In this episode of the Suite Spot, we welcome Micajah Sturdivant, CEO of MMI Hospitality, as the newest addition to the TMG Hospitality Trailblazers series. With a background in hospitality and hotel management spanning generations in his family, Micajah gives audiences a unique take on how hospitality has evolved over the decades and how MMI Hospitality has cemented itself as a pioneer in the industry.

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. Happy 2025. This is your host, Ryan Embree. We are here back in the new year with a great new episode at continuing. I think we’ve been doing this for about two years now. This TMG Hospitality Trailblazers series, as a reminder of this is your first time, this is all about the hospitality trailblazers that have been blazing a path in hospitality. Our guests has been doing it for over five decades, we’re gonna talk about in a second, but it’s about those people and management companies and brands that are pushing our industry forward. As we get into a new year, I think this is the best way to kick it off. So without further ado, I’m gonna bring in our guest today, CEO of MMI Hospitality, Micajah Sturdivant. Micajah, thank you so much for being with me on the Suite Spot today.

Micajah Sturdivant:
No, it’s a great honor. Thank you for having me.

Ryan Embree:
Yeah, we’re excited. We’re gonna, we’re gonna talk a lot because we got a lot of history to cover with your hospitality group, MMI. But before we do that, this is your first time on the Suite Spot. First time guest, hopefully first of many visits, but as, as I always like to do as is tradition. Talk about a little bit about your background and hospitality and the journey that led you to MMI Hospitality.

Micajah Sturdivant:
No, I appreciate the invitation and opportunity to share about our organization that originally was founded in 1956 when Kemmons Wilson was conceptualizing Holiday Inn. My grandfather and his roommate from grad school were early adopters to the idea of what the Holiday Inn and Internet Interstate system expansion could really provide, not only for the travelers, but from their perspective and specifically my grandfather. The opportunity for a Mississippi workforce that was going through a major transformation in the late 1940s and 50s where primarily agriculture focused economy was modernizing. In many ways, technology was being brought in and it was negatively impacting opportunities for workforce to have a quality meaning of quality lifestyle. And so saw that the opportunity within hospitality could be a great employer and so was one of the first Holiday Inn franchisees. That company has since grown to work with all the major franchisors as owner and operator, as well as adding a contract food service management company and a restaurant brand as well. So it’s a mixed bag across the spectrum hospitality. But in many ways, they’re businesses that were born out of one another or very much build off of the knowledge and information that our corporate shared services team is able to provide across the entire enterprise.

Ryan Embree:
Yeah, absolutely. Well, you know, hospitality, I mean, even 50 years ago, it was definitely a profession. I mean, we talk about hotels being the oldest profession out there. So a lot of rich history, storied history there. I’m sure you’ve seen a lot of evolution. I mean, there’s been tons of changes just within the last couple years with this being part of your family. Talk to us a little bit about how you were first introduced into hospitality and how you ended up where you’re today.

Micajah Sturdivant:
Yeah, no, I appreciate it. So interestingly it is a family business. I’m the third generation on the Sturdivant co-founding side, but I didn’t grow up in the business in the sense that my father is not involved. I grew up on the ag side, so as I remembered earlier, you mentioned earlier, our family was in agriculture, and so that’s the business that my father is involved in. And so the second generation was actually an uncle. So family business, but went where we now today, work for either a uncle or uncle in-law if we do have the opportunity to return back to a family business within the kind of larger start event related organization. With that being said, being from Mississippi, like you said, hospitality is one of the oldest professions out there. You know, I kind of say, look, Mississippi finds itself in some tough rankings nationally, but hospitality is one of those that we can hit out of the park. And so really found it as a great thing to double down on what comes naturally to our team members and love celebrating that across our organization. For me personally, I didn’t grow up working a front desk. I grew up working on the farm and found the respect and that comes with earning your role and opportunities within a family business. Worked first hospitality related job, I guess was working as a dishwasher. And then made my way up to a food prep guy at a summer camp, and then did internships and different opportunities before being invited to join the MMI organization after completing an MBA and then worked through asset management, ops management, led our hotel management company, and then three years ago was invited to be named CEO.

Ryan Embree:
Well, listen, Micajah, I would tell you that you are not the first dishwasher that, or that got his start dishwasher. You’re talking to a bellman that started his development. So, you know, it’s so important to, I think, you know, especially right now as we’re going through this staffing shortage is to appreciate those line level employees because a lot of them have hospitality journeys and careers. Your spans over, you know, your family’s career spans over, you know, five decades in hospitality. But a lot of senior leadership get their start at the line level and then work their way up. And I think it gives a greater appreciation for those everyday employees and certainly creates a strong culture. You mentioned the southern hospitality, we’re gonna get to that in a minute because you’re talking about how Mississippi does hospitality, the right way. They got a whole term for it, right? Southern hospitality. Talk to us about how southern hospitality’s kind of incorporated in MMI Hospitality and how that’s evolved over the years.

Micajah Sturdivant:
Well, I would say for us in many ways, taking it even more than the general Southeast, kind of cultural elements is specifically the family of being from an agriculture family. We lived out in the middle of nowhere, and when you’re out in the middle of nowhere, it doesn’t matter what your last name is, you know, when the rains come or you know, the electricity goes out or whatever it is. And so that kind of shared community across, you could say everybody in the org chart from the farm very much applied to the sense of family that we have lived out over the decades, almost seven decades now within the MMI organization that paired with the family having been, or excuse me, the business having been founded by two men from very different backgrounds. Mr. Jones was from California. They met in Boston. He moved his new bride, Mrs. Jones, to Mississippi in 1956 to become innkeeper of our first Holiday Inn. And as Mr. Jones, 50 years after that, he said, we never had a fight. We had some healthy discussions, but we never had a fight. And that sense of respect, not only as peers, but as believers in the larger business, wherever again you may be within the organizational structure, has been an underlying element of how I’ve looked at our organization and have built on those who’ve served in similar roles performing.

Ryan Embree:
Yeah. I mean, I’m sure that’s an easy thing to sell to employees, you know? What I mean, taking care of one another and that background leaning on that, that sometimes gets lost, you know what I mean? With a lot of management companies, a lot of brands out there, it feels like a new brand’s kind of popping out every single day. I’m sure being able to kind of rely on that history, that story of MMI Hospitality and the way that you’ve done things, over the past almost 70 years, like you said, that’s something that instills confidence to employees, associates of this thing’s gonna be around, it’s gonna be around a while and we’re gonna do things the right way. You got a whole, we kind of talked about it. We got a whole section on your website labeled differentiators. And I think at the time right now where there’s a lot of consolidation in management companies, right? You know, more brands than ever, more opportunities. How do you stay relevant and, and differentiate yourself from those other management companies out there?

Micajah Sturdivant:
I think one of those items is our roots run deep. So recognizing we’ve been through the cycles. We recognize there’s a reason why we have more than 90 team members, pictures, headshots on the wall in our office here in Mississippi for having served the organization for more than 25 years. There’s a reason why we’ve created, I believe, or those before me, have created a sticky opportunity of turning a job and truly into a career. But we’ve had a diverse portfolio that is not any easier. Versus having cookie cutter, core branded, all one franchise, all select serve, et cetera, and stacking those PnL’s next to each other. I get that there are great benefits and efficiencies to that, but that’s maybe not what always will resonate for a certain stakeholder, whether that’s not only just the guest but a team member, you know, an investor and just a general market. But I guess those differentiators are thinking about our diversification in that we can pull best practices and apply across our portfolio, but also digging into the details, which comes about, because in that diversification, we have both franchised and non franchise properties. My soapbox is, I get on my soapbox when I say is that it’s not whether it’s branded or not, because you can have wonderful brands like in the southeast will say the Peabody or the Roosevelt or the Grand Hotel, or the Broadmoor, you know, wherever it might be, the plaza. Those are brands that people assimilate a certain feeling and experience with that aren’t necessarily franchised. But we have franchised and non-franchise properties. Our intent is to build brands either around a collection or an individual asset so that not only the guests, but even more so firstly, our team members can understand what it is that they’re being asked to deliver on. What is the hospitality they’re being asked to provide. And that comes back to taking care of your team members. A phrase that I like to talk about, which is psychological income, recognizing that yes, we need to pay our team members well, but we also need to provide it to be a safe, comfortable place that they enjoy coming to work while they’re respected and honored in sharing their talents every day. Otherwise, they’re not gonna be able to deliver that for our guests and create that virtuous cycle of returning guests and credit card swipes. But it’s a fascinating business. We think that we’ve got both as owners and operators as developers, franchise and non-franchise branded and independent full service and select service. We’ve got a mixed bag but that’s what keeps us on our toes, I think.

Ryan Embree:
Well, I mean, just to think about everything that’s happened in the last decade to then be able to say, yeah, well guess what? We’ve been around for seven of those, right?

Micajah Sturdivant:
It gets faster though. It’s not as fast back in the day as it is now, but yeah, there’s been some, been some changes.

Ryan Embree:
Yeah, you’ve been through a lot. But I think that also says something, I mean, there’s something about longevity in this hospitality business and something that you mentioned a couple of those brands. A lot of what those brands have in common, those hotel brands is, they’ve been around for a long time. They’ve been able to give those guests experiences throughout generations, which is something that you can hang your hat on there and then all of a sudden you add the diverse assets. You know, being able to say, hey, we’re not just successful. We can do it in a variety and multitude of ways. That is absolutely differentiator right now, especially in one of those segments that, that you’re really invested in is the soft brand. And would love to hear as someone with multiple soft brands within your portfolio, kind of what you think the draw that pull is to a soft brand today in 2025 and, and maybe where you see soft brands heading in the future.

Micajah Sturdivant:
So there’s a lot to unpack there. The soft brands of course have, we’ve seen the rise of the soft brands, rightfully so. I’m excited about what they can mean for a community so long as the investors are keeping those appropriate capital reserves to go deeper in terms of, and faster, I guess I should say, in terms of the ID side of things, when we think of the big grand legacy properties, kind of like you were mentioning a second ago, and some, I listed some of those just geographically around us, so much of the investment was around the building, right? I think about the hallway at the Roosevelt in New Orleans, or the lobby at the Peabody in Memphis, et cetera, right? And you could have take out every single piece of soft goods and walk in there and go, wow. So much of design today is not about the box, just because it’s unfortunate as that’s where we are in terms of CapEx costs, but a lot of it’s about the forward-leaning design elements and taking those design elements and creating a lifestyle associated with it and localizing it. That will have to be something that people pour back into. And I think that, like where we are, I would say within the core branded is that there are those groups that totally rely or strongly rely on their franchise partner to really deliver on what the guests expect. And then there are hoteliers who believe that, I’m the operator of this hotel and this is my responsibility and I’m gonna deliver with my team, and we have a franchise partner here at the table with us, and we will work together. Within the soft branded space, I would say that we are in a still a little bit, I would say in the honeymoon phase almost of the soft branded industry. We’ve had portfolios build pretty quickly with a lot of conversions. We have franchise partners who have, I think, done a good job in holding to certain standards of really wanting brands to be created, but it’s gonna be how do we sustain that and how do we sustain that, not in holding, but continuing to evolve and push forward. You can’t just hire a great interior designer to design a restaurant and launch a menu. It’s about how is your team living out that experience? How is that menu rotating and evolving so that it’s continuing to resonate not only with the traveling public, but locals alike. These properties cannot work, I don’t believe if you don’t resonate and work well for your locals, not only because I think the guest is seeking out sitting next to a bar with a local and hearing about, okay, which one of those breweries downtown, you know, should we go visit kind of a thing and getting the local intel. But the other is a lot of these projects also the balance of revenue coming through the various revenue segments of these properties, is you know, adding food and beverage and spa and whatever other programming might be within the box other than just the room’s revenue that a core franchise properties is historically been focused.

Ryan Embree:
Yeah. That’s such a smart observation there, Micajah. These locals, I think it was something probably, you know, during the pandemic where a lot of us were like, well, can’t travel anymore via airplane. Look at this hotel. Lemme go check this out and maybe put my travel radius a little bit closer to home. And they found out that they had some pretty awesome hotels, pretty awesome restaurants here. But you’re totally right about the guests wanting, we’ve always heard that, I’m trying to get a local experience. Well, who better to give you a local experience to having that experience with local people in that area. That’s so smart. And if you can create a mixture of both, I mean, first of all, you don’t have to rely so much on out-of-towners. You’ve got different revenue streams and soft brands definitely hit the mark, but it’s exactly what you said. It can’t just be a building, it’s gotta have a story. Those brands, they lasted over time because of the stories that were told and experience within the walls of that lobby. Like you were talking about. So how can you tell your story? And that’s obviously us being a digital marketing podcast, that’s where we spend a lot of our time talking about is how can you tell the story of your soft brand, even if you’re branded property, right? How do you sell not just the hotel, but the community and local experiences. So can you share with us a little bit about the MMI Hospitality’s philosophy and how you sell that entire kind of guest experience?

Micajah Sturdivant:
Well, I mean, I’m almost thinking about it through the lens of this as if it was a case study. King and Prince, historic beach and golf resort on an island off of Brunswick, Georgia, built in 1935. This is the 90th anniversary of that property. It is a neighboring, it is nearby to Sea Island, which is world renowned fabulous, just amazing experience. And I think that we are too. Number one, you gotta be honest about who you are, I think is important as, while I know your audience is much larger than the Southeast U.S., I kind of almost sometimes find myself explaining or reviewing things internally or externally through comparisons around like, if the King and Prince is Southern Living Magazine, Sea Island is gardening gun. You’ve got a different audience and don’t try to be the same, you know, as your neighbor. You’ve gotta instead go not run the other direction, but find your corner. The King and Prince is a perfect example, I think, of where while we had seven acres and about 200 keys, a lot of different room types, et cetera, and programming on property and addition to our golf course there, St. Simon’s has a ton of amazing experiences at the Lighthouse through its history, through retail and quaint village, et cetera. And for years, our food and our corporate director of sales and marketing really led the charge around fam tours and through digital marketing of saying, we are not here to sell the King and Prince. We’re here to sell St. Simon’s. And when you’re coming to St. Simon’s, the King and Prince is the place to stay. And so, almost thinking about it through the lens of what we’re just talking about, some of these soft brands, et cetera, is that, look, you’re not gonna be, you’re not gonna have everything within the walls of your property. So recognizing how you leverage your community, the other is, I was thinking about like, you know, the stories with years of service like Peabody Hotel in Memphis, they’re famous for their ducks. They didn’t open that hotel with that plan. It just happened to become because of a certain guest, et cetera. And where I’m going with that is that by having your hotel act as the living room for your community creates the opportunities for locals and visitors alike to find themself the results of stories that then build kind of folklore, that then builds legacy, that then builds brand and, you know, 50 years down the road, or 90 years down the road, you realize, wait a second, all these little things added up to something much bigger than I ever thought it could and would. And so it’s about recognizing your voice and your voice relative not only to your peer set, but to your neighbor who’s just your general community and making sure that you’re not speaking outside, above or below what resonates with and for them. And in doing so, you get credit for so much more than what you actually are controlling or had to foot the bill for.

Ryan Embree:
Well, we always talk about the best story that you can tell, even if you’ve got the best marketing team and and budget out there is the story that your guests are telling on places like online reviews. So I think you make a great point because there might be some hoteliers out there that feel like, you know what, this is my value prop, this is why my hotel is the best. Yet their guests are telling them something different about, I actually like this hotel because of this. And if you’re not, if you don’t keep an open ear and an eye on that feedback and have alignment there, it’s either gonna come off as inauthentic or you’re gonna be missing the mark. Like you were just talking about, you’re gonna be targeting the wrong people. And that it’s a very, it’s, it’s a tight rope that you have to walk. But I think your advice of staying open and organic for that story to be told between both you and the guest is so, so critical, so key and some really great advice there.

Micajah Sturdivant:
Well, one of the things that we found really interesting kind of at portfolio level is, our franchise partners, our franchise hotels have done guest surveys and at all the technology channels for a long time and they’ll get scores. What’s really interesting, and I don’t think it’s because of price point, because we’ve got independently branded properties that might be a hundred dollars a night and we’ve got other ones that might be $900 a night. And regardless of the price point, the amount of verbatim that is provided in that communication loop in our soft branded and independent properties is fascinating. It’s almost like there’s this innate sense of that there’s an innkeeper there, there’s a person that’s either the muse or whether that’s our GM, really kind of acting in that role, or it’s just the general sense of the community that your overall team member groups create. But there’s a lot more calling out and share showing love and but also given constructive criticism because they feel there’s a person and an identity to whom will listen and that this is a place they wanna come back to and want to continue kind of be a part of its evolution.

Ryan Embree:
No, absolutely. We talk about that all the time about guests leaving you literally breadcrumbs and clues to the perfect guest experience. Now not everyone is going to, mistakes happen and things happen that are out of our control. But you have to be open, have an opening ear to that feedback. Because when you’re right, Micajah when they give you that advocacy, that is the strongest piece of endorsement that you can get from traveler to traveler is someone else saying, listen, this place felt like home. It did a fantastic job of hosting me and my family. I will certainly be back next time and hope that you’ll stay here when you visit too. There is no, listen, I’ve been on the other side of that front desk. There’s no better feeling in the world when it’s just like at a holiday. We just had the holidays go by when you host someone. You love that feedback. You love to hear that. Being recognized. You put your heart and soul and kind of hosting them. So here we are, beginning of 2025, always a great time of year to do some sort of reflection on this past year. What stands out to you as whether you hit any milestones, accomplishments for MMI Hospitality as a brand?

Micajah Sturdivant:
Oh, gosh. I find myself, I think about that. Well, kind of moving out of portfolio because that might be an answer that portfolio related answer might be. More usually provided, I would say I’d go to people and I’m excited about what our executive council was able to accomplish in 2024 in terms of listening to team member engagement and circling back on taking action. But one specific, I guess is we hired a new CFO. Doug Heinrich has come to us from 21C museum hotels, and we think that his food and beverage and hospitality hotel experience and repositioning historic assets for world renowned art gives some interesting insight for us as we’re looking at our portfolio for the future and what that means in terms of growth opportunities for our team members. So that’s a little vague in a sense, but we’ve got the kind of standard milestone numbers, but I think it’s the people side. What Doug is already kind of drumming up for the future of MMI is exciting.

Ryan Embree:
Puts you in position to take advantage of some of these travel trends that we’re seeing. I mean, we were, I was fortunate enough at the end of 2024 to cover the hospitality show and one of my big takeaways we do a takeaways episode from that was F&B is, I don’t know if it was ever gone, but it is certainly back in hospitality. And it is coming back with a vengeance. And a lot of hoteliers are capitalizing on this. People just seem to, it’s a community thing like you were talking about. People just love to experience this. Whereas, I mean, maybe a couple decades ago it wasn’t the fad to go to the hotel restaurant. It certainly is now. And some of the best restaurants in cities that we’re seeing are in hotels, in resorts. So certainly positioning you to continue on that success and stay up to date with those trends moving forward. Let’s move into some rapid fire questions here. Get to know you and MMI Hospitality portfolio. You mentioned a couple of the properties. You know, I typically save this line of questioning for a single property, but you’ve got such a nice portfolio. Let’s, let’s move through some of these. Favorite view at one of your properties? Hopefully I can make this a little difficult for you.

Micajah Sturdivant:
Favorite view, I would say the valley range at Switzerland Inn in little Switzerland, North Carolina. It’s an amazing 1910 rehab old hotel that has just this beautiful view out of the North Carolina mountains.

Ryan Embree:
Picturesque. I like it. What about a favorite fun fact about one of your properties?

Micajah Sturdivant:
Favorite fun fact, I would say the James Madison Inn, an hour east of Atlanta was constructed, this is a quirky one, was constructed with chandeliers and stained glass windows and the exterior columns of a big old antebellum, or not old. It was built new antebellum home from a story in the early 1990s of this guy who laundered all this money from the US government and disappeared internationally right when his plane crashed. And so they dismantled his house and moved all pieces got put all over the place and this little inn ended up with the columns, the windows, and the chandeliers.

Ryan Embree:
Wow. That is a fun fact. I wonder how many guests are hearing that story every single day over there at the James Madison. And what about favorite signature dish at one of your properties? We just talked about the F&B.

Micajah Sturdivant:
Yeah. I would say is probably the King and Prince muffin at the King and Prince. My grandparents bought that property when I was three and my whole life I have gone of having this particular oatmeal raisin breakfast muffin.

Ryan Embree:
Okay. All right. So it’s their signature. Little sentimental. I like that. Last one here. Favorite piece of art at one of your properties?

Micajah Sturdivant:
Favorite piece of art would probably be something at the Ian in Memphis, Tennessee Tribute. We built that property three or four years ago. Worked pretty much solely with local artists and there’s some wild, crazy art there. But there is a local Memphis artist that loves to take animals and figure out how they represent you. And our partner in that property had worked with them in the past. And so we have a rooftop experience called the Tiger and Peacock, but there was kind of almost like an a, not a monogram, but, or a logo, but a crest. A crest made that represents this property’s essence. And it’s things about grasshoppers because they can only move forward and it’s tiger and it’s all stacked. And so it’s original piece of art that’s hanging in the lobby. And then we took a turn on tone silhouette of it and turned it into a wallpaper and used that as an accent wall in the guestroom bathrooms.

Ryan Embree:
That’s so cool. Since I’ve been starting and it’s starting to do this, one of my new things now is when going into a new property with, you know, a little bit of character, a little bit of, you know, even a new build, because they’re, they’re doing this in new builds now too, is asking about the artists and if there were local artists because most of the artwork now I’m hearing from either these new builds or even older hotels, a lot of the times they’re working with local artists, which is so fantastic to hear and to see. We just talked about the local experience, community feeling that that’s something that gets overlooked sometimes at these hotels is sharing that, you know, all the art in this hotel is done by local artists here. So you’re truly getting that authentic feel when you stay with us at our property, because this is part of the community. It’s just something I think it’s so cool to see. And, it’s such a nice change from maybe, again, a decade ago where it was all just printed photos. Nice little photo in the room. So, so here we are, we’re at the end or beginning of 2025, already shooting ahead. <laugh>. We’re in a very critical time, obviously for hoteliers. They’re looking at their occupancy as even 60, 90 days into spring, spring break. What are you most looking forward to this year and as we turn the calendar to 2025?

Micajah Sturdivant:
I don’t know if I would say I’m looking forward to, but I’m cognizant of is that we have an inauguration later this month. We don’t have any properties in DC but what’s gonna happen in DC in the next several weeks is gonna be really influential as just general mindset and opportunities that the American public feels they have as it relates to travel and just confidence in their pocketbook and sense of whimsy and desire to get out and experience across the street and across the country. Both. Yeah. So I think that’s, that’s a big influence for us across all of our operating companies. But when we think about the messages that we can share, hospitality, you know, it’s one of the things we talk about with our team members. It’s like, we never know if the person checking in is here for a funeral or for a wedding. We don’t know if they’re here for a terminal doctor’s visit or a first grandchild, you know? And so, and we don’t know that about our team members. I mean, we don’t know that, wherever we are, whatever industry we in, we, we never know what it is that somebody may be caring or just so excited about inside and feels like they can’t share. So we just have to be respectful and be mindful of that. This is a, we are, we are complicated beings and hospitality is such a gift that we have that we can share with others regardless of where we are or what the product type might be, regardless of what the position is that I might be serving in within a property, that I can make an impact in someone else’s life. And that’s a gift and something that we should not take for granted.

Ryan Embree:
I love that. Love that. Yeah. No, what a message. And you know, again, as we go in this new year, and there’s a lot of things, what your hospitality is a gift. I love that message because we kind of look and see a lot of things on the horizon with AI and how is this going to change the landscape of everything that we do day to day. But at the end of the day, especially an organization that’s been around for almost 70 years, you know, it’s people serving people. And at the end of the day, it’s those guests that are having those experiences, but also the team members that are hosting those guests. That’s what makes the magic happen. And as you mentioned its a gift. It’s something that we get to be a part of and, and sometimes we’re lucky enough to be a part of that story. We’re lucky enough to make that impact.

Micajah Sturdivant:
I know that I have a friend I was talking to the other day who’s also the sixth generation in a family business. His family business is wholesaler of convenience stores. And you know, when you think about it, six generation ago, there were not convenience stores, there were not cars. <laugh>. And, and, and how many few generations ahead of us or, you know, in the future, what’s a convenient store gonna be? As we move away from gasoline, as, you know, just so many different things. But hospital, hotels, restaurants, et cetera, are there, they’re gonna stick around. And while there’s a lot, have been a lot of interesting influences in our industry from the outside, while there might be a kiosk in the lobby, or we may not be doing housekeeping every day, et cetera, there’s still gonna be the opportunity for warmth and sharing. So we look forward to hopefully being a part of that story for many years to come.

Ryan Embree:
Absolutely. And like I said, we, we wish you the success 2025. We’re gonna keep a close eye on MMI Hospitality and all the things that you’ve got in the years, decades to come. You already have the track record to show it. Any final thoughts? We covered a lot today, Micajah, any final thoughts we close out?

Micajah Sturdivant:
No, I just appreciate the opportunity to talk with you today and think about how digital is a piece of that and can become much more ingrained into not being this outlier. You know, it’s moved into the core kinda of what the guest experience is. Not only in introducing, but while people are on property and truly experiencing the offerings, how that then leads into that full circle upon exit and return. So it’s a big piece of how we can serve and preempt even more so going forward with AI and more information and knowing who the guest is before they walk in the door, et cetera, all that stuff to ultimately still greet them with the smile and preempt what their needs might.

Ryan Embree:
Absolutely. It all circles back to hospitality and creating that memorable experience. So we appreciate you Micajah being on here at TMG Hospitality Trailblazers Suite Spot series. And again, we look forward to, continuing the success. Hopefully, we can have you back on the Suite Spot.

Micajah Sturdivant:
Thanks so much.

Ryan Embree:
Thank you so much. And thank you for listening to The Suite Spot. We’ll talk to you next time. 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.