Latest / The Inspired Stories Podcast / Running a Hospitality Company Without Burning People, Bridges, or Your Own Mental Health — Alvaro Fraile, Azul Hospitality

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Running a Hospitality Company Without Burning People, Bridges, or Your Own Mental Health — Alvaro Fraile, Azul Hospitality · The Inspired Stories Podcast

0:04
Welcome to another edition of the Inspired Stories podcast,
0:08
where leaders share their experiences so we can learn from
0:11
their successes and be inspired by how they've overcome
0:14
adversity. My name is Anthony Kotaspodi and
0:17
today's guest is Alvaro Freyle. Alvaro is the CEO of Azul
0:23
Hospitality, a Southern california-based operator that
0:26
manages lifestyle hotels and destination resorts.
0:30
They offer full service hospitality solutions including
0:34
strategic marketing, food and beverage programming, and
0:37
revenue optimization. He's originally from Spain and
0:41
came to the US for college, playing soccer at the University
0:45
of Richmond while studying business.
0:47
His hospitality journey began at AC Hotels, a Spanish brand later
0:52
acquired by Marriott, where he rapidly advanced through the
0:55
ranks, starting as a junior revenue manager.
0:58
He became a general manager by 25, a regional leader by age 27,
1:04
and was running operations for 70 hotels across Spain, Italy
1:08
and Portugal by age 30. After helping launch AC Hotels
1:13
in the US and working with Marriott for eight years, he
1:17
joined Azul Hospitality as COO. And after two years in that
1:21
role, he had the opportunity to become CEO, the position that he
1:25
holds today. Now before we get into all that
1:27
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2:11
All right, back to our guest today, the CEO of Azul
2:14
Hospitality Group. Alvaro, thanks for making the
2:17
time to Share your story today. Anthony, thanks for the invite.
2:21
I'm honored. Looking forward to our chat and
2:25
if we can help make somebody, somebody's day better or feel a
2:29
bit more inspired, then it'll be a good use of our time.
2:32
So I love. That attitude, let's jump right
2:35
into it then, Albero, so you came from Spain to play soccer
2:39
and study at the University of Richmond.
2:42
And we have to point out this is a little bit unique because in
2:46
Spain, if you're pursuing soccer on a serious level, that often
2:51
meant stopping your education to focus completely on soccer.
2:56
So how did your sort of non traditional decision to come to
3:00
the US you think impact your life's trajectory?
3:04
For sure. So at the time I, I thought I
3:07
wanted to keep my option open of becoming a professional.
3:10
Little did I know that I probably didn't couldn't make
3:13
it, but at the time I, I thought so.
3:15
So I, you know, wanted to want to keep my options open.
3:18
And in Spain, I think it's probably the same all of Europe.
3:22
It's you start early on if you want to be an athlete and the
3:25
path to professionalism is not through college, it's through
3:29
it's just you, you quit college, you go to one of the academies
3:32
of the big teams. And so coming to the US was the
3:37
way to keep both options open. I think my parents were very
3:40
focused on me studying no matter what.
3:41
And then so unbelievable experience, incredible resources
3:47
here in the US and, and just an unbelievable college experience.
3:50
And then absolutely shaped everything in the future because
3:55
suddenly I'm living in a different country, opening my
3:57
mind to a different culture and customs and traditions and ways
4:01
of thinking. And, and it surely shaped my
4:05
openness to to things and to people and, and so great
4:10
experience and, and probably open the door for me to come
4:14
back in my second stint after when I joined Marriott, so much
4:19
more open to it because I had had the four years at at the
4:21
University of Richmond. How was your English when you
4:24
first came here? It was good because I was going
4:27
to an English school, a British school, but my accent was very
4:30
posh. So I had I definitely the first
4:33
few years I got made fun of a lot and I think automatically it
4:36
started to change to become more American.
4:38
So was that a conscious effort to change from?
4:41
No, it just kind of happened 'cause you know, when you're at
4:44
that age, right, it's, it's hard for an accent to change or to
4:48
drop. Yeah, I, I had never lived in
4:51
the UK, so it was just from going to a British school.
4:54
So I guess it was still held, you know, not so tightly, so it
4:58
could easily morph to the American one.
5:01
All right. Fair enough.
5:03
OK. So as I understand it, though,
5:04
you know, when you took your first job in hospitality that
5:08
wasn't really your passion. What was that early experience?
5:12
And then at what point down the road did you see the potential
5:15
in and kind of get excited about the space?
5:18
Yeah, so I, I was doing business just to keep my options open
5:21
because I hadn't defined my passion.
5:23
So that's what I did for my undergrad and I, I took the
5:28
first job I found out of college, honestly, and it was
5:31
revenue manager at the AC hotels and, and at the time I didn't
5:36
know much about hotels. And it was, well, you know,
5:39
we'll take the first job and see where it takes me.
5:41
I had done a little internship at Morgan Stanley and investment
5:44
banking and realized it wasn't really my thing.
5:46
So, so this was just trying out a new thing and I guess it was
5:50
being the right place at the right time.
5:52
AC, the gentleman that founded it, had sold the previous hotel
5:57
chain. So he had a lot of resources, he
6:00
had a lot of energy. He's a, he's a big businessman
6:03
in Spain. And, and so we had funds and,
6:07
and he, he had already experienced it.
6:10
So he had the knowledge to, to just grow very fast.
6:13
And so joining a company like that was incredible for my first
6:17
experience because we were opening a ton of hotels every
6:21
year owned by us at the time or by him, but you know, by the
6:24
company and, and managed by us and the brand resolved.
6:27
And so there's nothing stopping us from growth and, and it was
6:30
just so dynamic that it captivated me.
6:33
And the other thing is, even though I had a pretty reasonable
6:37
academic background, it's an industry where you can be kind
6:40
of whatever you want. You see people that are, I
6:42
remember the the CEO of Marriott Europe, he started as a cook at
6:47
the time, at the time that when I was there in in Europe, Rayner
6:50
Sasha, he was the president of Marriott Europe.
6:53
He started as a cook and then a chef and then a director of food
6:55
and beverage. So no matter your background,
6:58
your academic background, your socio economic background, you
7:02
can really do very well in the hospitality industry.
7:05
And that was super exciting. You know, it's very, very
7:08
dynamic. Yeah, I've heard so many people
7:11
come on this show and say the same thing about the restaurant
7:13
space and the hotel space. It's a place where certainly an,
7:17
an academic background can be helpful, right?
7:20
You come in with some education there, but it's not necessary,
7:23
right? All kinds of folks come in and
7:25
they couldn't afford, you know, college education.
7:28
Maybe it just wasn't for them. And they come in, they, they
7:31
work hard, they, you know, show that they're dedicated and
7:33
they've got the personality and they want to apply themselves.
7:36
And then you can just rise through the ranks and make a
7:38
really good career for yourself. Yeah.
7:41
Yeah, 100%. A lot of the experience that you
7:43
get operationally is having worked those jobs right on that
7:47
at the hotel level. And those jobs normally start
7:49
either at the front desk or in the kitchen or you don't need
7:52
that academic education to get started in those jobs.
7:55
So if you have the, you know, you're, you're somewhat capable
8:01
of of learning from those experiences and obviously work
8:04
hard. There's just the potential, you
8:06
know, Sky's the limit there. So.
8:07
Yeah. So you did have the benefit of
8:10
education, but even still, you came in like a rocket ship,
8:14
right? So you went from junior revenue
8:16
manager to running operations for 70 hotels across three
8:20
countries by the age of 30. What was the key to this rapid
8:26
rise for you, Alvaro? I'm, I know this is going to
8:29
sound very typical to say, but kind of the right place at the
8:32
right time because the company was growing so fast that, you
8:36
know, suddenly we had hotel openings and it was much easier
8:40
to promote within for the company.
8:41
So suddenly I'm offered the opening to be AGM at 25 and, and
8:47
I was obviously excited and jumping at the opportunity and
8:49
then would eventually, you know, oh, now we need, you know, we're
8:53
up to 20 hotels in Madrid. So we need a regional to oversee
8:56
those properties. And I was doing well at my
8:59
hotel. So I got the opportunity to be a
9:00
regional overseeing those hotels.
9:01
And then the, the direct eventually a couple years later,
9:05
the director of operations for the whole company was doing a
9:09
horizontal move within the company.
9:10
So who's the next guy? You know, and I and the company
9:13
was based in Madrid, so being the regional of the Madrid
9:16
region allowed me that exposure. So it's, it's funny how things
9:21
work, but exposure is just so important.
9:23
You know, you can be performing well, you can have a good
9:27
professional image, but at the end of the day, exposure or
9:30
being in the right place, knowing the right people, it's
9:34
just a bit of luck. I guess ultimately, you know,
9:37
because sometimes you're, you're, you're stuck in a
9:39
geographical location where you get less exposure and you might
9:42
be performing incredibly well, but you might be less top of
9:45
mind to the people that are making the decisions, right?
9:47
So there's a component of luck or you maybe you have to force a
9:52
bit of your exposure, but that is key in getting good
9:56
opportunities and obviously not making dumb decisions along the
9:59
way that put you in a. So that's interesting.
10:03
Yeah. You were obviously were good at
10:04
what you were doing, but you were in a geographical location
10:07
where it was easier for you to get noticed.
10:09
I wonder if kind of having that perspective, folks are listening
10:14
and they're like, well, I'm in a place where I don't really have
10:16
the opportunity to get noticed in that same way.
10:19
Any suggestions for folks on how to force that?
10:22
Exposure 100% yeah, you, you just have to be vocal.
10:26
You have to be vocal because now in my position, we're constantly
10:29
thinking, OK, who's you know who's that we need talent.
10:32
We need we we love to promote within who would who do we have
10:34
top of mind? And and inevitably you're going
10:37
to go to the people that you're closest to you're thinking of
10:40
you're you're spending more, more time with.
10:41
So if you're not in one of those locations where you're
10:43
automatically spending time with the decision makers, make that
10:47
time, make those trips to the corporate office.
10:49
In our in our industry, especially with hotels out
10:51
there, we have hotels all over the field, primarily in the West
10:55
of the country. And so if you are further away
10:58
from the corporate office, make sure you are heard, make sure
11:01
you make your trips to the corporate office.
11:04
Find excuses to get exposure to the right leaders because
11:07
ultimately, I'm not sure if it's 100% fair, but it does happen
11:12
that way. It's the top of mind is that you
11:14
know, can get you to the right place.
11:16
Of course, if you're performing always right, That's, that's,
11:18
that's the expectation. But if you're performing, you
11:20
have to expose yourself. So put yourself out there with
11:24
the decision makers. Yeah.
11:26
So you clearly had a lot of opportunities to learn as you're
11:30
rising through the ranks there. I'm sure you could, you know,
11:33
spend days kind of going through the lessons that you picked up.
11:37
But if you were to single out one big learning occasion, one
11:42
big lesson she pulled away from your time there, what would that
11:45
be? With AC Hotels saying AC Hotels
11:56
was, was an unbelievable crazy period because we, we were
11:58
opening 1215 hotels a year. I think 1 lesson that I learned
12:05
is it's all about reputation and both for the company and for you
12:11
as an individual, you always want to do the right thing by
12:16
people. And it is a very small industry.
12:21
Even in the US, it's a very small industry.
12:23
It's so easy to get references from people to, to, to, to reach
12:27
out and find out somebody that's worked with somebody that's
12:29
worked with that person. And so just don't burn any
12:32
bridges, you know, and the same thing for your company.
12:35
Like if you at one point don't treat people right, or a, or a,
12:40
or a partner right, or a client or whoever, it comes around so
12:44
easily. So first, because that's human
12:47
decency, right? Do the right thing and take care
12:48
of people and treat people right.
12:50
But also just selfishly, like you don't burn the bridges
12:53
because people are going to find out.
12:54
And then it's not going to help you.
12:56
So just always do the right thing and long term it plays out
12:59
it. The short term mentality won't
13:05
really get you where you want to go long term.
13:07
So maybe some people who are a little bit conflicted and having
13:09
a hard time doing the right thing all the time, sort of the
13:13
warning message is, hey, even if you think somebody's not
13:15
watching or even if you think that, oh, that person could
13:20
never have an influence on my career.
13:22
If you're that person's just sort of wired to think
13:24
selfishly, like you never know when that's going to come back
13:27
around, when that karma is going to come back, huh?
13:29
Yeah, 100%. And then and then you realize
13:32
later on your career how so? And so at one point said
13:35
something nice about you that connected with somebody else.
13:38
And then suddenly you have this new business or you have this
13:40
new potential associate that you're trying to hire that has
13:43
heard great things or whatever it is.
13:45
You just, you just never know. So yeah, just just be selfish in
13:50
that regard. Like it's, it's an investment in
13:52
your own brand, if you want to call it, or your own reputation.
13:56
Yeah. If you need a selfish reason to
13:58
do the right thing, that's the way to frame it, yeah.
14:00
Yeah, exactly. So how did the opportunity to
14:03
join Azul come about? South AC Hotels in Spain was
14:09
acquired by Marriott so now it's one of Marriott's brands and
14:12
it's been successful launch for Marriott both in the rest of
14:16
Europe and, and and the US. So I was offered the opportunity
14:21
to come to work with Marriott in the US to launch AC and also
14:25
work with some other brands eventually.
14:27
So I did 8 years with Marriott. One of my roles was in franchise
14:30
operations was to have the relationship with management
14:33
companies like Azul. So what people don't realize
14:37
sometimes in the hospitality space there's the brands don't
14:42
typically own the hotels. In some cases they do, but but
14:46
they're they're trying to go with more asset light
14:50
strategies. Most of the brands, so they
14:52
don't typically own the hotels and they own don't typically
14:55
manage the hotels or or you know, again, some do and but
14:58
those proposed tend to be decreasing for most of the major
15:01
brands. So then there's a sort of like.
15:03
A franchise, kind of. Exactly, 100%.
15:06
So then the some owners are also owner operators.
15:09
But in some cases there's, there's cases like us where
15:11
we're a management company, right.
15:13
And so strictly a third party management companies, we manage
15:16
hotels for others. So for the brand and for the
15:18
actual owner of the building. And so in my role with Marriott,
15:23
I had the relationship with many of these management companies
15:25
where I would help them operate successfully and also kind of
15:28
hold them accountable for running great hotels for
15:31
Marriott. One of those companies was a Zoo
15:33
Hospitality and I really respected the culture that
15:38
leaders the portfolio they were building.
15:41
So it was right after COVID or in between COVID that the
15:45
opportunity came about. I was starting to consider
15:49
actually going back to Europe with Marriott and but it was
15:54
such a great opportunity to join us all.
15:55
I really respected them. I wouldn't have left for too
15:58
many groups and there's always probably one of the very, very
16:00
few. So great opportunity knew that
16:03
leaders in the culture and just was a really good fit for me.
16:07
So that's how it went. And I had been working kind of
16:10
with them from the other side, from the Marriott side for eight
16:12
years. So, you know, we had really good
16:15
relationships already established.
16:16
So again, it's a small industry, can't burn any bridges because
16:19
you never know. And so to understand a little
16:23
bit more about, excuse me, how the dynamics of these different
16:26
relationships work, right, You've got the brand like a
16:29
Marriott. Sometimes they own and manage
16:33
their own properties, but not as often.
16:35
Sometimes they own a property and they'll hire a third party
16:39
company like Azul to manage it for them.
16:43
And then other times there's another owner, somebody who's
16:47
bought the franchise rights to that name.
16:51
They're the ones who own the physical building and the land
16:54
and etcetera and they've done the development.
16:56
And then they'll bring in a third party company like Azul to
17:00
run that for them. Because this is really your area
17:02
of expertise, right? Exactly.
17:05
And companies like Marriott really, really don't own pretty
17:09
much any hotels at this point. You know, they used to, but less
17:12
and less. So they will only own something
17:15
if they're strategically buying certain hotel or certain
17:18
portfolio hotels, but eventually they're going to sell it off,
17:21
you know. So yeah, there's always an owner
17:24
that typically is not the brand and then there's the brand and
17:28
then there's us as operators. And so we work with the owner
17:30
and the brands to to run the best possible operation.
17:34
You want to keep the brand happy that you're complying with the
17:36
standards, you're respecting what the brand is about and and
17:39
how to perform and take care of the guest experience and the
17:42
satisfaction and at the same time give a great return to the
17:45
owners of the hotel. So that's, that's kind of how
17:48
it, how our our role is interjected in between.
17:52
So you guys are brought in and are you paid like a flat fee?
17:56
Is it like a percentage of gross?
17:58
Is it sort of a combination of the two?
18:00
Typically there's a, there's a percentage of the gross revenues
18:04
and also typically an incentive based on profits, right, because
18:08
we are responsible for top line performance and also how it
18:12
flows to the bottom line. So there's there's not both
18:15
components typically. OK.
18:16
And then walk us through, we talked a little bit about it in
18:19
the intro, but give us kind of more specifics what it is that
18:23
you guys do in terms of managing these hotels for folks?
18:27
Well, pretty much the whole operation, if you look at a
18:30
profit and loss statement, everything kind of is our
18:34
responsibility. So from hiring the staff and the
18:37
talent and the leaders to making sure we're delivering the right
18:41
the right guest experience at every level.
18:44
So obviously in the rooms and the food and beverage operations
18:46
and then any other amenity that the hotel has, whether it has,
18:50
you know, a spa or, or obviously parking and resort fees.
18:54
What are you offering to the guest right?
18:56
And then all the expenses accordingly.
19:00
So you know your sales and marketing teams and your and
19:04
your IT and your maintenance of the building because at the
19:07
other day you're also kind of protecting the building for the
19:09
owner, right. These are, these are multi
19:11
$1,000,000 assets. So all that all the way to the
19:15
bottom line. And then, and then after that
19:19
bottom line, there's an owner that has a relationship with
19:21
some sort of lender that has typically lent them money to do
19:23
the business. And so we have to make sure that
19:26
our last bottom number helps them to pay the lender and get
19:30
some profit out of it. So, but yeah, the whole, the
19:33
whole show, the whole experience and the associates are our
19:36
associates. So we, we, we take care of them.
19:39
We, we try to help them grow and promote and get trained and
19:43
learn and, and yeah. That's and so we do.
19:47
When you joined Azul, how many properties were under
19:49
management? I want to say probably low 30s.
19:54
Low 30s and where are you today? How many?
19:56
We're at 50 hotels across the West of the country, primarily
20:00
Marriott, Hilton, some Hyatts, some independence as well.
20:05
And I think we're, we're specializing, we, we do all
20:08
brands, but we're specializing in the, in the lifestyle brands
20:12
that, that Meridian, Hilton have or independent brands that have
20:17
a uniqueness to them. So we do have the some of the
20:20
prototypical brands as well. But right now the brands have
20:23
come out with these soft brands autographed with Marriott Curio
20:26
with, with Hilton Tribute Tapestry.
20:28
They're they're brands where you can be kind of your own thing,
20:31
your unique independent feel of hotel, but you're still.
20:35
Standards aren't quite as boxed in as what you're saying.
20:38
It's more quality of standards, but you don't have to comply
20:41
with a specific design of your room or or the exact offering
20:46
and food and beverage or things like that.
20:47
So you can create your own thing, of course, in
20:51
communication with the brands to make sure that it's the right
20:54
quality, but you can be unique. It's kind of like creating your
20:58
own independent hotel, but you're still plugged into a
21:01
Marriott engine, right? A booking engine like a, a
21:04
strong one like Meritor Hilton. So it's really the best of both
21:06
worlds and we're doing a lot of those and I think with a lot of
21:10
success because that's kind of what the guest is asking us now.
21:13
It's it's more of an experience and a uniqueness.
21:16
Do you enjoy this because maybe the margins are better for you
21:20
guys or the creativity that you get to employ is is better?
21:24
I don't know. Oh, it's the creativity.
21:26
It's definitely a lot more work because you're having to
21:28
reinvent the wheel every time. But the team is here, super
21:31
creative and we all enjoy it a lot.
21:34
So yeah, it's that excitement of like you're creating a whole new
21:39
kind of an independent hotel every time.
21:41
And of course there's learnings along the way and things that,
21:44
you know, work or don't work and then you can apply to a
21:46
different one. But you're always trying to be
21:49
innovative with a different design and different concept.
21:52
And you know, so it's, it's fun. Give me an idea of some of the
21:55
different dials that you turn when you're making one of these
21:58
new sort of pseudo custom environments.
22:01
Like is it just like I don't know the color of the wallpaper
22:04
or paint a picture for me? Everything from the branding, so
22:10
the the naming of they'll tell the brand that you're creating
22:13
what it stands. Are you focused on the local
22:17
experience and some component of the local market that is that
22:21
you're, you know, putting into the, into the whole guest
22:26
experience? So the color of the wallpaper,
22:31
the, the, just what it looks like from a, from a guest
22:34
satisfaction stamp. And then all the amenities.
22:36
The biggest one probably is food and beverage because you're
22:38
deciding, OK, do we do a cool coffee concept?
22:41
Do we do a full service, you know, three meal restaurant?
22:45
Do we have a rooftop bar? We've been very successful doing
22:48
rooftop bars. What does it make sense to
22:52
maximize each square footage of of the asset to, to get the most
22:56
profitability, but at the same time a great experience for for
22:59
the guests. So it's a long term you're
23:01
positioning the asset to be very successful for many, many years.
23:04
You don't want to be trendy. So it's that balance between
23:07
being innovative and original and a bit different, but also
23:11
don't be trendy because then that could be good for a few
23:14
years, but then. And then you got to review the
23:15
whole thing. Right, right, right.
23:17
So, and that's, we like that. We like the blue suits where you
23:22
can just change the tie and the shirt, but it's still a classic
23:25
blue suit. That's our, that's what we how
23:28
we like to put it to say, you know, because that's, that's
23:30
more timeless. So, you know, I talked to other
23:33
folks in the hotel space. We're recording this, the end of
23:36
2025. You know, we had government
23:39
shutdown. The economy's kind of, you know,
23:42
questionable for a lot of folks. So a lot of the folks, I'm not
23:45
going to ask you for your numbers, but a lot of folks tell
23:47
me that, you know, hotel business overall has been down
23:50
recently. Do you find that that's it all
23:53
different and sort of the higher end hotels that maybe the demand
23:57
there has stayed up or is there some fluctuation happening there
24:01
too? You're actually right, exactly
24:04
right. The, the luxury segment has done
24:07
particularly well everything underneath and the lower you
24:11
are, once you get to the economy brands, they've struggled more
24:14
and more. So for some reason, yeah, the
24:17
consumer sentiment is affected and and people are traveling
24:20
less. And I think it's the uncertainty
24:23
everybody's kind of on the lookout to see, OK, what, what
24:25
exactly it's going on here because between government
24:28
shutdowns, tariffs, it's just been a year of it hasn't been a
24:32
bad year. We've still grown slightly
24:35
revenues, but at times not enough to offset the growing
24:39
expenses. Expenses have at times been
24:41
higher than the growth of revenue.
24:42
So we, it's been not the best year.
24:45
I wouldn't say it's been a recession kind of year, but it
24:49
hasn't been the best. SO 2026 we're hoping for some
24:52
more stability and, and you realize also interest rates are
24:56
very impactful in our industry because sometimes also what
25:00
people don't realize is, you know, interest rates when you
25:02
have a lot, when you're a hotel owner and you, you own the
25:05
building, your loan, typically your, your interest rates is the
25:11
loans are much more short term. When you build, when you own a
25:13
house, that can be a 30 year mortgage, right?
25:15
And you're, and you might have a fixed interest rate, but in
25:18
hotels, your loans are typically five years or there's a reset
25:21
every six months or it's more variable.
25:22
So when interest rates go much higher, it impacts hotels much
25:27
more quickly than it would in in your own house, right.
25:29
So something you see the stress of our clients where what a good
25:35
job look like from a management standpoint and a financial
25:38
performance standpoint, what a good job look like, you know,
25:42
four years ago does not get them to the place where they need to
25:46
be right now. And so you can, you can
25:47
understand the stress and you're trying to help them to, to just
25:51
perform as best as we can as efficiently as we can to get
25:54
them the biggest number to the bottom line so they don't have
25:57
that stress in the bottom. Any, any like levers that you've
26:00
been able to pull in that respect to help kind of squeeze
26:03
out some extra percentage points?
26:06
Yeah, we like clustering. So once we're in a market and we
26:08
have a few hotels, if we can share resources, sometimes it's
26:12
even across clients. It's surprising.
26:14
Anthony Howe, there's a lot of openness to that.
26:16
And and if you are, you know, might have a competing hotel
26:19
over there which we happen to manage and they're open to
26:23
sharing a role. Maybe it's a controller, maybe
26:26
it's a sales effort even and or a general manager and and you
26:32
share and you kind of spread out the cost a little bit to kind of
26:34
ride out the just to reduce expenses at the end of the day.
26:37
So obviously we're always trying to find new creative ways to
26:42
drive revenues, but expenses it's can be very impactful.
26:46
So if we can cluster markets when we have enough hotels in
26:50
the market, that's a great way to reduce some expenses.
26:55
You guys have been around a little bit.
26:56
Obviously you've got a great reputation in the space.
26:58
You've got some clients that you work with regularly.
27:01
I'm sure as they've got new projects, you know you guys are
27:04
collaborating with them on that. If you're sitting down with a
27:07
new perspective client, why do they ultimately choose Azul?
27:13
What sets you guys apart? I want to say first of all, we
27:20
have great talent. I would put our team against
27:23
any, any team in the in the industry.
27:28
There's been a lot of consolidation in the management
27:30
space. So management companies buying
27:32
each other or investing each other or capital investors
27:35
taking a stake in. And so there's a lot of focus
27:38
for growth in a lot of our competitors.
27:41
And I think at times that size is not really not a competitive
27:47
advantage because at the end of the day, I mean, you might get
27:51
some the ability to purchase things a little cheaper, but
27:55
we're already at that level with most of the vendors.
27:57
You're already kind of in the higher tier of, of whatever
28:01
discounts you're getting with our 50H side.
28:04
So I think side is not always better in a management company
28:09
space. You want to be important to us,
28:11
right? We want to we, the moment you're
28:14
at 150 hotels, the attention you might be able to give to your
28:17
hotels is a little bit more diluted.
28:19
Whereas we are extremely hands on with our clients and with our
28:23
hotels and just we're very close to every business.
28:27
So I'm not saying we don't want to grow, but we'd rather grow
28:30
very, very mindfully. And we don't want to be the
28:33
biggest, you know, maybe we can add a few hotels here or there,
28:36
but I think our size is kind of a sweet spot in that we have
28:40
enough to have all the resources needed to support the hotels as
28:43
best we can. But we're also extremely hands
28:45
on because we don't, you know, we're not diluting the the focus
28:51
because we have 300 hotels like some of our competitors, we do a
28:54
great job, but it's a bit of a different model and they're very
28:57
focused on growth and adding new hotels.
29:00
We're typically adding hotels because our existing clients are
29:03
growing their portfolios and we are with them, but we're not
29:06
typically adding too many new relationships.
29:09
OK. Yeah.
29:11
If you are adding a new relationship, what's sort of the
29:15
checklist that you're looking for to make sure that you guys
29:17
are aligned? The biggest, most important
29:21
thing is the cultural alignment with the client, with the
29:25
sponsor or the owner of the hotel.
29:27
We've realized that we talk about it internally a lot.
29:30
We'd rather do business or take on a deal with an excellent
29:35
owner, even if the project it might be, I don't want to say
29:38
mediocre, but just, you know, a medium project, then the
29:41
opposite. A killer project with a mediocre
29:43
owner is not going to be a good fit long term for us because
29:47
we're very protective of our culture, of how we treat people.
29:50
And, and no owner can be disruptive to that if they're
29:53
not, if we're not cultural aligned.
29:55
So that's probably the most important thing.
29:58
And we've turned down a lot of deals because we could just
30:00
sense that the that cultural alignment wasn't really there.
30:04
So I would say that's the biggest thing.
30:06
And then of course, an exciting project with a great brand, a
30:09
great unique market location and anywhere where we can unlock
30:13
value also because not to say that we won't take on, I don't
30:18
know, the opportunity to manage a Courtyard or a Hampton in a
30:21
secondary market. But typically what we were
30:24
talking about before, we like to add value so we can take over
30:27
management of our hotel because we think, hey, let's reposition
30:30
this, let's change the brand or let's add a new food and
30:33
beverage concept or how can we maximize the, the value of the
30:36
asset here. That's what really gets us
30:38
excited. And so that's probably the
30:41
things that we look at the the most quality of the sponsor and
30:44
then the ability to add value. Yeah.
30:47
And I've already mentioned multiple times in our
30:49
conversation the importance of the culture that you guys have
30:51
there and the alignment that you want to have with your clients.
30:56
You guys, your your philosophy is, you know, I think awesome,
31:00
but a little bit different in that you prioritize doing the
31:04
right thing over just pure economic gain.
31:09
And as I say that it's words and you're nodding your head and
31:13
you're like, oh, yeah, absolutely.
31:14
That's what we believe. But I wonder if you can share a
31:18
specific instance where that principal over profit came into
31:22
play and it just kind of help illustrate that point for folks?
31:27
Yeah. Well, the biggest way we show it
31:32
and and it's part of like protecting our team is when
31:35
there hasn't been a culture alignment with past.
31:37
I, I think right now our portfolios in in a great, great
31:40
place from, from the, the client pool that we have.
31:45
We have very collaborative clients.
31:47
Of course they hold us accountable to deliver results,
31:49
but they're, it's collaborative, it's respectful.
31:51
When that hasn't happened in the past, we were aware of it.
31:55
But it's a very hard decision to say, do we walk away from this
31:58
business? Do we walk away from managing
32:00
these hotels? Because yeah, it's a, it's a
32:02
fee, it's a, it's a, it's revenues for us as a management
32:06
company walking away from deals, right.
32:08
And, and that affects how many resources we can have with the
32:12
corporate. It affects the bonuses that we
32:13
can pay out to our teams, but ultimately we know that it's the
32:17
right thing to do. And so making those decisions
32:20
has been tough, but clearly the the, the right decision long
32:25
term. So that's probably the, the more
32:28
clear way where we've walked the talk of, OK, if we're saying we
32:33
don't do business with, with, you know, with certain
32:37
behaviors, then let's act on it. And even if it meant walking
32:41
away from fees, so, and then also, you know, with existing
32:45
clients, if we know that they're stressed out and we can help by
32:49
adjusting our fear, things like that, like we're going to, we're
32:51
going to do that if, if needed. Of course, you know, we don't
32:54
want to create expectation all the time, but if we have to,
32:58
we're very, you know, shoulder to shoulder with our clients, if
33:03
they're successful, we're successful and the same and vice
33:07
versa. So, you know, that's that's
33:09
probably the best way where we walk the talk of our culture, I
33:13
think. I like that.
33:15
How does that how how do you what's the question I'm trying
33:20
to ask here? I want to understand how you
33:23
keep that culture. So your organization, you know,
33:27
you're not enormous when it turns comes to, you know,
33:30
management companies, but pretty good size.
33:31
You guys have got, you know, a lot of properties under
33:33
management. When you think about the
33:36
hundreds of employees that are under your umbrella and how do
33:39
you think about hiring them, sort of filtering through that
33:43
hiring process, Once you've got somebody good, how do you hold
33:46
on to them? Like what is that internal
33:48
process kind of look and feel like?
33:50
Yeah, I think ultimately people again, it's, it goes back to the
33:55
culture, but people when they feel comfortable, they feel
33:57
valued, they feel appreciated, they they're loyal.
34:01
You know, compensation is very important.
34:02
Of course we're all, we're all trying to grow our personal
34:06
finances and, and just have to support our families and so on.
34:09
But when people have a sense of belonging, when people, you
34:12
know, feel that, that they are important to the company and
34:15
we're in a size where we can still, everything's still to be
34:19
invented or to be supported. So we always tell everybody,
34:21
hey, any idea that you have, no matter your role, no matter,
34:25
we'll embrace it because we're all growing, we're all learning.
34:28
And so there's ideas that you've gotten from another management
34:30
company or from thoughts that you have, like, let's bring it
34:33
to the table. And I think people feel that
34:35
that's, that's a reality of, of how we like to treat people.
34:39
You know, we don't have, we don't have yellers.
34:41
We don't have screamers. It's a very flat organization.
34:44
There's not much hierarchy and and there's not much egos
34:49
either. And honestly the same thing that
34:51
we have talked about the clients with the culture alignment, we
34:54
are very selective with who we bring in as leaders of our
34:57
hotels because at the end of the day Anthony when you're have a
34:59
H3 hour flight away from the corporate office, you can have a
35:03
great culture here. But how does that trickle to
35:07
that property that, you know, you're only visiting X amount of
35:10
times or so frequently or, or you know, it comes down to who
35:14
you hire to be the leaders of those properties.
35:17
And because then that's, that's they're going to be the one
35:20
hiring for that property. And so they have to really drink
35:23
the cool aid of this culture or be aligned with it naturally.
35:26
And then and then, you know, kind of translate that to their,
35:29
their hires and their training and the way they treat people.
35:31
So it doesn't matter if you've been with a company for a long
35:36
time or short time, we just don't, we won't allow people
35:41
that don't align with that way of treating people.
35:44
And it's not a crazy magic sauce.
35:47
It's just treat people how you like to be treated, right?
35:49
Like we always say, it's very simple and, and that's what the
35:52
expectation is. And we're really, we don't allow
35:55
for a thing, you know, when we've had incidents of people
36:00
not aligning with that, we, we jump on it very quickly.
36:04
It's like, it's like you're, it's like you're with your kids.
36:07
If you look the other way, the first time you see something,
36:10
you're, you're starting A to allow a behavior that's just not
36:14
going to be OK with it. So.
36:16
Yeah. Now you yourself, you, you, you
36:19
started out as the CEO at Azul and within just a couple of
36:23
years you moved into the CEO role.
36:27
How did that transition take place?
36:30
So the the founder of the company, Rick Mansor, he, he was
36:37
CEO president for since the start of the company and he was
36:40
looking to scale back. So I don't know when he brought
36:42
me in as a COOI, don't know if he already had the intention in
36:45
mind. But yeah, just again log timing,
36:50
he wanted to slow down a little bit.
36:53
And and when you come from operations, probably it's the
36:59
easiest or the the most apartment path to go to Co.
37:03
Not always, right. You can come from finance or
37:06
accounting, but but operations at the end of the day, we're
37:09
operating hotels. So it's the closest thing to the
37:11
business. So maybe because of that, it, it
37:14
was the most natural path from a title standpoint for, but yeah,
37:21
I mean, just being the right place at the right time and
37:23
there's incredible leaders here at the corporate office.
37:26
So I feel very fortunate to have the role in and help the team in
37:30
whatever way I can to continue the the success of the company.
37:34
What was the most challenging part about that transition for
37:37
you? I think at times believing in
37:41
it, you get this imposter syndrome, but that's happened no
37:43
matter when when you promote, it always feels like you're pre
37:48
you're, you're pre promoting, you're promoting too early.
37:51
Every time in my career, it's felt that way.
37:52
You kind of have to allow yourself to make mistakes and,
37:57
and, and obviously believe in yourself and, but at the same
38:01
time not take yourself too seriously and, and just be
38:05
patient because, you know, part of it is learning the, the path,
38:08
right? So, and I'm still in that phase,
38:11
you know, I'm, I hope that I can be a great CEO, but I'm not
38:14
there right now, most likely. So it's just, you got to be
38:18
patient with yourself and, and not put too much pressure, you
38:21
know, because if, if you think you're the first day you're CEO,
38:25
you're going to be a great CEO, probably not realistic.
38:28
So and, and having, you know, luckily I've had the leaders
38:34
and, and Rick Mancher, the, the founder who just gives you,
38:38
doesn't micromanage you, let you run with it.
38:41
And they're like, hey, you know, own it, make mistakes and, and
38:46
just just believe in it and be patient.
38:49
Well, you know, I talked with a lot of my guests about this idea
38:52
of imposter syndrome. And, you know, even people who
38:55
have reached the pinnacle of their career, we continue to
39:00
question themselves everyday. Like am I, you know, almost like
39:05
waiting for people to figure out that they're a fraud that, you
39:08
know, like, I don't really know what I'm doing as much as
39:11
everybody thinks that I do. And and so from your
39:14
perspective, you know, as you think about, you know, the quick
39:16
ascension that you've had and your career and each time you
39:21
rise into a new role, kind of doubting yourself and thinking,
39:23
oh, I'm here too early. I'm not ready for this.
39:26
Like, how do you work through that?
39:27
Like what's been a helpful process or AI don't know if
39:31
you've got like a coach or a mentor, like a book that you've
39:34
read that's been like helpful and sort of like giving you that
39:37
confidence to stay on track and that you got this.
39:45
I'm going to say I don't I don't know that there's one thing just
39:48
again, putting things in perspective and say, OK, these
39:52
person are these people are trusting me.
39:54
Maybe I'm not that bad or maybe I got to believe in it, but I
39:58
really like Charlie Munger. You know, Charlie Munger the the
40:02
Warren Buffett's long time partner because he puts things
40:07
so. Bluntly and simply, and it's all
40:11
about yeah, I'm just, I don't try to be the smartest or the
40:15
most intelligent. I try to just make less dumb
40:17
decisions or less cuz you read so many when you're trying to be
40:21
a good leader. You read so many books or quotes
40:25
or things of incredible CE OS out there and people that are I
40:28
wake up at 4:00 in the morning and I work out and then I do my
40:31
meditation and then I do all these things and then I you
40:34
know, and then they're giving these incredible speeches and
40:36
they do and it's it's it comes, it can come across really
40:39
complex and they're, you know, there's incredibly brilliant
40:43
people out there that are doing incredible things, right?
40:45
And if you're constantly benchmarking on that, you're
40:47
probably never going to win, right.
40:49
So you got to take all take those readings or those lessons
40:54
with a grain of salt a little bit say, OK, you know, if I can
40:56
get a learning here or there, I get it.
40:58
But I don't have to aspire to be, you know, the the the best
41:02
view on the world or the most intelligent.
41:03
And Charlie Munger always puts it in a very simple way.
41:06
Hey, just don't make dumb mistakes.
41:08
Just don't make decisions. Just don't fall for for envy or
41:12
things like that. That are, you know, that that
41:15
sometimes hold Pete, there's so many personality traits that
41:18
hold people back and they might be very intelligent, they might
41:22
be brilliant and technically very apartment.
41:25
And then there's something in their personality that doesn't
41:28
click well. So just be a stable, emotionally
41:31
stable human being and listen to people.
41:34
And and I think that's that's gotten me somewhat success so
41:38
far. So yeah.
41:40
I like that. OK, This is the time in the show
41:43
where I ask my favorite question because we've talked about big
41:46
meteoric rise, lots of success that's being experienced, but
41:50
everybody who's, you know, found their way to some level of
41:53
success has also had some level of hardship and and learn from
41:57
some of that hardship too. Alvaro, what's something really
42:01
challenging that you've had to overcome in your life and how
42:03
did you get through that? I always think of the year 2910.
42:12
I had everything comes in threes at times and and I had just
42:16
gotten married and suddenly was finding myself with a divorce
42:20
that I absolutely did not expect.
42:22
Luckily, no kids involved in the you know, the from a from a from
42:27
a traumatic standpoint, it was the least possible because there
42:30
were there weren't too many attachments, but still obviously
42:32
emotionally very painful. And then at the same time, my
42:35
dad was diagnosed cancer, lymphoma and, and maybe the
42:40
least of the important things, but I like playing soccer.
42:42
I tore my ACL, so I was going through surgery and on crutches
42:46
and all that. So, and that'll happen in the
42:48
span of three months. So you're, you're emotionally
42:53
affected by a divorce, you're physically affected by a ACL
42:58
tear and surgery and all that and recovery.
43:01
And then my dad at the same time is, is starting.
43:04
And 1st there's the uncertainty of the diagnosis.
43:07
What is this? Because it takes a little bit of
43:08
time to figure it out. First there's, oh, my back hurts
43:10
and then it's something more. And then, oh, wait a second,
43:13
this could be something worse. And then a couple of
43:15
misdiagnosis at the beginning where it seemed like it was even
43:19
worse than it eventually was, which was still pretty tough.
43:23
So he went through chemo and radio for a whole year.
43:27
And luckily, you know, he, he made it and he's somewhat
43:32
reasonably healthy, what, 11 or 15 years later.
43:36
So I can't, you know, now you look back and you're very
43:41
pleased with the results and that.
43:43
And it's just a path of what had to happen and the path of life.
43:46
But when you're in it, right, you're, you're experiencing
43:49
these two or three things at the same time.
43:51
And, and it's just so easy to get down and to think, OK, it's
43:57
the end of the world, right? And, and do nothing's going my
44:00
way. What else can happen now?
44:02
And, and sometimes in life, it just happens.
44:05
It comes a lot, a few things together at the same time, or
44:07
one really bad thing that happens and you just, you just
44:11
have to remember pretty much everything is temporary except
44:16
death. Everything else is temporary.
44:18
And so you just have to kind of write it out and, and not get
44:22
down and be patient and, and just stick to your own values
44:26
and, and, and things come around.
44:29
And then you can get a good cycle where things are happening
44:32
that are really positive. But at a time it might feel like
44:35
it's the end of the world. It might feel like my whole
44:38
world is falling apart and I don't deserve it.
44:40
And this is unfair. And, and you, there's so many
44:43
circumstances that we can't control that you just have to
44:47
know that sometimes things are going to happen that are not
44:49
ideal and you just have to write it out and, and pretty much
44:54
everything is temporary and, and you can get through it if you're
44:57
just a little patient and, and yeah, stick through it.
45:01
So I'm. Curious how you got through it
45:05
because you know, when somebody goes through one of those
45:09
difficult things, say, you know, the ACL tear and you, you, you
45:13
couched it as being maybe the least important of the three.
45:17
But let's be honest here. You know, you had aspirations to
45:20
play professional soccer and that that was a big part of your
45:25
identity. And so now the ACL tear
45:28
seemingly robs you of that. It takes away a part of your
45:32
identity. So.
45:34
Well, yeah, reality had already robbed me of that because.
45:38
OK so this was post. This was post Yeah.
45:41
So this was this was when I was already 30.
45:45
So I was already, I probably still believe that could make
45:48
it. No, just kidding.
45:49
OK, but but, but even still, absolutely.
45:53
I've still played and was active and wanted to continue, you
45:56
know, playing and enjoying it. And so it was my my time for
46:00
myself, you know, your, your enjoyment with your friends and
46:03
everything. And so taking that away, it
46:06
mentally doesn't help you that you just can't be out there
46:09
playing and you have to deal with a recovery and going to the
46:11
PT every day and crutches and all that, just all that
46:14
discomfort. So, yeah, I just, I, I, I, I
46:18
don't know. It helps obviously, when you've
46:20
been lucky to be having, you know, a good childhood and
46:25
raised by good parents and you're just emotionally in a
46:28
good place where, hey, you can just dig deep and, and, and be
46:33
patient and, and, but yeah, and having great friends and family,
46:37
that obviously is key. And talk a lot, talk a lot to
46:39
people, talk, talk even if you bore them, even if you even if
46:44
you're annoying, but just talk it through.
46:46
And people give you their perspective.
46:47
And many times if they don't give you their perspective, but
46:50
you're, you're kind of venting out, you know, and getting it
46:53
out of your system. And it feels better to just
46:55
share what you're going through with people and then hopefully
46:59
they can give you some good advice or not, but just them
47:01
listening to you and feeling for you a little bit.
47:04
It kind of helps to get through it.
47:06
You can't if you're if you're trying to do it all yourself and
47:09
take it in and just suck it up and don't share it.
47:12
Like that's going to come out in bad ways at some point, whether
47:15
it's with a. It's just each other side.
47:17
Yeah, exactly. Even if you think you're being
47:19
the tough soldier and you're putting on a good face today,
47:22
there is going to be a point in the future where that pops up in
47:26
a way that is going to shocked the heck out of you, and not in
47:29
a good way. Yeah, exactly.
47:32
And, you know, and then you hear people that I tell you the
47:34
stories of things they've gone through, and then you can
47:36
relate. And then you see them doing
47:38
better later in life and they're telling you about something that
47:41
happened kind of like today. And you're like, OK, well, wait
47:43
a second. You know that you can get
47:44
through this. You can get past it.
47:46
You can get back to normal or much better or, you know, So,
47:51
yeah, just sharing. I think sharing is key.
47:54
Yeah. And it's great that you had, you
47:56
know, a group of friends that you could rely on like that
47:59
because you're going through the ACL thing.
48:01
And then, you know, the people that you might normally go to
48:04
for support. Well, now you're going through
48:05
divorce, right? That's gut wrenching.
48:08
And your father, he's got, you know, this huge health concern.
48:12
So probably another place that you would typically go.
48:14
And now you need to find another outlet for all of that stuff to
48:18
to unload. And it sounds like you had a
48:19
great support system behind you. Great friend network.
48:22
I did this was back in Spain at the time and I had a great
48:25
friend, you know, great, great base of friends there and and
48:28
some other family. But you know, there were two
48:31
guys from college that flew in to to just, you know, out of in
48:35
a very short notice. They just flew in kind of
48:38
surprised me and spent spent a week with me and stuff.
48:40
So I was just very lucky to to have those kind of friendships
48:44
and they those things stick with you for life.
48:47
You know when things people do that for you, when you're in a
48:50
in a period that's not the best and they just support you.
48:53
Yeah. As you think back on that time,
48:57
Alvaro, do you find any purpose in it?
49:04
I, I definitely think that I feel like if you can get past
49:09
situations like that, then everything else becomes a bit
49:13
easier. You know, I think it's, it's you
49:17
look back and you're like, OK, well, if we got through that, it
49:19
just gives you, you know, maturity and, and, and strength
49:25
to overcome anything. So now the smaller things don't
49:29
become as important anymore. And, and you can just putting
49:33
things in perspective. You know, once you've gone
49:35
through tough things like that, everything seems a little
49:37
lighter, and that's not that bad.
49:40
It's so it's giving you a new perspective.
49:43
Things that would have been really bad before, now they pale
49:47
in comparison to some of the really big life challenges that
49:50
you've already overcome. Yeah, for sure, for sure.
49:54
You just become a little stronger once you go through
49:56
tough times, right? Yeah.
49:58
OK. So as we look forward to the
50:01
future of Azul, what can we expect with some things that
50:04
you're excited about? So we're working on really great
50:09
products for us. We've reasonably been recently
50:12
been approved to operate JW Hotels, which is a luxury brand
50:15
that we, we weren't in that space before.
50:18
So we have, we have that excitement in front of us with a
50:22
with a new couple of new projects in that space.
50:25
And, and yeah, I think stability would be great.
50:29
We've opened 17 hotels in the last two years.
50:32
So 26 will be, will will be. We have less openings.
50:39
They're mostly coming later in 27 and later.
50:41
So it's a good time to kind of get a breather and and make sure
50:46
that we're really performing well for our clients.
50:48
It's going to be 26. I think it's going to be not
50:50
this not the healthiest from a macroeconomic standpoint.
50:54
So I'm hoping that we just become really creative and, and
50:58
we just perform for our existing clients.
50:59
We focus on that and and we I don't care if we don't grow much
51:03
next year because I know we have growth coming later on.
51:06
But just really make sure that our processes are in great place
51:10
and our Sops and our performance is there because we've taken on
51:13
a lot the last few years. Our existing clients have been
51:17
growing and so we're we're going with them, but it's, it's been,
51:20
it's been a lot. So.
51:22
So yeah, just stability. Take a deep breath, kind of turn
51:26
the dials, just kind of really hone in on those efficiencies
51:29
this year. That's right.
51:31
That's our goal for 26. I got to ask, everybody talks
51:35
about AI. You guys using it in any fun and
51:37
creative ways? Well, I'll tell you something
51:41
that's becoming very apparent. That's, that's exciting, but we
51:45
got to figure it out, right? When when you think of AI, I
51:48
think that everybody talks about robots and things and but right
51:53
now the way it's impacted our business the most is with
51:56
revenue management and how you sell, how you price for this,
51:59
you know the system to be pricing automatically, things
52:01
like that and marketing and how you sell.
52:05
What's really interesting is outside of the direct channels,
52:09
like if you go to marriott.com or hilton.com, you're going and
52:12
booking a room directly. Otherwise typically unless
52:15
you're a corporate client or a group that you're getting a
52:19
quote. But otherwise if you're a
52:20
leisure client, which is the biggest segment is leisure for
52:23
the most part, you, you might be going to one of the so-called
52:27
OTA, so Expedia or booking.com or you know one of those sites
52:32
and that's how typically people have looked for hotels or you go
52:36
on Google search and you say, OK, I'm going to this
52:38
destination. What's the closest hotel to this
52:42
to this place? More and more now people are
52:45
doing their searches on some sort of AI platform, Taji PT or
52:49
one of those. And typically they're starting
52:52
to say, OK, I want to be close to this, but I also want to do
52:54
this activity and my price points.
52:59
So and so and I'm going with my family or I'm going with my
53:03
kids. And so it's, it's becoming a
53:05
whole new way of searching for hotels and more and more it's
53:10
going to be that way. So now those platforms, AI
53:13
platforms are figuring out, OK, how do we monetize this?
53:15
Or can you book through ChatGPT? You're going to be able to book
53:18
eventually a room through it or not?
53:20
What does that look like? Who's paying any sort of
53:23
commissions? You know, what are Experian
53:26
booking going to do as the major OTAs?
53:29
But there's many others, right? But what are they going to do?
53:30
Because now more and more people are going to go to, to these
53:33
search engines. And then how do we market
53:36
ourselves to be as attractive as possible in a completely
53:40
different platform? Because the way we set up our
53:44
hotels to be attractive on mary.com and expedia.com and
53:48
booking.com like is very, very different to how AI works.
53:51
And so the, the language is very different.
53:53
So now people might be searching for a whole trip that they're,
53:57
I'm going to somewhere in Europe here over Christmas and, and
54:01
it's OK, I'm taking my two kids and we want to do these kind of
54:04
activities and we want to be close to here.
54:08
We want to see some sightseeing, but also some, some kids
54:11
activities. And we're going to eat in these
54:13
kind of local restaurants. And then it's going to craft it
54:17
all out for us. And then of course you can
54:18
adjust it, but it's just a completely different way of
54:21
traveling and planning your, your trips, right?
54:23
So figuring that out, I think for us is is very important to
54:28
be ahead of it for our clients to have their hotels be as
54:33
searchable and and attractive as possible in a completely new
54:38
platform language. So maybe that was not the most
54:43
exciting way of AI, but. It's no, I think it's super
54:46
interesting because I have similar conversations with folks
54:49
across a wide variety of industries where, right, like
54:53
they had learned sort of the game, I'm going to call it using
54:56
air quotes of how do we get ranked highly in Google search
55:00
results as well as, you know, how do we make use of Google
55:04
ads, different social platforms. And now there's this whole new
55:08
thing, right, AI where people are going in and instead of
55:12
searching in Google, they're searching there.
55:14
And how do you get your result to show up now at the top of AI?
55:19
Like people had, you know, sort of a formula they would follow
55:21
for that on Google. And now we're trying to figure
55:23
it out, a whole new platform. And as you say, as you hint at
55:27
like there are more capabilities coming.
55:29
And so at some point you have to expect that you'll have the
55:32
ability to book directly through the AI.
55:35
And you guys want to be right there, you know, at the front
55:37
edge of that, ready for that. Do you think that is something
55:40
that we're going to see in 2026? Probably late, probably late 26,
55:46
yeah. Because I know of a lot of
55:48
different people working in that direction.
55:50
Where, you know, other companies that are helping you get to be
55:55
the most sellable in in, in there.
55:58
And they're already have been working on that for a while.
56:00
So yeah, I think, I think like 26 it'll happen.
56:03
And and it's going to be interesting to see how the
56:06
Expedia and bookings reinvent themselves and the Meriden
56:09
Hilton and who's talking to the OTA's because maybe they can use
56:12
their own platforms in there. So you go through their
56:14
platforms to book. So anyway, it's going to be a
56:18
interesting, interesting, you know, see what happens for sure.
56:24
Alvaro, what's your superpower? I think 1 is emotional
56:35
stability. You see some people that just
56:38
get very emotional with things that happen and affects their
56:42
performance or effects their approach to something because
56:45
they take things very personally.
56:47
And most of the time people have their own thing they're going
56:51
through or whatever and it's not personal towards you.
56:53
And just being able to put that aside and just have that
56:57
stability. I think that might sound like
57:00
something pretty simple, but I consider that a superpower when
57:03
you look at how shouldn't people react to things and, and, and I
57:08
think being ethically impeccable, I'm proud to say
57:11
that that's a good attribute that I've had all my life.
57:16
And I don't sound arrogant when I say it because it's just doing
57:20
the right thing. It's one of our pillars that as
57:22
always doing the right thing. And, and personally, I've always
57:26
felt that way. And again, as we started talking
57:29
about it, it comes around. So it's even a selfish way to,
57:32
to handle yourself. It's just do the right thing,
57:35
take care of people, be be a nice person.
57:38
You know that that's a superpower, I think.
57:42
I agree 100% and we were talking before we went live.
57:45
I know you've got at least one son younger, right?
57:50
Two boys. Two boys.
57:51
Two boys OK and their ages. 8:00 and 5:00.
57:55
Eight and five. OK, so I've got 11 and 9.
57:57
As you think about that superpower that you have, how do
58:00
you think about teaching that to your children?
58:03
Yeah, I just more and more I realized that the words, you
58:08
know, when you when you see those movies or something,
58:10
that's all my dad had this quarter.
58:12
My dad had the same. I don't believe so much in that
58:14
those impactful sentences or phrases at the end of the day is
58:18
just replicating how you behave at home and and leading by
58:22
example. That's what they're going to see
58:25
every day. That's we're going to ingrain in
58:26
their brains more than any particular quote, right?
58:30
How you behave every day with them and with other people.
58:33
They're watching and they're looking at how you interact with
58:37
whoever. So to me that's way more
58:39
impactful because they're seeing it every day than any quote or
58:43
anything. So just just try to, and of
58:46
course, when you're in front of them, you put the extra effort
58:48
to try to be the, you know, behave a certain way.
58:52
And the best version they're watching.
58:54
Yeah, 100%. And it's not easy because you
58:56
know, there's time for, there's a lot of stress at home with,
58:59
with activities and, you know, time crunches and things like
59:03
that. So it's not easy, but just
59:07
always going back to thinking that way because they're
59:09
watching. They're, they're, they're
59:11
watching and, and learning. And that's, that's creating
59:13
their, their, you know, what's ingrained in them for the rest
59:18
of their lives, probably. Aside from soccer, what's your
59:21
favorite thing to do outside of work?
59:25
Now it's all family, so just playing with the kids.
59:28
We go in the room and play for hours and, and you know, that's,
59:34
that's the funnest thing. So yeah, soccer and and family.
59:39
I like it. Just one more question for you
59:41
today Alvaro. But before I ask it, I want to
59:43
do 3 quick things. First of all, anybody who wants
59:46
to get in touch with our guest today, we will have both his
59:50
LinkedIn profile link and his e-mail address in the show
59:55
notes, which you can find on our website,
59:58
inspiredstoriespodcast.com, their company azulhg.com, AZU,
1:00:04
lhg.com. And as a reminder, if you want
1:00:09
to get more hotel employees access to benefits that aren't
1:00:11
going to hurt them financially and carries a financial upside
1:00:14
for the company, reach out to us at AD back benefits.com.
1:00:17
Finally, if you'll take just a moment, pause, leave us a
1:00:21
comment or review on your favorite podcast app, you'll
1:00:23
hold a special place in my heart forever.
1:00:25
Thank you very much. So last question for you,
1:00:28
Albero. A year from now, you and I
1:00:30
reconnect and you are celebrating something big, very
1:00:33
excited. What's that big thing you hope
1:00:35
to be celebrating one year from today?
1:00:40
It's been such busy few years. So from a personal standpoint,
1:00:43
just that, that internal peace with, with family and, and
1:00:48
everybody healthy and, and continued, you know, growth for
1:00:53
the kids and just a healthy environment for them.
1:00:56
That'd be great. And then professionally, what we
1:00:59
were mentioning before, just that stability and, and just a
1:01:02
good performance year. I think it's going to be
1:01:04
somewhat challenging in the sense of a little bit of a
1:01:06
softer market and, and just, you know, performing for our clients
1:01:11
the best we can. I don't care.
1:01:13
We don't grow, but but just have a good performance year and
1:01:17
helping them out with, with some of these rocks.
1:01:19
They need to, they need to move this next year to be, to be, you
1:01:25
know, as successful as possible. So just, you know, nothing big,
1:01:28
just just stability. Keeping both fronts.
1:01:30
Yeah, that's right. Alvaro Frile from Azul
1:01:35
Hospitality Group. I want to be the first to thank
1:01:37
you for sharing both your time and your story with us today.
1:01:40
I really appreciate it. Anthony, what a pleasure and
1:01:43
honor and thank you for what you do.
1:01:45
I think this is a great initiative and I hope people I
1:01:49
really appreciate it and enjoy it and and hopefully this one
1:01:52
also does for them. So thank you.
1:01:53
Thank. You for those kind words, folks.
1:01:55
That's a wrap on another episode of the Inspired Stories podcast.
1:01:58
Thanks for learning with us today.