Strategies For Being Fearless in Hospitality | with Mercedes Blanco

The Modern Hotelier #59: Strategies For Being Fearless in Hospitality | with Mercedes Blanco === Steve [00:00:43]: Thank you for watching the modern hotelier. We're really excited about this upcoming episode with Mercedes Blanco. David, what was one of your favorite takeaways from this episode? David Millili [00:00:53]: I think it was really just learning about her journey from Spain to Miami and really she's very inspirational. She's an influencer in hospitality, not only as a woman, but as a hotelier. So I thought it was a great. Steve [00:01:06]: Agree, I agree. And I just love how she speaks up for herself. Right? That's one thing she said, like, don't be afraid to speak up and put yourself in these good situations. And that's what she's done. And she's not only moved up in her career, but also built an incredible network around her as well throughout the process. David Millili [00:01:23]: Anytime you get nominated for badass, that means you're doing something right, I think. Steve [00:01:27]: Heck yeah. David Millili [00:01:30]: All right. Enjoy the episode. Sponsor [00:01:32]: This episode is brought to you by Amaze Insights. Amaze Insights is the leading hospitality analytics company providing advanced solutions to the industry's most significant data challenges. Amaze's comprehensive platform unifies data across multiple systems to provide hoteliers with a single pane view of all critical analytics with amaze insights are turned into actionable guidance and plans that drive efficiencies and maximize revenue. By revolutionizing how hospitality data is analyzed, Amaze equips hotels with the tools to maintain a competitive edge in an everevolving marketplace. Discover more@amazemights.com Today we have on Mercedes Blanco. Steve [00:02:17]: Mercedes is the chief partnerships officer for the Hotels Network. Mercedes has over 15 years of experience in the hospitality industry with a solid record on international sales and marketing strategies. Mercedes was named one of the top 25 extraordinary minds in 2021 by HSMai, the top 50 women in travel by Winnit, by GBTA, and was a finalist for Badass Women of the year in 2000 2023 by the Miami Beach Chamber of Commerce, and a recent half marathon finisher. Welcome to the show, Mercedes. Mercedes [00:02:55]: Thank you, Steve. Thank you for mentioning my Miami half. Steve [00:02:58]: Oh, absolutely. Big accomplishment. Had to get it in there. David Millili [00:03:03]: So, Mercedes, we're going to go through three sections. We're going to ask you some quick questions, learn about your background, dive into your career, and then ask you some of your thoughts on the industry. Sound good? Perfect. All right, here we go. What was your first job, paid or unpaid? Mercedes [00:03:20]: I guess that my first real job was when I just finished university back in Spain. I joined AC Hotels, which is now part of Marriott Hotels International, and I joined the sales team as the youngest among all of the people on board. David Millili [00:03:36]: Great. What's your favorite city? Mercedes [00:03:38]: That is a fun one. My favorite city in the world. I'm going to say New York, and I'm actually going to give it a try for a few months later this year. So ask me again after that experience. David Millili [00:03:50]: I will because I lived in New York for a long time. What's the best piece of advice you've received? Mercedes [00:03:55]: Be yourself and be gentle and be able to forgive yourself. David Millili [00:04:00]: You could trade places with anyone for a day. Who would you trade places with? Mercedes [00:04:05]: Interesting. I wouldn't go for any diva or Hollywood because I don't want to be stuck in the middle of the street. But I would love to go and travel back in time and be one of the mid ages queens of Europe, maybe Juana La Loca or Isabel La Catholica, the catholic kings and queens in Spain. I would love to take a peek into that moment of history. David Millili [00:04:35]: What's on your bucket list next? Mercedes [00:04:38]: I'm going to go to Easter island in Chile for my birthday. So that's been a long time in my bucket list. And it's finally happening. David Millili [00:04:46]: You've got to delete all of the apps from your phone, but you can keep three. What three apps are you going to keep on your phone? Mercedes [00:04:54]: Absolutely. WhatsApp. That is how I communicate with my friends and family. So that is a must. LinkedIn, I think that that is the social media platform that I use the most. And I want to say something fun, but unfortunately, I think that emails, I mean, I spend more hours working on my phone than in my computer, commuting at airports and such. Steve [00:05:14]: Yeah, that was great, Mercedes. So now we're going to get a little bit into your background. What makes you tick. So your hometown is Zamora, Spain. Mercedes [00:05:24]: It is. You pronounced it you. Steve [00:05:27]: Thank you. So how did that shape you into who you are today? Mercedes [00:05:32]: Well, that is actually a very good question because Samora is a traditional town. It is approximately 60,000 people. A total safe place where I was entitled to walk alone, to play with my friends outside, to explore and conquer the world with a lot of values and strong traditions. I don't know if you knew, but it actually has the most number of romanesque churches in the whole world. So we are talking about more or less 30 temples from the 11th century. So it's a beautiful town. Just take a peek if you are ever around Spain or Portugal. So I think that that really helped me build a strong foundation into who I was as a human being. Mercedes [00:06:15]: That gave me a lot of values, a lot of principles that have been extremely important in my life as an adult. Steve [00:06:23]: I love that. This was a lot. So you have a bachelor's and master's in tourism and travel service management. Then you have another bachelor's in marketing, another master's in international relations and affairs, and then you just decided to top it off with a PDP in marketing from Harvard. Education's obviously a huge part of your life. What made you so passionate about not only continuing your education to get one degree, but multiple? Mercedes [00:06:53]: I think that I have three things for you there. One, unfortunately still. So today, hospitality and travel is not well recognized among other industries. And I could feel that when I was asked back in the day, oh, so who are you working for? And I said, AC hotels. The reaction that I got was totally different when I was working at Microsoft. Same person, just different industry. Right. Which, by the way, that was my one and only time outside of the hospitality industry. Mercedes [00:07:25]: So that is, one, I wanted to really do my best to have great education, to really prove our talent in the industry. Two, I was born and raised in Spain. Pricing for going to college in Europe is nothing alike to the United States, I'll tell you that. And three, I've always loved to challenge myself. I've never settled. Even still today, nowadays, I always do something new. This year, I started the year with the Miami half last year. Don't laugh. Mercedes [00:07:55]: I learned how to swim. David Millili [00:07:58]: So you've done a lot of volunteering. Is there one memory or a couple of memories that stick out to you from your volunteering? Mercedes [00:08:05]: Oh, absolutely. There was one particular volunteering that really saved me, and that was Varystown. That is a small castle in the middle of nowhere, Ireland, who was actually purchased and established by Paul Newman, the actor. And that facility, it hosts people, well, actually children, sick children with cancer from all over the world. And I got to spend few weeks just supporting those kids, translating for them, playing with them, being there, confident, and wow, the things that I heard from them. I remember the very first night we had what they called a cottage chat because that's where we were sleeping at. At cottages. And we asked the kids, if you could ask for any wish in the world, what would it be? The normal answer for a kid would be, I don't know, eat as much candy as possible or whatever, right? They were saying things like, have the power to make my mom stop crying or worrying or things like that. Mercedes [00:09:06]: And that totally made me realize how lucky and privileged we are when we are just in a situation of health. David Millili [00:09:14]: Absolutely. You've been involved with HSmai quite a bit through your career. Tell us what you believe are some of the benefits of being part of that and being so involved with Hsmai. Mercedes [00:09:25]: I have to say only good things about HSmai, both at the local level and at the national level. When I first moved to Florida, I was no one. No one knew me. And when I was looking for a job, when I first moved to the Americas, everyone asked me where was my US background and experience. And Hsmai was my window to the world, was my first step into getting to know the local community in Miami. And as a matter of fact, that's how I met Sylvia Caparota, which was a leader, the founder of woman travel Thrive. Nowadays, instead of at the Florida level, I participate at the national level, which has given me a different perspective and a different ladder into my collaboration with the organization. But I think that if you are looking for one association within sales and marketing hospitality, that's it. Mercedes [00:10:13]: Everyone is there. And the networking and the value. It's incredible. Steve [00:10:17]: That's great. And you mentioned this, but you've been involved with women in travel thrive. So tell us more about Thrive's movement. Mercedes [00:10:26]: Well, Sylvia was the one that reached out to me back in August 2020. So remember where we were back in the day. Okay. And I remember clearly, as today, I was in Spain trying to see my parents because I couldn't see them for a few months. Right. She told me, Mercedes, we have to do something. We are going to pay the consequences of this if we don't act now. So we didn't know what is it that we were doing back then. Mercedes [00:10:49]: We were just grouping women across the industry, just trying to join forces to one first, want each other get back into the industry, because we have many for loss, many layoffs, and two to also help women reach sea level and higher ceilings within the organizations. Actually, at the time, I was doing some coaching while I was being coached, and my coach asked me to go ahead and look for professional women in the industry. That I would admire or that I would aspire to be them. And I couldn't find that many women in our particular field leaving the torch. So that really opened my eyes and really made me part of this movement of supporting and helping women among our industry. Steve [00:11:33]: I love that. So now we're going to get more into your career a little bit how you got to where you are today and you started your career as an account manager, like you said, at AC hotels, then went to your only non hospitality job at Microsoft in marketing and communications. How did those two positions create a good foundation for your career? Mercedes [00:11:56]: Well, I joined Microsoft because when Microsoft or Google or a big tech like those knock on your door, you say yes. And I've always been fascinated by technology. So it was my attempt trying to close the gap between my professional experience, my education and where I wanted to head. The problem was that Microsoft was too big and too slow. And I like fast paced environments and I definitely miss the hospitality industry. So definitely Microsoft helped me realize that, yes, I wanted to be more in digital and tech, but within this industry. So it helped me really go back to what I know it is my passion. And AC hotels gave me the first opportunity for me to start exploring the professional world. Mercedes [00:12:45]: And I think that is extremely important, not only the role itself, but the people that you work for and that you work with. And I have to say that I've been extremely fortunate with my managers in the past because they've always empowered me, supported me and been my biggest fan. So thank you to all of the people that believed in me back in the day. David Millili [00:13:05]: That's great. So you had a couple of sales roles and you moved from Spain to Miami. What do you feel is the biggest cultural change from Spain to Miami in your sales role? What was the biggest difference for you once you got to the US and to Miami? Mercedes [00:13:20]: Interesting question. Well, first of all, I will say that in my opinion, and forgive me for saying this out loud, I don't think that Miami is a representation of the United States. I think that is Latin America and the United States. So it's kind of a bubble of its own. But if we are talking, generally speaking, about cultural differences between Spain and the US being quite open, I grew up all my life admiring the US. I think that for some reason we all do that in Europe, and I think that is the other way around in the US. And I found that in the states we were still more traditional, more behind where I was expecting us to be. That was a big surprise, very big surprise. Mercedes [00:14:04]: And the other big surprise to me was, and I briefly kind of mentioned on that, everyone asked me for my professional US background, and I could not believed it because obviously there are thousands of people with that US background. But I brought something else, something unique to the table, and no one seemed to appreciate that. I had to take few steps back and actually join another european firm based out of the states to be able to start playing the game in the United States, which to me was quite interesting. Steve [00:14:33]: I got to jump in here. What did you think about the food? Was the food kind of. Was that horrible? Mercedes [00:14:39]: What are you asking? Steve [00:14:41]: Coming from Spain and then coming to the US and having our food? I just feel like you have to miss the food in Spain, right? Mercedes [00:14:48]: Oh, yeah. I always say that. Friends, family, and still do. I still do. Nowadays, believe it or not. Of course, I loved international food, and in Miami, we have food from Mexico, Peru, many other countries, and I love that. But it's not the international cuisine that I was lacking. It is the materials. Mercedes [00:15:15]: I mean, the produce. A tomato tastes totally different in the US compared to my hometown. And when you say organic, organic is not beautiful and perfect. It's dirty and. Steve [00:15:28]: Yeah, absolutely. David Millili [00:15:30]: Yeah. I had an aunt who lived in Spain, and when she ever came back, she would always say that the biggest thing was the food, that everything she had in Spain was fresh and that everything here was not fresh. But. So I agree with the food is great in Spain. So in 2016, you joined BCV. You worked as your way up to the director of sales to VP of sales in America. What was your proudest accomplishment that came out of that? And then you redesigned the team structure. So can you kind of talk about that stage of your career? Mercedes [00:16:01]: Absolutely. I think that the thing that I am most proud, well, one of the things that I'm most proud of, my tenure at BCB, was my ability to speak up and to propose new things. I've never been shy. Those who know me, I believe that will agree with me, obviously, I prove myself with numbers and hard work because there is no other way to prove yourself. And after that? After I had that support of my work, I reached out to my boss and the leadership team, and I said, listen, there is a missed opportunity here. And I feel like I'm the one that can lead the change, and that is international expansion for the company. I then felt that I could use my international acumen, all of my background and contacts from Europe, all of my spanish speaking abilities to make the company reach the next level internationally. So I developed a business plan into what I believe were the steps that the company had to take. Mercedes [00:16:57]: I also built a new role, the VP of business development. So basically I present a case for my own promotion and the growth of the company. And they like it so much that they promoted me and they gave me the opportunity to grow and I joined the leadership team. And I think that that was the real game changer for me, because after that I got exposed to many other things, the acquisition, with regain, and of course my career role at ThN. So I am really glad that I did and really proud. You also ask about redesigning the team. I think that the biggest challenge that we all had was 2020. When 2020 happened, I was the only one that stayed from the sales team. Mercedes [00:17:38]: I'm not going to say how much will reduce the team worldwide because you wouldn't believe me if I were to give you the numbers. Basically I had to restart over from scratch. I brought back few team members, people that I would love to work with at any position because I trust them, I like them as human beings, as a professional, because to me those two are together. And then I hired an incredible sales team. And I think that was the toughest decision of my life, because I built a team that was not only great professionally, it was a team that felt like family. We were very united with no big egos. Everyone was helping each other and it was a wonderful time. But when the opportunity comes, you have to do what is best for you as well, not only what is best for your team. Steve [00:18:27]: Absolutely. That's awesome. So then for the past two years you have been at the Hotels network. Tell us more about your role as chief partnerships officer and about what the hotel network does. Mercedes [00:18:41]: Absolutely. Well, first of all, I will say that to me was kind of building the bridge between the two cultures, because although THM the hotels network was founded in San Francisco, California, the company nowadays it's headquartered in Barcelona, Spain. And fun fact, the CEO and I, we are both from Samora and we didn't know each other from. That is just. It just happened to be that way. Okay. I joined them two years ago and I felt very proud of being able to sell a company with spanish talent in the Americas. And my role actually is kind of a dual role, because I'm in charge of the commercial relationship and commercial development strategies with technological partners. Mercedes [00:19:22]: Some could be like soldier and ideas. Dueto Lighthouse sideminder Amadeus Oracle Hospitality, many of them. Right. And also I'm in charge of the big accounts, the biggest hotel chains, which are obviously the hilters, the mares, the windups of the world. So I'm never bored really. I have plenty on my plate. And what we do, it's basically very simple, but it's incredible because we just help the hoteliers sell more directly. We do so through machine learning, AI, predictive analytics, working through personalization on the website, and making sure that whenever someone is on the website, they receive the right message at the right time with the right content. Mercedes [00:20:05]: So they book directly, which is what every hotelier should want. David Millili [00:20:09]: It's very impressive. I saw a demo a couple of months ago and the platform is, as an ex GM and an ex digital marketing booking engine guy, it's a very impressive platform. So just want to give you a little plug there. Mercedes [00:20:21]: No, thank you. I really appreciate it and I think that the culture of the company is absolutely fantastic. But what is even better is when you are proud of the product that you sell the product speak on its own. Steve [00:20:34]: Do you and your CEO ever start talking about people you know in Zamora and then you're like, oh, I know them. Does that happen often? Mercedes [00:20:41]: Not that often because we both left the city when we were young. Unfortunately, as beautiful as those cities are, when you leave at the age of 18 for university purposes, it's rare that you go back. But we've tried and I'm sure that eventually we will find real twisted stories back then. Steve [00:21:01]: Oh man, that's fantastic. Well that was great. Now we're going to move on to the industry thoughts section of this. So AI has been a hot topic over the past year or so. What opportunities do you see to bring AI into hospitality? Mercedes [00:21:19]: Everything. We are so behind, honestly, first of all, AI has been around for many, many years. Thn has been around for almost eight years, if I'm not mistaken. And we've always used AI as a base of our technology and targeting capabilities. And many companies have been using AI as well. But we have basically three areas where I believe AI could be extremely powerful. One is on the operational front. Everything that is about reducing repetitive tasks should rely on AI. Mercedes [00:21:56]: Because at the end of the day, we are humans, we make mistakes. Technologies are always going to be and machines better on that purpose than us. The amount of data that they can process in a given amount of time is much more than what we three could ever do for the same period of time. Right? So operational and efficiencies are key for AI. So I think that that is going to be an area for us to explore. Then the middle part is where we are, or where I am personally at, which is sales and marketing implications. There are many things that it can be done in that area as well. And the third one, it is all of the things that I believe that we've seen the most lately, which it is the consumer facing everything that is voice powered, child GPT, anything that can allow a deeper or a better conversation. Mercedes [00:22:52]: Human versus machine is something that we've seen explode last year and that we will continue to do in the future. Personally, I love exploring new things. I have pictures on my phone of my dog and I with a Pixar movie poster style. I love to explore. And I think that there is many more, many other things that we could be doing, but for God's sake, we need to embrace it. Steve [00:23:15]: What's a Pixar movie with you and your dog? Mercedes [00:23:17]: Well, nothing. It's just something that I figured out. Oh, really? Steve [00:23:20]: It's just AI with you and your dog and it's awesome. Mercedes [00:23:23]: I'll send it to you. David Millili [00:23:25]: Good. Steve [00:23:26]: That's good. Awesome. So, one area you think is a concern for this year, which it's actually quite timely, as we just had, I believe two attacks this week, is cybersecurity. Why do you think this all of a sudden in 2024 is going to be such an issue? Mercedes [00:23:44]: Funny that you say so, because just last week I published an article in hotel news now about cybersecurity. Oh, wow. Yeah. And obviously it's been a concern for many years. I don't think that many people is aware of the amount of cyberattacks that have really been successful in our industry, or in any other industry for that matter. That our industry is extremely sensible because of the data that we collect. We collect a lot of personal information and we are very, very attractive for someone interested in collecting credit cards, preferences, many things. Right. Mercedes [00:24:23]: So I think that because of what has happened in the past and because what we have seen with AI is making people nervous about us not controlling where we are going to. I think that privacy concerns have been on top of our minds for the last few years. Everything started with GDPR, and it will continue and it shall continue that way. I think that we need to work worldwide, not just among ourselves in hospitality, but among any other industries in global regulations. Otherwise, we are going to have future problems if we don't overcome the potential implications of data protection, AI creation and such. So I think that finally, and like I said, hospitality has been always behind because, well, we've always been financially stable and we never needed to review our very basics. But finally, we are starting to realize that if we don't do that and if we don't take care of ourselves, someone else is going to come and disrupt our industry. So we better start planning ahead and being a little bit more open minded. David Millili [00:25:30]: Yeah. And just a quick funny story that you talk about differences between Europe and the states. When I made my first visit with my first company in the early 2000s, we were so shocked that they were bringing the credit card machine to our table. We had never seen this in the states, and that even the quality, they'd bring the bottle of rum or vodka to show you that it was the real stuff. And it was just hilarious because here in Phoenix, they supposedly passed some sort of law just a year ago, and it's still, they take your credit card, you don't know where it's at. It's amazing. But anyway, so it's funny. You've spoken about eight strategies to be fearless. David Millili [00:26:07]: Tell us more about that, please. Mercedes [00:26:09]: Well, I believe that everything exciting happens beyond your comfort zone. This is how I try intentionally to live my life, and it's about pushing myself, because it's very easy to stay where we know things or where we believe that we know things and never challenge us. But then nothing really exciting happens. My friends tend to say to me that a month in my life is a year or even two on theirs, and that is for a reason. That is because I make those things happen. I always try new things, always. Whenever I start the new year, I think about new plans, professionally and personally. New dreams, things that have always been on my backhead, but for giving reasons, I could never do, or I was not ready, or I didn't have the means. Mercedes [00:27:01]: And I try. Sometimes I can, sometimes I cannot. Obviously, I'm not perfect. Of course. I fear change, and I fear consequences, like everyone, but I still do them. I mentioned to you earlier that I want to give New York a try. I deserve the city a chance. It's always been on my mind. Mercedes [00:27:19]: So hopefully, around fall this year, I will spend a couple of months to dip my toes into the water and get a sense, and then we'll see. But I think that you always have to keep pushing, otherwise nothing exciting will happen. And the worst scenario of that is that we will stop learning. David Millili [00:27:38]: Yeah. And I think what's impressive about you is you take that approach professionally and personally. So I think it was at the hotel data conference we were talking a couple of years ago, and you're going to do the marathon and running, and I know you had your knee injury, but I think that stuff, too, I was talking about I did a Spartan because I just thought this would be a cool thing to do. So just do it versus having never done it. But that's good. One in between the two questions, is eight your lucky number? Mercedes [00:28:06]: No, it's four. David Millili [00:28:07]: Okay. Because I just asked you a question about eight strategies to be fearless. And now my next question is you wrote an article about eight problems women have been facing in hospitality. So can you tell us what you found about that? I was just going to guess it was eight because Steve kind of set me up with those two questions. But can you tell us more about those problems that women are finding? Mercedes [00:28:29]: Yes. No, absolutely. I think that it's a matter of culture and bias, and it's not exclusively of women. Okay. But it is true that historically, and we were talking about me becoming a european queen for our day, right. I love history. Like I said, historically, women as part of the society, we haven't been part of the task force for a long time. We haven't. Mercedes [00:28:58]: As simple as that. So there are some bias implicit into that. And like everything, it takes time to change things. But we are here because we believe in the change and because we want to make this world a better place. So when I wrote that article, I was thinking about what are the things that were affecting us more, why? And what is it that we could do to change? I think that the first thing, and the most important of all is being conscious that we all have biases depending on where we have grown up, where have we lived all our lives. The more experiences that we have, the more open we tend to be, because when you get experience other cultures, you accept diversity. So I think that something great about America is that in theory, hopefully should be a very open country. David Millili [00:29:52]: Yeah, real quick to add to that, you're going to New York. I think that's one thing that people should do when they're young or just out of university. My first job was in New York City, and I went to school in Miami at FIU, and I got that kind of sense. But then being in New York, it was much more diverse. And I worked with people from all over the know. I grew up in a small suburb, white town, and that just kind of showed me what was out there and the diversity. There's good people, all shapes, sizes, colors, all those good things. But, yeah, that's a really good point you make. Mercedes [00:30:22]: Well, then I am doing everything upside down because definitely I'm not out of college now. David Millili [00:30:29]: Well, you've traveled, you've worked in big cities, but anyway. But it doesn't have to be New York, just a big city, I think is always good when you're young to get some experience in there. Mercedes [00:30:40]: By the way, you just reminded me of something someone told me once. Move to New York and move just to try and move out to New York when you are too tough and move to the countryside and move out from the countryside when you are too soft. David Millili [00:30:55]: That's good. I can tell you the one thing is I worked in New York and then I decided to move to Dallas. And I couldn't take it because everybody in Dallas was so slow. New York was so fast. Get things done, less people. And I worked at a hotel and I was like, oh my. It was like painful. And I lasted five months and I had to get out. David Millili [00:31:17]: I'm like, I can't do this, but maybe I need to move to the country. Steve [00:31:24]: So, Mercedes, you have made obviously quite a name for yourself. You're just a finalist for the badass woman of the year last year for Miami. What advice would you give to women out there to help them get involved more? Kind of network a little bit more, kind of almost create a reputation and a personal brand like you've done such. Mercedes [00:31:47]: A great job at reach out and don't be shy. I keep hearing this thing about the impostor syndrome. I don't know what that is. Honestly. There is nothing wrong about you chasing you. And I am always welcoming people and joining people to reach out to me, hey, worst it can happen. I'm not the right person. But I will do my very best to appoint them into the right direction. Mercedes [00:32:16]: I believe that this industry is quite small if you think about it, and we are very much interconnected with each other. So reach out, develop your relationships, keep nurturing them, keep working on them, and just aim big. Steve [00:32:32]: I love that any events you would recommend going to that maybe might be beneficial for women or young professionals, anything like that. Mercedes [00:32:40]: Well, this has not been yet announced, but I'm going to say that now we are going to do with the woman in trouble drive, save the date June 24, which I believe is a Monday, if I'm not mistaken. We are going to do an in person event in Charlote for HSmEi and high tech. Of course, we invite anybody, not just women. So we are absolutely inclusive and this year is going to follow a new format. It's going to be a workshop format and it's going to be limited. Right after that, there will be a networker event in association with other partners of the industry that is definitely open to everyone as well. And obviously that week there is high tech and HSMI, like I mentioned, that is, I believe, one of my favorite events of the year. But there are many others. Mercedes [00:33:24]: It depends really where you are based, because that will affect what events you could attend or not to, but at the national level, obviously. David, you mentioned hotels at a conference as well. There is Alice in California, NYU. There are many others, depending on what your area focuses. Yesterday I was talking also to a friend in New York about the lodging conference. So there are many good events in our industry. We never get bored. Steve [00:33:51]: No, absolutely not. So that was great. Now we're going to turn the tables a little bit. We've been asking you questions. Now we're going to let you ask us a question. So if you have a question to ask us. Mercedes [00:34:05]: I do, but it's a total selfish question. Steve [00:34:07]: That's okay. Ask away. Mercedes [00:34:10]: I'm just curious. I want to know, why would you wanted to interview me today? What made you choose my name? Steve [00:34:18]: Great question. So, for March, as you'll see it when this is out, we are interviewing some of the top women minds in the industry, and obviously with your involvement, not only with your career, but also with the organizations you're involved in, you're obviously one of the women leaders in our industry. So to us, it was a pretty obvious choice, to be honest with you. Mercedes [00:34:41]: Well, thank you so much. David Millili [00:34:42]: Yeah, you're all over LinkedIn, so you're inspirational. I know how you feel about connecting to people and helping people and just your background. And so we think this is a great opportunity. Know, the concept behind this podcast is really at its core was to have people get to know people who are very active on LinkedIn in our industry, because a lot of always use the example. But like Max Starkoff, he's super online, has a very opinionated, but a lot of people don't know him, don't know his background story, don't know where he came from. So we did an episode with him, and it really just kind of shows you why people think a little bit the way that education, where they grew up, things of that nature. But no, it's been our pleasure to have you. Mercedes [00:35:26]: No, absolutely. Well, thank you so much. I love being here with you. And I want to say that this podcast is not only fun, it's entertaining. And I think that the two of you are doing a great job. So thank you for giving back to our community this way. Steve [00:35:40]: Thank you. So now we've been asking the questions the whole time. John, our producer, he's been listening in, so we are going to pass it over to him for the final question. Jon Bumhoffer [00:35:52]: All right, so it seems like you kind of sit right now specifically on the digital marketing side of things and trying to drive business for hotels. I guess on the property level, what are things you see day to day that could help individual hotels really get themselves ready to take that next step into digital marketing? Or what are things that they're doing on the property level that maybe hindered their digital marketing efforts? Mercedes [00:36:17]: Well, that is a very good question because that is exactly what I try to do, because sometimes the brands do not allow their individual properties to try new things. So please, individual properties, keep pushing because your push helps. Normally, management and ownership groups, they tend to be a little bit more dynamic or open to try new things. But when you run individual property, it doesn't matter if you are independently owned or independently branded, or if you belong to one of the big groups, you are an entity on its own as part of something bigger. Try new things. There are hundreds, tons of new technologies in sales and marketing for the hospitality that one can make your life super easier, two can make you reach our quotas. So what are you waiting for? Reach out to us. David Millili [00:37:09]: All right, good question, John. So that does it for another episode of the modern hotelier. This is the part, Mercedes, where you get to let people know how they can connect with you, how they can find out more about the hotel network. So plug away, the floor is yours. Mercedes [00:37:24]: Thank you so much. Well, obviously I said it before, LinkedIn is my go to three apps that I would never delete on my phone. So please connect with me on LinkedIn. As Mercedes Banco, you will find me. I will be happy to connect with you and about the hotels network, well, after you connect with me on LinkedIn, I'm happy to share more information as well. But if you are curious, we do have a demo request in our website and you can access to all of the information there. It doesn't matter where you are based because we have a presence in 100 countries. So we got you covered up. David Millili [00:37:55]: That does it for another episode of the modern hotelier. Whether you're listening or watching, we hope to see you soon. Sponsor [00:38:00]: This episode is brought to you by Amaze Insights. Amaze Insights is the leading hospitality analytics company providing advanced solutions to the industry's most significant data challenges. Amaze's comprehensive platform unifies data across multiple systems to provide hoteliers with a single pane view of all critical analytics. With Amaze insights are turned into actionable guidance and plans that drive efficiencies and maximize revenue. By revolutionizing how hospitality data is analyzed, Amaze equips hotels with the tools to maintain a competitive edge in an ever evolving marketplace. Discover more@amazeinsights.com. Steve [00:38:42]: You made it to the end of the modern hotelier. Thanks for listening. The Modern hotelier is produced by make more media. Make sure to like and subscribe if you're listening on YouTube, or subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. If you know a guest or sponsor that would be a good fit, feel free to email us at hello@themodernhotelier.com. If you'd like to get some modern hotelier merch, click the merch button on modernhotelier.com or click the link below. Thanks and have a great day.