Latest / Brand Insiders / Jason Zvatora of OUTRIGGER Resorts & Hotels on Cultural Authenticity, Commercial Strategy, and Building the World's Most Iconic Beachfront Brand

Transcript

Jason Zvatora of OUTRIGGER Resorts & Hotels on Cultural Authenticity, Commercial Strategy, and Building the World's Most Iconic Beachfront Brand · Brand Insiders

• 0:12
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to a very exciting episode of HospitalityNets Brand Insiders.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_00: I'm joined today by Jason Svotora.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: He's the vice president of commercial strategy and performance for Outrigger Resorts and Hotels.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_00: Jason, did I get all that correct?
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_00: Spot on great to be Adam.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, well, great to have you.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: And um you know, let's start off with a very naive question because we are dealing with a worldwide audience, not just one centered around the Polynesian uh community or people that know about Polynesian history.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: What is an Outrigger?
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_01: It's a great question, and it's a hospitality brand born in 1947.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_01: So it's a deep-ridge hotel brand, and we have a very, very clear white space in that we operate.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_01: It's Beachfront or Beach Community Resorts.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_01: Um you touched on something outrigger resorts and hotels.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_01: We lead with resorts, we're a leisure brand, and that coupled with, in my view, our leading USP is our cultural authenticity, sets us apart.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_01: Um, we we really take the culture from our beautiful destinations and deliver that in our own little way.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_01: We call it the Outrigger way, caring for our guests, caring for our hosts, uh, and caring for our place.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_01: And that's what what Outrigger is at at heart.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean, you know, the the cultural aspect is something that it seems like everyone in hospitality is striving for that, but uh Outrigger's been doing it for 50 years, right?
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: So you know, it's uh tell tell us what what exactly is that uh mean for a brand that has been doing it for so long?
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we have and it is at our heart, and I I I constantly talk to my peers and colleagues that our culture is so much better in application than it is on paper, and not many companies can say that.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_01: It comes down to that outright away.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_01: And if I distill it down to what what the leading edge of that uh that is, and it's having a beautiful sense of place.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_01: The Hawaiian resorts embrace the Hawaii culture, they they drive the the Hawaiian feel, they have uh activities of programming around that, but that is not a brand standard that translates.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_01: So my VGN resorts are then incredibly VG and they thrive on the bullish spirit.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_01: And likewise, likewise, whenever we go into a destination, the first work we do is on our sense of place.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_01: What does Outrigger mean in this location?
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_01: So that we can be culturally authentic.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_01: And there's two real key areas that we thrive in in this.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_01: And when you allow your staff to be the best version of themselves, they provide the best level of service and differentiated to I guess that that really at the heart is what makes us so special.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_01: I pinch myself every day to be able to lead a team, driving beautiful beachfront resorts.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_01: And yeah, it's it's really an incredible differentiator.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_00: And um, you know, you talk about the staff.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_00: The staff are the heart of any hotel.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_00: And uh it's it, I get the sense that you're leading with purpose in terms of making sure every team member knows that it's about the the guests and about bringing forth the best of the culture.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_00: So, what sort of guests come to an Out Gregor hotel or resort?
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and Adam, if you don't mind, I'm gonna kind of circle back on something there.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_01: We actually call them hosts.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_01: We don't have staff, we have hosts.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_01: Um which is a it's some may say it's wordplay, but it's more than that.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_01: It's it we host our guests, and our hosts enable that to occur.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_01: And it is an incredible mindset when you come as a guest to an outrigger or as a host to an outrigger, that you're coming as part of a team, uh, you're coming as part of a family.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_01: Um so those hosts deliver to a wide variety of guests, going back to your kind of question, who are they?
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_01: And look, we've got a couple of personas that really dominate um who our guest profile looks like.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_01: And if we we start with probably the larger persona that services a lot of our properties, it is that family persona.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so but there are multiple versions of that family persona.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_01: So you've got the multi-generational families, you have um families with young children as well.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's a slightly different play um from a delivery to our family, family um personas.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_01: They the type of persona is not the type of family that just want to drop and flop at a hotel, drop their kids off at kids rather than the parents going to do something else.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_01: Our family persona is really about connection, reconnecting the family, having some time out, leaving their busy life behind and immersing themselves in the culture.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_01: So that's very much a lead thing.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_01: By virtue of our destinations, we have a um honeymoon/slash romance persona.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_01: We're very, very popular.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_01: Who doesn't want to go to Thailand, Mauritius, Maldit, Hawaii?
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, they're all pea honeymoon destinations.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so that's uh as a as a key uh guess Persoda that we we we service incredibly well.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_01: And then that comes with some interesting balances.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_01: How do you balance a family persona with a romance persona in the same property?
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_01: And I and that's something that we can maybe get into in the future questions on how we plan out and program the resorts and spaces carefully so that we can uh really service and provide unique experiences to them.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_01: From a I guess if we look at the source markets that drives out rigor properties and these guests, I guess there's not many that we don't service.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_01: Now, Hawaii is very heavily domestic US, Australia, New Zealand, Japan based.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_01: Once we start to get into the Maldives, we don't have a source market that is over 10% of overall mix.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_01: So you've got UK, Germany, China, Korea, uh, Switzerland, Austria, name it.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_01: Um, it is so diverse, and that makes the job incredibly interesting, challenging, and rewarding at the same time.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean, you know, the the classic thing about not putting all your eggs in one basket uh is important for that segmentation mix, but at the same time dealing with all these different markets, different languages, different cultural ways to approach each uh demographic is a challenge unto itself.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_00: Um, we are talking APAC.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_00: Which resorts are under your purview?
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_01: So I look after a beautiful portfolio.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_01: We have currently seven, very soon to be eight properties.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_01: So uh two beautiful properties in Fiji, Fiji Beach Resort and Kartway Island.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_01: Um Mauritius, a property in Maldives, and then for in Thailand on the 4th of May, we'll be opening uh our Riga Pic Beach Resort.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_01: Um so that is a 63 key all Villa Hall Suite uh product that we have acquired in May last year and gone through an extensive repositioning.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_01: And it's soon to open its stores, so we're excited on that.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_00: Oh wow, yeah, that'll be fun.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, let's let's put a pin in that.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_00: I wouldn't mind uh talking about a repositioning because that's a monumental task to get underway in such a concerted amount of time.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but in APAC, you're also reporting into Honolulu where the head office is, correct?
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_00: So how does that work with yourself based in Brisbane or or the Gold Coast or the you know the Sun uh Gold Coast Sunshine Coast, uh, and then going across the dateline into Honolulu?
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_01: Look, my the first tab on my internet browser is a taken time converter.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um if you think about the globe and the time zones from Hawaii all the way through to Maldives, um it's a 24-hour list.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, things are always happening.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_01: Um I think what we do is we balance a lot of our commercial team is based in Honolulu and we dub talent into the the the global uh the global team there and a lot of collaboration.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_01: There are a lot of things that we do in region as well that amplifies uh the brand or or uses our our talent on property.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_01: So it's different every day has a different beat to it.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_01: Um when you think about the source markets and the regions that I look after, some have headwinds, some have tailwinds.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_01: Uh everything's slightly different.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_01: So every kind of region is fairly unique.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_01: And my job is to really echo that to ensure that our Hawaii team feel like they're on the ground with us.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_01: Um, sometimes time and space, but if anything, from our last big incident in the world, which was the pandemic, it realized location doesn't matter.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_01: We can connect in creative ways, just like we're doing today.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so yeah, it has its challenges, but it's incredibly rewarding.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_01: And I I always ensure and cherish time on property or time at the corporate office in person because hospitality isn't hospitality is about connection, it's about people.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_01: And you can't beat those strategy sessions when you get around a board table and uh and really throw ideas at a wall, and some of them stick, some of them don't.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, no, that's so true.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_00: We're uh uh what we would say is global, we're global but also local as an industry, and we really are the connectors.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_00: So uh last intro question is how is Outrigger innovating?
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_00: This is a podcast about uh hotel innovation.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and we could probably spend the next 50 minutes talking about that.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_00: But if you could give us one or two key ways that uh we're leading Outrigger's leading the way.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and I think initially it comes back to um and kind of innovation and evolution of the guest delivery.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_01: So making sure our guests today what they want versus guest five years is a go is very, very different.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_01: And we see the mechanisms of beautiful room, fantastic F creative program as a medical, but we'll continue to innovate, we'll continue to change technology to assist our teams to free up time so that they can deliver to the guests.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_01: So we see technology as a vehicle for us to provide more face-to-face time with our guests and our hosts.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_01: Um secondary to that, um we never sit still.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_01: If you think about Outright being bringing Cirque du Soleil to Hawaii, incredible.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_01: Um, it's it's an experience, it's an innovation, it's taking a ballroom into a fully fledged Cirque du Soleil uh residence amphitheater to deliver a world-class show in Hawaii.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, one that has fantastic impacts on the guest experience.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_01: Obviously, it's incredibly uh popular, not only for our guests, but Waikiki.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so we're always looking at how we go outside of our four walls or our veaches um to kind of innovate or grow experiences which will be traditionally hotel or resort oriented.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_01: On the heart of energy, very much into um reinvestment and uplifting to our properties.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_01: So this year we're spending about$450 million in global investment into some key properties.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, that's all down to design, refurbishment, repositioning.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_01: And then we're on a journey at the moment to enhance our wellness offerings across the resort.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_01: So we see that as an incredibly strong segment, which had great synergies for a resort brand.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and and this is fully integrated wellness.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_01: This is not having a nice spa.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_01: This is integrating it from arrival, guest experience, in-room, all the way through to FB, uh programming around the resort.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_01: And and yes, there will be a wellness clearity, yoga salas and everything else.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I'd say we're about halfway along that journey, and it's an incredibly exciting journey for us.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_00: So let's take a step back.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_00: You've covered a lot.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_00: Tell us about the origins of Outrigger going back to the original properties, uh, all the way, I guess, uh, in Waikiki Beach.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's a really good question.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_01: Um down in the 1960s, if you think about it, it was a perfect timing of geography and story and beachfront destinations.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_01: We had expanding air access.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_01: Waikiki was um very rustic back then.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_01: We did the landscape has changed incredibly over this period of time.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_01: And what the travelers were looking for was a uh a paradise without the luxury price point.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_01: So Outrigham really made an entry under Roy Nastel as a family-oriented hotel company coming into the market.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_01: And there's a great book that Roy and Estelle penciled on that.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_01: And what really stuck with me on that is they didn't just sell rooms, they sold the Ohara and the Aloha spirit.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, and that was in one of the right, literally the halfway line of Wife Beach, the world's most iconic beach.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_01: So that's where Outrugal was born and uh how we made our entry.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, you you talk about that, the the Ohana uh spirit.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, I used the word soul, I guess, and now we have this term sense of place.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_00: Could you just to color this, give us a sense of what that sense of place, what that soul is of Hawaiian culture and the experiences that somebody will get at an Outrigger uh resort?
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and I think that's sort of a little bit earlier, and when we enter into a place that we spend a lot of time on that sense of place with our hosts, and it is a host-led um led experience that we start off with in understanding what is the deep-rooted culture for that.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_01: And I guess I'll pivot and talk to how that is um translated outside Hawaii.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_01: So when we made the first entry to Fiji, we took the kind of community that an Albreoger and um Ohana is is made from and Aloha is made from, and said, how does that translate into Fiji?
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_01: And they've got their own beautiful sense of culture in that.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_01: So that bullish spirit comes through.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_01: It's how the resort was actually designed.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_01: So it was designed in an old Fiji and Chiefly Village where you've got the Chief's hut where everybody goes um for breakfast, then uh a number of other strategically placed bureauted and huts around that.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_01: So we're delivering that local hospitality, a beautiful story with the most amazing culture.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_01: And another example of that where I touched on we're about to launch a brand new property on PP Island.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we're so excited about it.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_01: And in in Thailand, the motor transport for a long time on the water was uh what they call long tail boats, really long, skinny boats, big noisy motor on the back.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_01: What about brand differentiated to create a luxury long tail boat?
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_01: Uh like bringing that culture in, merging them with that type the Thai culture, the allot of luxury, be sitting champagne, having the best canopy on offer, going through uh the most iconic places through um through PP Island um on a traditional long tail boat, really dubbed up.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_01: So it's kind of getting that blend right um across the board.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, the the that's a cool experience.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_00: So just to give people a visual and for my own clarification, uh people are ferrying in from I guess Phuket to get to PP, and then uh they're coming to the resort, or you're picking them up and taking them to the long tail for the arrival experience.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_01: So sorry, that's more a kind of guest experience, like a sunset.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_01: Right, okay, yeah, right, okay, yeah.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_01: Part of the programming whilst they're there so they can truly enjoy it.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, I think what we like to try and do is detach some of them from the arrival or departure, really immense yourself where you get that beautiful sunset and uh whilst they enjoy bringing the water out there.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_00: And uh, you know, you you mentioned here uh a little bit about the design, and the design on resorts is it's an art form in terms of everything from master plan to interior to artwork, etc.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, if I had to pick out one element here, you mentioned the different segments, how you have multi-generational travel, people with young young kids, as well as the um romantic couples coming in.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_00: How does that intersect with the master plan in terms of how you're allowing the romance guests that want something a little bit quieter to be properly segmented for those quieter moments uh away from the family, but then still having that really strong sense of community through the master plan.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, great question.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_01: And it's a it's a balance.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and we start at the master plan environment, and it's always a lot easier when you've got a greenfield and you put everything where you'd like it to be from the start.
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes you don't have that luxury where you've got existing dwellings.
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_01: Really, what we start to do is we start to couple wellness, spala, um, day experiences and quiet areas, relaxation with couples-oriented product, wheelers, suites, uh, and things like that.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_01: Um, we will then focus some of the programming around that and pick space and flow between that and what would be our children's school, the kids' class, uh, and other areas like that.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_01: So we do we do a lot of wayfinding and a lot of work on okay, how is the guest going to journey through our reserve?
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_01: Not only to get from A to B, but what are they gonna see along the way?
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_01: We're a unique brand.
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_01: We don't have a corporate base.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_01: Our average length of stays 5.5 months.
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_01: Wow.
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_01: Guests come to stay with us to relax, to experience to emerge.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_01: So we're not there rushing them through the check-in, the check-out.
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_01: We're not there rushing them through to get from A to B.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_01: We're more, we're very focused on that wayfinding and how they navigate through our resorts, what the stories will tell them from the nature, from the local culture, and some points there for them to take a beautiful snapshot or just to reflect on their date.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and that wayfinding is very different.
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_01: So we'll program that out by based on our couple of key personas and make sure that then that integrates into the master plan in it.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_01: And it always comes into a central pub.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_01: One of our key brand standards is to have to have a beautiful beach bar.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_01: And I love that brand standard.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_01: It's somewhere that I see myself quite regularly at um as an entertainer.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_01: But when we think about it, it's more than just a beach bar.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_01: It's live music, it's culture, it's where our guests come to actually build their own community when they're on holidays.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_01: And it's actually really, really special when you see this beach bar concept come to life.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_01: It's much more than a place to get a drink.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_01: It's where travelers will tell their stories, connect, and um and build lifelong friendships, not only with each other, but with our hosts, which is a really beautiful park.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's uh that's a great way to put it.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_00: I I love that you mentioned the beach bar because you you know, let's say some other 30 years ago, uh, everything would be away from the beach.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_00: Now the beach is the place where communities are built.
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, if you're having uh a good drink, maybe it's all inclusive, maybe it isn't, but somebody's around there, and that's where the music happens, so to speak.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_00: And community is a key part of wellness as well.
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, you mentioned these integrated wellness days and moving away from just spa, but spa is still a component.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_00: So could you talk about how uh Outrager has moved from the evolution of Spa into wellness and then into these integrated wellness days?
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe uh the program launches at the Maldives as an example.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and it's a perfect blend of soft touches and itineraries, blended with um additional facilities and infrastructure because they are interesting segments and they do come as communities quite often.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, they will try to get those communities or they'll build that community and come back as a community, or enhance our repeat guests.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_01: Really, rather than just focusing on Spa as our core of wellness, we're we're in the in the process and delivering now of pure consultative experiences based on guest needs.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_01: So we've got the aerial yoga, we've got a beautiful pavilion, we've got an alchemy bar where we can mix tonics, um some of these other areas of that, including merchandise, tailored with a customized health plan or food plan to know their stay.
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_01: So it is fully customized, it is delivered to the guest.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_01: Um, it's done both pre during and post state.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and it touches every part of the guest journey from arrival to the airport to to party and post state.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_00: And these packages, um, you know, let's let's let's also say that.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: That they're not inexpensive, but they're in incredibly high demand.
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_00: And it is showing this whole trend around health is the new wealth.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_00: People are the the the demand for these is is incredible.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_00: And um I imagine that your joy your role as commercial director is also to oversee the rollout of these packages, these integrated wellness days, uh across your territory, across all the resorts.
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_00: So not just in the Maldives, but in Fiji, in Thailand, uh everywhere else.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_01: You talked about a couple of really key areas there.
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_01: This type of guest stays longer with us.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we we know the longer our guests stay with us, more, the more they love us.
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and that's just by virtue of the amazing um job that our operational team do in delivery on property.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_01: They have a potential spend on property.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_01: Um they are very, very loyal once they find a location, be it a hotel, be it somewhere else, that they're incredibly loyal and returning to places that um fulfill their very specific needs.
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_01: So it takes a lot of buckets on that journey from a commercial perspective, but we build relationships with them through this journey.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I mean, in the Maladibs, when you get arrived at a resort, there is one point of contact for your entire state.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_01: Whether you stay five days, seven days, 14 days, your host will be your host.
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_01: They will help program.
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_01: They'll be the glue of pulling in your spa expert, the F and B, uh, the activities, the whale shark to uh all those areas, you'll have a single point of um point of reference to coordinate their entire state.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_01: What that does is it allows us to get hyper personalized, understand what they like, and you come back in a year's time, that same host will be looking after you nine times out of ten, which is pretty incredible.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_01: The other thing I'll say is a brand, and I'm I'm hyper focused on Asia Pacific at the moment, but around 46% of our revenue comes out of rooms.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_01: 54% comes out of food and beverage activities and everything else.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_01: It's a unique position for a hotel brand to be in.
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_01: And when you think about that, and it makes the job even more complex.
• 24:21
  SPEAKER_01: So if we think about commercial strategy then, I have some certain geo source markets will spend three three times more on property than others.
• 24:30
  SPEAKER_01: But sometimes I'll strategically lose the Reddit par game to win the Trev par game.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_01: Uh it's only through, and I think we'll touch on it to come through our data and analytics and everything else around that, that we're able to make really, really strong commercial decisions.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_01: It's not going to just sell a room, but it's going to stop the entire offering of the property and at the same time um provide incredibly unique guest experiences.
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I I'd love to touch on the analytics, the BI aspect of it.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but to just finish off the section about all the glorious things you're doing at the resorts, Outrigger also has a strong entertainment program.
• 25:17
  SPEAKER_00: So what what what exactly is involved there?
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_00: Because that's a whole other draw.
• 25:23
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it it really is, and it does translate depending on where we go, but a core pillar of all our properties is live music.
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 25:33
  SPEAKER_01: As an entertainment, uh, at our beach bars, in our lobbies, uh, in Fiji, that could be a solo guitarist.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_01: In Thailand, it could be a DJ of an evening.
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, in Hawaii, you can kind of mine goes to the iconic dukes on uh on the beach, uh, uh iconic uh beach bar and the entertainment that happens through there.
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so you think about some of those core entertainment and music being a vehicle to add ambited experience to the general offering.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_01: But then you then touch on how we elevate that a little bit further.
• 26:05
  SPEAKER_01: So you look at Awara, the flagship uh Cirque du Soleil show, that entertainment.
• 26:09
  SPEAKER_01: That is a World Cup entertainment coming in.
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_01: Um in Thailand, it could be the fire dancers over the beach doing a half an hour performance exclusively for our guests.
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_01: Almost 90% of our guests will join once a week to see this Thai-infused fire dancing show.
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_01: And likewise in Fiji, you start to think about we'd build an outdoor amphitheater for the native Fijians to walk on the hot coals.
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, so there is a tribe in Bengal on Bangar Island which uh have this ability to walk over these incredibly hot coals and tell that story.
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_01: So that entertainment really pops up everywhere in small bits, in big bits, in 600, 700 seat amphitheaters, but then a big part of everything we do.
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 26:58
  SPEAKER_00: So now you mentioned three experiences.
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_00: You have Hawaii, Thailand, and Fiji, all very exclusive to and grounded in sense of place, very exclusive to their islands or their respective uh places.
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_00: What does the future look like for Outrigger in terms of any sort of expansions or you know, you mentioned uh PP that you're opening up.
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_00: Where do you go from there?
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_00: Well, preserving that truly localized spirit that you're able to deliver for each resort.
• 27:33
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, there's following two real clear tracks for that.
• 27:37
  SPEAKER_01: Um with KSL capital as uh backing outriger and the owner of Outriga, we will continue to invest in current portfolio.
• 27:47
  SPEAKER_01: So the refurbishment of Outriga Wacky Beach Resort is significant and underway.
• 27:51
  SPEAKER_01: Uh we we will continue to, we've just refurbished Outriga Fiji Beach Resort and we're constantly investing into our property.
• 27:59
  SPEAKER_01: So that track will remain.
• 28:01
  SPEAKER_01: And that's a vision for us to elevate our portfolio and elevate the guest experience.
• 28:07
  SPEAKER_01: Supplementary to that, we love to grow and buy.
• 28:11
  SPEAKER_01: We're we're a whilst we're a management company, we're also an ownership company.
• 28:15
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and we own the vast majority of our property.
• 28:17
  SPEAKER_01: So you touched on we will be opening the 63K Outbreak at PP Island Resort um on the 4th of May, a couple of weeks away, and I'm off to Thailand next week to see the finishing touches on how that come together.
• 28:29
  SPEAKER_01: Wow.
• 28:29
  SPEAKER_01: We would love to further go in Asia, Pacific, um, and the Indian Ocean for our long term.
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_01: Think about where there's beautiful beaches.
• 28:37
  SPEAKER_01: Selfishly where I'm sitting, not selfishly where I'm sitting, but also strategic from around Australia is key for us.
• 28:43
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's our number three source market into our properties.
• 28:47
  SPEAKER_01: And at the moment, we we've had up to 30 odd properties in Australia in in previous slides.
• 28:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and we would love to be an iconic beach front property in Australia.
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_01: Um, other destinations, Indonesia and Bali, beautiful beaches, uh, would slide in and out incredibly well.
• 29:05
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and some probably not so common places, or you wouldn't commonly associate with a beach destination, but Japan for us is incredibly exciting.
• 29:17
  SPEAKER_01: You think about Okinawa, you think about beach resort destinations in Japan and the synergies with how strong our brand is in Japan and our legacy in Hawaii with Japan uh would make incredible sense.
• 29:30
  SPEAKER_01: So constantly looking out there, it's uh it's part of my purview to look at how do we get properties, how do we kind of expand our footprint.
• 29:39
  SPEAKER_01: But all doing this with the cultural authenticity in mind.
• 29:43
  SPEAKER_01: We're not about just putting dots on a map.
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_01: Uh we want to sustain the growth, we want to make sure when we go into a market, um, we do it incredibly well, and that we have a really long-term view on how we can add value to the existing resort, the new build, and to to really harness that local culture and the environment.
• 30:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you know, you mentioned Okinawa, it is experiencing a lot of growth, and people forget that the Ryukyu Islands are that whole island chain is is you know subtropical.
• 30:16
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's quite temperate.
• 30:18
  SPEAKER_00: It's not uh it's not uh northern.
• 30:21
  SPEAKER_00: So that and even Saipan, other other destinations are just incredibly untapped in terms of the true expression of modern hospitality, like what Outrigger is providing.
• 30:35
  SPEAKER_00: So a final aspect of the the physical uh part of the uh Outrigger design or experience this word sustainability.
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, you mentioned beautiful beaches, and one existential crisis we're gonna be facing not now, but you know, uh 80 years from now, is that there's no beaches left.
• 31:01
  SPEAKER_00: The they could all be eroded, and it is a huge problem that we're all facing.
• 31:06
  SPEAKER_00: Uh but outrigger is doing its part.
• 31:09
  SPEAKER_00: Uh you've won the green seal for a lot of your properties.
• 31:12
  SPEAKER_00: Could you talk a little bit about that and uh and just the overall sustainability program and the mission that you've done to help preserve these lands where you've invested?
• 31:23
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, absolutely.
• 31:24
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, it's so critically important to us.
• 31:26
  SPEAKER_01: Um, could be sure, but because we want to and we need to do it.
• 31:30
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 31:31
  SPEAKER_01: Um if you think about our outrigger way, caring for our guests, caring for our price, caring for our place.
• 31:39
  SPEAKER_01: It is in our DNA.
• 31:41
  SPEAKER_01: And we have built a brand that relies upon the natural beauty, that relies upon our destination, that relies upon gorgeous beaches.
• 31:53
  SPEAKER_01: If we're gonna and we own that beachfront space, there's no other, no other brand in the world that just solely focuses in on that beachfront delivery.
• 32:01
  SPEAKER_01: That is incredibly important DNA to our brand.
• 32:04
  SPEAKER_01: So even before Green Seal, our company had had what we called the Ozone, the Africa zone.
• 32:10
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, and that was really all on coral restoration, reef protection, um, planting coral beach cleanups, everything really focused on that and dedicating time, resources, money, hours into those initiatives, each and every one of our prop properties.
• 32:25
  SPEAKER_01: We go down a few extra levels.
• 32:27
  SPEAKER_01: So when we start to get into redesign, re refurbishment, that's sustainable design, reducing plastics, local sourcing, all those aspects are really, really critical from a master plan perspective down to operational delivery.
• 32:42
  SPEAKER_01: Um we there's too much in our industry of greenwashing, and we want to do it properly.
• 32:47
  SPEAKER_01: We need to do it properly, we need to preserve what is is is special about our locations.
• 32:53
  SPEAKER_01: I think one area that we really excel in is guest participation in these strategies.
• 33:00
  SPEAKER_01: And guest lover.
• 33:02
  SPEAKER_01: So where they go out and coral plant, uh, or where we go out and coral plant, they come with us.
• 33:07
  SPEAKER_01: They uh and we have marine biologists that will talk to them about what they're doing, the species of coral, um, the the coral, the amount of coral that we've planted.
• 33:16
  SPEAKER_01: So it becomes an education and anticipation uh conservation experience versus just hey, this is what we're doing.
• 33:25
  SPEAKER_01: But it really is embedded in everything we do.
• 33:28
  SPEAKER_01: Not only you touched on green seal, um recently we've embarked on key certification as well in Asia Pacific.
• 33:34
  SPEAKER_01: We've got Figgate, Mauritius, Thailand, Paul certified, and we've got um a couple of others to be done that uh will be fully certified under Grand Key as well.
• 33:43
  SPEAKER_00: Wow, that's an incredible accomplishment.
• 33:45
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, you know, it's it's fantastic to hear about because you know it is meaningful to the guests, but you've crafted experiences out of them as well.
• 33:54
  SPEAKER_00: So uh dare I use another buzz term, uh, but uh transformational travel, where we're giving guests not only a great experience, but something that they can take home with them to improve their livelihoods and to understand the impact of even the littlest things for sustainability.
• 34:12
  SPEAKER_00: So very commendable.
• 34:15
  SPEAKER_01: And you know what, it's very special.
• 34:17
  SPEAKER_01: And if you don't mind, I'll give you a small personal story.
• 34:20
  SPEAKER_01: So I I was with Outrigger and I left for five years, I've been back for about five years.
• 34:24
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 34:25
  SPEAKER_01: When I left, my oldest son was five years old.
• 34:27
  SPEAKER_01: When I come back, he was 10.
• 34:29
  SPEAKER_01: Um when I came back, when I told him how I'm gonna go back to Outrigger, he said, Dad, does that mean we get to go back to the Outrigger hotel?
• 34:38
  SPEAKER_01: I said, we could have done that anyway, we just had COVID in the nuclear.
• 34:41
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 34:42
  SPEAKER_01: But what really dawned on me in that moment was he didn't remember the hotel.
• 34:46
  SPEAKER_01: He didn't remember the rooms.
• 34:48
  SPEAKER_01: He remember how we were made fell.
• 34:51
  SPEAKER_01: And he remembered the activities that he did around the beach and the ocean.
• 34:56
  SPEAKER_01: And I call that I mean, my my background is commercial.
• 35:00
  SPEAKER_01: I like to try and see a commercial part to that.
• 35:02
  SPEAKER_01: And we are generating our next generation of travelers.
• 35:06
  SPEAKER_01: I can guarantee you, my son's first family trip when he's old enough to have children will be to Fiji.
• 35:12
  SPEAKER_01: It will likely be to outright because those fond memories that are ingrained in a five-year-old's brain is really, really special.
• 35:19
  SPEAKER_01: So that's transformational, um, runs along many, many axes for us, and it just starts by doing the right thing um and delivering to the guests.
• 35:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 35:30
  SPEAKER_00: No, that's that's such a beautiful story because um, you know, not only from a commercial perspective in that your uh your son is took for life uh on the brand, but um you think about um a f a phrase I use, the more personal, the more universal.
• 35:49
  SPEAKER_00: So you think about all the other kids that you've touched with these experiences at Outrager properties and how they've carried that forward and not only the potential to tell you know their their kids about it in 20 years, but also just to live better and to give them those peak experiences to help guide their childhood development.
• 36:11
  SPEAKER_00: So playing that role that uh you know schools can only give so much.
• 36:18
  SPEAKER_00: And it's actually beautiful.
• 36:20
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's an art form in that mind.
• 36:23
  SPEAKER_00: Uh really.
• 36:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 36:25
  SPEAKER_00: So um now shifting to the brass tacks of it, the commercial uh side of things.
• 36:34
  SPEAKER_00: So what exactly is commercial strategy?
• 36:38
  SPEAKER_01: It's a really good question.
• 36:40
  SPEAKER_01: I think it changes depending on organizations.
• 36:42
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and I'll probably start off with one of my favorite taglines.
• 36:48
  SPEAKER_01: And I say without a top line, there's no bottom line.
• 36:50
  SPEAKER_01: So revenue is everyone's responsibility.
• 36:52
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 36:53
  SPEAKER_01: Uh really it's about driving performance, and performance is probably that better title for it.
• 37:00
  SPEAKER_01: Um and it's bringing together the traditional silos of sales, marketing, revenue, distribution, which in times of work together have been broken apart in the guys, bring them all together to tell the brand story, to create a commercial proposition, then take to market.
• 37:17
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but from my perspective, it really, really, really touches everything to drive the top line through the coordination and an omni-channel approach to our marketing distribution technology.
• 37:30
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and is our traditional sales, getting in front of agents, getting in front of wholesalers, maintaining that relationship, which is still incredibly important, uh, making sure that when we do take to market, that no matter where our guests go, they're seeing the right experiences, they're seeing the right brand proposition and uh and consistency across the board.
• 37:53
  SPEAKER_01: So it really kind of starts there.
• 37:56
  SPEAKER_01: And then I touched on earlier like how much outside of rooms revenue we've got.
• 38:01
  SPEAKER_01: So when you think about running optimization on our beach bar, on running optimization on the most critical uh booking places in the spa or the activities and things like that.
• 38:11
  SPEAKER_01: So it's about kind of navigating not only the best business from a revpile perspective, but the best business for the property at a at an overall profitability perspective, whether it be cost of acquisition, whether that be total revenue spend or the combination of it all.
• 38:28
  SPEAKER_01: Uh yeah, it's it's interesting, it's very multi-dynational.
• 38:32
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 38:34
  SPEAKER_00: So earlier the call, when we asked about guest types, you mentioned all the origin markets and the diversity of where guests are coming from and how it really isn't standard for each property.
• 38:47
  SPEAKER_00: But one other aspect to this is the seasonality of it.
• 38:51
  SPEAKER_00: Could you describe the seasonality for some of the resorts that are under your purview and what you've done to really smooth out the ebbs and flows that a lot of hospitality brands have to confront?
• 39:04
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it really is as varied as the gear source market.
• 39:08
  SPEAKER_01: So when you think about Hawaii, it has a 365-day a year trade.
• 39:12
  SPEAKER_01: So it's fairly consistent across the board.
• 39:14
  SPEAKER_01: And there's some high, low seasons, there's some different rate structures, but that is a very consistent market typically.
• 39:19
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 39:20
  SPEAKER_01: You then pivot to, and I'll kind of group Thailand and the Indian Ocean together.
• 39:25
  SPEAKER_01: They they kind of march to a similar beat in this, and that their high season will run from November through to April and then run into a lull.
• 39:33
  SPEAKER_01: So in those lulls, we'll pivot to more group experiences, we'll pivot to um driving destinational activities to assist in um building some occupancy through that place or through the different resorts there.
• 39:48
  SPEAKER_01: So not only just high or focused on our resort, but what can we offer at a destinational level?
• 39:53
  SPEAKER_01: And then Fiji's the reverse.
• 39:55
  SPEAKER_01: So as Thailand and Mauritius and Maladives come out of their high season in after Easter April-ish, Fiji starts kicking into their high season from May to October.
• 40:05
  SPEAKER_01: And it's actually really unique and an interesting proposition.
• 40:10
  SPEAKER_01: And we will always aim to yield and optimize the high season and prop up the low season with demand generation tip.
• 40:18
  SPEAKER_01: But we also see it as an opportunity to give to our hosts.
• 40:21
  SPEAKER_01: And being a small to medium company, uh, we are able to take hosts out of Thailand in their low season and give them a second to Fiji to open their experiences.
• 40:35
  SPEAKER_01: So we took our Thai chefs recently to our Asian restaurant in Fiji from Thailand's low to Fiji's high season.
• 40:43
  SPEAKER_01: And the guests loved it.
• 40:45
  SPEAKER_01: They got an authentic Thai experience.
• 40:47
  SPEAKER_01: The host just thought was the best thing ever.
• 40:49
  SPEAKER_01: We create the opportunity that some of these hosts would never have in their life to go and visit some of these weird and beautiful destinations.
• 40:56
  SPEAKER_01: So we use that seasonality not only to drive our businesses, but also to create experiences for our hosts and and and unique experiences to the guests.
• 41:05
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 41:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's incredible.
• 41:07
  SPEAKER_00: I've never actually heard of um a brand doing that, taking chefs out of one hotel, putting them into another one to uh to really offer that authenticity in another in another location.
• 41:19
  SPEAKER_00: But it makes sense because the culinary craft is so geographically specific, and you know, you cannot learn to be a Thai chef in anything short of 10 years.
• 41:32
  SPEAKER_00: It's just that hard.
• 41:33
  SPEAKER_00: The players are so different and amazing.
• 41:36
  SPEAKER_01: You're right, and we're just so blessed that we've got this absolute talent across our portfolio that we can plug in uh uh and it's a win-win for everyone.
• 41:47
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 41:47
  SPEAKER_00: Well, you mentioned to pull out one more word, yielding.
• 41:52
  SPEAKER_00: And yielding uh is a classic term.
• 41:54
  SPEAKER_00: Now we'd I guess we'd call that dynamic pricing.
• 41:57
  SPEAKER_00: And now we're really getting into the technology side of commercial strategy.
• 42:03
  SPEAKER_00: So could you unpack some of the technologies you use for the dynamic pricing or other forms of data analytics?
• 42:13
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and it's been a core focus for K to sell to our free up and ensuring that we're incredibly well equipped.
• 42:21
  SPEAKER_01: And for a company our size, our resources are exceptional.
• 42:27
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and data, everything comes back to our data from the moments it puts it to data cleanliness, because that assists us to drive commercially everything we do.
• 42:37
  SPEAKER_01: And it is pain to understand the correlation between the indicators of data and what's actually happening on the ground.
• 42:44
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, the correlation is exceptional.
• 42:46
  SPEAKER_01: But at our heart, we've got a uh RME Dueno, which we've used for many, many years.
• 42:51
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, they're a great provider for us um and and their ability to be able and provide pricing recommendations versus auto deployment, is really important at this point in time because whilst the world has moved significantly dynamic, there are key source markets that are not there.
• 43:09
  SPEAKER_01: If you think about Germany, just started the number one tour operator is just starting to invest in um dynamic connectivity.
• 43:16
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, Russia is incredibly hard to get into in a dynamic environment.
• 43:20
  SPEAKER_01: But they're all incredibly important source markets for us.
• 43:23
  SPEAKER_01: We kind of we need a system that can have a purview of a static environment, dynamically price, and then consider the total revenue uh of the guests.
• 43:35
  SPEAKER_01: Interesting proposition, but the Dueto is our revenue management system.
• 43:39
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, we've got a full business intelligence team and platform.
• 43:44
  SPEAKER_01: Um everyone in our organization has access to it.
• 43:48
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, we we think the more we can share data out, the better.
• 43:51
  SPEAKER_01: And I think I've touched on some some interesting parts from us in getting to the data is we've got certain geosource markets who'll spend 300% more on property.
• 43:59
  SPEAKER_01: So strategically.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_01: Strategically and they've got interest in booking windows.
• 44:03
  SPEAKER_01: So we know they book 90 days hour and other markets.
• 44:06
  SPEAKER_01: So we can double down on that strategy from a deployment perspective.
• 44:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um and then that will refine our strategy.
• 44:15
  SPEAKER_01: On top of overlaying that, we benchmark internally, externally, it's fantastic to see STR hot stats at a PL level so we can understand our sales and marketing costs and performance.
• 44:25
  SPEAKER_01: And really leveraging the growth in AI platforms.
• 44:31
  SPEAKER_01: An AI committee is generative AI, other forms of AI, whether it be content creation, whether it be measuring, and the results in seeing referral traffic from AI or LLMs into our website at the moment.
• 44:44
  SPEAKER_01: It's hockey stick.
• 44:45
  SPEAKER_01: It's still a small portion, but it's a hockey stick growth in regards to the traffic come in, and it's high converting.
• 44:54
  SPEAKER_01: So if you think about AI or LLMs providing so much information, they're getting closer to a purchase decision by the time they link off to your website.
• 45:03
  SPEAKER_01: So we're actually seeing the conversion being incredibly strong.
• 45:07
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I guess you could say fewer clicks, but each click is higher intent.
• 45:12
  SPEAKER_00: So it completely upends the paid search dynamic as well as the strategy for distribution to the OTAs.
• 45:24
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 45:26
  SPEAKER_01: And this is where I I love the area that we operate.
• 45:31
  SPEAKER_01: We're a company that's relatively flat.
• 45:33
  SPEAKER_01: Jeff Wagner is incredibly supportive of all the technology.
• 45:37
  SPEAKER_01: Jen R C PP and CRO.
• 45:42
  SPEAKER_01: We'll leave with technology.
• 45:43
  SPEAKER_01: We don't add barriers of red tape.
• 45:45
  SPEAKER_01: If we think it's the right thing to do, we'll do our due diligence and we'll jump into deployment pretty quickly so we can be incredibly nimble on this in this space so that we are an early adopter and uh to uh the the competitive gains through that.
• 46:01
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 46:03
  SPEAKER_00: No, it's um it helps to be an early adopter.
• 46:07
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of people have been afraid of this AI search, but uh if you think about it, it it makes so much more sense in terms of how people find hotels.
• 46:17
  SPEAKER_00: They're looking for unique experiences.
• 46:20
  SPEAKER_00: Uh sometimes they just want to head in bed, but as you said, you're not really dealing with corporate contracts and things of that nature.
• 46:28
  SPEAKER_00: People are coming to Outrigger for experiences, and therefore they're very particular about what they're looking for.
• 46:35
  SPEAKER_00: So they really want to just ask an LLM how to do that.
• 46:40
  SPEAKER_00: So therein the question is how do you ensure that the LLM is getting the right information?
• 46:48
  SPEAKER_01: It's a really interesting project we probably embarked on six, seven months ago.
• 46:52
  SPEAKER_01: And we started asking the LMs what we think our guests would be asking.
• 46:58
  SPEAKER_01: And we realized we had some content gaps, and how LLMs absorb data is very different to how search historically it's absorbed data.
• 47:06
  SPEAKER_01: Very descriptive, building itineraries for them, it's having um content-rich and heavy uh experience-driven, wordy, um wordy content everywhere.
• 47:19
  SPEAKER_01: And the other part of it, which is pretty important, is user-generated content.
• 47:22
  SPEAKER_01: Getting the guests to tell a story, which backs up your commercial and your kind of brand positioning, is then where it gains further credibility.
• 47:31
  SPEAKER_01: So we we kind of went on a full content um replan of our website.
• 47:36
  SPEAKER_01: We we started to look at itineraries, we started to look at uh more text-rich content, whether it's for the guests to read or the LLM to read, it it's a different question there.
• 47:48
  SPEAKER_01: But uh, we found our relevance and our our responses in those pins really go through the roof by making sure that we were servicing the personas for what they were asking.
• 48:00
  SPEAKER_01: And it really comes down to it's not really business needs, it's a it's a guest need.
• 48:04
  SPEAKER_01: What are they asking?
• 48:05
  SPEAKER_01: How do we make sure that they get that uh uh as quickly?
• 48:08
  SPEAKER_01: The L is just a mechanism for us to provide that to them.
• 48:13
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, yeah, no, that uh that actually makes perfect sense.
• 48:17
  SPEAKER_00: Uh somebody still has to do the work to uh come up with the new content and rearrange the website and check the social sources, etc.
• 48:26
  SPEAKER_00: So um therein another key part of this situation is travel agents and travel advisory networks.
• 48:35
  SPEAKER_00: How does OutRiga work with them?
• 48:37
  SPEAKER_01: They're incredibly important to us.
• 48:39
  SPEAKER_01: And as I mentioned, then we still have a lot of traditional source markets, which people will go in and sit down with their travel agent and where their multi-stop itineraries are, because one of our locations are very difficult to get to.
• 48:52
  SPEAKER_01: So at the forefront, uh, we've developed an agent portal where our agents can log directly in for real-time marketing assets, offers, and everything else.
• 49:02
  SPEAKER_01: But above that is an outbreak and expert agent program.
• 49:05
  SPEAKER_01: And this is really an educational and advocacy program, which we've now got about 13 and a half thousand agents that have been through the training, understand the brand, understand the properties, and really aiming to get them in advocacy.
• 49:19
  SPEAKER_01: So when someone comes and sits down with them, these power users, these power agents that they um outrigger's at the forefront because they know it, they've been there, they've sent guests there.
• 49:29
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, and as a thank you to the agent, they can return kind of points to reward on on night's back at Outrigger, but we also send a small gift to the guest on arrival from the agent.
• 49:41
  SPEAKER_01: Like we we value that relationship and and we really want to make sure that that is a core pillar of our growth.
• 49:47
  SPEAKER_01: So we work hand in hand.
• 49:48
  SPEAKER_01: They're the first to give us feedback when we may have we may need to focus on a certain area.
• 49:53
  SPEAKER_01: Uh they're very quick to come back and tell us all their guest stories.
• 49:56
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, and that coupled with that consumer loyalty program is really powerful.
• 50:01
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 50:02
  SPEAKER_00: So now I guess let's dovetail into loyalty then, because Outrigger does have a strong loyalty program.
• 50:09
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and you mentioned that some guests, once they find a property, they can come back for years at a time.
• 50:16
  SPEAKER_00: Now, is that just guests find one property that they really like, or do they also explore other properties within the brand?
• 50:25
  SPEAKER_00: How do you uh how do you view that uh as loyalty or as something you can use to develop these lifelong relationships?
• 50:35
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and there's so many uh aspects to this.
• 50:40
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, and the first one I always say, and it's most important, is that we deliver to our guests.
• 50:47
  SPEAKER_01: Those unique experiences, the tears as they hop on the boat at Casa Way Island and leave our property because they don't want to be leaving, that emotional connection, that is instant loyalty.
• 50:59
  SPEAKER_01: Property we have about 45% returnees every year.
• 51:03
  SPEAKER_01: Uh people will leave in that same room for next year.
• 51:06
  SPEAKER_01: Uh well connected and that deliverance.
• 51:10
  SPEAKER_01: Why would I go anywhere else when I've got this authentic, beautiful experience?
• 51:14
  SPEAKER_01: Uh my whole family is loved at being taken care of on every aspect.
• 51:18
  SPEAKER_01: Obviously, it's important then to kind of dovetail into that and how we reward and recognize that.
• 51:22
  SPEAKER_01: So we are part of the GHA Discovery Loyalty Program.
• 51:25
  SPEAKER_01: There's about 34 million conglomerate of brands that come together.
• 51:28
  SPEAKER_01: So that is a formal structured program with rewards, recognitions, experience benefits, and and we love the Discovery Program because they do hyper focus on local experiences, which is a perfect vehicle for our properties.
• 51:42
  SPEAKER_01: Um think about what we deliver on site and those local experiences and encapsulating that as part of the loyalty program was great.
• 51:52
  SPEAKER_01: We we get three kid funnels out of the Discovery, we get cross-brands of other brands, um, introducing customers to Outrigger.
• 52:01
  SPEAKER_01: We get a lot of returnees coming into the same hotel, but about 30% of that business is Outrigger initiated guests from the start going into other Outrigger property.
• 52:13
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, some people won't go to the same destination every year.
• 52:18
  SPEAKER_01: But when you think about leisure destination holidays, we've got it coming.
• 52:21
  SPEAKER_01: We've got uh a lot of the key destinations that they'll bounce between Thailand to Fengini to Hawaii uh and recycle through the properties on that front as well.
• 52:30
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 52:31
  SPEAKER_00: That's uh I mean that's incredible, but it speaks to the it's a testament to the brand overall and just the properties you developed where people really want to explore each one and and they're coming back for such a long time.
• 52:44
  SPEAKER_00: So um we've talked a lot about uh the physical design, we've talked a lot about commercial strategy.
• 52:52
  SPEAKER_00: Um one thing that your team has confronted of recent, uh we are recording now uh on April 20th, 2026, and right now there is um the war in the Middle East is uh impacting things.
• 53:07
  SPEAKER_00: So from a commercial strategy and performance standpoint, how has your team responded to this uh this this unprecedented event and really helped ensure that there's no interruptions to guest service or anyone who's coming onto the properties?
• 53:26
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's probably the one thing that keeps me up at night at the moment, as you can imagine.
• 53:33
  SPEAKER_01: It's something that is interact interrupting every aspect of the supply chain.
• 53:37
  SPEAKER_01: Um I always say to my team also we can never let a crisis hold us back.
• 53:44
  SPEAKER_01: Um, because in every crisis becomes opportunity as well as challenge.
• 53:48
  SPEAKER_01: Um and our advisor is pivot.
• 53:51
  SPEAKER_01: We've got to pivot.
• 53:52
  SPEAKER_01: Now, our plans and our business plans that we finalized in December last year are potentially no longer valid on the large part.
• 53:58
  SPEAKER_01: But there are opportunities that come up.
• 54:00
  SPEAKER_01: So if we're really focused on being agilely pricing and demand management as a as a small company and on the large part, owner operated with a number of management contracts, we can pivot incredibly uh and incredibly quickly.
• 54:14
  SPEAKER_01: A big part of our strategy is our diversification in source markets.
• 54:20
  SPEAKER_01: So I think I touched on that we've got already diverse.
• 54:22
  SPEAKER_01: So if we think about, let's let's look at the Indian Ocean as an example.
• 54:28
  SPEAKER_01: As soon as this conflict broke out, anyone transiting through Dubai, Qatar were challenged.
• 54:35
  SPEAKER_01: Uh that happened immediately and overnight.
• 54:38
  SPEAKER_01: And it's still today is a significant handbrake on new bookings because as a guest I appreciate them.
• 54:46
  SPEAKER_01: Why would I try and route and via those destinations?
• 54:49
  SPEAKER_01: So that's impacting European traveling to the destination, uh, undoubtedly, and it will for some time.
• 54:55
  SPEAKER_01: Whilst there is some direct airlift, it's incredibly expensive.
• 54:59
  SPEAKER_01: The fuel costs are going through the roof, or the diesel costs uh are going through the roof as well.
• 55:04
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so we then pivot, we go, okay, well, the opportunity is now is China, Russia is traveling in huge numbers.
• 55:11
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, and we've got sales networks placed in all these key locations that allows us to react really quickly.
• 55:16
  SPEAKER_01: So, whereas at the strategy was to maybe pull back and lower our reliance on China last year, the cambreak is down, the the pedals to the metal, and we're now engaged and got campaigns to do that.
• 55:28
  SPEAKER_01: Um the other thing I will say, and I think it's incredibly important, in these times, partnership is incredible.
• 55:40
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, when you've got someone to court the airline, someone to court the trade partner, and we navigate collectively with the intent because we're all in it together.
• 55:50
  SPEAKER_01: The agents are doing more work with more cancellations, so no, no he come.
• 55:54
  SPEAKER_01: We're we're we're challenged to do it.
• 55:56
  SPEAKER_01: So that partnership and collaboration, and then our operations team very quickly started to secure provisions.
• 56:02
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, we have some islands that operate on uh on full diesel gen sets.
• 56:06
  SPEAKER_01: We need to make sure we protect that supply.
• 56:09
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, it's it's gonna be 40, 50, 60 percent more expensive than what it was.
• 56:14
  SPEAKER_01: Um, that's no one's fault.
• 56:15
  SPEAKER_01: We've got to preserve that because at no point in time, once you step onto one of our properties, should this complete be a consideration?
• 56:24
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, forget that all behind.
• 56:26
  SPEAKER_01: Have your five, seven nights, relax, um, grab a margarita, sit on the beach, and enjoy your break because I feel as we come out of this, people will not give up their travel.
• 56:39
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, they will they'll double down on it.
• 56:41
  SPEAKER_01: It's something that they will reward themselves with, um, and and we'll be there to take care of them as that occurs.
• 56:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's so true.
• 56:50
  SPEAKER_00: It's if we've learned anything from COVID, is you know, the interruptions, travel just comes back ever stronger.
• 56:56
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, there's uh there's little pockets like targeting Russian consumers.
• 57:00
  SPEAKER_00: Uh something I've never even thought of, but I imagine you have some good data to indicate that was the case and you've pivoted accordingly.
• 57:09
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 57:10
  SPEAKER_01: And we even know down to a posthode level what what kind of areas in Russia actually have got great propensity to come to, so it helps our marketing be incredibly targeted.
• 57:20
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 57:21
  SPEAKER_00: So um hopefully the crisis in the Middle East will resolve soon and we can get back to normal and growing and giving great experiences.
• 57:32
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but looking ahead to the long term, what does outrigger resorts and hotels look like in 2030?
• 57:41
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, in a nutshell, it is we are gonna be we are in the Mother Connor Beach Resort brand.
• 57:46
  SPEAKER_01: Full stop in the story.
• 57:48
  SPEAKER_01: Uh we're going to really own that space.
• 57:51
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, we're going to continue to elevate, which I mentioned in existing assets.
• 57:55
  SPEAKER_01: But we'd love to see a couple more dots on the mat.
• 57:57
  SPEAKER_01: In strategic locations that we spoke about, uh, we will continue to look at those opportunities pragmatically as an operator, as an owner, and some partnerships with other owners that we could manage their assets on there on our own behalf.
• 58:10
  SPEAKER_01: So uh grow our management contract space.
• 58:13
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, we won't lose sight of our strong focus on experiential and regenerative travel.
• 58:19
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, rooted in that local culture, that will be the pillar and that will help us our our cottage beat for other resorts with that culture embedded in it.
• 58:27
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 58:29
  SPEAKER_00: Branded residences.
• 58:30
  SPEAKER_00: What are your thoughts?
• 58:33
  SPEAKER_01: It's an interesting sub-segment uh of the market.
• 58:36
  SPEAKER_01: It's growing incredibly fast.
• 58:38
  SPEAKER_01: And with the barriers to build costs at the moment, quite often the only way you can get a hotel or a developer to stack is to have some residences on top.
• 58:51
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and so you've got a hotel podium, and then above that you've got your residential.
• 58:55
  SPEAKER_01: So it provides an interesting opportunity.
• 58:58
  SPEAKER_01: Um they whether they're run by the resort company or or separately for it, but they will typically open a longer stay, more flexible um guest profile.
• 59:11
  SPEAKER_01: And when you think about the blend of resort offerings with residential living, it actually blends incredibly well.
• 59:16
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, and what we're seeing probably more so in that development space is getting those deals across the line is incredibly important for a build cost.
• 59:23
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 59:24
  SPEAKER_00: So um, you know, we've covered a ton of ground here and we're coming up on the hour to keep things uh nice and tight for people who maybe uh don't want to stay too long to listen, although I could spend four hours talking about this is incredible.
• 59:41
  SPEAKER_00: Is there anything important that we haven't mentioned that uh you feel is really get drive the point home to end off with a great outrigger moment?
• 59:53
  SPEAKER_01: Look, I think it in my heart, it's purpose like hospitality.
• 59:57
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 59:57
  SPEAKER_01: But the the blend of culture and cultivation, I'm so incredibly blessed to help lead the commercial strategy for this region.
• 1:00:07
  SPEAKER_01: Um, when you think about that blend of beautiful destinations that that that the local culture, when you see our hosts come to life uh and really be able to express themselves in all their beauty, that's what our brand stands for.
• 1:00:20
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, and that's really exciting.
• 1:00:22
  SPEAKER_01: I think we've got an incredibly um ambitious path forward in regards to growth and development of our existing assets.
• 1:00:29
  SPEAKER_01: But at the end of the day, it's just it kind of distills down.
• 1:00:32
  SPEAKER_01: We'll maintain authentic our authentic nature, um, but keep the scale there as well.
• 1:00:38
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 1:00:39
  SPEAKER_00: Keep the scale, but keeping authenticity throughout.
• 1:00:42
  SPEAKER_00: That's such a beautiful way to uh to tie it all together from humble origins in the 1960s in Waikiki Beach, just outside of Honolulu, all the way through to a global brand that uh is the number one for beach resort oriented stays.
• 1:01:03
  SPEAKER_00: Jason, thank you so much for coming on the show.
• 1:01:06
  SPEAKER_00: It's been a fantastic power hour to learn about everything out Outrigger.
• 1:01:11
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.