Check out the latest Suite Spot episode where President – Hospitality, Travel, & Wellness at Questex, Alexi Khajavi, sits down on the podcast to discuss the highly anticipated Hospitality Show 2024 in San Antonio, Texas!

This special episode will cover what attendees can expect this year from the event, some urgent issues facing the hospitality industry, and how this event is bringing all the major players of hospitality together in one room.

Episode Transcript
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Ryan Embree:
Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check in, and we check out what’s trending in hotel marketing. I’m your host, Ryan Embree. Hello everyone. Welcome to another episode of The Suite Spot. This is your host, as always, Ryan Embree. Thank you so much for joining me today. We have another incredible episode continuing our TMG Hospitality Trailblazers series, but we have an original TMG Hospitality Trailblazers, one of the first. Joining me again for the second time. Alexi Khajavi, President, Hospitality Travel and Wellness at Questex. Alexi, thank you so much for joining me once again on the Suite Spot.

Alexi Khajavi :
Great to see you, Ryan.

Ryan Embree:
Yeah, we’ve got a lot to cover. Lots change since we spoke just last year. We’ve got a very fast moving industry with travel, a lot of positive changes, and we’re gonna get to some of those a little bit later. But with this being the second time, we kicked off last episode talking about your hospitality and travel journey and what led you to Questex, but I wanna talk about mentor, right? We’re still kind of combating this staffing shortage right now, and we wanna talk about maybe some of the mentors or influences in your career, and then speak to maybe the importance of mentors right now as we try to combat this staffing shortage, especially in an industry like hospitality.

Alexi Khajavi :
Yeah. I would love to. It’s an important topic.

Ryan Embree:
You wanna go ahead and share some of maybe the mentors in your hospitality career, or influences in your career?

Alexi Khajavi :
Yeah, you know, I’ve had a really diverse career in travel and hospitality. I mean, it started out in San Francisco in the sort of the “.com” era of 1997 to, you know, 2001, 2002. And I had the fortune of joining an early stage OTA. There was three OTAs that launched ironically in 1997. One was booking.com and one was Expedia. And I joined the third one. <laugh. But you know, it was filled with talented people from MIT and Stanford that were, and there was, I think there was about 40 of us in the beginning, and it was just explosive growth. And I at 25, 24 years old, just coming outta college was really given a seat at the table for which I was not, deserve it and was not prepared for, but it just gave me an incredible opportunity to sit amongst some of the most really intelligent, innovative and creative thinkers, that were applying that knowledge, which, you know, in our industry often, we don’t get that type of talent, particularly back then. And because it was this merging of technology with travel, one of the world’s largest in industries, it was just a really exciting time. And so there was a group of folks there that I had the pleasure of working with, and it really taught me, uh, some of the fundamentals that I, that I still carry with me today in my career. And one is just surrounding yourself with really great creative people, and there’s something special about all being tuned into and aligned around the same strategic goals and allowing for a sort of an idea meritocracy to take place. But as long as all of that energy and all of that thinking and all of that hard work is geared around the same northern star, bringing that diverse set of thinking and individuals or personalities to the table really does create magic. And it creates, I think a sense of belonging as well. So from a very young age, that was, that was really important. Since then I’ve had the pleasure of working with individuals like Paul, a lair who, you know, unfortunately has since passed away, but he was the former CEO of Xerox. He was the chairman of our board for a company I worked with down in Costa Rica, and who taught me, frankly, things that again, running a company like Xerox, a public company, which I haven’t had the pleasure of doing in my own career, was a really incredible experience for me to apply those fundamentals, understanding really the importance of being able to read, present, and understand the drivers of different financial statements, balance sheets and PnL’s, of course. But really the importance of cash. We were a travel company. It was an integrated travel company, an airline, hotel company in a tour operator. And we were profitable, but it was a very seasonal business. And so, we came very close to being, chapter 11, not because we were not profitable, because we just, we had a cashflow issue to based off cyclical. Yeah, which is very sort of travel related. But again, that was, I mean, it sounds simple now, and it sounds almost naive now when I when I say it, but, you know, I really didn’t, I didn’t understand the importance of cash and cash flow management at that point in my career. So I’ve had the real privilege and honor of working with some incredible leaders, certainly in travel and hospitality and in some other markets as well. We really have good people in hospitality. And I look at the CEOs of some of our hotel companies, some of the airlines, but also the associations, whether that be AHLA or USTA, I mean, there are some really incredible minds and thinkers that are not only just very intelligent, but are also very passionate and incredible advocates for the industry. So we’re really, I think, blessed in travel and hospitality that we’re now attracting, I think, more talent, to that. But at the lower level, to your point, or at the entry level, let’s say, we still do have a labor issue, and I still think we need to, per our conversation the last time around, we need to find a way to attract more talent into the industry. And you and I had a great vociferous, debate, if you will, on this. We need to mentor them, and we need to help them grow their careers within travel, not just treat it as a summer job or a way to make cash in between sort of two different careers. So it’s a challenge, but I fortunately, personally, have had the honor of working some really great minds.

Ryan Embree:
And I think that’s where mentorship comes in, right? Is you can show a story to this younger generation of hospitality professionals and say, this is what a career could look like in hospitality 5, 10, 15, sometimes 25 plus years down the line, right? And, and there’s a path there, and it’s gonna also fall on our shoulders to make sure that there is a clear path there, because that’s what this younger generation or maybe even pools that we haven’t explored before, and going to them and saying, this is what hospitality looks like. This is what a career here is. And that’s why, again, I call on our audience. You might not think of yourself as a mentor, but there is someone, and, you know, doing 20 plus of these interviews with industry leaders in this TMG hospitality trailblazer series, one of the consistent thing other than saying, “Hey, I didn’t think I’d be in hospitality”, is there was an impactful mentor a part of their journey that led them to where they are. So you could have a severe impact on someone’s professional and just growth in general as a person. So thank you for sharing that. Another topic we covered last year around this time was the continued resurgence of business and group travel. Every post I see on LinkedIn or social media from Questex, it’s announcing another record breaking attendance at your events that your amazing events that you guys put on. So what’s your feeling on group travel, business travel? You can continue, it’s still bullish on it, still continuing to see this, and maybe how has it changed, right? The sentiment, the energy at these events changed then maybe five years ago, pre covid?

Alexi Khajavi :
Well, first of all, group and corporate travel is back, and it’s been back, it’s been somewhat, I think overshadowed by just the incredible growth on the leisure side, right? So, travel for recreation or for holiday that has come back, frankly quicker than anybody thought it would. I mean, people were traveling in the summer of 2020, and it’s just continued to soar as more and more markets open up. Certainly domestically in the US 2021 and 2022 were record breaking years. And then 2023 last summer, you know, Europe really felt the return particularly of the US traveler still incredibly, Asia is not back either from a leisure or a corporate side, meaning outbound from Asia. But corporate and groups have been really performing incredibly well. And they continue to, as we’ve seen in some markets, leisure has started to taper off and to, uh, sort of, uh, flatten in some markets, not down, but certainly sort of coming back down to sort of smaller growth year over year.

Ryan Embree:
It’s hard to follow a Taylor Swift concert tour around the country.

Alexi Khajavi :
That did have a direct impact on RevPAR, as we saw some from some of the industry data, which is incredible in and of itself, and could warrant a show on its own that one individual drives an entire market’s RevPAR. So beyond Taylor Swift, and thank God we have Taylor in our industry, just speaking from what we see, we have seen both incredible pockets of high demand and high growth. And then we’ve seen pockets, where it’s been a little bit more challenging. Life sciences and healthcare and technology were absolutely booming from 2020 on through about 2022 & 2023. Life sciences and healthcare continue to do very well. And I’m, again, just speaking from a Questex perspective. Of the markets that we serve, technology has been frankly challenged job losses, you know, challenge in terms of stock prices, but also market demand. I mean, AI, as we have seen is an incredible trend and will change, our lives, but also the trajectory of those companies. But it hasn’t translated into profits for those companies yet. And so our events in those markets are a bit more, I would say normal, right? So, you know, still growing, but not seeing the explosive growth that we’re seeing in life sciences and healthcare. The markets that I have the privilege of running hospitality, travel and wellness, really since about 2021, 2022, have been on an explosive growth. And we returned back to really kind of 2019 levels, which is normal if you will, as early as in some cases, 2021. But certainly by 2022, we were higher than 2019 levels in all of those markets. One we’re fortunate in that each of those markets in our portfolio, in each of those markets has both events and media. And so focusing just on the events side, to your question, where it is a market leader, so it is the CES of that industry, you know, the consumer electronic show in Vegas. So it is a tier one or a tier two, so it is a must attend event. It’s already in people’s calendars, it’s already in people’s budgets. And so it just benefits off of being sort of built within the fabric of that sector. So we’re certainly benefiting from that. And as more people, there have been a flight to quality versus quantity. What we’ve seen to answer your second part of that question, is that because of the work from home or the hybrid working, so for example, today I am working from home, but some cases people are working from home full-time, or in many cases we’re seeing this sort of hybrid element, which means not everybody is in the office at the same time. Typically, the purpose that we serve as an information services company is we inform and we connect buyers and sellers in the five markets that we serve. Well, what we’ve seen is that our events have not only become platforms for connecting those buyers and sellers, but they’ve become platforms for connecting our own customers. Typically, an exhibitor or a sponsor that was coming to one of our events to meet clients that we would bring to that event, yes, they’re still coming for that. And yes, corporate travel’s absolutely rebounding because of that very same premise. I mean, if you just found out your competitor flew to Dallas to meet your top account, you better get on that plane and get to Dallas. And that is absolutely, zoom is great, this is incredible. It’s very practical. It does not build business. It does not strengthen, share of wallet, and it does not drive the bottom line. At the end of the day, you’ve got to build those relationships, and those relationships are built in human to human touch. So corporate travel is definitely benefiting from that. But we are seeing more and more this theme and this enthusiasm around bring the team, which is actually one of the mottos around the Hospitality Show. Which you joined us last year in Las Vegas, and we’re seeing our customers bring their team together. So using our event platforms as the opportunity to not just meet their clients and new clients, but meet each other. And so conduct their own incentive meetings or their own strategic meetings or their own cultural touch points around our own events. This effective model of sort of treating it as a multi-sided platform that we don’t just meet our clients, but we meet each other from a company perspective. It’s really interesting and we see a lot of opportunity for us to deliver more value to our communities and the sectors that we serve in that trend.

Ryan Embree:
Yeah, I absolutely love that. I think it’s a win-win when you bring your team, right? Because not only are they able to participate in things like, if you’re a supplier exhibitor, but you also get some incredible insights that we’re gonna talk about some for some industry experts and leaders, and then you get that connection, right? And that’s where I was trying to pinpoint, because I feel like the events that I’ve been to post Covid, there’s a different energy, and I think you might have hit the nail on the head about talking about how the way we work now with it being hybrid or sometimes just working from home constantly, there just seems like there’s an energy to these events that wasn’t there. And, and it’s probably because what you’ve said, those misconnections of seeing everyone in the office every single day, now all of a sudden you’re traveling out for work, you get to see industry leaders, you get to connect with your teammates, exhibitors, suppliers, that energy and that connection is palpable. And again, speaking from personal experience at the Hospitality Show last year, which we’re gonna talk about. But before we get into that, I wanna talk about a topic that’s always brought up, no matter what event you go to technology, right? It’s certainly risen to the top of these agendas and seminar programs at these shows. Where do you see, I’m gonna put you on the spot here. I want to get your opinion. Where do you see the biggest opportunity for travel in its leveraging technology? Is it on the guest and experienced consumer side, or is it on the professional side, operations side to help maybe with combat staffing challenges and things? Where do you see the biggest opportunity right now?

Alexi Khajavi :
That’s a great question, and I’m not going to cop out by saying both, but I’ll also step back and give a broader answer for a second. One, our transportation infrastructure is in disarray, whether that be the air control towers that helps power our airline, our aviation industry which is partly due to a labor issue as well, but also our visa and our immigration. I mean, to wait four years for a visa, and then when you just got off, after waiting four years and you just got off an 18 hour flight and you wait four hours to get through immigration, you’re not coming back to the US. You know, and other countries are competing for those same travelers, and they’re expediting those processes at every touch point. The visa maybe not the transportation, but you know, the wait times to get into the country. So technology, and look, let’s face it, most of the border patrol agents, that we’re bringing into that, that field are going at down to the southern border. I mean, that’s just where the, based off of the immigration and and so forth, that’s where they’re being sent, not to JFK, not to LAX, not to Atlanta. So technology is really the solution there, and biometrics, which we know works, or the global entry, which we know works that really needs to be improved because we are competing for travelers. I mean, I know that sounds odd, and I know that we’ve been very bullish and very confident that, hey, everybody wants to come to the US, that’s true. but a lot of people wanna go to France, and a lot of people wanna go to Spain, and a lot of people wanna go to Cambodia and other places around the world. And those countries are really improving their infrastructure, IE their technology in order to facilitate a better visa traveler entry and reentry experience. That’s one. And that affects us all. I know that, whether it’s in the hotel industry or the events in industry, we can sort of think about that as a tangential part of the ecosystem, but has a direct relationship. I mean, we are in markets that we need travelers and business people from Asia, from the Middle East, from Europe, from South America, from Central America. And if they can’t get here, then that is a, a real great on our ability to grow and our ability to sell hotel rooms and our ability to, to drive the industry forward. So that’s a real problem. To answer your question a little bit closer to home, is it guest facing or is it on the business side? Honestly, I think it’s on the business side, because the reality is, is that a tech enabled business ultimately provides the ability for us to deliver a more human powered experience. So I don’t think that that guests are traveling and making travel decisions because your app is better than their app, or your keyless entry is better than my keyless entry. Is it important? Yeah. But it’s really those intangible experiences that are human powered experiences, that is what travel and hospitality is all about. And really where I see technology having an indelible impact on our industry is when you’re tech enabled, it actually frees up time for your people to do other tasks. And if we think about what drives real enterprise value in hospitality, at least, and travel for that matter, it’s about someone having a human powered experience that is personalized, that’s authentic, that’s sincere. And they can only do that within the infrastructure if AI or tech in general is powering the infrastructure of that organization, the procurement, the ordering, the planning KPIs, the logistics, the data, manipulation. There’s a lot of stuff that tech obviously can play a part in. So I think that, not to say that, it’s a zero sum game, you can do both. And in fact, we have to do both. But tech has largely been a vendor to hospitality. It’s not been a strategic tool to drive change, but drive strategy, and to enable more human powered experiences in the industry. And I think we really, we are at a fulcrum point in the industry where CIOs or CTOs are at the executive board table, they are making decisions reporting directly to the CEO and that is a wholesale change in the industry. And we have hundreds, if not thousands of really strategic creative suppliers in tech that are running all throughout the various touch points back of house, front of house. It’s a great moment in the industry. We’re not there yet. But, again, to answer your question, I could say both, but I would say if you had to put it somewhere back of house, because it will free up your front of house to really deliver those truly memorable experiences for life.

Ryan Embree:
Well, we’ve got a generation that’s on the way up and coming into our industry that’s gonna expect those things. And I heard this the other day, which I thought was absolutely brilliant talking about it, what an opportunity for the industry when we have new people, maybe outside of hospitality coming in to introduce some of these new technology. Because at the time, the way I used to check in guests is a whole heck of a lot different than it is today. And sometimes they’re digitally checking in themselves. So if you have this new cohort of employees, it’s gonna be easier to train than maybe the, the hospitality veteran that’s been doing it this way their entire 20 or 30 year career. So I definitely think it’s an opportunity, I guess if there’s any silver lining maybe with this staffing shortage, we are having new people come in, new voices, and they’re gonna tell you exactly what they want, where the inefficiencies are. And hopefully, like you said, leadership and travel kind of listens to that feedback and acts upon it. And that’s how change happens. So as you know, this is a digital marketing podcast at heart, even though we talk about other subjects, but we always are trying to educate hoteliers, just travel industry really in general, how important things like social media, having a strong digital presences online, we know your background, you have a strong background in marketing. Can you just speak to, give some advice maybe to our audience on, or preach maybe why it is just so critical, especially today to have that social media presence or online reputation?

Alexi Khajavi :
Yeah, I mean, you’re right. I mean I’ve worked in advertising and creative agencies and been in sales and marketing, you know, the majority of my career. I mean, look, when we first got started, or I first got started for that matter, 25 years ago. I mean, there was five channels you could choose from, right? From marketing. And it was, it was as Hal days, I mean, you still didn’t know it was 50% of your advertising was working, but you knew it was working, right? And so, but you only had five channels to manage. Today you’ve got 500 channels to manage. So I really feel for marketers these days. I mean, I feel for them from a sort of a, it’s a difficult environment, but it’s also a really exciting environment. The one channel that is unquestionably critical to making and influencing travel decisions is social media. There’s no question that when you look at the demographics of who makes travel decisions, let’s separate leisure from corporate, or groups, but focusing on leisure, it’s typically the wife and increasingly the kids. I mean, it is in my family. I mean, my say is very minimal. It’s probably based off of what airline we’re gonna fly because I’ve got points. So where we go when we go and what we do is largely driven by, by the wife, spouse, and the kids. And increasingly kids are making purchasing decisions and influencing purchasing decisions based off of what they see on social media. So a common question in the Casa de khajavi is, what are your top five destinations you’d love to go to? And we’re a traveling family. All of that’s influenced by Instagram and by social media. So the ability to not only influence and really kind of manage all the way through that buyer’s journey. So dream, plan, purchase, experience, share, and then back around again, that is the buyer’s journey in travel and social media not only is a massive part of that because you’re posting whilst you’re on vacation, but it’s influencing the dream stage. It’s influencing the plan stage. You can even buy now through some of these social media channels. You can experience it hence the authenticity and the human power. Fortunately, I don’t think, your Apple goggles or your Oculus will replace that for some it will. I don’t get that. So social media is, um, is a critical part of the buyer’s journey, and that’s where marketers are trying to enter themselves, their brands, their products, into that buyer’s journey. And to be able to do it on one channel throughout that buyer’s journey, for the most part, is an incredible power that social media holds. The challenge with it is that it, there’s so much noise in these channels, and so it doesn’t replace the need one to be in other channels. It also really puts the onus on brands to try and capture first party data, as we’ve seen, if you don’t own your own customer, then somebody else does. And that’s where, again, we at Questex feel so privileged. I mean, we publish every day. We’ve got 5 million records across the five markets that we work in. And being able to know what John Doe reads when he reads it, what are the things that he’s searching for, and piece together a strategy around that is really what all brands should be doing. And again, that part of that can be done on social media, and part of that can be done through your website, through content marketing and even through advertising. So all of it still matters. It’s just where I think we’re at is that I see a lot of marketers these days, again, and it goes back to your question, Ryan, about labor. I see a lot of leadership in marketing that is still using a marketing playbook from 2002. And it’s not only ineffective in driving the business goals forward in achieving the KPIs of that business, but I think it’s, it’s frankly turning off a lot of these younger smart potential creative marketers that come in and go, this is not how I engage with brands, and these are not the channels that I believe in or that I’m in. And I think we’ve, when that shoe drops and this, some of this generation of, of marketing leadership exits, there’s gonna be a dynamic shift in the marketplace. And I think that’s a really interesting, we’re at this really interesting moment right now. And ironically not to throw too many elements into it, but I think it’s really interesting is that you’re starting to see CIOs or CTOs, in some cases, even in hospitality, take over the marketing function. We saw it at Wyndham where the CTO took over from the CMO, and it’s because you’ve got this massive blend of MarTech with marketing, with tech to create MarTech. And that, I don’t know how that plays out because despite MarTech and all of the marketing technology channels that you can use, and you need to be a data scientist, and you need to know data, you still need a strong brand. It doesn’t replace the importance of brand. A brand is a promise. And whether that’s in social media or that’s in a full page ad in the New York Times, if you don’t have a brand, it’s gonna cost you a lot of money to try and move that needle. But if you have a strong brand, but you don’t tactically execute well, it’s also very ineffective. And we’re seeing kind of both right now. So there’s just a lot of noise and transformation in the system, and I don’t think that’s played its course yet, but I think we’ll see that in the next five years.

Ryan Embree:
Yeah, it’s super interesting to see how these big brands deal with this. Again, keep talking about this next generation coming up. You think about, especially, starting from I’ve got a couple toddlers myself, they’re seeing more ads than we’ve ever consumed by the age that they have purchasing power. So they will have seen, I mean, you think about when the only ads we might’ve seen might’ve been on the tv, talk about YouTube, talk about social media. They are seeing ads constantly all over the place in this visual video form. So if your content is not attractive, engaging to them, they will ignore it very, very quickly. And you have to be, have your ear to the floor to see if they’re listening and what they’re telling you, because I think you are absolutely right, Alexi, you look at some of that data, they will tell you exactly what they’re engaging with, and it’s all in the data, but you gotta be able to keep your ear to the floor and listen and, and look for those patterns and trends. So let’s dive and get into the Hospitality Show, right? This is also talking about this incredible event. I do not envy you in having to top what you did last year, but looking at the agenda, looking at the press releases, some of the speakers events that are gonna happen there, I’m very excited about this. So talk to us a little bit about what attendees can expect for the 2024 Hospitality Show.

Alexi Khajavi :
Yeah. Year one was top five launch around the world in terms of new launches. It just got nominated for the best new show in 2023 by Trade Show Executive. So we’re very proud of that with our partners, AHLA, but more importantly than the accolades and the success of year one is the purpose of the hospitality show. We launched it with our partners, the American Hotel and Lodging Association, because running hotels and all of the amenities, whether that be the spa, food and beverage, the gym within a hotels is becoming much more complex and much more challenging. And despite the fact that, as we said a few moments ago, we’ve been operating in this really growing top line, RevPAR, ADRs, occupancy coming along with it, environment, profit margins have been challenged. And that’s because one inflation labor and then just the complexity, running all of that under one roof and paying for the utilities and all that, it is really, really challenging. You have issues like insurance. You’re seeing investors sell portfolios of hotels, not because they’re not performing well, but because the insurance premiums from climate change largely is making it unsustainable. Forgive the pun, to run those hotels profitably. So we’ve got this really challenging environment in which owners of which own a small branded or independent hotel in on the side of the road are challenged, as well as some of the largest REITs and private equity and sovereign wealth funds that own blocks of hotels around the world. So that’s why we launched the Hospitality Show, because there wasn’t one show that brought the entire industry together to look at all of the levers for growth with a focus on profitability and optimization of hotel assets. And that can be revenue and that can be costs. And it can be all of the things in between on that classic P&I. So this year we are seeing incredible growth. I’m really pleased to say, and I’m really, the teams at Questex and the teams at AHLA, I mean, they are doing yeoman’s work. They’re doing an incredible job of working with our advisory board, which contains some of the sharpest minds across the industry. Owners like Mitch Patel, Vinne Patel, big funds like M-C-R-K-S-L, capital operators, like as I said, Scott Strickland from Wyndham Asset Managers like Chad Sorenson, and then suppliers from Oracle to Honeywell to Encore to Worldview. So I mean, this is like, this is the ecosystem that really is, why this is AHLA’s show as much as it is ours, because it is truly where we’re collecting the industry. So this year, San Antonio, October 28th to October 30th, and we’re projecting over 5,000 attendees. We’ve expanded our general manager or our GM awards. That was one of the sort of most exciting, enthusiastic parts of last year to truly celebrate the backbone of our industry those GMs that will be followed by the age and a GM summit, which is content specifically tailored for GMs to discover those innovative ways, again, to drive profitability at their properties. The expo floor, we had so many, we had over 300 exhibitors last year. Were now over 400 exhibitors this year. So that’s grown as well. We’ve got interactive showcases on the show floor for our attendees. So the smart outdoors, the outdoor sort of element really became kind of almost an accelerant from Covid, and it’s really continued. So how do you activate those areas outdoors to make them one, you know, enjoyable, but second tournament into profit centers, interim hotel entertainment sponsored by DirecTV. And then also how do we activate the lobbies with our meet me in the lobby activation. We’ve got a lenders alley as we know, debt has been expensive in this environment, but it’s critical to the capital stack for hotel owners. So that’s designed specifically for our owners that are attending, again, per that advisory board feedback that we’ve got on helping owners find the right debt partners. We’re also now partnering with Clean the World, which is our partners on our sustainability initiative. And that’s helping our attendees build these hygiene kits made from recycled soap, donated to a local homeless shelter. And all that comes from hotels. So, last year I think we built 500 kits and our goal this year is a thousand. So a sustainability and a goodwill component as always. I mean, this is part of the fabric of our industry. And then the networking we’ve got, last year, I think everyone came out of Vegas saying we had the best party that the industry has ever seen, sort of a James Bond theme, which was very popular. This year we’re coming back with a block party on the river walk, a VIP owner’s reception. And then DirecTV is back with that opening reception this year at the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts in San Antonio, which is a beautiful venue. And they’ve got a surprise announcement coming up. I won’t steal their thunder on that. So, really there’s a lot of excitement on the expo floor in the networking, just in the leadership that that attends. But also the educational sessions are some of the best in the industry. I mean, we’ve got marquee speakers this year from Jose Andress, which is, you know, world Kitchen and the world famous chef to Aaron Andrews and many others that are on our website. And we continue to announce, so senior leadership as well as CEOs from the companies, which are really dealing with some of the biggest issues facing not just the industry, but the global and the US economy. It is an election year, so there’s a lot of stuff going on in the space. And it should just be, again, most industries have their marquee event, whether it be CES in Las Vegas, or you know, the concrete show for the construction industry or the automotive show. Hospitality hasn’t had its own show. And that’s why, again, it’s so important for the industry to be there. And it’s important for us to be able to learn, network and be inspired around how do we drive profits and a better marketplace and industry for hotel owners, operators and suppliers.

Ryan Embree:
Well, you got me fired up about this year’s show. That’s for sure. And I think I can say this ’cause I am a Texan, but everything’s bigger in Texas, Hospitality Show, right? We’re excited to hear it, Alexi. And I love the education. It’s so insightful, so informative, so many great takeaways. I mean, we dedicate a whole episode after the hospitality show to talk about the takeaways, the trends, the patterns, things that we’re hearing. But I wanna focus in on the networking. ’cause you were here at the ground floor when this thing was built last year, and you have a really amazing chance opportunity to network at the hospitality show. And I wanna know kind of the thought process behind the thinking and why it was such a priority to make sure that there were these networking opportunities for hospitality professionals at this show.

Alexi Khajavi :
Well, because it is a people powered industry, I mean, at the end of the day, with all the infrastructure and all the technology there are that are infinitely more important to us, deals are done based off the relationships we have. I mean, that’s just this industry and we’re not gonna change it. In fact, we celebrate it and we build momentum into those relationships. So, that’s really a core component of the hospitality show is to continue to foster those relationships, bring the right buyers and sellers there. And we’re using intelligent meetings to connect specific buyers and sellers that are selling a product versus looking for that same product. But the other really exciting thing about the hospitality show is the extemporaneous or spontaneous connections that are made. And just off the top of my head, somewhat anecdotal, but you know, last year I remember walking through the show floor and I saw Mark Hian, walking around with Kevin Carey, CEO of AHLA. And you know, here you have one of the CEOs of the largest hotel companies in the world going around booth to booth and talking to owners and talking to suppliers and trying to understand what is the thinking and what is the purpose, various products or services that were there. And it wasn’t just Mark who’s, you know, one of the nicest guys in the business. It was also Jeff Baloti was front row of our GM awards and GM Summit and sitting there clapping vibrantly. Yeah, it was so cool to see, again, the CEO of the largest franchise company in the industry celebrating GMs of other brands properties because again, this is the bedrock. So that really is, and it’s not just those two, but it was many, many others which I can. And so it was that real opportunity where the industry, which is, it’s one of the most fragmented industries in the world. So it is a challenge sometimes. And that’s again, that is the purpose of the Hospitality Show. We’ve got investment shows. We have NYU, we have IHIF in in Europe, we’ve got Asia, we’ve got Alice in Lodging Conference and Hunter, great shows. We’ve got the design shows, BDNY, the hospitality design. We’ve got operational shows, we’ve got law, hospitality, law shows. So, there’s plenty of these events in the industry, including our own, but none of them brought the ecosystem together and in order to really understand, but more importantly solve the challenges that we have as an industry, the only way to do that is to do it as one industry, as one voice. And so the privilege, and we really see it as a privilege of being able to do that with our partners, AHLA and bring this industry together from the senior leadership of some of the largest hotel companies or suppliers with a single owner or a new provider to the space is just a, it’s a real honor, but it is critical to the overall success of hospitality in the hotel industry. And therefore I really encourage everyone to make that trip. It’s good for your business, it’s good for your career, but more importantly, it’s good for the industry. And if we’re all together on this, then we will advance our needs and we’ll continue to see the industry grow.

Ryan Embree:
It is really, again, personal experience. It is really inspiring and cool to see rival brands rally around really important topics, human trafficking, that was still an issue that we’re battling right now. But to see everyone in lockstep together, and rallying around a cause like that, sustainability, another one to see that it’s very inspirational. You’re right, Alexi. And it is great for our industry. It gives you that hope that our industry is moving in the right direction. So, very, very cool. So with this being the second year, I’m sure you have some goals after year one, but when all said and done, that final attendee walks outta the Hospitality Show, what’s that one thing, that one goal where you can sit back and say, mission accomplished, second year, 2024 hospitality show was a success?

Alexi Khajavi :
Well, first of all, there’s a cold beer in my hand.

Ryan Embree:
<laugh>. Oh, I’m sure, I’m sure.

Alexi Khajavi :
It really, I mean, the first thing is just looking around at the team and really feeling a sense of accomplishment for what we’ve done. And we truly, truly are immersed in this industry, and we’re deeply connected with our own personal relationships as well as just our professional relationships in the space. We hear a lot of feedback and some of it glowing and some of it all around how to make it better. But it’s a symbiotic relationship where our customers and our attendees are that are there, they’re invested in it, right? They’ve spent their time, their money, their resources. So we’re in it together. And there is an accretive or an iterative process to make it better. And we get the feedback and we work with our advisory boards, and it’s, I mean, we work on this thing 365 days a year. I mean, there are dedicated resources that work on this show, 365 days a year, that’s all they think about. But in that moment where, the last attendee walks out and the lights are going down, it really is just looking around at the team and the folks that made it happen, which are hand on heart. It’s not me. It’s, it’s a lot of people that are doing much more work and better work than than I could ever do. And it’s seeing that gratitude in being able to do something that’s impactful in an industry that we love, that’s a real gift. And it’s a real pleasure to have that opportunity. And we don’t forget that. So that’s a real nice thing. Yeah.

Ryan Embree:
And then I’m sure right shortly after it, its start planning for the next year, but maybe you could take that moment to enjoy it.

Alexi Khajavi :
That’s what the beer’s for.

Ryan Embree:
Exactly, exactly. Well, as we wrap up today, Alexi, in our industry, we’re always trying to predict the future, right? Just a little bit. We’re looking at occupancy, we’re looking at airlines, we’re looking at how many seats filled up, you know, 60, 90 days from now. So we’re at a really unique time right now. We’ve got a lot of external factors. You mentioned some inflation interest rates, rising construction costs. And by the way, we’ve got an election coming up. What’s your kind of feeling sentiment on the outlook of our industry over the next couple years?

Alexi Khajavi :
I’m wildly optimistic. I’m bullish all the way on travel and hospitality. I do think, however, that the industry needs to look at its carrying capacity to demand, particularly in those areas of high demand or sensitive biodiverse environments, whether it’s Venice or Paris or, you know, Ancor Watt. We haven’t even gotten back to global outbound travel in 2019 levels. And we’re, again, seeing destinations really struggle with the impact of tourism and hospitality. And so we are going to have to really get some critical thinking around that. And it will need to be managed. I mean, we need to manage demand. And I know that sounds strange because we typically focus on managing capacity and letting the demand just hopefully go and rise, rise, rise. But we’re gonna have to look at that demand and manage that demand more effectively. Because look, the new generations are absolutely looking at are completely invested in the experience economy. Tourism and hospitality will continue to grow, whether it’s in the Western world where it’s experiences over things. You’re seeing it, the data does not lie. They don’t want to own a car. They want to go travel. Digital nomads aren’t a thing. It is a generation. And that’s not even including new markets opening up again. China is at 10% of its outbound travel to what it was pre pandemic levels, throw that into the mix and then throw more countries, developing countries. I mean, as people, as middle classes emerge, the first thing they want to do is go travel international. It is the way it is, and we’re very blessed by that. But some destinations are struggling with that demand, and we’re gonna need to manage that effectively. And the positive thing is that we can, we can spread that demand out. So it’s not about tapping the brakes, but it’s about managing it effectively. And I think that that’s, uh, that’s something that we can do. We’ve got enough smart people around and the importance on local economies, but the global economy of travel and hospitality, 10% of global economy, 11% global employment, we have to fix it. So, I think that’s I think I’m very confident and very optimistic of our future. We just have to make sure we don’t kill the goose that’s laying the golden egg.

Ryan Embree:
It’s great observation. And I’m sure some of those creative thoughts and ideas we’ll certainly be brewing at the Hospitality Show in San Antonio in October. So, Alexi, thank you so much for joining me once again on the Suite Spot. We’re very happy to announce it. I don’t think we’ve announced it yet on social media or anything that the Suite Spot is returning to the Hospitality Show in 2024 in San Antonio. We are so excited. Hopefully we’ll run into you along with, it’s a who’s who, as you mentioned at that show, so you never know who we’re gonna be running into interviewing, but thank you again for taking the time outta your day, your busy schedule as we lead up to this incredible show to share with us a little bit about your insights and thoughts about this upcoming hospitality show. So thank you, Alexi.

Alexi Khajavi :
No, Ryan, thank you. Thank you for your support and love your show. It’s fabulous, I listen to it all the time, so thanks again.

Alexi Khajavi:
I appreciate it. And thank you all for listening. We’ll talk to you next time on The Suite Spot to join our loyalty program. Be sure to subscribe and give us a five star reading on iTunes. Suite Spot is produced by Travel Media Group. Our editor is Brandon Bell with Cover Art by Bary Gordon. I’m your host, Ryan Embree, and we hope you enjoyed your stay.