Uniting Voices To Tell The Story of San Francisco On The World Stage - Anna Marie Presutti, Hotel Nikko San Francisco [San Francisco Sundays]

Josiah: Running a place like this is more than a full-time job. And you also spend a lot of time promoting the broader area. So you're the chair of SF Travel. Why do you spend time on this?

Anna Marie: I spend time on it because it's important. It's important to the city. It's important to the meetings and conventions and tourism business. You know, SF Travel is a destination marketing organization - DMO - and the irony of what SF Travel does is they don't own anything, and they don't have a product necessarily to sell they don't own anything they don't manage anything they're selling the product that they're selling i shouldn't say they don't have a price they the product that they're selling is the city all of it and not just the hotels and the attractions but just the destination And I think it's important, more now than ever, obviously coming out of the pandemic, we've had a bit of a rough go of it getting our footing. And so now, I am making sure that the world understands that San Francisco is back, San Francisco is open, and San Francisco is available. And that takes voices, not just a voice, but multiple voices giving that messaging across the globe because so much of our business here is international and we are still lagging behind in that international lift coming back into the city so it's just you know you can't there are so many options for people and travel right now is Everybody's got a bucket list and somewhere on that bucket list is a travel destination, whether it's by car or rail or air, but everybody's got someplace they want to go. It's my job, it's the role of SF Travel to make sure that San Francisco is on that list and that we provide you with the experience that we're talking about and that we provide, that you make it a point to say, I want to visit San Francisco. I also want to go on a safari, but I'm going to put San Francisco in front of that. And I think that the only way you get that messaging out, the only way any destination in the country gets that message out is to go and to meet the people that actually are acting as your advocates or your salespeople, whether they're in London or they're in Brazil. We have to go talk to those people and say, you know, what can we do to make San Francisco easier for you? And oftentimes we'll go and they'll say we need more lift. we need more lift to get into San Francisco so the airport will come with us and United Airlines will come with us and they that's how we get more flights to these certain destinations. Obviously, you know, if you can be a gateway city, you've got to have a lot of that big international lift coming in. And so it's our job to make sure that we have the appropriate lift coming into the city and that we're getting that messaging out to the appropriate destinations. And we have to work those relationships. It's no different than any other type of product. You have to talk about your product. You have to, you know, get in front of the people who are actually can influence and or be your end user or your buyer.

Josiah: I'd love you to address any misconceptions people have about San Francisco. What do you want to set the record straight on?

Anna Marie: Listen, I think, you know, I've said this, I feel like, you know, hit play. I've traveled the world extensively. And there is not a major metropolitan city in the world or in the country that isn't facing the exact same issues that San Francisco is facing. We are not an anomaly. We are not alone in the fight to improve homelessness. We are not alone in the fight to deal with fentanyl. That is a national and an international problem. It's no worse here. It's no better here. It's the same. And I think the misconception is, is that San Francisco is much worse than anywhere else. And that's, that couldn't be further from the truth. In fact, I think San Francisco, you know, we have a unique way of dealing with the issue. And I think Mayor London Breed said it best when she said, San Francisco is known for meeting people where they are, not where we want them to be. So, we approach these problems with, I'd like to believe, and I do believe, a little more grace than maybe some other destinations. Now, that doesn't mean that we don't have problems, but our problems are certainly not exponentially worse than anywhere else. In fact, they're not worse at all than anywhere else.

Josiah: I heard that from someone who just came back from London, and like, I'm hearing this from a number of travelers. How's it been going over the last year or so?

Anna Marie: Do you feel like we're making progress? Well, you know, yeah, I think we're making tremendous progress. Yes, I think that our streets are certainly much cleaner, and you know, we're a very safe city. So, it's funny that We're not associated with high crime when you talk to somebody who is potentially going to come to San Francisco. They think of it, they talk about it more from a homeless perspective, that we have far more homeless people here. You know, I think what people forget is that we don't have more homeless people here. What we do have is the services that we provide our homeless population, whether it be food, medical, educational, whatever the case is, all of those are centered right here in the city center. They're not on the outskirts of town. They're not where no one would see them. I mean, they're literally four blocks from here. So a lot of what they see is because the services that are rendered are provided right here. I mean, this is a small city. That's the other thing people don't realize. We're seven miles by seven miles. You know, it's tiny. relatively speaking, compared to these other cities. And so I think what you experience is, and if you do see something like that, you're probably passing somebody who's going to get attention to whatever they need, you know, because it's so close.

Josiah: How do you think about that from someone running this place in terms of like, how you, is it like, do you educate guests around, go this way, not that way? We do.

Anna Marie: I mean, listen, we do tell them, And that's not to poo-poo a part of the city, that's just simply so that they have, would be a better experience. Now, here's what I can tell you, is every guest that I've had the pleasure of talking with in, you know, the concierge lounge or just in the lobby in general, if I had a nickel for every time somebody said, wow, I really expected things to be way worse, this isn't bad at all, I don't know what, the footage they're using, but this is not what I saw on TV. And I'm like, well, first of all, you know, choose your news stations wisely. I'll tell you that. And, you know, secondly, if I had a nickel for every time somebody said that to me, I certainly wouldn't be sitting here with you today. I can tell you that.

Josiah: Yeah. I wonder if we can spend just a few moments talking about what is lovely about being a hospitality provider in San Francisco. I want to not just talk about the challenges. What do you like about it?

Anna Marie: This is an easy sell. Yeah. I mean, let's face it, the weather's always pretty good. Looking out over sunny blue skies. That's right. You know, I mean, it's always kind of beautiful here. And then, you know, with the water and the hills. Listen, this is one of the most majestic cities on the planet. Whether it be you just want to walk and take in the sights, the food scene is second to none, the hotels, I mean, you know, this is a beautiful hotel. There are a lot of beautiful hotels here. The experience that you get here. I think the hospitality, the genuine hospitality that you get from the residents of the city of San Francisco, people that are working in the financial district, listen, it almost makes you feel like it's a little bit of Midwest nice. You know, it's kind of San Francisco nice, as I call it. And that also surprises people, regardless of where they are in the city, how cozy and homey it feels. And it's charming, you know, we've got the cable cars for heaven's sakes and we've got the buildings with all the interesting shapes and the architecture is just lovely and world-class baseball football teams it's in world-class events coming here so there is if you're a love the museums and the arts theater the music scene restaurants sports it's all right here

Josiah outro: In this episode, Anna-Marie talked about how shaping the perception and reality of a destination requires a lot of voices. I'd love to get your take on this. What does this look like for you and how you advocate for and expand opportunities in your area? Let me know your thoughts on the Hospitality Daily LinkedIn page.