280 --> 00:37:21,000 Speaker 1: is gonna drop. And then if you're not cleaning it, 648 00:37:21,560 --> 00:37:24,319 Speaker 1: you're saving a ton of money there. Now again back 649 00:37:24,320 --> 00:37:26,319 Speaker 1: to my point on what do you really want? And 650 00:37:26,320 --> 00:37:28,600 Speaker 1: so we're having conversations around, Okay, if if it costs 651 00:37:28,640 --> 00:37:32,600 Speaker 1: US thirty thirty five bucks on average to clean a room, 652 00:37:32,640 --> 00:37:36,040 Speaker 1: you know, maybe we give our guests choice and so 653 00:37:36,480 --> 00:37:39,920 Speaker 1: would you would you rather have a fifty percent off 654 00:37:39,960 --> 00:37:42,879 Speaker 1: a golf round or or two drinks at the bar 655 00:37:42,960 --> 00:37:46,839 Speaker 1: and free appetizer or a SPA credit whatever it is? 656 00:37:46,920 --> 00:37:49,520 Speaker 1: And you know, and so I think that what may 657 00:37:49,560 --> 00:37:54,600 Speaker 1: happen there is our costs or in effect they return 658 00:37:54,680 --> 00:37:58,680 Speaker 1: to pre COVID levels, but hopefully our customer experience is 659 00:37:58,760 --> 00:38:02,680 Speaker 1: dramatically improved, because some people quite frankly, don't care if 660 00:38:02,680 --> 00:38:05,279 Speaker 1: their rooms ever clean. They don't even care if their 661 00:38:05,320 --> 00:38:09,000 Speaker 1: beds made, and particularly the younger traveler and so you know, 662 00:38:09,040 --> 00:38:11,080 Speaker 1: but they they may be more inclined to say, yeah, 663 00:38:11,520 --> 00:38:13,440 Speaker 1: if you buy me two drinks at the bar and 664 00:38:13,719 --> 00:38:16,000 Speaker 1: a free appetizer. I would love that some of the 665 00:38:16,040 --> 00:38:20,000 Speaker 1: operational efficiencies will be repurposed in other ways and and 666 00:38:20,239 --> 00:38:23,200 Speaker 1: hopefully other value added ways. UM. I think some of 667 00:38:23,239 --> 00:38:26,400 Speaker 1: the efficiencies also, um, when you think about how we 668 00:38:26,560 --> 00:38:31,480 Speaker 1: buy will be maintained, hopefully now offsetting some of the 669 00:38:31,520 --> 00:38:34,279 Speaker 1: commodity price increases that we've seen, etcetera. You know, but 670 00:38:34,800 --> 00:38:40,799 Speaker 1: previously we would buy steak, for example, from fifteen different vendors, uh, 671 00:38:40,920 --> 00:38:44,040 Speaker 1: and each chef and the local market loves that kind 672 00:38:44,040 --> 00:38:46,759 Speaker 1: of their local beef ender. And and we we we've 673 00:38:46,760 --> 00:38:50,160 Speaker 1: really kind of centralized a lot of our procurement and said, okay, well, 674 00:38:50,239 --> 00:38:52,879 Speaker 1: let's let's shrink of fifteen beef enders on it two 675 00:38:53,200 --> 00:38:55,960 Speaker 1: or one, and and so kind of our bargaining power 676 00:38:56,880 --> 00:38:59,879 Speaker 1: with vendors has improved, and I think our pricings imp 677 00:39:00,000 --> 00:39:02,640 Speaker 1: proved now. Like I said, that's being more than offset 678 00:39:02,640 --> 00:39:06,000 Speaker 1: in some cases by commodity pricing, which hopefully is the 679 00:39:06,000 --> 00:39:08,239 Speaker 1: short and it's kind of short term in nature. But 680 00:39:08,239 --> 00:39:10,920 Speaker 1: but that's kind of how I see the future of 681 00:39:10,960 --> 00:39:14,080 Speaker 1: the hotel industry. And I do think that the Marriott's 682 00:39:14,320 --> 00:39:17,440 Speaker 1: and Hilton's of the world are going to make housekeeping 683 00:39:17,520 --> 00:39:20,160 Speaker 1: optional so if you want it, you can pay for it. 684 00:39:20,560 --> 00:39:24,680 Speaker 1: And and kind of embracing the airlines bag fees of 685 00:39:24,960 --> 00:39:28,920 Speaker 1: philosophy particularly and maybe not in the luxury or upper upscale, 686 00:39:28,920 --> 00:39:31,759 Speaker 1: but kind of in the lower chain scales. I think 687 00:39:31,760 --> 00:39:35,600 Speaker 1: that is going to happen, which maybe prepare yourselves and 688 00:39:35,840 --> 00:39:39,160 Speaker 1: and uh your listeners for that. But but an omni, 689 00:39:39,280 --> 00:39:41,440 Speaker 1: I think we're trying to think about how we can 690 00:39:42,200 --> 00:39:45,000 Speaker 1: more address the needs of what the market wants rather 691 00:39:45,040 --> 00:39:49,759 Speaker 1: than just me doing it with with the big brands. 692 00:39:49,800 --> 00:39:52,560 Speaker 1: So that's really interesting. And can I just press you 693 00:39:52,560 --> 00:39:54,319 Speaker 1: on that point because this is something that I want 694 00:39:54,360 --> 00:39:56,200 Speaker 1: to ask you about. We've been talking a lot about 695 00:39:56,320 --> 00:40:00,480 Speaker 1: labor supply, not so much necessarily on the demand inside, 696 00:40:00,520 --> 00:40:06,120 Speaker 1: but how do you see consumer behavior shifting post COVID? 697 00:40:06,280 --> 00:40:09,960 Speaker 1: So maybe people are more flexible when it comes to 698 00:40:10,000 --> 00:40:12,799 Speaker 1: having their rooms cleaned, but is there anything else that 699 00:40:12,880 --> 00:40:16,239 Speaker 1: you see changing in terms of the hotel industry. And 700 00:40:16,280 --> 00:40:20,840 Speaker 1: then also we have seen this big boom in travel 701 00:40:21,520 --> 00:40:25,120 Speaker 1: as the economy recovers and COVID goes away to some extent, 702 00:40:25,880 --> 00:40:28,560 Speaker 1: Do you see that? Like how durable is that? Is 703 00:40:28,600 --> 00:40:33,520 Speaker 1: that a relatively permanent shifting behavior. Everyone is so scarred 704 00:40:33,600 --> 00:40:35,680 Speaker 1: from not being able to travel for a year that 705 00:40:35,719 --> 00:40:38,520 Speaker 1: they're going to do that much much more going forward 706 00:40:38,920 --> 00:40:41,759 Speaker 1: or is that a temporary phenomenon of people just making 707 00:40:41,840 --> 00:40:45,719 Speaker 1: up for the last twelve months or so. One of 708 00:40:45,800 --> 00:40:48,560 Speaker 1: Joe's friends is a guy named Connerson, and Connors has 709 00:40:48,560 --> 00:40:51,799 Speaker 1: been talking about this theme that he predicts of kind 710 00:40:51,800 --> 00:40:55,640 Speaker 1: of a convergence of business and leisure travel and so 711 00:40:55,680 --> 00:40:57,960 Speaker 1: in other words, I've got a business trip to Chicago 712 00:40:58,640 --> 00:41:01,799 Speaker 1: for work, I'm to stay the weekend and and fly 713 00:41:01,960 --> 00:41:04,880 Speaker 1: my family in and so kind of the blurring of 714 00:41:04,920 --> 00:41:08,480 Speaker 1: the lines between business and leisure. And that is absolutely 715 00:41:08,840 --> 00:41:11,360 Speaker 1: a trend that we are seeing and we expect to 716 00:41:11,400 --> 00:41:13,880 Speaker 1: see more so. And I think that when you talk 717 00:41:13,920 --> 00:41:17,200 Speaker 1: about kind of changes in consumer preferences and how do 718 00:41:17,280 --> 00:41:20,160 Speaker 1: people travel, I think that is something that we will 719 00:41:20,320 --> 00:41:24,160 Speaker 1: continue to see. Fortunately for us, the midweek business traveler, 720 00:41:24,320 --> 00:41:26,200 Speaker 1: kind of the road warrior who's on the road two 721 00:41:26,320 --> 00:41:29,520 Speaker 1: or fifty nights a year, that's not a target market 722 00:41:29,560 --> 00:41:32,680 Speaker 1: for us, uh, And so I don't know that that 723 00:41:32,719 --> 00:41:36,640 Speaker 1: will ever be back to to those levels. Uh, you know, 724 00:41:36,920 --> 00:41:40,560 Speaker 1: maybe with blending in some some leisure traveler kind of 725 00:41:40,560 --> 00:41:42,759 Speaker 1: the leisure travel on the weekends, maybe it gets close 726 00:41:42,800 --> 00:41:45,399 Speaker 1: to it. But I think the marginal trip maybe gets 727 00:41:45,400 --> 00:41:48,840 Speaker 1: done on Zoom. A big piece of our businesses is 728 00:41:48,920 --> 00:41:52,040 Speaker 1: group and corporate group and so you know, I Bloomberg 729 00:41:52,120 --> 00:41:55,399 Speaker 1: is having a all hands meeting in California, maybe they'll 730 00:41:55,400 --> 00:41:58,319 Speaker 1: host it an omni and people are flying in from 731 00:41:58,800 --> 00:42:02,520 Speaker 1: all over the country to attend this event. I think 732 00:42:02,560 --> 00:42:05,680 Speaker 1: that a big change that we have seen, which will 733 00:42:06,000 --> 00:42:11,480 Speaker 1: I believe persist probably forever, is a hybrid meeting or 734 00:42:11,520 --> 00:42:14,640 Speaker 1: a hybrid event, you know, Tracy, Whereas maybe you previously 735 00:42:14,640 --> 00:42:17,520 Speaker 1: would have flown into New York for an event, you know, 736 00:42:17,560 --> 00:42:19,960 Speaker 1: from Hong Kong. Maybe you'll do that once a year 737 00:42:20,280 --> 00:42:22,799 Speaker 1: and and three times a year you'll dial in via 738 00:42:23,160 --> 00:42:26,000 Speaker 1: Zoom or Microsoft team or something like that. You know, 739 00:42:26,200 --> 00:42:30,440 Speaker 1: it presents unique a v challenges for us as to Okay, 740 00:42:30,520 --> 00:42:32,800 Speaker 1: you have a speaker on the main stage, how is 741 00:42:32,840 --> 00:42:36,840 Speaker 1: it a good experience for the online attendee? You know. 742 00:42:36,880 --> 00:42:38,879 Speaker 1: But but I think that is a change in kind 743 00:42:38,880 --> 00:42:42,960 Speaker 1: of consumer behavior going forward in terms of Boom and 744 00:42:43,000 --> 00:42:47,759 Speaker 1: travel I think that the lack of international options is 745 00:42:47,840 --> 00:42:51,240 Speaker 1: creating a little bit of a bubble, particularly in the 746 00:42:51,320 --> 00:42:55,040 Speaker 1: resorts right now, and and then many of our resorts, 747 00:42:55,200 --> 00:42:57,920 Speaker 1: which is about a third of our portfolio, we are 748 00:42:57,960 --> 00:43:03,000 Speaker 1: seeing average ray of five six dollars a night, which 749 00:43:03,000 --> 00:43:08,279 Speaker 1: were previously three hundred fifty a night, big average rate, 750 00:43:08,440 --> 00:43:10,879 Speaker 1: big average rates. Uh. And I think in the true 751 00:43:10,960 --> 00:43:13,960 Speaker 1: luxury kind of rich Carlton said, it's not uncommon to 752 00:43:14,000 --> 00:43:16,719 Speaker 1: see over a thousand dollars a night. So I think 753 00:43:16,760 --> 00:43:18,480 Speaker 1: that's a little bit of a bubble that will that 754 00:43:18,520 --> 00:43:22,120 Speaker 1: will pass when the world quote unquote opens up and 755 00:43:22,360 --> 00:43:25,280 Speaker 1: people can go back to London without quarantine for five days. 756 00:43:25,320 --> 00:43:28,400 Speaker 1: And but I do think that kind of this embrace 757 00:43:28,760 --> 00:43:33,120 Speaker 1: of you know, you've seen it with second homes and uh. 758 00:43:33,120 --> 00:43:34,880 Speaker 1: And like I said, with a lot of about resorts 759 00:43:34,880 --> 00:43:39,080 Speaker 1: of maybe a rural or not urban destinations, I think 760 00:43:39,200 --> 00:43:42,000 Speaker 1: is certainly here from a mid for a midterm who 761 00:43:42,000 --> 00:43:44,719 Speaker 1: knows longer term, but where people just say I want 762 00:43:44,719 --> 00:43:46,000 Speaker 1: to get out of a city, I want to go 763 00:43:46,480 --> 00:43:47,719 Speaker 1: to the Hampton's or I want to go to the 764 00:43:47,760 --> 00:43:50,759 Speaker 1: beach in South Carolina, or you know, I think that 765 00:43:50,760 --> 00:43:54,360 Speaker 1: that kind of the I mentioned earlier, the introspection that 766 00:43:54,400 --> 00:43:57,480 Speaker 1: people have had during COVID, I think it has resulted 767 00:43:57,480 --> 00:43:59,360 Speaker 1: in a lot of people saying, I want to enjoy 768 00:43:59,440 --> 00:44:01,640 Speaker 1: my life and I want to have fun and travel 769 00:44:01,760 --> 00:44:04,880 Speaker 1: and kind of being relaxing settings and not not just 770 00:44:04,960 --> 00:44:06,680 Speaker 1: kind of grind it out in an urban setting all 771 00:44:06,680 --> 00:44:09,839 Speaker 1: the time. And so I think that maybe the rates 772 00:44:09,920 --> 00:44:11,279 Speaker 1: right now are a little bit of a bubble, which 773 00:44:11,320 --> 00:44:14,560 Speaker 1: is because there's so much demand. And literally, we're laughing 774 00:44:14,680 --> 00:44:17,960 Speaker 1: one of our hotels. We were trying to limit occupancy 775 00:44:18,000 --> 00:44:20,000 Speaker 1: at a number of our hotels just so we can 776 00:44:20,280 --> 00:44:23,480 Speaker 1: try to provide a good experience for people. And and 777 00:44:23,520 --> 00:44:27,439 Speaker 1: so what we did originally is we raised the rate 778 00:44:27,520 --> 00:44:32,319 Speaker 1: to like, uh a night just hey, if somebody wants 779 00:44:32,320 --> 00:44:35,200 Speaker 1: to pay it, great, you know, but otherwise we're kind 780 00:44:35,200 --> 00:44:36,879 Speaker 1: of good with the number of rooms we have sold 781 00:44:37,000 --> 00:44:39,840 Speaker 1: right now. And it was the week before the weekend 782 00:44:40,280 --> 00:44:43,520 Speaker 1: and that we did this, and literally that day we 783 00:44:43,640 --> 00:44:47,239 Speaker 1: sold like fifteen rooms at thousand dollars a night, and 784 00:44:47,239 --> 00:44:50,319 Speaker 1: and and so we're kind of shaking our heads looking 785 00:44:50,320 --> 00:44:52,360 Speaker 1: at each other. So there's there's really almost no price 786 00:44:52,400 --> 00:44:56,680 Speaker 1: to eye at some of these resort destinations, and it's 787 00:44:56,680 --> 00:45:01,200 Speaker 1: almost comical pricing right, because there's no way I hate 788 00:45:01,200 --> 00:45:03,240 Speaker 1: to say that we can really deliver a great experience 789 00:45:03,280 --> 00:45:06,680 Speaker 1: if you're paying thousand dollars a night, running ninety percent occupancy, 790 00:45:06,960 --> 00:45:10,120 Speaker 1: or at least an expectation, an experience that meets your 791 00:45:10,120 --> 00:45:12,160 Speaker 1: expectation if you're paying a thousand dollars a night. And 792 00:45:12,400 --> 00:45:14,359 Speaker 1: so I think that I do think that some of 793 00:45:14,360 --> 00:45:18,120 Speaker 1: that pricing is a bubble that we'll see received next year. 794 00:45:18,160 --> 00:45:20,680 Speaker 1: But I don't think it's going to go back to pricing. 795 00:45:20,760 --> 00:45:23,280 Speaker 1: So maybe being a maybe you're up ten to fifteen 796 00:45:23,280 --> 00:45:27,719 Speaker 1: percent instead of being up versus nineteen. You know, I 797 00:45:27,760 --> 00:45:30,919 Speaker 1: think this is almost uh, you know, I think we've 798 00:45:31,120 --> 00:45:32,880 Speaker 1: touched on almost all the ground. We've been talking for 799 00:45:32,920 --> 00:45:34,080 Speaker 1: a while. The last thing, you know, I just want 800 00:45:34,120 --> 00:45:36,600 Speaker 1: to like revisit this question, like the new nature of travel. 801 00:45:37,120 --> 00:45:39,600 Speaker 1: I heard the word bleisure once, which is like the 802 00:45:39,680 --> 00:45:41,880 Speaker 1: ugliest word I've ever heard. But you know, you mentioned 803 00:45:41,880 --> 00:45:45,560 Speaker 1: like business and leisure travel combining. I hope bleasure never 804 00:45:45,600 --> 00:45:50,720 Speaker 1: becomes like a word people, but I've heard it. It's terrible. 805 00:45:51,520 --> 00:45:54,040 Speaker 1: But you know, just thinking about like, so what is it? Like? 806 00:45:54,080 --> 00:45:56,640 Speaker 1: What can you do? You know, you're like cognizant of 807 00:45:56,640 --> 00:45:59,239 Speaker 1: this phenomenal like where maybe like someone like you know, 808 00:45:59,280 --> 00:46:01,359 Speaker 1: they don't try level is much for work, and what 809 00:46:01,360 --> 00:46:03,320 Speaker 1: when they do they want to like bring their family 810 00:46:03,400 --> 00:46:05,040 Speaker 1: or make it more of an event. How does that 811 00:46:05,840 --> 00:46:07,840 Speaker 1: how do you how do you take advantage of that? 812 00:46:07,960 --> 00:46:10,440 Speaker 1: Or how does sort of like the services that the 813 00:46:10,480 --> 00:46:14,080 Speaker 1: hotel offers or the promotions change in light of this 814 00:46:14,239 --> 00:46:18,759 Speaker 1: changing behavior. Yeah, so so it all gets down to 815 00:46:19,680 --> 00:46:22,439 Speaker 1: we call we call it kind of local programming. If 816 00:46:22,480 --> 00:46:26,040 Speaker 1: it's getting a local band to play on the weekend, 817 00:46:26,400 --> 00:46:28,640 Speaker 1: or if it's if it's kind of a family oriented 818 00:46:28,680 --> 00:46:33,440 Speaker 1: resort having some sort of family game night or you know, 819 00:46:33,640 --> 00:46:37,359 Speaker 1: obstacle course or uh, you know, we've had conversations with 820 00:46:37,760 --> 00:46:39,239 Speaker 1: I don't know if you if you all have heard 821 00:46:39,239 --> 00:46:41,600 Speaker 1: of Dude Perfect, you know, but it's it's kind of 822 00:46:41,640 --> 00:46:45,239 Speaker 1: a YouTube phenomenon. You should check it out. But it's 823 00:46:45,239 --> 00:46:50,520 Speaker 1: all guys who literally try to do fun stunts. Uh. 824 00:46:50,600 --> 00:46:53,120 Speaker 1: And it's it's throwing basketball's the length of the court 825 00:46:53,120 --> 00:46:55,920 Speaker 1: and seems they can make it, etcetera. Uh. And so 826 00:46:55,960 --> 00:47:01,759 Speaker 1: it's interactive, engaging programming on on site at our hotels. Uh. 827 00:47:02,000 --> 00:47:05,640 Speaker 1: And what can you do an omni that maybe you 828 00:47:05,680 --> 00:47:08,560 Speaker 1: couldn't do elsewhere, and can we do a golf clinic? 829 00:47:08,600 --> 00:47:12,120 Speaker 1: Can we do you know, have some speaker come in 830 00:47:12,239 --> 00:47:16,200 Speaker 1: and on mental health or wellness. And at a macro level, 831 00:47:16,920 --> 00:47:20,040 Speaker 1: if if every hotel try to do something like that, 832 00:47:20,120 --> 00:47:22,640 Speaker 1: you know, that kind of it kind of becomes like 833 00:47:22,680 --> 00:47:25,200 Speaker 1: a if you're an actor right now and Netflix is 834 00:47:25,239 --> 00:47:27,200 Speaker 1: calling your name, Song's calling you, and Apple TV is 835 00:47:27,239 --> 00:47:29,319 Speaker 1: calling you, it's kind of you know, you can name 836 00:47:29,320 --> 00:47:32,960 Speaker 1: your price. I think will be interesting to see. It 837 00:47:33,040 --> 00:47:35,839 Speaker 1: kind of opens up a new sector of the gig 838 00:47:35,880 --> 00:47:40,400 Speaker 1: economy for for folks to do local programming or local 839 00:47:40,440 --> 00:47:43,160 Speaker 1: experiences and if you want a tour of the bourbon distillery, 840 00:47:43,360 --> 00:47:46,520 Speaker 1: or we want to be able to offer those options 841 00:47:46,560 --> 00:47:50,480 Speaker 1: to people. You know, if they choose to embrace the leisure, 842 00:47:50,920 --> 00:47:52,920 Speaker 1: we can't. We we gotta stop using that word. We're 843 00:47:52,920 --> 00:47:55,799 Speaker 1: gonna like manifested it. It was I regret ever I 844 00:47:55,800 --> 00:47:58,600 Speaker 1: have even mentioned that, Hey, what one interesting thing that 845 00:47:58,640 --> 00:48:01,440 Speaker 1: you all may enjoy and facially enjoyed. You're trying to 846 00:48:01,440 --> 00:48:04,960 Speaker 1: ship a Teddy Bear from Hong Kong episode um, But 847 00:48:05,200 --> 00:48:08,600 Speaker 1: it's just kind of supply chain disruption. And when we 848 00:48:08,680 --> 00:48:11,640 Speaker 1: renovated hotel we get a lot of our dressers and 849 00:48:11,880 --> 00:48:16,080 Speaker 1: kind of bedside tables from from Asia, hair dryers, mattresses, 850 00:48:16,520 --> 00:48:19,080 Speaker 1: you name it. When when the ports are backed up 851 00:48:19,120 --> 00:48:23,200 Speaker 1: in l A, you know, it becomes an operational challenge 852 00:48:23,200 --> 00:48:26,279 Speaker 1: for us. And so it's it's more just kind of 853 00:48:26,840 --> 00:48:29,839 Speaker 1: again interesting anecdotes for you all. We we could not 854 00:48:29,920 --> 00:48:33,760 Speaker 1: get hair dryers in our company through our existing vendor 855 00:48:34,000 --> 00:48:36,600 Speaker 1: about a month ago, and so you know, we're trying 856 00:48:36,600 --> 00:48:38,880 Speaker 1: to find different vendors and make sure the speck is 857 00:48:39,239 --> 00:48:42,480 Speaker 1: commercial grade and um and and so it's it's just 858 00:48:42,600 --> 00:48:47,080 Speaker 1: interesting kind of the ramifications of of kind of all 859 00:48:47,160 --> 00:48:51,000 Speaker 1: these shipping things that I've enjoyed listening to on a lot. 860 00:48:51,320 --> 00:48:53,400 Speaker 1: Can I just ask this is something that I always 861 00:48:53,400 --> 00:48:57,680 Speaker 1: wondered about the hotel industry. But I mean, I'm assuming 862 00:48:57,719 --> 00:49:01,080 Speaker 1: everything is standardized in the room, so you must buy 863 00:49:01,160 --> 00:49:05,879 Speaker 1: in massive bulk from a single supplier. So I guess 864 00:49:05,920 --> 00:49:09,760 Speaker 1: in many ways your supply chain is even more concentrated 865 00:49:09,920 --> 00:49:15,040 Speaker 1: and more susceptible to issues than somewhere else. I don't 866 00:49:15,040 --> 00:49:16,920 Speaker 1: know if I'm phrasing that right, but I'm just imagining, 867 00:49:16,960 --> 00:49:19,160 Speaker 1: you know, if you have a hair dryer in every room, 868 00:49:19,160 --> 00:49:20,960 Speaker 1: it's going to be the same hair dryer, and if 869 00:49:20,960 --> 00:49:24,319 Speaker 1: there's an issue with that supplier, then that's a big 870 00:49:24,360 --> 00:49:26,839 Speaker 1: problem for you. Or do you have like a stockpile 871 00:49:27,200 --> 00:49:30,839 Speaker 1: of hair dryers in the basement somewhere that you keep 872 00:49:30,880 --> 00:49:35,120 Speaker 1: just in case it's an issue. Now now, fortunately kind 873 00:49:35,160 --> 00:49:37,200 Speaker 1: of steady state, right we have we have about twenty 874 00:49:37,600 --> 00:49:41,439 Speaker 1: hotel rooms in our company, so twenty hair dryers, and 875 00:49:41,600 --> 00:49:46,279 Speaker 1: those are not breaking. We're not buying a month or 876 00:49:46,360 --> 00:49:47,960 Speaker 1: a year or anything like that. You know, it's it's 877 00:49:47,960 --> 00:49:52,840 Speaker 1: more kind of a replacement cycle. However, we just in 878 00:49:52,880 --> 00:49:56,120 Speaker 1: the middle of COVID we had two hotels under construction, 879 00:49:56,200 --> 00:49:59,080 Speaker 1: kind of brand new hotels, one in Oklahoma City and 880 00:49:59,120 --> 00:50:01,399 Speaker 1: one in Boston, and the one in Oklahoma Cities six 881 00:50:01,440 --> 00:50:05,480 Speaker 1: h rooms. One of Boston's about rooms. You know, it's 882 00:50:05,480 --> 00:50:09,600 Speaker 1: not as maybe acute of of a problem as if 883 00:50:09,600 --> 00:50:12,439 Speaker 1: we're trying to order twenty hair dryers. But but even 884 00:50:12,719 --> 00:50:16,040 Speaker 1: you know, the steady state. If if five percent of 885 00:50:16,040 --> 00:50:18,040 Speaker 1: our hair dryers are breaking, you know, we're buying a 886 00:50:18,040 --> 00:50:20,440 Speaker 1: thousand over the course of a year, um and and 887 00:50:20,480 --> 00:50:23,000 Speaker 1: so you have kind of the replacement plus the new 888 00:50:23,040 --> 00:50:27,840 Speaker 1: build purchasing, and and yeah, you know it's challenging and 889 00:50:27,880 --> 00:50:30,520 Speaker 1: a lot of our suppliers are saying, you know, certain 890 00:50:30,600 --> 00:50:34,799 Speaker 1: it's challenge to get goods from Asia, but it's it's 891 00:50:34,800 --> 00:50:39,120 Speaker 1: almost a bigger challenge to get it distributed via via trucks, 892 00:50:39,360 --> 00:50:41,759 Speaker 1: you know, with the driver shortage that's in that's in 893 00:50:41,800 --> 00:50:45,400 Speaker 1: the States, So that's almost a bigger issue is getting 894 00:50:45,400 --> 00:50:49,239 Speaker 1: it too. And some of our resorts are in remote destinations, 895 00:50:49,360 --> 00:50:53,040 Speaker 1: right and Hot Springs, Virginia or Mount Washington up in 896 00:50:53,080 --> 00:50:56,399 Speaker 1: New Hampshire and um, you know, and so those those 897 00:50:56,400 --> 00:51:02,279 Speaker 1: remote destinations become become a challenge. Well, Kurt, that was fantastic. 898 00:51:02,320 --> 00:51:04,719 Speaker 1: I always love getting to speak to people that are 899 00:51:04,840 --> 00:51:09,040 Speaker 1: right there, uh in the operational side, but and I 900 00:51:09,120 --> 00:51:10,719 Speaker 1: learned a lot talking to you, So thank you for 901 00:51:10,719 --> 00:51:13,560 Speaker 1: coming on an odd lot. Yeah, well it's been been 902 00:51:13,600 --> 00:51:16,839 Speaker 1: a blast. And thanks again for having me absolutely take 903 00:51:16,840 --> 00:51:33,880 Speaker 1: care of Kurt. Thanks, Kurt, that was really good. Yeah. 904 00:51:33,960 --> 00:51:36,520 Speaker 1: I think actually these are like my favorite episodes. Actually, 905 00:51:36,560 --> 00:51:38,760 Speaker 1: I like all our episodes equally. They're like our children. 906 00:51:38,800 --> 00:51:41,200 Speaker 1: But I do think those where you just get like 907 00:51:41,239 --> 00:51:43,239 Speaker 1: really in the weeds, like you know, it's like the 908 00:51:43,320 --> 00:51:47,520 Speaker 1: hair the detail about the hair dryers or the locations 909 00:51:47,560 --> 00:51:50,320 Speaker 1: of some hotels being harder to get. All those things 910 00:51:50,560 --> 00:51:53,120 Speaker 1: I just find like super interesting and like understanding of 911 00:51:53,200 --> 00:51:55,080 Speaker 1: these economy right now. It's kind of like a puzzle, 912 00:51:55,120 --> 00:51:57,680 Speaker 1: and each new episode like this sort of fills in 913 00:51:57,680 --> 00:52:00,040 Speaker 1: a few more details. Yeah, well, I find them a 914 00:52:00,120 --> 00:52:04,200 Speaker 1: sort of like crash courses in individual industries or niches 915 00:52:04,239 --> 00:52:07,400 Speaker 1: of the economy, and you're sort of learning more about 916 00:52:07,480 --> 00:52:10,600 Speaker 1: the natural or the usual state of the business by 917 00:52:10,760 --> 00:52:14,240 Speaker 1: contrasting it with everything that's going wrong at the moment. 918 00:52:14,440 --> 00:52:17,800 Speaker 1: So I certainly learned a lot from that. I thought 919 00:52:18,360 --> 00:52:23,280 Speaker 1: some of Kurt's thoughts on things that are permanent shifts 920 00:52:23,440 --> 00:52:28,680 Speaker 1: in either labor supply or consumer behavior that was really interesting, 921 00:52:28,719 --> 00:52:32,040 Speaker 1: like the idea that going forward we might all be 922 00:52:32,120 --> 00:52:37,239 Speaker 1: paying for daily housekeeping service, or the idea that hotels 923 00:52:37,280 --> 00:52:40,879 Speaker 1: are seriously looking at ways to break up the eight 924 00:52:40,960 --> 00:52:45,960 Speaker 1: hour work shift. That's really fascinating and a big change. 925 00:52:46,360 --> 00:52:48,799 Speaker 1: There's super interesting, like this idea that it's like, well, 926 00:52:48,880 --> 00:52:51,279 Speaker 1: maybe someone just does like a three hour shift or 927 00:52:51,280 --> 00:52:53,480 Speaker 1: something like that, And the way he talked about it, 928 00:52:53,480 --> 00:52:55,799 Speaker 1: it does sound like it's gonna some of it's like 929 00:52:55,880 --> 00:52:58,759 Speaker 1: really is going to be permanent, or thinking like you know, 930 00:52:58,840 --> 00:53:01,160 Speaker 1: it's like his point, it's like, will you can like 931 00:53:01,680 --> 00:53:04,560 Speaker 1: maybe hire workers from a temp agency and you pay 932 00:53:04,640 --> 00:53:06,680 Speaker 1: them twenty five dollars an hour or something like that, 933 00:53:06,880 --> 00:53:10,560 Speaker 1: But that is only like a bridge solution, like okay, 934 00:53:10,640 --> 00:53:13,520 Speaker 1: or it's not a bridge solution. It's a solution predicated 935 00:53:13,560 --> 00:53:16,759 Speaker 1: on the assumption that we return to something resembling pre 936 00:53:16,840 --> 00:53:19,560 Speaker 1: crisis normal. But if you don't think that the pre 937 00:53:19,640 --> 00:53:22,719 Speaker 1: crisis normal is going to come back, then like attempt 938 00:53:22,880 --> 00:53:25,080 Speaker 1: solution is not the answer. And so like thinking about 939 00:53:25,480 --> 00:53:27,520 Speaker 1: things like what can you do on student debt or 940 00:53:27,520 --> 00:53:30,880 Speaker 1: what can you think about getting people onto a better 941 00:53:30,920 --> 00:53:33,759 Speaker 1: career track fast or all of that becomes like, oh, 942 00:53:33,800 --> 00:53:36,840 Speaker 1: this could be like a you know, fundamental change and 943 00:53:36,920 --> 00:53:39,399 Speaker 1: how the labor relations work. Yeah, And I mean when 944 00:53:39,400 --> 00:53:42,480 Speaker 1: you do hear stuff like that, like helping out on 945 00:53:42,560 --> 00:53:47,239 Speaker 1: student debt, um smaller shifts, wage increases, it does make 946 00:53:47,280 --> 00:53:50,839 Speaker 1: you think that maybe the power is shifting slightly in 947 00:53:50,920 --> 00:53:54,080 Speaker 1: favor of labor. So, I mean, that would be an 948 00:53:54,120 --> 00:53:59,479 Speaker 1: absolutely massive change for America, probably one that it's still 949 00:53:59,560 --> 00:54:02,279 Speaker 1: reasonable to be very skeptical of, but like there are 950 00:54:02,280 --> 00:54:06,319 Speaker 1: definitely glimmers of it in that conversation. Yeah, totally. And 951 00:54:06,360 --> 00:54:09,840 Speaker 1: then of course you combine that with consumption changes there, 952 00:54:09,840 --> 00:54:12,919 Speaker 1: you know, business and leisure. Um, you know, I think, 953 00:54:12,960 --> 00:54:15,239 Speaker 1: like I forget it was like one of our episodes. 954 00:54:15,280 --> 00:54:16,720 Speaker 1: I don't know, maybe it was like the one about 955 00:54:16,719 --> 00:54:19,520 Speaker 1: like the Black Death or something. It's like things are 956 00:54:19,520 --> 00:54:21,560 Speaker 1: going to change, and I don't think we like really 957 00:54:21,640 --> 00:54:23,920 Speaker 1: we can only guess, like right now, I think we're 958 00:54:23,920 --> 00:54:25,839 Speaker 1: still just in the guessing phase. But you know, I 959 00:54:25,840 --> 00:54:29,000 Speaker 1: think like there's a reasonable chance that like this sort 960 00:54:29,000 --> 00:54:30,840 Speaker 1: of like ripple effects of this will be feeling it 961 00:54:31,120 --> 00:54:33,840 Speaker 1: years from now in ways that maybe we don't realize 962 00:54:33,840 --> 00:54:35,799 Speaker 1: at first, and then we're like, oh, this really turned 963 00:54:35,800 --> 00:54:38,640 Speaker 1: into a fundamental change in how society works. Yeah, I 964 00:54:38,640 --> 00:54:41,279 Speaker 1: mean you're getting glimpses of it, like I said, and 965 00:54:41,320 --> 00:54:43,759 Speaker 1: there's probably a ton of money to be made if 966 00:54:43,800 --> 00:54:47,160 Speaker 1: you can guess, right, like I guess correctly what is 967 00:54:47,200 --> 00:54:50,200 Speaker 1: and what isn't a permanent change, Like people are going 968 00:54:50,239 --> 00:54:54,239 Speaker 1: to make fortunes off of getting that right. All right, Um, 969 00:54:54,280 --> 00:54:56,880 Speaker 1: should we leave it there? Yeah, let's leave it there. Okay. 970 00:54:57,040 --> 00:54:59,920 Speaker 1: This has been another episode of the All Thoughts podcast. 971 00:55:00,080 --> 00:55:02,759 Speaker 1: I'm Tracy Alloway. You can follow me on Twitter at 972 00:55:02,800 --> 00:55:05,600 Speaker 1: Tracy Alloway, and I'm Jill Why Isn't Though? You can 973 00:55:05,640 --> 00:55:08,880 Speaker 1: follow me on Twitter at the Stalwart. Follow our producer 974 00:55:08,960 --> 00:55:12,479 Speaker 1: on Twitter, Laura Carlson. She's at Laura M. Carlson. Follow 975 00:55:12,520 --> 00:55:15,319 Speaker 1: the Bloomberg head of podcast on Twitter, Francesca Levi at 976 00:55:15,320 --> 00:55:18,560 Speaker 1: Francisco Today, and check out all of our podcast at 977 00:55:18,600 --> 00:55:22,200 Speaker 1: Bloomberg onto the handle at podcasts. Thanks for listening.