Dangerous Blindspots: What Hotel Executives Miss - Adam Zembruski

Josiah: I want to level with you because I feel a tension on this show. My goal is to bring you the best new ideas to delight your guests and grow your profits. But I know the real challenges aren't always in the ideas themselves or the lack of ideas, right? There are systemic issues within hotels and hospitality companies that can hold us back. And that's exactly what we're diving into today with our guest, Adam Zembruski. Adam is someone I deeply respect, not only for his incredible track record in operations leadership, but he's also a hotel investor with real skin in the game. He brings a raw, unfiltered perspective on the state of the industry, and today, he shares some hard truths about what's happening on the ground. My goal of this conversation isn't to be negative but to really face the realities of what might be holding us back from driving real innovation forward. So, without further ado, here's my conversation with Adam. 

Josiah: We start our conversation by discussing what Adam has observed recently on the front lines of hospitality. If you want the backstory on why he was there, check out my previous episode with him, which I've linked in the show notes. But here's Adam, and what stood out to him was spending more time with people working in hotels today.

Adam: Number one was the number of people that are working full time and have two jobs. Even salaried managers. Okay, so that was right smack in my face. And it's not that I didn't know that. You know, you can read all these things about human resources and, you know, the staffing crisis, which is another term that, you know, I don't really like because I don't think it's a crisis of staffing. I think it's more of a crisis of leadership. That was the thing that I noticed. I noticed pretty much every front desk person, housekeeping person, and bartender all had second jobs. Some of them were full-time, and without naming any names, I was conflicted, right? Because, you know, I've been trained in human resources and the right interview questions to ask and behavioral interviewing and making sure you've heard this before when you hire someone and you. So here's an example regarding that. How many times have you or anybody in this industry heard, well, you can get another job, but you've got to maintain this one is your first, right? When you were hired, you said I'm available AM, PM, weekends, right? Well, and then they go get another job and then they start saying, I need to have Saturday nights off. Well, that's not what you agreed to when you were hired here. You know what? That's what we've been saying for 50 years in this industry, definitely for the past 25 or 30 years. So, I was conflicted, so I started studying, talking with them, and asking them questions. And then the reality of it is, and that's even with the wage increase, right? The starting wage increases used to be $10, then $12, and now it's gladly $14, $15, and stuff like that. So these people were like, well, I have to have another job. And that particular job, maybe it's at Starbucks. This is a front desk agent telling me this. They pay more on Saturday night because they can't find people and I need to do that to pay rent. And now you're saying that I might even lose my job at this hotel because I can't work Saturday nights. And so I got about 15 or 20 different examples of how we can say all we want, that everything's changed, but literally almost everything has changed in the field from what I thought was happening. And then, in reality, that all hit me right in the face. I was like, wow. 

Josiah: I appreciate you sharing that because there's been hotel worker strikes across the country. San Francisco is one of those places where there's been a worker strike. So I spent the afternoon. I went from hotel to hotel. I kind of talked to people that were on strike. I got it directly from them. I got a lot of messages from that. Some people loved it. Some people strongly disliked it and said I was painting an unfair story, which, you know, I probably wasn't perfect. I think my goal with this show is to talk with people to understand different perspectives and some of the Criticism I got was that I was telling a one-sided story and I'm just advancing the causes of the Union and and Maybe that was the case, but the reason I actually went to interview people, hotel workers on strike, was actually I was hearing very business-focused people, and I wouldn't traditionally see as kind of on the side of unions or side of workers. We're saying that there's something happening here that they actually have a point. And so that got my intrigue, and I was like, okay, let's start, let's talk to people. And I wasn't talking to the union, I was talking to the bartenders and the housekeepers and trying to get a sense of what is going on from your perspective. I just share that for a little bit of context because I'm very interested in this and I'm, you know, one of the reasons I'm excited to talk with you is you are that independent voice. You have built an incredible career in operations, but you have kind of an independence that a lot of times when people can't talk publicly and I'll get these DMs, they'll say something else, but you have this very unique independent perspective. So I'm interested to hear kind of you observe the same thing, you know, outside of San Francisco, outside of maybe some of these coastal cities where it seems like there's something going on here that's different than maybe a decade or two ago.

Adam: It is and the other things that people don't talk about is the fact that one I'll just tell you that I'm no longer a member of many Organizations that I've been a member of nonprofits that are on their website saying that they are focused on the the employees and the hotel workers and hospitality workers when I have found them that yes, they are but highly ineffective deeply ineffective of executing whatever it is they're trying to do to help. Because that was the disconnect that I just had been living this past year. It was like, do you really need us to call you and fill out these 10 or 12 pieces of paper and then be approved for something just to prove that we exist? And maybe we're the, I don't even know that the LLC of the company that I work for, if I'm a front desk person, you know what I mean? Like we're a front desk manager or a general manager. I know who I work for, I know the brand, but then you get these barriers that exist to even get help. And so it's a one-way street. And so I was like, you know what? These other, or these major, massively powerful organizations in our industry are not meeting them halfway. And they're not. Meeting them, the workers. Meeting them, the workers, the people in the field, the general managers, Some, you know, most of the time they're meeting the management companies halfway, you know, sometimes all the way because they're all at the same conferences and they're all at the, they have each other's cell phone numbers. But they're not trickling down to the field. They're not. And so I no longer am a member of them, and I've been very clear that I also don't go to conferences. The ones that I was talking about before that I was always invited to, including investment conferences, analytical conferences, and, you know, these very sexy type, you know, things that people do and software conferences and consumer SAS products and things like that. When the general managers and directors of sales don't get invited. They're the ones using the systems, but you go to these conferences with 10,000 people and there's not one general manager there.

Josiah: I appreciate you calling that out. Yeah, I appreciate it because this is one of my goals with Hospitality Daily, and it's a little bit conflicted because some of these events are fun to go to, and you do learn a lot in there. It does feel nice to meet those people but I also realize I have a privilege exactly what you said of a lot of the people on the front lines of providing hospitality never have a chance to do this. And so I think that's the tension I feel. But I think, you know, us even having this conversation today puts this conversation, your insights into the ears of everyone, regardless of if they can attend an event or not. I'd be really curious to hear your perspective, Adam, on how some of this systemic stuff can change. Because what I'm hearing from you and what I know about your story, I mean, you're a hospitality enthusiast, you care a lot about this. And just even from what you shared, you go from being just above property and kind of viewing, you know, it can become very abstract. Then you go back to start spending more time with the teams on property. What else comes to mind in terms of I guess how our listeners that maybe are? Tempted to get so disconnected from the front lines of hospitality. How might they reconnect?

Adam: It's a great question. How can they reconnect? So I'm going to use Deca as an example. Are you familiar with Deca?

Josiah: I've heard of it. I'm pulling it up again because it's been a little while.

Adam: I'm not a member of, well, I am a kind of a member. I'm an advisor and a coach and a judge of DECA, and it's similar to like future business leaders of America. It's a marketing and entrepreneurial perspective and it's focused on high schools and they do have a college thing, but it's a competitive process where you learn how to pitch an idea. You're doing it in front of judges, and you're learning about business. You're learning about starting a business. And so I've been encouraging people for many years. I live right next to a very large high school, and they have 300 DECA students. Three years ago, I started under the flag of Hospiamo because we're a social enterprise. and of spending more time and more of our social investments in our time with the youth. And so I will answer your question with this. That's what I did because I felt disconnected. Nobody told me to do that. Like I said, some therapy, some talking to friends. When I was realizing, I was like, Sure, I was trying to, I don't know, not keep my resume up, but I was like, you know, there is a benefit of being affiliated with a group that's actually highly effective in doing the things that I think could be done. And it's not only hospitality, they do have hospitality and tourism, business and management and hotel management and starting your own business and hospitality and software finance. They do a little bit of everything, but the fact that they were at the high school that I live next to and I just went one day and I said, hey, let me just go check it out. And it has been the last three years and I'm doing it again this year. Um, it is fascinating. And so I'll answer your question is I actually did something, Josiah, and I'm not saying that by being judgmental to, I'm not saying that people aren't doing anything, but when I went there and this is, I will tell you the outcome. I will tell you that what I've heard from 14, 15, and, you know, 16, 17-year-olds, they all say the same thing. Cause I'm an enthusiast, right? You know, they can see it. They could see it coming out of my pores about how much I love the hotel business, right. And hospitality and team building and, and everything about it. And they're like, I had no idea that that could even be a career. They had no idea now, and they have no idea. And so I found it, now, I can affect one person, and I'll say, if I can just get one person to get excited and consider like, hey, I love people. Could I possibly have a career? Could I be a hotel owner? And the answer is always yes. And I've done a lot of, you know, commenting and posting about that, about there's, there's never a better time. And it's even going to get better about someone that is interested. They can become an owner so much faster than it took me. I am a, an owner, a part owner of a couple of hotels. And so that was what I always wanted to, to be like, besides being a general manager, cause that was my, my dream. And then I became a GM and I was like, well, how can I own something? You know, it took me like 22 years to, uh, and I'm not even talking about a company; I'm talking about, like, owning a little piece of something. Right. And so I think that it takes, for today, a young person, as long as they spend the time to learn the fundamentals and actually work at a property and make mistakes and do all those things that we did as a younger person in the industry, it's very possible. And so I would not know that, I would not hear that if I didn't actually take a step to connect. And that's when I realized like, wow, we as an industry, mostly, I would say, have become disconnected because I live in a fairly large city with two and a half, three million people, Charlotte, right? And we have a lot of hospitality executives and hoteliers. Super good people, super successful. I can name you 15 of them that we all go to the same kind of meetings and stuff like that, which I haven't been to in a while for that reason before. I only saw, I didn't see anybody there. And this is a major event. They do a state event and they do an international event. I don't see a lot of hotel people. I don't.

Josiah: I'm going to link in the show notes where people can learn more about DECA. I encourage them to open up your app, you know, click that link and educate yourself.

Adam: And they can contact me too. I'll put them into the, they all have state organizations and I'm part of like the North Carolina DECA. Each high school, if they are part of it, they have it. And just to touch on what you were talking about earlier, I shared with some industry executives with a major organization that I was having such a good time doing it. And they were not happy because they also have an organization. They also have a high school program that is much larger, but they're nowhere near me. And none of the high schools, the very large high schools, even knew its name. So I just told them, I said, well, you're not being effective. And I'm going all in with this. Why are you upset at me for doing this? And so that's a lot of the barriers that we have in our industry. You get people that actually tell somebody that they're not happy with what you're doing when all I'm doing is trying to do something, right? You know what I mean? And do something good and decent. And they weren't happy about it, and they still aren't.

Josiah: Well, thanks for sharing that story, Adam. I think what I'm hearing from you a few times in our conversation is, for lack of a better term, kind of an abundance mindset. You talk about podcasting, you talk about mentoring, you talk about lifting the industry up. I think where our industry gets held back, where individuals get held back, and this has been me at different times throughout my career, is thinking it is a zero-sum game. And if I win, you're going to lose. If my organization wins, you're going to lose. And it can be so easy to get caught up in that. And I think, you know, getting to know yourself and your work, there's, you know, some others. Nikhil Advani is the Chief Operating Officer at Grace Bay Resorts in Turks and Caicos. I'm going to link in the show notes because he actually talked a little bit about this abundance, you know, mindset mentoring. And he was viewing it from the perspective of, you know, as an employer, you have a talented employee. If you care most about them, like maybe you have a role internally, maybe you don't. You know, but you have to think about the bigger picture and encourage people to listen to that. But I encourage people to check out DECA just to, I guess, think in a way that is in line with what you're saying. There are good things happening in the industry, but I think there's a lot held back by this sort of mentality. And I would like us all to think about, you know, how do we all do things that actually move people, our cultures, our communities forward, as opposed to just my little corner of the sandbox, right?

Adam: Well, yeah, and that corner of the sandbox is our hotel industry, right? That's what we, and so we try to figure it all out ourselves. But management companies, it's great. A lot of the reasons why I've been asked to leave management companies are, you know, kind of not terminated, but it hasn't worked out in the past is mostly because I am absolutely convinced that our little corner of the sandbox, and I like that you said that, we can't do it all ourselves. We can't. But here's the thing about the third-party management model. Owners buy the hotel a huge risk, and it is very expensive to buy a hotel. They're the ones that sign the note. They're the ones that are gonna have to pay it if they ever go bankrupt and all that. But they hire a management company to employ the people and manage the properties. These management companies are deeply ingrained and engaged in this industry, and they're powerful, and they're wonderful, and they're good, and they all try so very hard. And so if you look at it, take the names and faces out of the game, an owner hires a management company to do a job. And it's not all listed. There are a thousand things that you need to do as a management company, but they're not going to list them on the management contract. So when somebody in the organization says, when was the last time that we, uh, let's say, oh, the, the employee, uh, tax credits. Okay. So, uh, when there's a merger, when you buy a hotel, you get to, I have a friend that's in that business, right? That's all he does. He looks for tax credits that benefit companies from past years, right? And he taught me about that. So I've been suggesting that to some people and helping him build his business, saying, hey, you should talk to this person or this management company And he was like, they don't call me back. And then I would talk to them and they would say, oh no, we just started, we just realized we hadn't done that in a while. So we're just gonna do that ourselves. Go back there and look. And I said, okay. The owners expect you to do that or expect somebody to do that because the credits go back to them. And so there's this conflict of this feeling like it's a human, it's human nature. Right, you're hired to do a job. And I always felt like this, too, as a GM or front desk agent, it didn't matter. Bartender, you're hired to do a job. And when somebody says, hey, you could do your job better, try this. My instinct, and just like many hotel people, we're resilient. We're like, okay, I'll do that. Well, that's why it's so very hard for other companies to come in and actually impact and help the industry innovate, actually innovate is because we all try to do it ourselves. And that's why this DECA and my friend who does taxes and another friend do audits for telecom and wifi credits. And there's a new business out there about recovery of like the OTAs. There's like, I've heard there's like tens of millions of dollars sitting in accounts of the OTAs that you just need to go out there and spend time to go get for your company and for your owners. And so there are companies that are being created around that and trying to do the same thing with management companies and say, hey, we'll spend the time. It's just that we want to get a little like maybe 10, 20, 30% of whatever we find. And they're like, no, we'll just do it ourselves. Well, it's a call out to owners. If owners don't know about this, then ask your management company about it because there is a significant amount of money out there that's not being recovered. And so it's stuff like that, Josiah, that is It's been going on and the thing is, no one's doing anything illegal. These are good, decent people. Like there's no neglect, right? But it's the model that has, I mean, I've done all the, I've shared the research, but it started when Marriott started and Hilton started franchising, right? And so that's what happened. These are no longer individual or independent franchise owners and operators. It's hard. It's hard work.