Defining Hospitality

[00:00:00] Why I do what I do is I get to shorten people's journeys every day. What I love about our hospitality industry is that it's our mission to make people feel cared for while on their journeys. Together we'll explore what hospitality means in the built environment, in business, and in our daily lives. I'm Dan Ryan, and this is Defining Hospitality.
Today's guest is an innovative problem solver. He's a leader and motivator who champions involvement. He has a progressive record of achievements with significant experience in global business strategy, brand management, hotel and restaurant operations. He is the president of hotels and Restaurants at Sage Hospitality Group.
Ladies and gentlemen, Daniel Del Omo. Welcome Daniel. Hi, Dan. Great to see you today. Well, it's even better for me to see you because I know that we were talking about independent lodging Congress and we did like a little promo about why [00:01:00] you love that so much, but it was just really such like a little scratch
And ever since we did that, I think it was in the fall, I've wanted to have you on for our bigger and deeper conversation. And it was just so good to see you at Alice, uh, a week or two ago and I'm glad we're finally here. Yeah, it's great to be here with you too, and, uh, you're too kind. I'm delighted to be here with you.
Well, thank you so, so much. Um, I guess right off the bat we'll talk about like, so Sage is an incredible and growing, um, hotel management company and re hotel and restaurant management company. Um, you are at the helm and I'm always so inspired by your enthusiasm and graciousness. To preach the gospel of sage, and not just sage, but also like it's in your blood.
I, you know, I get the feeling that hospitality is in your blood. I, not even the feeling, I just know it is so, Just to start it [00:02:00] off, like how do you define hospitality and then we can take it from there. Yeah. Hospitality then for me is really about enriching lives. Uh, and in the world of Sage, um, we, we, we talk about, Um, enriching lives, one experience at a time, um, which has been our guiding purpose for, um, many, many years.
And it's something that really I wake up every morning thinking about, uh, uh, and, and when I think about enriching lives, it, it, it really is not just about or guests, but it certainly, uh, is. Our associates and, and enriching their lives and our, uh, communities that we serve and, and making sure that we make a positive impact on, on them.
And, uh, obviously enriching the lives of our, uh, owner partners and our investors. And so, so it's a very, um, you know, it takes a [00:03:00] village to, um, really, uh, bring. Fourth, what we do every single day. And, and, and, and the only way you can do that, at least in my mind, uh, when we talk about real, genuine hospitality, is by enriching lives.
I think what strikes me in what you just said there is not just the guests who are walking through and having an experience. It's, I got the feeling that you're saying it's all of your stakeholders. Exactly, and, and I don't remember if it was in early January or late December, um, but you posted on LinkedIn that you'd been on a yearlong listening tour to check in and learn with how you guys at Sage can improve.
And I assume you were mostly talking to your team. I'm sure you, if you were encountering guests, you talked to them too, but doing a year long listening tour with your stakeholders. And I think, correct me if I'm wrong, but the majority of them were, were internal Sage. [00:04:00] Yes. Team members. That's right. So like you also said, I think in that post, um, something about if it was heartwarming, inspiring, and funny, so like a year long we were just talking about reflective listening.
Hmm. And just how you have to be so open. Cuz it's not just what's being said in the body language, it's, it's what you feel when they're talking. So after a year of listening, what were your biggest takeaways? Oh my goodness. Um, well first, first of all, uh, I'll, I'll tell you that, um, spending time with our teams is my absolute favorite thing to do because there's, there's no way, um, to get a better sense.
Of how your culture is alive and kicking. Um, but other than spending time while you are, uh, in, in, in their respective homes, which are their hotels away from home. [00:05:00] And so, um, you know, I started this listening tour. Uh, I kicked it off. Sort of sharing that commitment, doing our Sage Leadership Festival, which is our annual conference for all of our leaders across the, uh, entire organization.
Uh, it's about 150 or so. And you just wrapped one up really recently, right? We did. So. Oh, did you share your takeaway from the We did. Oh, okay. So I, I'm sorry to cut you off. No, no, no, no, no. Like connecting the dots. No, no. So, okay. Good. So exactly A year ago. Um, I basically made a commitment on stage that was all about, listen, ultimately I'm here to serve you.
Servant leadership is really important to me and everyone, all of our 178 people that work in our home office here in Denver are here to serve every single one of you or leaders, general managers in our hotels and restaurants and your teams. And the best way for me to, uh, translate what your [00:06:00] needs. To ensure that I capture, um, what you and your teams are looking for in terms of better support, in terms of better tools, systems, um, and, and so I committed.
On stage a year ago that I was going to spend time with each and every single one of our general managers, um, doing this past year, which I did. And so it basically, um, was a great excuse to go out and spend time with, uh, with, with, with each one of them. And in some cases it was a one-on-one conversation.
In other cases it was a luncheon. Uh, in some cases it was a dinner. In some cases it was a. Cocktail. It was anywhere between one to five or six of the leaders, uh, and myself that got together. And, and, and, and here's a couple of the key themes, uh, that came back Dan. One is, um, culture is so essential, um, to us and anything that you.
In the headquarters can do to strengthen that culture to, [00:07:00] um, you know, to continue to provide us with support so we can be cultural ambassadors for our respective teams is critical. And, and so we just completed our, uh, annual belonging survey. Um, we, our, our culture, uh, theme as you belong. So, so we, we ultimately am.
Sort of reiterate that to, to, uh, all of our team members, no matter ma matter what level that we wanna make sure they generally feel like they belong, um, to this great, great family. So we, we had this, uh, annual, uh, belonging survey that we completed. Um, we, we had the highest engagement scores ever. We just got the scores back last month.
A 79% engagement score across all of our, uh, our entire portfolio, hotels and restaurants. Um, uh, very, very strong NPS, net Promoter score and e p s Emotional Promoter score, uh, which is really about the sentiments of how people feel. About sage when they think about, you know, being part, [00:08:00] part of, of, of, of sage and, you know, words like love and, and, and belonging came up.
So, so one big bit, and I'll stop here because I, it feels like I haven't taken a breath here, but it was all about culture is essential and is is one of the main reasons why we hear, uh, help us bring the culture to, to life and nurture it. Um, because we believe that that's really what helps us make the competition irrelevant.
I love that, especially on all the words that came back. Um, did you happen to do like a, a word map or a heat map of the words that came back? Yes. And have it. Wow. So love and belonging were the biggest words. Yes. That came back to you. Correct. Yes. And it, and it, and it was again, you know, when you see words like love being repeated multiple times and, and it shows up, like you said on this heat map, um, we had, we have 6,000, [00:09:00] about 6,000 associates across the company.
Um, we had a 64%, uh, survey take rate, which is above average. Um, you know, uh, acro across the industry. And, and, um, you know, there. Um, so about 4,500 people or so that, that, that participated in the survey. And so to see, you know, tons of people basically mentioned some of these big, big sentiments share these, these, these, these, these, these feelings with us was, was very empowering and, and, and, and frankly, uh, humbling right?
Is, is, is people are seek. Um, a, a place where they feel that they, um, are, are genuinely, uh, appreciated as humans. And then also are respected as professionals and are given the opportunity to learn and grow. Right. Which ultimately, you know, I, I think many years ago, uh, uh, one, one of one of the leaders that I used to [00:10:00] work with told me, he said, look there, the company only owes.
Uh, associates two things, a paycheck and an honest conversation. And, and, and I think while that was probably too in the eighties and the nineties, to me, I think that an organization today really owes to its associates to create an a, an environment where they feel like they're, uh, literary, where they feel like they belong, and where they are rewarded appropriate.
Uh, commensurate to their, um, um, you know, impact on, on, on the overall organization of the business and where they're being developed. Um, so that, again, uh, this is one of the industries where, you know, you can literally start in the kitchen and end up, um, basically running the company. And so that to me is, is really, um, part of this whole notion of enriching people's lives and making sure that they.
[00:11:00] I'm so glad you shared the, starting in the kitchen and then run the company because I think more so than any other industry, and I, I don't have data to support this, but I know that there's only so many sea level positions at any company. But to hear so many stories in hospitality where, you know, you do work in the kitchen, you work as a bellman, you hear these stories when.
They worked their way up to be a c E O or c o o or very, very at, very quickly typically too, because with the people that do that tend to be on the younger side as well, . And I think what's really interesting about how, um, our industry really got eviscerated during the Covid pandemic, um, with respect to layoffs and everything else, and now how hard it is to get people to come back, to attract people to hospitality, I.
A, that culture that you're talking about is extremely critical. But once they're in, I think people need to really realize that the career path [00:12:00] from where you start to the highest levels of management is so steep right now. And I would say maybe even steeper, um, than most other industries. And I wanted to take your bird's eye view on that.
Like, do you agree with that statement? I don't have data to back it up. It's just from anecdotal stories that. And conversations that I've been having. Yeah, I, I, I completely agree there. I, I, I've, um, I guess, Uh, very fortunate in that my entire career has been within, um, the hospitality industry. I couldn't imagine being anywhere else.
And, and, and I started out in the kitchen as well when I was, uh, going to college and, and it was a reason. You're so young, figure, so young. You made it there so quickly. Yeah. Thank, thank you. And, and, and, but look, the, the hard work in the kitchen, um, working, you know, 12, 14, 16 hours teaches you so, so much and, uh, allows you to appreciate, you know, all, all of the [00:13:00] various steps that you take in this, um, you know, career path that people can, can, can have in the industry, whereas I think other industry perhaps don't necessarily have that, um, up.
Growth potential. And, and here's the way that I think about this, Dan, which is, if you have, um, intellectual curiosity, which I think is, is critical in order to grow, um, in, in any organization, but certainly ours and, and you, um, your values are aligned with the values of the organization and, and you feel, um, There is a good backbone of foundation of people around you, both leaders and, and peers and, and, and, and other folks that you work with, that because of the culture are setting up this foundation for growth for you and others.
Um, I think that allows for people to, um, to, to, to grow very, very [00:14:00] quickly. And, and, and what I love, I, I've. Been a fan of a, um, sort of a, a, a, a non, um, lateral career path. And what, what, what I mean by that is, um, some, sometimes people may think that, you know, you need to be, um, a, you need to have worked. As a general manager, uh, or you need to have worked in operations in order to be a general manager of hotel.
Well, we just, uh, I think about 18 months ago or so, uh, promoted one of our, um, food and beverage leaders in the headquarters that had never run a hotel. We promoted him to, uh, become a general manager, first time general manager of a big hotel that we have in, uh, Napa. And he's doing incredible. We took a, um, a director of sales and, um, marketing in one of hotels here in, in Denver, and we gave her the opportunity, uh, in the midst of Covid to step up and become a first time GM in that, in that, [00:15:00] In that hotel and she was just chosen, uh, out of 940 nominations.
Um, she was one of 40 GMs to watch, um, and by by hotel business. And, and so, you know, I think again, you, you. It, it's, it's, it's one of my favorite things is to see people grow, uh, in, in the, in the industry. Provided that you ultimately, and that's where we come in as leaders, you provide a platform foundational culture that allows them to grow and grow and, but also in line with their.
Um, frankly, with their, with their live, um, needs, right? Finding the right work, work-life presence. Um, I, a lot of people talk about work-life balance. I think work-life presence is another interesting notion and that, um, you know, that, that, that sort of changes over time depending on where you are in your life cycle.
Tell me more about work life presence. I've heard balance, but [00:16:00] I haven't actually. Presence. Can you just give us a little Hi, high level on that one? Yeah. A, a again, I'm, I'm, I'm a, uh, I'm a child of the eighties. I was born in this, in the seventies, and, and so I remember, and you'll appreciate this too, right?
Um, I was, I was taught that, you know, you show up at work before your boss. If he shows up at seven 30, you're gonna be there at six 30 or seven and you leave when all of the bosses are gone, no matter how late that is. And you do that and you repeat that, and you don't ask any questions. Um, and so there was a lot on, on the, on the works side, there was a lot of hours that at least, um, originally, Uh, a, a lot of my peers and I thought were essential to just put in, whereas today, if I think of, um, uh, work, I really don't care how many hours people work.
What I, [00:17:00] what I care about is how do you spend. Those hours. Um, and, and, and ultimately, how do you enrich lives? That's, that's the first question. Uh, uh, you know, do you feel that after however many hours you spent. , you know, the, what's the metric of how many lives do you believe have you enriched? And that might have, might be as simple as, you know, helping somebody out with.
Um, and whether that's in your personal life or in your professional life with something that they're struggling with or smiling to someone that you don't know. And, um, you know, tho, tho those, those things are, are, to me, real tangible metrics. That can tie back to, um, sort of this, how, how you en en enrich lives.
So, so again, that, that's just, I think an example of, of how you can bring this work presence to life is whenever you are there, just like you and I are here together, I feel you are. You know, [00:18:00] 110% present with me. Um, and, and, and that makes a big difference. And on the, on the, on the personal side, um, you know, when, when, when I think about, you know, whatever you're, you're spending time with, with your family, your friends, um, it, it's, it's perhaps less about being there 24 7, but the little time that, or, or whatever time you spend with your loved ones, think.
Am I making a difference? And is there, what impact am I enriching their lives? And if so, you know, what, what does it mean to them? And so, so that is to me, the difference between work-life balance, because I think that's a misnomer. There's always going to be times when you're gonna spend perhaps more time on one part versus the other, but it's the presence, uh, and the quality of the time.
I think they can make a big difference. That's beautiful because oftentimes, I'm sure we're all guilty of. We're, we're, they're doing the, the actions that we need to, to do, but we might be thinking about what's next or what did [00:19:00] we do before or where are we going? But to be truly present, which is something I think we all struggle with, but the more that we can be present and mindful for right now, I think that it, it does have a multiplying effect with those people who we are trying to impact.
So I, I really like that work-life presence. But that didn't come from the seventies or eighties. Did you coin that? No, no, no. So this work-life presence, I literally, um, I was introduced to this, uh, uh, earlier this year, um, or actually late, late last year. Um, and I, I found it so powerful because for many, many years, right?
Everybody has been talking about work-life balance, work-life balance, um, but, but this thinking, changing your mindset to. Um, you know, trying to find balance is so complicated, but, but just think about what does it mean to be present. Totally. Uh, and how do you feel when somebody's present with [00:20:00] you? Um, because they surely can feel if you're present with them, whether it's doing your one-on-one meetings with them, as an example at work, uh, or whether it's with, you know, with, with, with your loved ones.
We were talking about this earlier where, um, in all these conversations, If anyone has a podcast or is thinking about it, it's both invigorating and exhausting because I can think of no other form of communication where there's two people speaking maybe a therapy session, but I, I don't consider this therapy, but you're, we're speaking and looking and listening to each other for more than an hour or more uninterrupted.
That's not. When you go to a restaurant and they're saying, would you like still or sparkling, what kind of wine? Like, it's just a very unusual place to be and I think that might be why I'm so drawn to, to this mode of communication because it doesn't really happen that many other places [00:21:00] in in my life.
Um, do you find that the same, uh, I'm smiling because I just came back from the Alice Conference as you did as well, and, um, I, I held a, a private, um, event on our rooftop at, um, hotel Perla. And, um, I was just going through my mind of the various meetings I had and, and, and, and, um, I'm not gonna lie, there were a couple of meetings that that felt, um, sort of, I'd say void of um, uh, not just void of feelings, but but void of any meaningful.
Deeper co connection. Mm-hmm. , um, and, and, Uh, I, I invited, it was an hour and a half or two hour cocktail. I, I, I said if, for those of you who haven't had a chance to have at least one meaningful, deeper con conversation that leads perhaps to a, to a new connection, um, with someone that, that, that you may be very surprised [00:22:00] with, uh, this might be a good opportunity for you to do so.
And, and so I, I, I find myself drawn more and more than to fewer conversations. It's, it's, it's, it's, think about, you know, you go to a, a a A cocktail at Alice where there's 500 people. I remember in the past I would walk around and I felt, just by nature of. You know, how sup, uh, superiors would, would, would act because that was just a thing to do.
Uh, I, I felt compelled to basically touch as many people as I could. Right? And it was about volume. Today it's very different today, the, the, the interactions that I seek and the connections and the conversations. I think this is my first, uh, podcast conversation in, and I think over a year, because I, I choose.
Very, very, uh, carefully who I wanna spend time with and, and, and ultimately what, what am I doing in this interaction to [00:23:00] create a, um, a greater impact ultimately, you know, uh, living, living my values and my purpose. So, Hearing that, you know, non-face, kind of diving a bit deeper, I want to go back to the word map of this idea of love and belonging.
Because I think like when I hear those words, it makes me feel warm, right? And so much of this, I talk about hospitality and what hospitality is it. It's really about that feeling. And as you guys hire and grow, you know, you hear Danny Meyer and his. What's it called? His H hospitality quotient or something like that.
Yeah. About how he attracts screens and hires people because you can teach skills, but you can't necessarily teach that warmth. Yep. How are W as you guys are growing, and I want to get back into the growth story, well, I wanna get to the growth story after we talk about this, but as you grow, how do you guys [00:24:00] attract and retain AC attract higher and retain those people who.
Where love and belonging resonates most with, yeah. It, it, to me it starts with ensuring that whomever, uh, is part of our organization today feels like again, they are, um, uh, respected, cared, that they're given an opportunity to grow, um, that they. You know, recognize that they're celebrated. Um, because, because it's, it's always harder to, um, attract than retain.
And, and we, we've, we've had, um, you know, great. Um, fortune in that the nucleus of the organization, uh, is a, is a, is a very tenured, um, nucleus, and it's people that are, um, just sort of sage lovers to the core. Um, because, you know, they, they, they, [00:25:00] they generally and rightfully so believe that this is their organization and, and there's no, no other organization that would be able to.
Understand and appreciate them the way that they are. So, so that then, then, uh, translates into, uh, if, if you have the right people to begin with, to me they become, um, the attraction, um, to others that are, um, perhaps. Not like-minded people, but certainly like-hearted, um, people, right? And so, you know, we, we, if, if we can create a, a, an organization where you have diversity of thought and so, you know, different minds, but you have this.
Confluence of like-hearted people. Um, to me that is a great attraction point. And, and you then couple that with, you know, sort of, um, you know, a a, a great Glassdoor rating, which a lot of sort of line level associates will look at and, and compare and [00:26:00] contrast. Um, you know, we, we, we, we also think that creating a, um, you know, a, a, a environ.
From a competitive benchmarking, uh, comp and, and benefit standpoint, that all of that, uh, are good tools that will, uh, help. You know, for instance, last year, I, I went on, on the news to talk about our four day week work week. We introduced as a, as a beta test, a four day work week pilot here in, in Denver, and it's, it's been going tremendously well.
It's an option for people. Um, you know, prefer to, to to work whether you are a, uh, associate or a manager. Um, you, you can work four days and you can spend your, your, you can take all of your hours and you can, you accumulate it over, over four day, uh, work week. You can even mix and match, meaning, you know, one week you, you decide not to do that.
Another week you have to take [00:27:00] a Wednesday off and you go, um, because, because your family matters again. Uh, you know, um, uh, Life presence. Yeah. So, so, so all of that, I think com all of that combined with, with a great reputation and ultimately to me, the, the, the, the, the best, the best thing is always, um, if, if you have someone that is interested in joining your organization and they call up.
Somebody else that may know of Sage or will have worked with Sage, what are they gonna say? And, and, and my greatest desire is they don't not only say, oh yeah, Sage is a good company. They're growing, they're, they're doing really, really innovative stuff. That's all nice. What I really would love them to say is, I love Sage.
I work there and I can't wait to go back. Um, and, and they're exactly the embodiment of my values, my philosophy, and I feel. Wow. Um, it is true because the team that works [00:28:00] there is often the best attractor, right? Because they're, they have this halo effect in their network. And then really people ask, and then when people say what it's like to work there, and I get this feeling from people I've talked to from Sage, it, you just do get the feeling that it, there's, there's something different.
Um, So I appreciate that and I get it when I talk to you as well. I mean, it's, uh, if things, if, if apples don't fall far from the trees. Right. , I, I think that you're a, a, a great testament to that. You, you mentioned growth. I wanted to get into, um, growth. How many, how many properties were you managing before the pandemic to now?
We were managing about, um, I would say about 65 hotels, um, and about 25 restaurants and, and bars. Um, but before the pandemic, [00:29:00] This o organization had already started. Sage has already started to evolve its business to, um, really, um, move towards the vision that we've now, um, shared with, with, with all of our leaders.
Literally a couple weeks ago at the leadership festival conference, which, which. Um, uh, to become America's favorite lifestyle hospitality company. That's her vision. That's what we're focused on. And so, uh, before 19, um, there were a couple of hotels that were part of the portfolio that didn't really fit, um, the lifestyle segment.
Mm-hmm. . And so we, um, strategically. Um, exited from those, uh, properties and over the course of the last three years, um, while we exited about, um, 10. Um, [00:30:00] hotels that were not core to our strategy, we added, um, essentially about 45, um, hotels and restaurants and bars and entertainment venues, all within the lifestyle, hospitality space.
And so today we have, yeah, 110, uh, hotels, restaurants in entertainment, venue venues, and. More than 85% of that entire portfolio is now on brand, on strategy with lifestyle. Um, and, and, and so the reason why that was important then is because obviously there's been a lot of merger and acquisition and consolidation activity that's happened over the last couple years.
Um, uh, you, you know that very well, but. The reality is, you know, from a strategy standpoint, do you take a volume approach or do you take a niche approach? And there's, there's benefits to both. And, and we chose, um, to take the niche approach and to really be focused because that then allows us [00:31:00] to, um, attract talent that wants to really.
Um, work, not only work in the lifestyle and luxury space, but also wants to have a career path in that. And, and obviously if it's an organization, uh, like Sage that is growing, uh, that then creates momentum. Momentum begets momentum, and it, it, it attracts the right type of people, uh, that then joins the organization.
And that sort of becomes a, uh, an, an, an, an upward, um, cycle that, that, um, you know, that, that people feel and, and what you've mentioned. You know, speaking with other people across, uh, sage, that momentum, that energy that is very palpable and tangible, and you could just feel that, right? And, and so there, there's something about, you can't really say, you can't really put your fingers on it, but you're like, oh, there, there's something happening here.
I wanna know more. And that is a track that people that, that frankly, perhaps five years ago would've never thought of joining us, whether that's at the, at the hotel restaurant level or at the headquarter level. Yeah. So to hear that, [00:32:00] Focusing on that independent lifestyle, um, property, but also really end user or guest.
Um, and really honing in and focusing in on that. It reminds me of, you know, there's so many different, every kind of company has all different kinds of goals, right? And I read this book, I wish I read it earlier in my entrepreneurial journey. Um, it's called, Small giants or little giants by a guy named Bo Burlingame.
Hmm. But it took all these different case studies from restaurants to recording studios to manufacturing companies where they decided at the expense of growth or, or tremendous growth to really focus in on what they were best at, who their target customer was at, but also the people that they wanted to attract.
I just am always inspired by, look, everyone you get in a business, everyone wants to [00:33:00] scale and become like ginormous and huge, but it's, it takes a lot of guts to really stay committed to your values and deliver to your end customer, and select your own customer and your other partners and stakeholders to really deliver on that.
So, I, I really, I commend you on staying true to that, which I think would bring up another, um, topic, which I'm also really intrigued by. Um, and you guys, I, I forget what exactly what the, the title is, but like a, a founding member or supporter of curator? Yes, that's correct. Right. Because again, that platform is so incredible for that independent lifestyle hotel and you guys championing that is really.
Awesome. Also, along with your other, I guess you would. In some cases competitors, but you're really, you're really trying to deliver so much to that independent [00:34:00] lifestyle community. Y y it's, it's so funny, you know, um, uh, again, this is why I, I, I love this industry so much. If I think of, of, of. My competitors, um, these are amazing people.
I have so much respect for all of them. Um, we learn from one another. We share, uh, best practices with one another. You know, we have drinks, uh, together. We, we, we have deep and meaningful connections. Um, and, and, and curator. Is a platform that, that basically brought several of us, um, together and it's just allowed us to, um, think about where, where is this industry going and how can we help these independent hotels that are basically fighting the fight, the street fight.
So hard every single day and have to do it on their own. How can we support them, um, with an infrastructure that they don't have, that we jointly, um, with, with, uh, with Pebblebrook as the, as the main founder and creative of, of, of, uh, curator, [00:35:00] um, are able to, to provide them and, and with, with then meaningful, um, return on investment.
And so, you know, I th I think that is, Is, is again talking about enriching lives, right? We're, we're, we're trying to help people beyond, um, you know, our, our organization. Same thing with E S G. So, so, you know, we, we've, we are in the process of, um, creating our. 15 year e s g plan. Um, not because we have to, because we're not a public, uh, traded company, but because it's the right thing to do.
And we've been very involved in, uh, social responsibility for many, many years. We've been very involved and very focused on the environmental side. But, but again, to me, E S G is not something that should be competitive in nature. The more we can share with others what we're learning, how we're. Um, how others are learning and, and, and what they would recommend we do or not do.
Uh, to me, all of that is in the context of making the world a better place. [00:36:00] Um, totally. And so yeah, it, it's, it that, that's, that's critical. Now, having said that, I'm fiercely competitive. And to me, um, I, I, I think about the notion of how do we make the competition irrelevant, right? Because that, that's a.
Emphasis of, of, and it's not about volume. It's quality. And, and what we do, we say more no to opportunities than yes because we've, we're so acutely focused. Um, but, but the competitive spirit is there and it's fierce. But that doesn't mean that you can't, um, really collaborate and truly respect, um, people are, are in the industry because they have so much to bring to the table and all of us.
Can really make a meaningful impact, uh, in this industry and in, uh, in this world especially. I love how you said, sharing your failures, because in an e, in an e s G plan, one of the things that, depending on whether it's environmental or social governance, wherever you're looking, if you're, if you really are [00:37:00] measuring it, okay, yeah, we're doing so well up here.
But then if you see where it's like. These two points are not so great down here. It's amazing cuz when you measure it, you can be like, let's focus in on those two things and let's bring it up. And to be in a community where you can share those failures, and again, you talk about a steeper curve to improvement, um, uh, that, that's so impactful.
Um, and I think it will shorten everyone's journey towards, you know, I could call it that Star Trek future, but that place where, you know, we're all better for. Yep. Yeah. And, and there should not be, I think in, in my humble opinion, nobody should be outcompeting the other in terms of what is better for, um, the community, what is better for the world.
Um, and, and, and we should all be working together. And, and, and again, I'm, um, I'm a proud, um, member of the board of trustees of a, the h n foundation, uh, again, because I think that foundation has done, um, such [00:38:00] a significant. Uh, has had such a significant impact, uh, on, you know, underprivileged communities, on, on really fostering ways to help, um, people come into the industry, um, that otherwise wouldn't have had an opportunity.
And so, and provides tons of resources, um, to, to our, to our industry. And so, again, I, I think by working and collaborating together, we can make a huge impact. I totally agree. And, you know, looking at the arc of our conversation from, you know, the listening tour to really kind of focusing in on your, your guests and all of your stakeholders and just kind of this idea of sharing and, and, and surrounding yourselves with people who are committed to that deeper experience.
What's exciting you [00:39:00] most about what you see in the future for, for yourself, for our industry? You pick, Hmm. Well, I, I, I was gonna say, um, um, 1, 1, 1 thing that that came to mind, which, which, um, goes back to this whole notion of work-life presence is what, what really excites me is that we have an opportunity to tap, um, Deeper into the psyche and the emotions of people, you know, um, in the hearts versus just purely the minds.
And, and, and to give you an example of how meaningful this work-life presence exercise has, has evolved and transformed how we work here at Sage, um, doing our executive leadership team meetings, Dan, um, we always start with the me. Hmm. Uh, it's a five minute focus meditation, and, and it, it, frankly, imagine there's 12 people that come in from all of the various disciplines, uh, and everybody is running [00:40:00] around with a thousand things in their minds.
And before, before we meditate it, it would be very hard to actually keep people focused, whether it was an hour and a half or two hours or whatever the, however long the meeting was. And now, Suddenly, even with something that simple and, and, and I'm a novice. I don't, I don't know anything about meditation, but I've, I've, I can tell that every time I try, I do it.
Something good happens and, and now it's having an impact on the, the strength and the power of the dialogue. And that then leads to, which is what I'm really excited about, is I think the power to unlock. The potential of, of, of people is all within us by, um, being truly more connected with, um, what people's uh, needs are, what people's desires are, what really being, um, understanding of of, of what each and every single person that we touch, [00:41:00] what, what their needs are in their present life.
Because that's then, Allows you as a leader to basically find a way where everybody contributes to the greater good. And so I think with Sage, we're on an incredible track, um, on, um, and, and we've made significant strides to achieve our, our vision, uh, of becoming America's favorite lifestyle, hospitality company.
And, and, and, and that's just gonna continue to move forward. But that doesn't, that doesn't happen. People generally being on board, not just the the financials and the compensation and the incentives, because when you do well, you get great bonus payouts and you get promotions and all that. That's all good and well.
But what you really want is you want, you want people to feel like they belong to something that is going to be so special in the making. Uh, and so that [00:42:00] excites me is, is jointly creating something that hasn't happened before, uh, particularly in an organization that has been around for almost 40 years.
And how do you know when you become. America's favorite lifestyle, hospitality company. Like what are the measures? Like what does success look like? Yeah. For you there, because you know, I'd already say you're in that arena, right? As far as looking at your portfolio and just all the people that I know that have worked there, you're in good company.
How do you know when you, when you become the favorite? Yeah, it's it, so to me, if I think about my key stakeholders, it would be our associates basically giving us. You know, the highest possible score in our belonging survey and seeing the highest engagement, um, uh, scores. It would be our guests, uh, um, consistently naming us best in class, um, [00:43:00] across, you know, um, you know, competitive or relative restaurants and hotels.
It would be our owner partners always. Choosing Sage for the right relevant opportunity for us, um, to manage their assets or co-invest with them on the right, uh, assets, whether that's again, hotels or standalone restaurants. Uh, and it would be communities that would, um, basically look at Sage as the preferred and frankly favorite, um, partner to have in their backyard because they know that, um, Genuinely care about, um, everyone that, um, is part of that community and we wanna do whatever we can to enrich their lives.
Those are five amazing pillars. Wow. Thank you for sharing. How are you, [00:44:00] how are you aligning all of your stakeholders to be rowing in that direct. How do, how do you, how do you get that message as a c e o to, to all of them? Yeah. It's, it's, it, it's so, so two, two things. One, I forgot to mention earlier on that, that, um, uh, I, I've shared this book with all of our leaders.
It's called Winning on Purpose. Winning on Purpose. Was written by Fred Reich Health, who was the original creator of the Net Promoter Score, nps, which is so famous. Oh, yeah. And he said, listen, I got it all wrong because, um, uh, while NPS is, is, is, is a good measure. It's not the best measure, the best measure.
Is, um, all about how are you enriching lives, and that's why he's evolving, sort of this whole notion of net promoters score to net lives enriched. Uh, and so the first, um, the, the, the first part, um, answer to your question is, . Um, I provided every single, um, leader in [00:45:00] organization the opportunity to read Winning on Purpose.
I said, listen, I'm not gonna force you because some people like to read, other people like to just listen to books. If you're interested, I'll send you a a a a book. And, and most people actually, um, uh, took, took me up on that. So sharing the foundational framework of how we take sort of what feels very esoteric.
To something that is very tangible and is driven by someone like Fred Reichheld, who essentially created one of the most, I'd say, um, successful and foundational success metrics as is, uh, and n ps and is he's sort of evolved it. And so that, that's one. The second, um, part of the, of the answer is that we've created a five year strategic.
Um, that essentially, um, is being communicated to all of the key stakeholders, our board, our leadership, um, our associates, our communities, our investor partners, so that [00:46:00] everybody knows this is our focus. This is how we intend to get there. And this is what we're gonna do in order to get there. And so, um, you know, that to me it's a combination of, um, some external great insights from Fred and winning on purpose combined with, um, what, what I think is a, is a, is a well articulated, well-crafted, long-term plan to ensure that we stayed a course and that every year builds on the previous.
Um, for those of you who don't know, the nps. You may not know what it means, but I know you've come across one where you get, you have an experience of renting a car, staying at a hotel, going to a restaurant. How would you rate our service on a scale of one to 10? So the net promoter score. Is if you, I think it's an eight, nine, or 10.
If you do an eight, nine or 10. It's nine or 10 actually. Oh, it's only a nine or 10. Okay. Nine or 10. Yep. So it's a nine or 10. The odd, the odds are that you're gonna become a quote raving [00:47:00] fan and you're gonna go out and spread you, you become the best marketing for whatever that business was. Right?
Because you're out saying, oh, I had such a great experience. Um, and then that, I guess that would mean a 6, 7, 8, or maybe just a seven, eight would be neutral. You don't say anything. It just, it is what it is. And anything below. Six or below maybe is, uh, detractors de a net detra detractor. Um, so you're gonna be bitching about that airline that lost your baggage and blah, blah, blah.
You're gonna be detracting from the business. So it, it's a path to, it's a simple path to developing raving fans. I haven't read the, uh, winning On Purpose by Fred Reicht, and I've read so much of this, I call it business porn, so I'm actually really excited to, to, I'll send you a book, I'll send you a copy, that's all.
Oh, thank you. Yes. That would be amazing. Just as far as teasing me on it. Does Fred, when, when Fred Reicht, I guess, in his forward or whatever he would do at the beginning [00:48:00] of his book, does. Admit Foley with nps or, yes. Oh, oh, wow. Really? Yes. Yes. Um, and, and that's what I really enjoyed about Fred's book, which is he admits that nps, while a good measure, a business measure mm-hmm.
what it, what it really omitted is what we've been talking about for the last hour, which is ultimately, The companies can only grow and, and, and, and stay in business. Uh, even if they realize, once they realize that it is all about enriching lives and that everything that they do, because everything communicates, and, and, and you know, it goes across every single aspect of the business.
Once you realize that you'll be on a path, um, that will be a, a, a remarkable, um, you know, growth story with a, with a great growth [00:49:00] curve because he points out that, um, you know, in, in, in his prior world with nps, there are many companies that look great on paper financially from a, uh, raving fan standpoint, but ultimately the.
Was, uh, flawed and ultimately, you know, the, the, the customers didn't feel like anybody cared about them. And so, you know, it, it, it's, it, it, you know, a great example of that is, um, when you call, um, A company and, and you have to, you, you have to basically, um, uh, dial zero 10 times or, or, or press zero 10 times in order to get to somebody that is a human that is gonna take care of you.
Yeah. Uh, that, that's a good example of, of an erosion of, of that, of that trust and, and, and basically the opposite. Impact of, of sort of enriching lives, right? And detracting from, from what really matters, which is, you know, [00:50:00] helping your, your help, helping those people that you serve, um, in your, in your organization.
So, so I think it's transformational and, and, and it's, I I think it's a, it's an incredible read for anyone that is interested in, in sort of the next to me, the next chapter in business and certainly in hospitality, which is, you know, winning on. I sound like a, I sound like I have the commission on, on thee of the book, but I'm a, I'm a, I'm a huge fan.
Well, hey, it, it all goes down to that love and belonging and that hospitality quotient, and it's that intangible that it's, you know it when you see it or you know it when you feel it, right? Yep. The Worklife presence, a as as you were talking, I typed in worklife presence.com. I don't think I've ever heard that anywhere.
So be, be before this airs , can you please buy that url and I want you to write a book. Okay? If you, if, if you can help me with that, because I think you have all of the expertise and skills [00:51:00] then to do so. So I'd love, uh, to do that with, with you in your spare time of. Yeah, so much spare time. Um, Daniel, this has just been a, an incredible conversation that I've been so excited to have.
So I just wanna say thank you so much for your time. Thank you. I enjoyed every moment of it, and I hope to, uh, see you very, very soon so we can continue the dialogue in a, uh, meaningful dialogues matter. And, um, I always feel that when I see you so. Thank you so much and if, if people wanted to learn more about you or Sage or a career at Sage, uh, what's the best way to learn more?
Absolutely. My um, email address is Daniel dot del lomo@sagehospitality.com. Wonderful. Um, and we'll, I'll put your LinkedIn up there on the company website as well, and I also. After [00:52:00] thanking you for your time, cause I know how busy you are and you're about to have a wonderful baby, um, coming into this world, which I'm really excited for you for.
Thank you. Um, I want to thank our listeners because again, we keep growing every single week and. I love doing this, but it's really like all of the new listeners and interactions that kind of put some extra wind in my sails to keep doing it because I could do this all day, but it, it's just very nice and wonderful and reassuring, um, that this is impacting others as, as you were saying before, Daniel.
So I just wanna thank all the listeners and please, um, if this changed your idea on hospitality, what it means to you, how to deliver, Please pass it along. Thank you so much.[00:53:00]