"No Vacancy Live from HITEC: Featuring Podcast Pioneers Glenn Haussman and Anthony Melchiorri"
In this episode, podcast veterans Anthony Melchiorri and Glenn Haussman discuss their experiences and insights from attending HITEC events over the years. They reminisce about the evolution of these events and share their personal highlights, including the transformation and increasing engagement in technology within the industry.
Glenn talks about the origins and growth of the 'No Vacancy' podcast, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic when they provided much-needed support and continuity for the hospitality sector. They also delve into the industry's technological advancements, stressing the importance of using the right technology at the right time for the customer's benefit.
Key highlights:
- Glenn and Anthony discuss their long history with HITEC and how the event has evolved over the years
- Insights into the creation and growth of the No Vacancy podcast, especially its pivotal role during the COVID-19 pandemic
- The importance of consistency and vulnerability in podcasting during challenging times
- Discussion of their keynote address at HITEC, focusing on customer journey and appropriate use of technology in hospitality
- Candid observations about the state of technology in the hospitality industry
- Friendly banter about podcast rankings and the supportive nature of the hospitality community
Join the conversation on today's episode on The Modern Hotelier LinkedIn page.
The Modern Hotelier is produced, edited, and published by Make More Media: https://makemore.media/
Episode Links
Anthony Melchiorri
Glenn Haussman
David Millili
Steve Carran
Steve on LinkedIn
The Modern Hotelier
Transcript
Automatic Transcription - please excuse any errors
Steve Carran: Alright, now we have two special guests, the godfathers of podcasting and hospitality, Mr. Anthony Melchiorri, back again, and Glenn Hausman.
So guys, you've obviously been to quite a few high techs. Glenn, you've been coming to high tech for how long?
Glenn & Anthony: I sometime in the 1990s,
Steve Carran: Okay, so how does this high tech, how does Charlotte compare to some of the past high techs?
Glenn & Anthony: It's hard to remember because the parties at high tech are the best parties of the
year.
so That's difficult, but it's been really wonderful to see how the events changed and matured and really followed
David Millili: the trend,
Glenn & Anthony: you know,
decade after decade after decade out there. But I, like, I remember coming to this event when it was not anything like it
is now. Now it's really a giant spectacle and it's, uh, amazing to see that so many people are engaged in technology and so
many different communities are here as well. so So is this the best one you've been, it's the best one because you're here.
David Millili: Well, I'm at all of them.
Glenn & Anthony: Well, I'm spending more time with you because, because I'm spending time with you. This is the best one.
No, I really enjoy this event because I wanted to hit the ball. I'm a competitive guy, so I got to hit the ball. And, uh, I was happy. I love this stadium. I think it's one of the most beautiful minor league stadiums in the country. It's a great event.
David Millili: No, thank you.
Glenn & Anthony: I did not hit the ball.
Steve Carran: Did you try? Or did you, did you go up to bat?
Glenn & Anthony: I wanted to cry, but since there's no crying in I
David Millili: was like I may go You gotta go try. So, you guys, when did you start No Vacancy, and how has it kind of grown over the years since you started it during So I started, uh, the No Vacancy podcast about eight and a half years ago or so, but before that I did a hundred episodes of another show, figuring it all out for a former company that I worked for. So when I started No Vacancy, I was really, really primed to do it. And it was so great because when I started it, nobody else was doing it and nobody knew what podcasts were.
Glenn & Anthony: So when I would talk to PR people, they get really excited and they'd bring people on and it was so new and so different. It really helped connect me to the community in a more meaningful way.
Steve Carran: And now we get new podcasts every week coming up in the hospitality
David Millili: yeah, 75
Glenn & Anthony: 75 from us last week alone.
David Millili: Yeah, but no, but I would, I would just, and I've, I've said this on other podcast people who's interviewed me and I, somebody asked me like, tell me something or some, someone you admire or something.
And I said, look, I said, when COVID hit, I said, Glenn and Anthony, every day, five days a week, no matter whether he was in his car, wherever the hell hotel room you were in, You might've looked like somebody had abducted you and there's no lighting. I said, but you guys did it. Like had to shave in
Glenn & Anthony: in seven days in a hoodie in the car and stuff like
David Millili: But you guys did it every day and that's very commendable because the industry needed it. The industry was like, what the, we just got Sucker punched. I'm cursing. I guess because it's, you know, whatever.
Glenn & Anthony: started
David Millili: Yeah. But I mean, but you guys did it. And so no matter what, there's all these new podcasts.
We have a podcast.
Glenn & Anthony: it was a moment in time and you have to know when that moment in time happens and you can't think about it. And, and you know me, I'm all about my image, all about, Branding, you know, I'm the branding guy. I didn't care how I looked. It was more about, I wasn't as vulnerable as I maybe could have been, but I was pretty vulnerable because everybody was very vulnerable at that time.
I think it was very important to not only have that podcast out, but have it consistent. And the greatest compliments we get is when CEOs of companies said we needed that because we didn't know what we were doing. So we were watching other CEOs react and we realized they're just as lost as we are.
David Millili: this is going to be a very weird analogy, you were the, Lipton Soup, Price is Right, to the industry, when people, kids were sick, and you would be home, and you would get the Lipton Soup, and you would watch The Price is Right, and I'd drink ginger ale, and you were sick, but you were like, wow, there's the bears, Bob Barker. I appreciate
Glenn & Anthony: shitting for a lifetime supply
David Millili: of turtle oil. No, it's true, you guys really were.
Glenn & Anthony: was, at that point, it was, we were consistent, but the industry,
Supported us. The industry, the reason the show is on 900 episodes is because the industry supports us. We get people every day asking to be on, and we're not talking about people that are looking to start a small company.
We're talking about the players. This guy knows the CEOs of all the companies when they were busboys, and they all want to be on the podcast. One because, like when Chip Rogers from HLA, he would go from the White House, literally on the White House lawn, and And go live on our podcast. That's about relationships.
And that really comes down to Glenn. Yeah, we were like, honestly, I just really, really, really blessed that we were in that moment and we all lost everything and we didn't know what was going to happen and we just kind of got on in earnest to just see what was happening and the positive energy that was created from all of this.
It was just so unexpected. It was like, we talked about today, you know, that using technology in the right way for the right purpose, you know, not shoving the technology in. We thought it was important to go live. We didn't think, one, we didn't want to edit, we didn't want the headings, we didn't want the problems, but we thought it was important to be live. And at 12 o'clock, it was his idea to go at 12 o'clock, and it was, it was the exact time, it was People would start their day, they probably by 12 o'clock, they were like, I have no idea what the hell's going on. And they just needed an outlet. And it was, I mean, we're still the number one podcast in the
David Millili: Like I said, we always, we don't look at, we look at numbers differently and in different ways.
Just like elections, so we will just, we love to coexist. We think you guys do great work. We hope you
Glenn & Anthony: usually just have a turnout problem. It's the man behind that camera. Without that guy,
you guys would
David Millili: We said it, we
Steve Carran: hey, we were
David Millili: We did it. We shouldn't share this, but today we were. We were on somebody else's podcast, and we couldn't figure out where to go, so we just went to one of the empty rooms. They ended up calling security, and they came like, excuse us, what are you guys doing in here? We're like, well, there was a stage, and there was a big high tech logo, and there was four nice white chairs, and we had to record a podcast. So we just recorded it. Good job. We got it in the game, and then we did two.
We did, one was with the group of the Modern Hotelier, one was on LodgIQ, and the guy who came in was super cool. We said, hey, look, we're part of the industry. And he said, yeah, we just want to know what's going on, but good. You can finish.
Glenn & Anthony: you know, another reason that proves that we're legitimate and they're not legitimate.
We actually invited, we're actually invited to go to places. I love, by the way, I love that jersey. That's pretty awesome. We had, uh, no vacancy face masks, but that's much better. So
Steve Carran: So Anthony, you mentioned the keynote earlier, you both did it together really to kick off high tech today. Tell us what you guys talked about and kind of the experience of kicking off high tech. That's a big deal.
Glenn & Anthony:Well, it's a big deal. It's very humbling and you know, I started out with David, talking about David,
and I ended with David.
What did you talk about? So, mostly my yearning for, uh,
for David and
David Millili: After, 45 minutes of that. Yes.
Glenn & Anthony: But after, after 45 minutes of that, we got down to the important stuff. And that was, uh. Talking about Anthony's workout
David Millili: Was it the guy from Yippee who said it? About the, the guy, he loved the fact that.
There was all these companies coming together at high tech to help the industry and we were both like hey We never thought about it that way we thought about this where you're selling your your stuff And you and he said it's amazing that you know he's new to the industry He's like wow I come into the floor, and there's all these companies here that are Providing solutions that are meant to help the industry and nobody ever nobody's ever said that to me ever before
Glenn & Anthony: It goes back to what we talked about today. Right. we forget about the customer journey, right? We, depicted the customer journey from 1950s to 2024, and the customer journey hasn't changed. They look for a hotel. They select a hotel, they get ready to come to the hotel, they stay at the hotel, and they talk about the hotel.
And we as hoteliers over complicate it We see new technology. We want use it even if the guest doesn't wanna use it. You know, we were using kiosk before anybody wanted to use a kiosk. And now, and even mobile check in, a lot of companies do it poorly. There's only one brand that does it well. Everybody says that this brand does it extremely well.
So, it's using the right technology at the right time in benefit of the customer. And that's kind of what we talked about today. Yeah, and I really love that the hospitality industry is all in it together, right? I've been in other industries in my life. My first industry is music and entertainment. And Everybody there was so toxic, but here, it's such positive energy because everybody is like, we could all be successful together, there's room for everyone to succeed.
David Millili: Yeah, we agree. That's why we, you know, again, we both have podcasts, but we love you guys. We love what you do and we think it's important. It's interesting
Glenn & Anthony: could be more of a realist, it's interesting to see people on the floor, and you want to basically tell them, shut down your booth and go home. Because there are some technologies that are just not going to be successful. And some people come into this industry saying, this is what they need.
And the industry, everybody knows, the industry will tell you what they need, because the customer will tell you what they
need. And you see these guys that come in with these apps going, my best advice to you is shut it down and go home. Because this industry will, we're very frugal, we're very specific, and like we talked about, I was just going to lead into that.
We, we, we, we we talked about the stakeholders.
Right? And you have a general manager you think can make a decision. More so today than ever, the general manager is holding the reins of the horse, but somebody owns the horse, somebody's, you know, training the horse, and so you just hold the reins. So back in the day when I was coming up, you had a little bit more freedom.
Today the general manager, there's a budget and that budget's booked in October and you can't go outside that budget, so if you're not really knowing your customer and knowing what they can buy,
you're kind of screwed
David Millili: that should be
Glenn & Anthony: mean let's just be real. Yeah,
David Millili: Alright, good.
Glenn & Anthony: he said.
David Millili: Alright, Anybody
Steve Carran: been asking everybody, so we're going to ask you guys too, anybody going to hit a deep left field. About 300
Steve Carran: So far we're in deep left field, about 300 guy at
Steve Carran: than 300,
David Millili: now
Glenn & Anthony: right now we do it. The guy about right. Let's
watch him. All right. Don't
David Millili: got it good. Not a
Glenn & Anthony: it. I think Whoa! That
almost cleared the pitcher's mouth.
David Millili: Almost. cleared the pictures back.
Glenn & Anthony: see. That, that is exactly why I am not
doing that. I'm
David Millili: know.
Glenn & Anthony: I'm gonna go back. Yeah.
David Millili: Jon needs to, go too. No home runs. No. No, no, that's the furthest. They have a marker out in left field. By the
Glenn & Anthony: bars.com.
David Millili: Yeah. by this point They're not a sponsor, by the way.
Glenn & Anthony: yeah. Let me Let me just say, everybody's been very generous with the alcohol. So
David Millili: night, I do not think it's going to work out. I'm going down, I'm going to hit home run. Okay. You've been watching. Do it. We'll video it. We'll video it.
Glenn & Anthony: everybody knows, I like business. I, you know, personality is important, but brass tactic business is what's important. You guys have done and built a really good podcast, and if you keep doing it, you will be number one.
Not anytime soon, but you be number one.
Steve Carran: We appreciate that. We'll be in the running.
Glenn & Anthony: of you,
David Millili: took wedding in spite of
Steve Carran: Whoa! I get ricochet
David Millili: to take a few
Glenn & Anthony: way, let me give a big shout out to Steve who recently came on our Friday night audit show and we had a great time.
David Millili: laughing and drinking
Glenn & Anthony: together.
Steve Carran: had a few drinks. We had a few drinks. It was a good time. It was a good time. Well, thank you guys for stopping by. I mean, always great to chat with the Godfather. How do you with that, I'm out. Alright
Peace. Alright. guys. Go do it.