April 30, 2025 • 23 mins
Broad Matters welcomes Jim Anhut, director for the real estate minor in The School of Hospitality Business. Jim reflects on crises like the Los Angeles wildfires and the role that hotels play during natural disasters. He also discusses how The School of Hospitality Business is adapting sustainability, AI and ethics to their teachings in the classroom.
Follow Jim Anhut on LinkedIn to stay up to date with his work with the Broad College.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Quinetta Roberson (00:00):
Welcome to Broad Matters.
Ken Szymusiak:
A podcast bringing you thought leadership,innovative perspectives and real world
impact from Michigan State University'sEli Broad College of Business.
I'm Ken's Szymusiak, managing directorfor the Burgess Institute
for Entrepreneurship and Innovation...
...and I'm Quinetta Robertson, the John A.
Hannah DistinguishedProfessor of Management and Psychology.
(00:20):
Today we're joined by Jim Anhut,director of the real estate
investment minor in the Schoolof Hospitality Business at Broad.
Before joining Michigan State in 2019,Jim previously held executive
leadership roles at top hospitalitycompanies including IHG, Dine Brands
Global and Choice Hotels, with experiencespanning brand development,
(00:42):
real estate and franchise growth.
Jim also remains active in the industryas an operating partner
with Passionality Group,and serves on several boards
supporting hospitalityand entrepreneurship.
In today's episode, we'll be asking Jimto share his experience and thoughts about
how the hospitality industry intersectswith national disaster response in the US.
Jim, thanks for being here.
Jim Anhut (01:03):
Quinetta, it's a pleasure to be here.
And I am flattered and humbledand very proud
to be able to talk about the industrythat I love dearly.
Ken Szymusiak (01:11):
It’s going to be a great conversation.
Before we jump into our topic,could you share a bit
about your experiencein the hospitality industry
and the work you're doing now at MSU?Jim Anhut: To parody a Jimmy
Buffett tune,I am the son of a son of a hotelier.
My grandfatherand my father were both in the business,
and they helped forgemy path in the business.
I graduated Emory University,with an undergraduate degree in marketing
(01:32):
way long time ago, and then decided that, the hospitality DNA was way too dominant
and decided that I was goingto come back to grad school
and then came on back to MichiganState for my MBA,
the number one rankedhospitality business program
in the countrythat offered an MBA at the time.
I'm a bit of a brand builder,and I had the privilege of launching
some six hotel brands in my careerand or being part of teams
(01:54):
that launched those brands.
And today, I'm an investor in a groupthat is focused on helping nascent
hospitality brandsget off the ground, primarily, brands
that we believe can be franchised.
Hospitality is a real estateenabled business.
I have been able to tiein real estate career
along the way into this brandbuilding career and bringing that back
to the university and sharinga little bit of wisdom with the students.
(02:15):
Starting with mejoining the faculty in 2019,
we've taken the real estate minorfrom 18 to 100 students enrolled now,
and what we've done interms of that outreach is engage
alumni in bringing our studentsto competitions and conferences,
and we now participate in overten of those.
So the students have an opportunityto really engage,
if you will, with the outside world.
A little funfact on HB or hospitality business.
(02:36):
If you didn't know this or our listenersdon't know it,
we are on the precipice of our 100thanniversary.
The school was founded in 1927,
so we're coming up on 2027and we know how to throw a party.
So watch for the celebrationand the events
that are going to start towardthe end of next year.
That's great. Thanks, Jim.
Yeah, this is gonna be interesting conversation.
So I'd like to start
by discussing the roles that you've seenhotels play with natural disasters.
(02:59):
In the past few years.
We've seen some examplesof terrible devastation
from natural disasters,like the wildfires in Los Angeles
and flooding for HurricanesHelene and Milton on the East Coast.
In times of crisis, hotelsoften become shelters.
What are some logisticaland operational challenges hotels face
when pivoting to serve displacedindividuals and families?
Jim Anhut (03:16):
I'm going to start by saying that the natural disasters
of the last few years are headlines todayand have been headlines recently,
but they're not uncommonthroughout history.
Bad stuff happens that causes peopleto have to be dislodged
and or relocated from their homesand surrounds.
I'll also state that, you know,the hospitality business is all about
the generous reception and entertainmentof guests, visitors and or strangers.
(03:39):
I'll hark back to my experienceas a child.
My father positioned himselfas an innkeeper, despite the fact
he was the president of a family businessand the CEO of a family business.
But it was not uncommonfor us to invite people into our home
who were staying in our hotelover a holiday period.
They were alone.
The hotel was quiet, and it waspretty common for those people to come in.
(03:59):
And you know, what was offered to them
was not just shelter,but it was this collegiality.
It was a spirit of hospitality.
It was this desire to give and share
with people who are maybe in a placewhere they would rather be somewhere else.
Another, kind of an interesting one linerthat my dad used to share with us.
And that is when you build a hotel,
you open the front doorand you throw away the key.
(04:20):
You are always open 24/7, 365 days a year.
You are there to help peopleconnect, shelter, be protected
and be accommodated.
If you look back at some of the morerecent events early January of 2025,
you know over 100,000
people in that monthwere displaced by the fires in California.
The industry ralliedand the industry rallied in a way
(04:42):
that was pretty big in terms of,you know, one offering free accommodations
to people that were not able
to stay in their own homesor maybe stay with families close by.
And then if you think aboutnot just the hotels in and around
LA that supported that initiative,
but also as the people in San Diego,Orange County.
And if you think about the hotel
business, it's not just necessarilylocal accommodations, but it's the people
(05:03):
who fan out from there that allow peopleto live in a comfortable environment
when they're away from homeor have to be away from home.
Think hospitality, not just hotels,but it's also restaurants.
So, you know, the restaurantsthat came to the rescue by supplying
food productsthat they had in their refrigerators
and freezers and making that availableto people that didn't have food,
you know, their food may have been ruinedor otherwise.
(05:23):
So we're uniquely positioned.
The biggest challenge,
probably, that our industry faces is thatwe already have guests in the hotel.
So, you know,we have people with reservations
who are arriving,and I'll take the LA example again,
as fate would have it, the hospitalityindustry
has one of its biggest conferencesin Los Angeles in January of every year.
That's 2500 peoplethat show up for that conference.
(05:44):
And I would say veryfew of them are from California or LA.
So they come in from a lot of places.
So those hotels inand around downtown L.A.
that accommodate
a lot of those folks who were displacedby the fires already had occupancy.
What did they do about that?
They stopped taking reservations thatallowed for accommodating those people,
and they worked within their own affiliatebrands to help create accommodations in
(06:06):
and around LA and some of the surroundingcommunities, where
maybe a little further away, but at leastit allowed them to be accommodated.
The other thing is that just in general,the hospitality business
model is designed to accommodate peopleregardless of the circumstance.
So I'm here for a meeting.
I'm here for a happy event,a wedding or a family gathering.
Also, we're there to help peoplein times of need.
And our shelter,if you will, is one that is,
(06:29):
you know, much more accommodatingthan the school gym
or the stadium that was convertedinto a temporary shelter.
So, you know, in the near term,
you know, we need those accommodationsand the longer term people,
you know, find it more accommodatingto be in a hotel.
And today,you know, we're recording this some months
after the disasters that happened in LA.
We are still accommodating those peopleand most importantly,
(06:51):
accommodating the peoplewho are helping those people.
Contractors and adjusters and disasterrelief people that are in those markets
to help people write their shipsand get back on their feet.
Quinetta Roberson (07:02):
Extended
stay hotels have a unique positionin providing medium to long term housing.
How are they uniquely equippedor unequipped
to handle an influx of displaced residentsduring a crisis?
Jim Anhut: So I had the good fortune of starting (07:13):
undefined
with the residents and hotel chainback in the 1980s, which, by the way,
was founded by a Michigan State Spartanbefore it was owned by Marriott.
The extended stay model ingeneral was designed to accommodate people
who were staying for longer termthan in a typical transient hotel.
Think weeks and monthsand years, not days.
(07:34):
So those accommodationswere more apartment like.
So naturally, if you think about peoplewho are relocated due
to a natural disaster or disasteror of other sorts, we've got a facility
that is accommodating those peoplewith a kitchen in every suite
with more space, generally in every suitewith exterior amenities
that are more accommodating,I think outdoor kitchens and fire
(07:56):
pits and barbecues and things like that,that you might not and probably would not
witness or experience in a moretraditional, transient-oriented hotel.
The individuals that we're talking abouthere is actually a category of consumer.
We call them domestically displaced.
And that is, you know, unlike,
you know,
some people who are stayingfor business purposes
or meeting purposes or social purposes,these are people that we accommodate,
(08:17):
as a rule.
It is a category of guestswho we focus a lot of attention on.
We get exposure to those guests throughthe insurance companies and the adjusters
and the people who,
are responsible for helpingput these people back on their feet.
Many of these extended stay brandsnow are part of the big brand families,
and have become recognizedfor these accommodations.
The product was designed for purpose.
It's positioned to accommodate peoplewho are on the road
(08:40):
or needing accommodationsfor days, weeks, months or more.
And what we bring to the equationfrom the guest’s perspective is
it makes them feel more comfortableis that we're a 24 hour operation.
I'm not in an apartment complexwhere I don't know anybody.
I'm not in a place where,
you know, I can't get food or orI don't have somebody to ask questions of.
So the fact that we're staffed24 hours a day with full kitchens
(09:04):
and with the other accouterments
and the accommodations, and make extendedstay uniquely positioned to accommodate
these folks and it's not unusualfor people to be staying,
you know, miles, tens, twenty,hundreds of miles away from their home
to utilize the benefits of an extendedstay hotel versus maybe
staying a little bit more close.
Something I think that may be nearand dear to a lot of our hearts
(09:25):
is that extended stay hotels adoptedpet policies really early on.
In fact, we were probably the pioneersin allowing pets into hotels.
You know,if you think about family, include,
you know, the pets that are in people'sfamilies.
And we've always been welcoming to petsand we'll continue to do so.
And of course, that makes people feela whole lot more comfortable.
And not only are they welcome,but their furry family friends are welcome
(09:48):
as well.
Ken Szymusiak:
Jim, can you talk a little bitabout how hotel brands might better
prepare their properties, staffand or systems to quickly support disaster
relief efforts?
Jim Anhut (09:57):
Yeah, kind of a short
answer to that question, Ken,and that is that we do it now as a rule.
All hotels,
all brandedhotels, and I would say the majority
of independent hotels out therehave some sort of disaster plan.
“When this happens.
You do that.” They're pretty methodicalbecause we are dealing with people's lives
and you want to be as accommodatingas you possibly can, but you also want
(10:17):
to provide as safe of an environmentas you possibly can.
You know,how do you secure the environment?
How do you accommodatethe specific needs of certain guests?
How do we continue to communicatethe situation?
We're maintaining communication platformsthat are resilient in hotels.
We do that as a rule and have done that,you know, for decades, if not more,
because this is what we do.
(10:37):
When bad things happen,
we're there to support and people have totrust that we have systems in place
that will allow them to, you know, feelmore comfortable in that environment.
Quinetta Roberson (10:46):
Jim,
given your experience with hotelsin this disaster relief context,
do you have any standoutexamples of hotel companies
leading the way during the recentwildfires, hurricanes, or floods?
JimAnhut: The response to this question
could go on for a long, long timerelative to the wildfires.
More recently,just a couple of things come to mind.
I would say that, you know, the industrygot together and basically created first
(11:09):
responder kits for the people that werein those first responder positions.
We have supplies and inventoryof the things that those people need
water, snack food, things like that,that we've got at our fingertips.
I mean, even something as simple as ablanket that we have large inventories of.
So I had the privilege of attendingthe Americas Lodging Investment Summit,
(11:29):
and I do so every year, which, by the way,was founded by a Michigan State guy.
So our Broad network is far reaching.
During that conference,they actually requested volunteers
to help put those kits together.
And so you had a few hundredpeople who were CEOs and others
who were putting these disaster kitstogether.
In LA, more specifically, 211 LA, which,if you're not familiar
(11:50):
with the 211when you pound it on your phone,
basically it'sI need help or where can I find help?
So the hotel industry, tied together with 211 LA.
And I think that there was a donationof some 20,000 room nights.
Basically, a night in a hotel.
So think about 20,000 nights in a hotelthat were donated.
And I would say unequivocally,our industry gives.
In fact, lowers ratesin a lot of these situations to make sure
(12:13):
that people who have to come out of pocketcan afford to stay in the hotels
for some period of time.
It is very commonfor us to offer discounted rates
and not just in the immediate market.
It may be, you know, in these kind
of concentric circles around a marketthat people are accommodating.
In our industry,while there are big brands
that are known to many of us,
and they control millions of hotel roomsthat are out there right now,
most of those hotels are ownedby people who are in the community,
(12:35):
especially in the US.
It's a franchised business.
The big hotel companies don't own hotels.
A little known secretto many of the consumers out there,
but those owner operatorsin those communities are giving souls.
They open their doors wide open,
and they figure out a wayto accommodate the people.
And you see examples of that overand over and over again.
We are kind of
at the epicenter of the natural disasters,helping people with accommodation.
(12:58):
I will say
the other thing about our industry,and this was very prevalent in LA here
recently, was that by keeping our doorsopen, by staying
in business, we are also accommodatingthe people who are working.
Some of those people need to maintaintheir jobs.
These people are tipped employees,you know,
and when we aren't thereto spend money in restaurants
and we aren't there to spend moneyin hotels and valet parking
(13:19):
and all the other servicesthat are provided by hotel,
those people aren't earning any money.
So it's a little bit tangential, but it'sreally an important part of our business
that keeps people employed
at times like this, when,you know, maybe other businesses are not
and or shut down.
Ken Szymusiak (13:33):
So, Jim,
you've held numerous executive leadershippositions across the hospitality sector.
How do you see corporate socialresponsibility shaping the way hospitality
brands approachdisaster preparedness and response?
Jim Anhut (13:46):
Hospitality plays
a big role in sustainability,and I'm going to define sustainability
pretty broadly to encompass,you know, human rights, the ecology,
the economic prosperity, sustainabilityaspect of it, not just
what somebody who might more narrowlydefine it as social responsibility.
You know, as an industry,there's a couple of pretty big initiatives
going on around sustainability and aroundmaybe the advancement of some of
(14:09):
the underrepresented minorities,specifically women in hospitality.
So they'll talk to the WorldHospitality Sustainability Alliance.
It's a global network of hospitalitychains working together.
So we're not competing with one
another and trying to develop carbonneutral policies.
Let's say we still have a long way to go,but at least there's
initiatives helping hospitalityenterprises get to carbon neutral.
(14:31):
American Hotel and Lodging Association,bringing it closer to home,
has an initiative called forward,which is all about advancing women
in hospitality.
And there are tremendous opportunitiesfor women
to advance in hospitality,probably unlike any other industry.
I think there's tremendousopportunities there.
And then in terms of kind of socialresponsibility, if you will, I would say
that everybody jokes about peoplestarting in the hospitality industry
(14:54):
at hourly jobs, at a fast food restaurantor at the front desk of a hotel.
I don't joke about that.
I take those jobs pretty seriously.
They teach people responsibilityhow to manage their money,
how to deal with peoplein stressful situations, how to celebrate
when you win, and there are tremendousladder up opportunities for that.
And I will credit Karthik Namasivayam,who is our current director of The School
(15:18):
Hospitality Business,with instigating an outreach
into high schools to teach themabout the hospitality industry.
It's not about making bedsand flipping burgers.
The career path is steepand rewarding in this industry for people
that are willing to work hardin the beginning for sure,
but we are desperate for, you know, peoplethat want to advance into these
positions of leadership and taking controlof these companies in the future.
(15:41):
Really strong initiativesaround advancing people
that have an opportunityto advance in this industry real quickly.
You know, how we work with the industryto identify issues
and really focused inon the area of sustainability.
Quinetta Roberson (15:54):
Jim, you talked about sustainability and carbon
neutrality, and I wanted to diginto sustainability a bit more.
From a real estate investment lens,how is the industry
factoring in climate riskwhen building new properties?
And do you think there'sa growing investor
interest in disasterresilient hotel infrastructures?
Jim Anhut (16:15):
To be honest with you,
I wish I could say thatthere was a long list of solutions there.
Development is expensive,development is time consuming.
A lot of the technology
is just not there yet to help us builda lot of these into buildings.
I will say that the investment communityis starting to look more closely
at real estate development,and how sustainable building components
are being addedinto the construction process,
(16:38):
and the reason for thatis that most of these longer term, longer
thinking, forward thinking, real estateinvestors are saying that eventually
we're going to have to do this.
So let's buildthis into the buildings now.
So there are things around,you know, how is electricity sourced?
Are you doing things to source electricityfrom carbon neutral platforms?
Are you building in a way?
(16:59):
I mean, it might be something as simpleas positioning a building a certain way on
a landslide to take advantage of the sun,and when it rises and when it sets.
There have been some pretty clevermechanical systems
that have been designed by utilizingbasically the Earth's temperature
to maintain a certain temperaturewithin the buildings.
Modular construction, which eliminatesa lot of waste on a construction
(17:20):
site, is finally, in my opinion,at the point where we can build
buildings or components of buildingsin an environment that is controlled.
It allows us to build things more quickly,but more importantly, it allows us
not to waste thingsbecause there's a ton of waste
when you build a hotel,
you know, from concrete, the steelto lumber to other building materials
that get chucked into a dumpsteron a land site
(17:41):
because we needed a length of eight feetand we have a nine foot board
and we throw a foot of itinto the trash can.
In terms of future proofing buildingsto withstand hurricanes in Florida, to
withstand wildfires in California, SantaAna Valley has had fires for centuries.
You know, it's not millennium. Stuffburns.
So, you know,how do we use materials that don't burn.
I like to talk about mass timber hereat Michigan State University?
(18:04):
Stuff doesn't burn.
You know, it gets this patina on it.
And it's in some waysmore durable than metal and concrete.
When buildings get really hot and burn.
In Florida, most new hotels,if not all new hotels, are built
to very specific hurricane standardsnow where they will withstand,
you know,obviously the elevations are higher,
and that allows us to accommodate peoplewhen their homes may flood out.
(18:25):
We're still open.
We've got backup generatorsthat are accommodating
the electrical needsthat are in the hotel.
So lots of pretty interesting thingsgoing on.
You know, I want the world to bea much better place for my grandchildren.
And the way to do that is to be thoughtfulabout, you know, how we manage
Mother Earth and the resourcesthat she has to share with us.
Quinetta Roberson (18:41):
Well, here at MSU
in hospitality business, you're
educating the next generationof hospitality leaders.
How are you talking to your studentsabout crisis management in hospitality
and what is the role of the industryin responding to these events?
Jim Anhut (18:55):
I would say relative to, you know, what are we doing to educate, .
I’ve got the privilege
of bringing a pretty big networkinto this conversation
around hospitality businessand more specifically around real estate.
And let me say that the real estate minorhas grown to encompass
all of the commercial real estateasset classes.
So we're not just focused on hospitality,we're talking about distribution centers.
(19:16):
We've got a number of supply chain kidsin this minor.
You know, that's their business.
We warehouse and warehouse is real estateand a lot of businesses
that spin off of that.
So we are teaching studentsabout commercial real estate in general.
Relative to, you know, crisis managementand the role of hospitality
in those events.
I'm going to point to the ethics,if you will, of hospitality.
(19:37):
So we are very energized by the ethicsseries that we support at Broad College.
So impressed by the peoplethat come back to broad
and talk about their experiencesin ethics.
I love the phrase that came out of one ofour speakers this year about cell phones.
If you see somebody fall,
do you reach for a cell phoneor do you reach for their hand?
What we teach is we reach for people'shands.
(19:59):
That's what our business is all about.
And, you know, our doors are open.
It is our responsibility in our businessto accommodate people in times of need
and in times of joy.
So I start with that in the classroom.
The one thing that I do relativeto the real estate piece of it,
not just for hospitality,but also for the other asset classes,
how do we protect the investment,the asset in times of disaster?
So if you've got a warehouse in a low
(20:20):
lying area,you know how we protecting inventory?
What are we doing about that?What are we doing to protect the building?
You know, from the roof being ripped offin a tornado or a hurricane.
So we talk kind of physical environmentand then, you know, relative to the people
side of the business and, you know,
there are people involvedin all these businesses,
but I'll focus on hospitality,I'll focus on multifamily.
In times of disaster, you know,what are we doing to accommodate
(20:42):
the residents, if you will?
What do we do to ensure that they're safe,but also ensure
that they have a great experience?
As a result of that experience,have a desire to return either as guests
or, as you know, renewing tenantsin the case of a multifamily asset.
Ken Szymusiak (20:54):
Jim, looking forward, what are the things, trends,
exciting things that you are seeingin hospitality in general?
Jim Anhut (21:02):
I won't stop learning.
And if there's one message frommy students that do not stop learning.
It was privilege to invite back to campusour Real Estate Advisory Committee,
which meets every year and has metevery year for the last 15 or so years.
One of the educationaltopics was around AI.
How do you apply AI?
And that's a huge catchall category of a bunch of stuff.
But we actually more we're discussinghow it impacts the entry level
(21:25):
jobs of our students,which will have a big impact
because many of our studentsend up in analyst roles,
and the majority of those roleswill be usurped by AI in some way.
The interpretation of the data
will still remain stronglyin the hands of the human being,
but the analytical side of that jobwill change.
The exciting thing for me
was that a couple of students actuallytaught the majority of that lesson
(21:47):
to a bunch of us alumni,and how they utilized AI,
either in a summer internshipor in anticipation of their first job.
There were too many of us joking aboutthe way that we used to plan a market.
You used to go outand you had Avery labels,
had little sticky doodadsthat you put on maps.
Now it's like,you know, they can sit in a desk
and do all that work and then say, “okay,what are the impacts
(22:07):
and how do we build sustainability
into this asset?” How do we, you know,make it a better return for our investors
and not be spending the majorityof their time putting dots on maps
and talking to the local chamberof commerce?
I'm really excited for that,
and I'm really excited to stay engagedin that process as this program evolves.
Ken Szymusiak (22:24):
Jim, thanks so much for joining us today.
If listeners want to keep upwith your work, where should they look?
Jim Anhut (22:29):
For me? Simply, MSU email is a great place.
Broad Connect and then LinkedInall work really well for me.
Ken Szymusiak (22:34):
All right.
Quinetta Roberson: Well thank you so much for being here. (22:35):
undefined
Jim Anhut:It's a pleasure.
Thanks for sharing
time with me to talk hospitalityand I appreciate the two of you.
Ken Szymusiak (22:42):
Want more Broad news and insights?
Follow us on LinkedIn,X, Instagram and Facebook at MSU
Broad College or visit us on the webat broad.msu.edu/news.
Quinetta Roberson (22:52):
And remember,
like, rate and subscribe to Broad Matterson Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
That does it for this episode.
I'm Quinta Robertson...Ken Szymusiak: ...and I'm Ken Szymusiak.
Join us next time to hear facultyand staff weighing in on relevant issues
and discussing how their workmakes an impact, illuminating how and why
(23:14):
Broad Matters.
Welcome to Broad Matters.
Ken Szymusiak:
A podcast bringing you thought leadership,innovative perspectives and real world
impact from Michigan State University'sEli Broad College of Business.
I'm Ken's Szymusiak, managing directorfor the Burgess Institute
for Entrepreneurship and Innovation...
...and I'm Quinetta Robertson, the John A.
Hannah DistinguishedProfessor of Management and Psychology.
(00:20):
Today we're joined by Jim Anhut,director of the real estate
investment minor in the Schoolof Hospitality Business at Broad.
Before joining Michigan State in 2019,Jim previously held executive
leadership roles at top hospitalitycompanies including IHG, Dine Brands
Global and Choice Hotels, with experiencespanning brand development,
(00:42):
real estate and franchise growth.
Jim also remains active in the industryas an operating partner
with Passionality Group,and serves on several boards
supporting hospitalityand entrepreneurship.
In today's episode, we'll be asking Jimto share his experience and thoughts about
how the hospitality industry intersectswith national disaster response in the US.
Jim, thanks for being here.
Jim Anhut (01:03):
Quinetta, it's a pleasure to be here.
And I am flattered and humbledand very proud
to be able to talk about the industrythat I love dearly.
Ken Szymusiak (01:11):
It’s going to be a great conversation.
Before we jump into our topic,could you share a bit
about your experiencein the hospitality industry
and the work you're doing now at MSU?Jim Anhut: To parody a Jimmy
Buffett tune,I am the son of a son of a hotelier.
My grandfatherand my father were both in the business,
and they helped forgemy path in the business.
I graduated Emory University,with an undergraduate degree in marketing
(01:32):
way long time ago, and then decided that, the hospitality DNA was way too dominant
and decided that I was goingto come back to grad school
and then came on back to MichiganState for my MBA,
the number one rankedhospitality business program
in the countrythat offered an MBA at the time.
I'm a bit of a brand builder,and I had the privilege of launching
some six hotel brands in my careerand or being part of teams
(01:54):
that launched those brands.
And today, I'm an investor in a groupthat is focused on helping nascent
hospitality brandsget off the ground, primarily, brands
that we believe can be franchised.
Hospitality is a real estateenabled business.
I have been able to tiein real estate career
along the way into this brandbuilding career and bringing that back
to the university and sharinga little bit of wisdom with the students.
(02:15):
Starting with mejoining the faculty in 2019,
we've taken the real estate minorfrom 18 to 100 students enrolled now,
and what we've done interms of that outreach is engage
alumni in bringing our studentsto competitions and conferences,
and we now participate in overten of those.
So the students have an opportunityto really engage,
if you will, with the outside world.
A little funfact on HB or hospitality business.
(02:36):
If you didn't know this or our listenersdon't know it,
we are on the precipice of our 100thanniversary.
The school was founded in 1927,
so we're coming up on 2027and we know how to throw a party.
So watch for the celebrationand the events
that are going to start towardthe end of next year.
That's great. Thanks, Jim.
Yeah, this is gonna be interesting conversation.
So I'd like to start
by discussing the roles that you've seenhotels play with natural disasters.
(02:59):
In the past few years.
We've seen some examplesof terrible devastation
from natural disasters,like the wildfires in Los Angeles
and flooding for HurricanesHelene and Milton on the East Coast.
In times of crisis, hotelsoften become shelters.
What are some logisticaland operational challenges hotels face
when pivoting to serve displacedindividuals and families?
Jim Anhut (03:16):
I'm going to start by saying that the natural disasters
of the last few years are headlines todayand have been headlines recently,
but they're not uncommonthroughout history.
Bad stuff happens that causes peopleto have to be dislodged
and or relocated from their homesand surrounds.
I'll also state that, you know,the hospitality business is all about
the generous reception and entertainmentof guests, visitors and or strangers.
(03:39):
I'll hark back to my experienceas a child.
My father positioned himselfas an innkeeper, despite the fact
he was the president of a family businessand the CEO of a family business.
But it was not uncommonfor us to invite people into our home
who were staying in our hotelover a holiday period.
They were alone.
The hotel was quiet, and it waspretty common for those people to come in.
(03:59):
And you know, what was offered to them
was not just shelter,but it was this collegiality.
It was a spirit of hospitality.
It was this desire to give and share
with people who are maybe in a placewhere they would rather be somewhere else.
Another, kind of an interesting one linerthat my dad used to share with us.
And that is when you build a hotel,
you open the front doorand you throw away the key.
(04:20):
You are always open 24/7, 365 days a year.
You are there to help peopleconnect, shelter, be protected
and be accommodated.
If you look back at some of the morerecent events early January of 2025,
you know over 100,000
people in that monthwere displaced by the fires in California.
The industry ralliedand the industry rallied in a way
(04:42):
that was pretty big in terms of,you know, one offering free accommodations
to people that were not able
to stay in their own homesor maybe stay with families close by.
And then if you think aboutnot just the hotels in and around
LA that supported that initiative,
but also as the people in San Diego,Orange County.
And if you think about the hotel
business, it's not just necessarilylocal accommodations, but it's the people
(05:03):
who fan out from there that allow peopleto live in a comfortable environment
when they're away from homeor have to be away from home.
Think hospitality, not just hotels,but it's also restaurants.
So, you know, the restaurantsthat came to the rescue by supplying
food productsthat they had in their refrigerators
and freezers and making that availableto people that didn't have food,
you know, their food may have been ruinedor otherwise.
(05:23):
So we're uniquely positioned.
The biggest challenge,
probably, that our industry faces is thatwe already have guests in the hotel.
So, you know,we have people with reservations
who are arriving,and I'll take the LA example again,
as fate would have it, the hospitalityindustry
has one of its biggest conferencesin Los Angeles in January of every year.
That's 2500 peoplethat show up for that conference.
(05:44):
And I would say veryfew of them are from California or LA.
So they come in from a lot of places.
So those hotels inand around downtown L.A.
that accommodate
a lot of those folks who were displacedby the fires already had occupancy.
What did they do about that?
They stopped taking reservations thatallowed for accommodating those people,
and they worked within their own affiliatebrands to help create accommodations in
(06:06):
and around LA and some of the surroundingcommunities, where
maybe a little further away, but at leastit allowed them to be accommodated.
The other thing is that just in general,the hospitality business
model is designed to accommodate peopleregardless of the circumstance.
So I'm here for a meeting.
I'm here for a happy event,a wedding or a family gathering.
Also, we're there to help peoplein times of need.
And our shelter,if you will, is one that is,
(06:29):
you know, much more accommodatingthan the school gym
or the stadium that was convertedinto a temporary shelter.
So, you know, in the near term,
you know, we need those accommodationsand the longer term people,
you know, find it more accommodatingto be in a hotel.
And today,you know, we're recording this some months
after the disasters that happened in LA.
We are still accommodating those peopleand most importantly,
(06:51):
accommodating the peoplewho are helping those people.
Contractors and adjusters and disasterrelief people that are in those markets
to help people write their shipsand get back on their feet.
Quinetta Roberson (07:02):
Extended
stay hotels have a unique positionin providing medium to long term housing.
How are they uniquely equippedor unequipped
to handle an influx of displaced residentsduring a crisis?
Jim Anhut: So I had the good fortune of starting (07:13):
undefined
with the residents and hotel chainback in the 1980s, which, by the way,
was founded by a Michigan State Spartanbefore it was owned by Marriott.
The extended stay model ingeneral was designed to accommodate people
who were staying for longer termthan in a typical transient hotel.
Think weeks and monthsand years, not days.
(07:34):
So those accommodationswere more apartment like.
So naturally, if you think about peoplewho are relocated due
to a natural disaster or disasteror of other sorts, we've got a facility
that is accommodating those peoplewith a kitchen in every suite
with more space, generally in every suitewith exterior amenities
that are more accommodating,I think outdoor kitchens and fire
(07:56):
pits and barbecues and things like that,that you might not and probably would not
witness or experience in a moretraditional, transient-oriented hotel.
The individuals that we're talking abouthere is actually a category of consumer.
We call them domestically displaced.
And that is, you know, unlike,
you know,
some people who are stayingfor business purposes
or meeting purposes or social purposes,these are people that we accommodate,
(08:17):
as a rule.
It is a category of guestswho we focus a lot of attention on.
We get exposure to those guests throughthe insurance companies and the adjusters
and the people who,
are responsible for helpingput these people back on their feet.
Many of these extended stay brandsnow are part of the big brand families,
and have become recognizedfor these accommodations.
The product was designed for purpose.
It's positioned to accommodate peoplewho are on the road
(08:40):
or needing accommodationsfor days, weeks, months or more.
And what we bring to the equationfrom the guest’s perspective is
it makes them feel more comfortableis that we're a 24 hour operation.
I'm not in an apartment complexwhere I don't know anybody.
I'm not in a place where,
you know, I can't get food or orI don't have somebody to ask questions of.
So the fact that we're staffed24 hours a day with full kitchens
(09:04):
and with the other accouterments
and the accommodations, and make extendedstay uniquely positioned to accommodate
these folks and it's not unusualfor people to be staying,
you know, miles, tens, twenty,hundreds of miles away from their home
to utilize the benefits of an extendedstay hotel versus maybe
staying a little bit more close.
Something I think that may be nearand dear to a lot of our hearts
(09:25):
is that extended stay hotels adoptedpet policies really early on.
In fact, we were probably the pioneersin allowing pets into hotels.
You know,if you think about family, include,
you know, the pets that are in people'sfamilies.
And we've always been welcoming to petsand we'll continue to do so.
And of course, that makes people feela whole lot more comfortable.
And not only are they welcome,but their furry family friends are welcome
(09:48):
as well.
Ken Szymusiak:
Jim, can you talk a little bitabout how hotel brands might better
prepare their properties, staffand or systems to quickly support disaster
relief efforts?
Jim Anhut (09:57):
Yeah, kind of a short
answer to that question, Ken,and that is that we do it now as a rule.
All hotels,
all brandedhotels, and I would say the majority
of independent hotels out therehave some sort of disaster plan.
“When this happens.
You do that.” They're pretty methodicalbecause we are dealing with people's lives
and you want to be as accommodatingas you possibly can, but you also want
(10:17):
to provide as safe of an environmentas you possibly can.
You know,how do you secure the environment?
How do you accommodatethe specific needs of certain guests?
How do we continue to communicatethe situation?
We're maintaining communication platformsthat are resilient in hotels.
We do that as a rule and have done that,you know, for decades, if not more,
because this is what we do.
(10:37):
When bad things happen,
we're there to support and people have totrust that we have systems in place
that will allow them to, you know, feelmore comfortable in that environment.
Quinetta Roberson (10:46):
Jim,
given your experience with hotelsin this disaster relief context,
do you have any standoutexamples of hotel companies
leading the way during the recentwildfires, hurricanes, or floods?
JimAnhut: The response to this question
could go on for a long, long timerelative to the wildfires.
More recently,just a couple of things come to mind.
I would say that, you know, the industrygot together and basically created first
(11:09):
responder kits for the people that werein those first responder positions.
We have supplies and inventoryof the things that those people need
water, snack food, things like that,that we've got at our fingertips.
I mean, even something as simple as ablanket that we have large inventories of.
So I had the privilege of attendingthe Americas Lodging Investment Summit,
(11:29):
and I do so every year, which, by the way,was founded by a Michigan State guy.
So our Broad network is far reaching.
During that conference,they actually requested volunteers
to help put those kits together.
And so you had a few hundredpeople who were CEOs and others
who were putting these disaster kitstogether.
In LA, more specifically, 211 LA, which,if you're not familiar
(11:50):
with the 211when you pound it on your phone,
basically it'sI need help or where can I find help?
So the hotel industry, tied together with 211 LA.
And I think that there was a donationof some 20,000 room nights.
Basically, a night in a hotel.
So think about 20,000 nights in a hotelthat were donated.
And I would say unequivocally,our industry gives.
In fact, lowers ratesin a lot of these situations to make sure
(12:13):
that people who have to come out of pocketcan afford to stay in the hotels
for some period of time.
It is very commonfor us to offer discounted rates
and not just in the immediate market.
It may be, you know, in these kind
of concentric circles around a marketthat people are accommodating.
In our industry,while there are big brands
that are known to many of us,
and they control millions of hotel roomsthat are out there right now,
most of those hotels are ownedby people who are in the community,
(12:35):
especially in the US.
It's a franchised business.
The big hotel companies don't own hotels.
A little known secretto many of the consumers out there,
but those owner operatorsin those communities are giving souls.
They open their doors wide open,
and they figure out a wayto accommodate the people.
And you see examples of that overand over and over again.
We are kind of
at the epicenter of the natural disasters,helping people with accommodation.
(12:58):
I will say
the other thing about our industry,and this was very prevalent in LA here
recently, was that by keeping our doorsopen, by staying
in business, we are also accommodatingthe people who are working.
Some of those people need to maintaintheir jobs.
These people are tipped employees,you know,
and when we aren't thereto spend money in restaurants
and we aren't there to spend moneyin hotels and valet parking
(13:19):
and all the other servicesthat are provided by hotel,
those people aren't earning any money.
So it's a little bit tangential, but it'sreally an important part of our business
that keeps people employed
at times like this, when,you know, maybe other businesses are not
and or shut down.
Ken Szymusiak (13:33):
So, Jim,
you've held numerous executive leadershippositions across the hospitality sector.
How do you see corporate socialresponsibility shaping the way hospitality
brands approachdisaster preparedness and response?
Jim Anhut (13:46):
Hospitality plays
a big role in sustainability,and I'm going to define sustainability
pretty broadly to encompass,you know, human rights, the ecology,
the economic prosperity, sustainabilityaspect of it, not just
what somebody who might more narrowlydefine it as social responsibility.
You know, as an industry,there's a couple of pretty big initiatives
going on around sustainability and aroundmaybe the advancement of some of
(14:09):
the underrepresented minorities,specifically women in hospitality.
So they'll talk to the WorldHospitality Sustainability Alliance.
It's a global network of hospitalitychains working together.
So we're not competing with one
another and trying to develop carbonneutral policies.
Let's say we still have a long way to go,but at least there's
initiatives helping hospitalityenterprises get to carbon neutral.
(14:31):
American Hotel and Lodging Association,bringing it closer to home,
has an initiative called forward,which is all about advancing women
in hospitality.
And there are tremendous opportunitiesfor women
to advance in hospitality,probably unlike any other industry.
I think there's tremendousopportunities there.
And then in terms of kind of socialresponsibility, if you will, I would say
that everybody jokes about peoplestarting in the hospitality industry
(14:54):
at hourly jobs, at a fast food restaurantor at the front desk of a hotel.
I don't joke about that.
I take those jobs pretty seriously.
They teach people responsibilityhow to manage their money,
how to deal with peoplein stressful situations, how to celebrate
when you win, and there are tremendousladder up opportunities for that.
And I will credit Karthik Namasivayam,who is our current director of The School
(15:18):
Hospitality Business,with instigating an outreach
into high schools to teach themabout the hospitality industry.
It's not about making bedsand flipping burgers.
The career path is steepand rewarding in this industry for people
that are willing to work hardin the beginning for sure,
but we are desperate for, you know, peoplethat want to advance into these
positions of leadership and taking controlof these companies in the future.
(15:41):
Really strong initiativesaround advancing people
that have an opportunityto advance in this industry real quickly.
You know, how we work with the industryto identify issues
and really focused inon the area of sustainability.
Quinetta Roberson (15:54):
Jim, you talked about sustainability and carbon
neutrality, and I wanted to diginto sustainability a bit more.
From a real estate investment lens,how is the industry
factoring in climate riskwhen building new properties?
And do you think there'sa growing investor
interest in disasterresilient hotel infrastructures?
Jim Anhut (16:15):
To be honest with you,
I wish I could say thatthere was a long list of solutions there.
Development is expensive,development is time consuming.
A lot of the technology
is just not there yet to help us builda lot of these into buildings.
I will say that the investment communityis starting to look more closely
at real estate development,and how sustainable building components
are being addedinto the construction process,
(16:38):
and the reason for thatis that most of these longer term, longer
thinking, forward thinking, real estateinvestors are saying that eventually
we're going to have to do this.
So let's buildthis into the buildings now.
So there are things around,you know, how is electricity sourced?
Are you doing things to source electricityfrom carbon neutral platforms?
Are you building in a way?
(16:59):
I mean, it might be something as simpleas positioning a building a certain way on
a landslide to take advantage of the sun,and when it rises and when it sets.
There have been some pretty clevermechanical systems
that have been designed by utilizingbasically the Earth's temperature
to maintain a certain temperaturewithin the buildings.
Modular construction, which eliminatesa lot of waste on a construction
(17:20):
site, is finally, in my opinion,at the point where we can build
buildings or components of buildingsin an environment that is controlled.
It allows us to build things more quickly,but more importantly, it allows us
not to waste thingsbecause there's a ton of waste
when you build a hotel,
you know, from concrete, the steelto lumber to other building materials
that get chucked into a dumpsteron a land site
(17:41):
because we needed a length of eight feetand we have a nine foot board
and we throw a foot of itinto the trash can.
In terms of future proofing buildingsto withstand hurricanes in Florida, to
withstand wildfires in California, SantaAna Valley has had fires for centuries.
You know, it's not millennium. Stuffburns.
So, you know,how do we use materials that don't burn.
I like to talk about mass timber hereat Michigan State University?
(18:04):
Stuff doesn't burn.
You know, it gets this patina on it.
And it's in some waysmore durable than metal and concrete.
When buildings get really hot and burn.
In Florida, most new hotels,if not all new hotels, are built
to very specific hurricane standardsnow where they will withstand,
you know,obviously the elevations are higher,
and that allows us to accommodate peoplewhen their homes may flood out.
(18:25):
We're still open.
We've got backup generatorsthat are accommodating
the electrical needsthat are in the hotel.
So lots of pretty interesting thingsgoing on.
You know, I want the world to bea much better place for my grandchildren.
And the way to do that is to be thoughtfulabout, you know, how we manage
Mother Earth and the resourcesthat she has to share with us.
Quinetta Roberson (18:41):
Well, here at MSU
in hospitality business, you're
educating the next generationof hospitality leaders.
How are you talking to your studentsabout crisis management in hospitality
and what is the role of the industryin responding to these events?
Jim Anhut (18:55):
I would say relative to, you know, what are we doing to educate, .
I’ve got the privilege
of bringing a pretty big networkinto this conversation
around hospitality businessand more specifically around real estate.
And let me say that the real estate minorhas grown to encompass
all of the commercial real estateasset classes.
So we're not just focused on hospitality,we're talking about distribution centers.
(19:16):
We've got a number of supply chain kidsin this minor.
You know, that's their business.
We warehouse and warehouse is real estateand a lot of businesses
that spin off of that.
So we are teaching studentsabout commercial real estate in general.
Relative to, you know, crisis managementand the role of hospitality
in those events.
I'm going to point to the ethics,if you will, of hospitality.
(19:37):
So we are very energized by the ethicsseries that we support at Broad College.
So impressed by the peoplethat come back to broad
and talk about their experiencesin ethics.
I love the phrase that came out of one ofour speakers this year about cell phones.
If you see somebody fall,
do you reach for a cell phoneor do you reach for their hand?
What we teach is we reach for people'shands.
(19:59):
That's what our business is all about.
And, you know, our doors are open.
It is our responsibility in our businessto accommodate people in times of need
and in times of joy.
So I start with that in the classroom.
The one thing that I do relativeto the real estate piece of it,
not just for hospitality,but also for the other asset classes,
how do we protect the investment,the asset in times of disaster?
So if you've got a warehouse in a low
(20:20):
lying area,you know how we protecting inventory?
What are we doing about that?What are we doing to protect the building?
You know, from the roof being ripped offin a tornado or a hurricane.
So we talk kind of physical environmentand then, you know, relative to the people
side of the business and, you know,
there are people involvedin all these businesses,
but I'll focus on hospitality,I'll focus on multifamily.
In times of disaster, you know,what are we doing to accommodate
(20:42):
the residents, if you will?
What do we do to ensure that they're safe,but also ensure
that they have a great experience?
As a result of that experience,have a desire to return either as guests
or, as you know, renewing tenantsin the case of a multifamily asset.
Ken Szymusiak (20:54):
Jim, looking forward, what are the things, trends,
exciting things that you are seeingin hospitality in general?
Jim Anhut (21:02):
I won't stop learning.
And if there's one message frommy students that do not stop learning.
It was privilege to invite back to campusour Real Estate Advisory Committee,
which meets every year and has metevery year for the last 15 or so years.
One of the educationaltopics was around AI.
How do you apply AI?
And that's a huge catchall category of a bunch of stuff.
But we actually more we're discussinghow it impacts the entry level
(21:25):
jobs of our students,which will have a big impact
because many of our studentsend up in analyst roles,
and the majority of those roleswill be usurped by AI in some way.
The interpretation of the data
will still remain stronglyin the hands of the human being,
but the analytical side of that jobwill change.
The exciting thing for me
was that a couple of students actuallytaught the majority of that lesson
(21:47):
to a bunch of us alumni,and how they utilized AI,
either in a summer internshipor in anticipation of their first job.
There were too many of us joking aboutthe way that we used to plan a market.
You used to go outand you had Avery labels,
had little sticky doodadsthat you put on maps.
Now it's like,you know, they can sit in a desk
and do all that work and then say, “okay,what are the impacts
(22:07):
and how do we build sustainability
into this asset?” How do we, you know,make it a better return for our investors
and not be spending the majorityof their time putting dots on maps
and talking to the local chamberof commerce?
I'm really excited for that,
and I'm really excited to stay engagedin that process as this program evolves.
Ken Szymusiak (22:24):
Jim, thanks so much for joining us today.
If listeners want to keep upwith your work, where should they look?
Jim Anhut (22:29):
For me? Simply, MSU email is a great place.
Broad Connect and then LinkedInall work really well for me.
Ken Szymusiak (22:34):
All right.
Quinetta Roberson: Well thank you so much for being here. (22:35):
undefined
Jim Anhut:It's a pleasure.
Thanks for sharing
time with me to talk hospitalityand I appreciate the two of you.
Ken Szymusiak (22:42):
Want more Broad news and insights?
Follow us on LinkedIn,X, Instagram and Facebook at MSU
Broad College or visit us on the webat broad.msu.edu/news.
Quinetta Roberson (22:52):
And remember,
like, rate and subscribe to Broad Matterson Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
That does it for this episode.
I'm Quinta Robertson...Ken Szymusiak: ...and I'm Ken Szymusiak.
Join us next time to hear facultyand staff weighing in on relevant issues
and discussing how their workmakes an impact, illuminating how and why
(23:14):
Broad Matters.
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