May 3, 2024 • 35 mins
Hospitality veteran Grant Guinn shares his journey from working at Red Lion, to joining a large hotel brand and now, owning and operating his own hotel, the Tru by Hilton in Spokane Valley. Grant emphasizes the importance of being true to the brand's culture and investing in his team for a unique and successful hotel experience.
Follow Josh Ramsey on LinkedIn
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:05):
Hey, this is Josh Ramsey.
I'm one of the founders ofprosper hotels.
We support over 300 hotels innorth America.
With revenue management,performance marketing group
housing and revenue managementreports.
And, you know, I just find thehotel business so interesting.
It supports over 2 million jobsin the us.
(00:25):
And there are so many differentaspects to.
Owning and running and growing ahotel that I just want to
curiously explore that withfriends of mine.
And that's my goal with thispodcast.
It's called unpacking.
And today I'll introduce you toa friend of mine named grant
Guinn.
(00:46):
I think he's a great first guestbecause he owns one hotel.
Tru by Hilton and Spokanevalley.
And, uh, he worked for the brandfor a really long time.
And so he's got this depth ofexperience from.
Running things at the brandlevel that then he stepped in to
(01:06):
own and operate his own hotel.
And I think he's got a lot ofreally interesting insight.
Josh (01:13):
So I remember, I guess it was maybe it was shortly after
the pandemic and I saw you at anowner, I think it was an owner
conference or something.
And, you and your son were likeheaded to dinner and you're
like, Hey, just come sit withus.
Have a
Track 1 (01:28):
meal.
And,
Grant (01:30):
think it was at the hunter conference in Atlanta.
We did
Track 1 (01:32):
That's right.
Grant (01:33):
Yeah,
Josh (01:34):
what it was.
I always love like spending timewith you because you embody
this, this hospitality as avalue.
Just appreciate that so much.
Grant (01:45):
You're quite welcome.
Yeah.
It's been a good journey forsure.
Josh (01:49):
there's just this level of respect and love and
appreciation for you and whatyou do as an owner The hotel
that you have and I think isyeah.
Very very special.
I want, I just wanted to saythat I think what you are doing
is special
Grant (02:04):
it's not easy, right?
But it's a little different forus because we have one hotel,
one 92 room Tru in SpokaneValley, Washington.
And this is where we're from.
We live here.
We it's just our community andit's important for us to have
that culture of appreciation andrespect with our team members,
because we run into these teammembers when we're at Lowe's or
(02:27):
Home Depot or we're at the parkor we're at some sort of event
here in, in town and it'simportant for us to know,
important for me to know, what'stheir name, what's their story,
right?
What are their kids names?
What are their grandkids names?
It's a lot easier for us to dothat with one or two hotels
versus some of these bigcompanies.
You just lose some of that.
(02:47):
We really spend a lot of timeone on one with these team
members at the hotel infusing aculture of caring and compassion
to understand their story andand help them on their career
journey.
And it, it takes a lot.
It takes a lot of time and weput a lot of money towards that.
But it pays off.
Josh (03:06):
Yeah, there's there is this, some people I would say
probably see that, okay.
There's a game to play in termsof making money with hotels and
I'm going to play that game, butit like, It becomes something
about just squeezing as much asyou can out of this thing.
Where like what I see like foryou is this matters to me and
(03:30):
I'm going to put everything I'vegot into it and do it well and
take pride in it.
And this is an extension of, oran embodiment of who I am and
what I value.
And I'm going to have highstandards and take great care of
my people and do it well,
Grant (03:47):
that's exactly it.
Because we all see these um,larger companies or REITs that
they buy these assets and thenyou're right, they just
absolutely squeeze them dry andthen they flip them and, disrupt
people's lives and move on.
But they make a lot of money atit.
It's just not our approach.
Our approach is this is ours.
We're getting ready to do asecond hotel.
We care about it.
(04:07):
It's local for us.
And then we'll just continue togrow slowly in kind of this
regional area.
Some markets that I can drive tobut I'll have to get on a plane
and go and we'll hold theseright.
these aren't things that we'relooking to do.
Flip in five or seven yearsnecessary.
We'll just, we'll hang on tothese because this is it's
turning into a legacy companywhere we've got kids in the
(04:30):
business and they're enjoying itand maybe some grandkids
eventually will be in thebusiness.
So yeah, you're right.
We're just getting started andit's a lot of fun.
We're learning a lot.
My wife and I like to say thatwe spent a whole lot of money in
marketing research to find outwhat perfect name of the company
is when in reality.
It was like a five minuteconversation.
Oh, we need to create a company.
(04:50):
Let's just G grant L Lisa.
We've got eight kids.
Okay.
GL8 hospitality.
That's how it is.
So yeah, that's how it came tobe.
huh.
how many took very little effortto come up with it.
Track 1 (05:03):
Yeah.
Yeah.
How many of the eight are a partof the
grant-guinn_1_04-05-202 (05:07):
company Yeah.
Two, two of the eight.
Grant (05:09):
Yeah.
we're a blended family.
Yeah.
Four and four.
So we ended up with eight kids,which is fantastic.
Seven boys and a girl, but wehave two in the business.
One is our asset manager and oneis our front desk supervisor.
Cause he's still in, in collegeand has about another year to
go.
And both of them have attended afew of the different conferences
with me and on their own, andI've really embraced the
(05:32):
industry and really seem to likeit.
So you never know, there mightbe a couple more that, that jump
into it eventually once they seehow much fun we're having what
we're learning along the way,but right now there's just two
in the business.
Josh (05:43):
I'd love to hear a little more on your journey, I know you
from Hilton originally and.Youwere a senior director of brand
performance, yet for HiltonGarden.
Yeah.
And so you were at the brand forquite a while?
I, a long time.
Grant (05:58):
A long time.
My, my career being a Hiltonemployee, a real Hilton employee
was over 20 years, a little over20 what I thought.
Okay.
Yeah.
But it started with back in thered lion days, honestly, back
working on property at a redlion in 96 and then got gobbled
up by Doubletree in and thenwent to work at a second
(06:20):
Doubletree hotel and thenuprooted my family and moved to
Boise, Idaho, and.
And worked at the DoubleTree,the Hilton managed DoubleTree
in, in, in that market.
And then it was Hilton managed,but it flipped to be a franchise
a couple of years after I gotthere.
And I just didn't want to workfor that specific franchise.
(06:41):
And so I applied at the Hiltoncorporate office at the time in
Beverly Hills and got on withthem as a regional director of
brand performance support forthe Northwest region for Hilton
Garden Inn.
And really, Enjoyed it and itreally took off and got to
understand and be the brandwhich is you may hear It's my
comments throughout this podcastand just be the brand be
(07:03):
anything but the brand that youare because that's what you're
buying into So I bought intothat for 20 years of be the
brand I was the Hilton Garden inthe guy for the Pacific
Northwest and then did that Ithink for about a year and a
half and Then became thedirector of brand sales support.
So the brand sales guy notselling franchises, but really
supporting the different hotelsaround the country at the time.
(07:26):
I think we had about 140 or soHilton garden inns in three
countries.
And we were like, all right,we're starting to grow.
All these Hilton garden inns, alot of them have salespeople and
we, we need to give them someattention and.
Let's add this sales supportfunction, which then was the
role that I got added into andled the sales conferences all
the sales training, all the.
(07:47):
It just became the salesresource guy within Hilton
Garden Inn and did that for, Idon't know, five or six years,
and then became switched back tothe brand performance support
side, the operational supportside as the senior director, as
the brand really started to takeoff and launched.
Garden Inn and in Europe.
(08:07):
And then ultimately at the endof my career with Hilton spent a
lot of time in Asia as HiltonGarden Inn, grew in China we
launched the first one in China,I was there.
And it was, we spread from Eastto West and China and Indonesia
and Vietnam and, all thoselocations.
Not only oversaw the operationsin the Americas for the brand
(08:28):
performance, but then also gotthings going.
In Asia for Hilton Garden Inn.
And it was great.
I loved it.
And by the time I left, I thinkwe were in like 20 something
different countries and about700 or so hotels.
So to be part of those openingsand just the excitement of those
hotels, just really setsomething in motion for myself
(08:52):
that I never thought I would do,but got dealt that hand once
Hilton restructured for the, whoknows how many times after 20
years of being there and my teamand I, the brand performance
team.
We're let go as theyconsolidated different
departments within Hilton.
And that kind of forced me tolook at, all right, got to
(09:13):
figure out and do somethingelse.
And so at the time short termrentals were really starting to
take off in the country andshort term rentals on the
commercial scale, on the, justbulk scale.
And so I joined one of thosefast growing short term rental
companies.
And.
Let a team where we would gointo all the major markets in
(09:35):
across the U.
S.
And Seattle and Dallas and L.
A.
And Miami and would master leaseentire apartment buildings,
furnish them with hotel levelfurnishings from companies like
Hilton Supply Management andthen take those units and then
list them on Airbnb and all theshort term rental sites and run
(09:56):
them like hotels.
And under master leases for fiveor 10 years.
And so I did that for a coupleof years with a company at two
different companies.
And I learned a lot.
I learned about real estate.
I learned about development.
I learned about growth.
I learned about short termrental industry, which I quickly
realized really just wasn't myindustry.
(10:18):
I didn't enjoy short termrentals.
There's something about just atransactional experience of
providing lodging, which is whatshort term rentals do.
And.
Providing hospitality, which iswhat hotels do.
more.
than check in, pick outexperience.
You're there to talk to thecustomer and greet the customer.
You don't get that at short termAnd so did that for a couple of
(10:40):
years and then those, someconsolidation and some of those
companies are going in and outof business and left that
industry.
And then sat back and said youknow what, for years, I saw
hotel owners, some hotel ownersthat didn't run very good
hotels.
Still make a lot of moneydespite the fact that they
didn't know what they weredoing.
(11:01):
I said, if I only know, evenjust part of what I should know,
I'll probably do okay withhotels.
And at the time Hilton had justlaunched the Tru brand for a
first time developer owner.
is fabulous.
And the reason for that isbecause it's just a hotel and a
kit, right?
You don't have to have aninterior designer.
It's just all chosen for you.
(11:21):
But I knew the locations afterhaving been part of so many
Hilton garden and openings overthe years, I knew good
locations.
I knew good locations.
Then I knew good locations whenI was in the short term rental
industry.
So I knew good locations in myown backyard, went out, figured
out, okay, how do I buy a pieceof land?
How do I then get a franchise?
(11:41):
And then how do I go about thewhole process of security and
general contractors, architects,all that sort of stuff, and just
really taught myself.
How to do it.
And in November of 2019 brokeground on our Tru hotel.
And then in December of 2019 thefirst time we all heard the word
COVID appeared on our TV screensand arrived in Seattle.
(12:05):
And we then proceeded to build aTru hotel in the middle of
COVID, was.
Really interesting and askingourselves, what in the world did
we do?
What did we get into as thehospitality industry and started
tank Probably good timing for usbecause as we finished up the
Tru 12, 13 months later, we werestarting to come out of COVID
(12:27):
and then just it just took offWow.
and no stopping.
So That's my career journey fromred lion, double tree, Hilton
garden in all the way up to ourown hotels.
Josh (12:39):
Yeah.
I have so many questions.
But okay.
It's like the first thing Iwould love just what you were
just talking about the what, soyou said, what a good property
looks like, what are the thingsyou're looking for Yeah.
Finding a good property,
Grant (12:54):
Yeah, more of location, location, location, So I knew in
my market we have a a city ownedconference center that the
closest hotel to that conferencecenter was about a mile and a
half away.
And they'd been there.
It's really nice facility.
With 80 acres of undevelopedland right across the street
from it, right on the river.
(13:15):
And I was like, wow, who ownsthat piece of property?
could they carve off an acre anda half or two acres me do a
hotel?
Cause looking at the mall is amile away.
I'd be across the street from acity owned conference center.
That's never going to go away.
And then there's other revenuedrivers, businesses and
industries rather close.
(13:35):
And I just knew it was a winner.
What kind of stuff comes intothis conference center?
it's 50, 000 square feet ofmeeting space.
anywhere from home and gardenshows to weddings, to business
meetings, that sort of thing.
So there was no place for, theywould have to have meetings or
they would have meetings there,but then they'd have to get in
their car and go drive to thenext closest hotel to stay when
(13:59):
I put a hotel across the street,so they can walk across street
to That's amazing.
knowing that facility, yeah,it's just never going to go
away, especially if it's sinceit's a government owned entity.
Okay.
So how did you go about figuringout I guess that next part was
find out who owns this and let'ssee if I can pitch them on
carving off an and a half.
Josh (14:20):
How did you do that?
Grant (14:22):
It's funny because the organization or the company that
owned that is one of the, theyown a lot of land in this city
and it's it's old money in thiscity and they just have been
sitting on it and it's what Idid then I went out and I
contacted HBS and I had them doa market study based on the
brand that I Thought would begood.
I got an architect who did somerenderings for me, and then I
(14:44):
went and approached thelandowner and I walked into his
office study, a feasibilitystudy on land before you even
owned it or to them about it oranything.
And come to find out thislandowner had other people
approach him with ideas.
But what sold him on me was thatI walked into his office and I
(15:06):
showed him studied it I know itworks.
Here's the brand that I want toput there and I'm ready to go.
Here's the art and here's therenderings So he got on a plane
with one of his colleagues heflew to Boise where there was a
Tru hotel He toured the hotel tosee what like and came back and
said, okay, I'll sell you theland.
Josh (15:24):
Wow.
That's amazing.
Okay, how much did that cost youto do the work of feasibility
plus like architect renderings?
Grant (15:32):
say between the feasibility and the markets or
the market study and thearchitect, just initial
renderings, probably 10, just toget the idea developed enough
that I could show it to somebodysome sort of.
Document was pretty pictures andsome numbers associated with it
And have a little credibilitythat it's going to work, he
(15:52):
liked it because it was a wellknown name, Hilton name.
He wanted this property to beanchored by a reputable brand.
And he'd been approached by someothers that wanted to do
something else some other ideasBut he just didn't like the
brand so he said okay I'llanchor it and good for him
because he's told me a number oftimes grant you walked in you
showed me this stuff and Then heit kicked off the development
(16:14):
for the entire 80 acres we werethe first in we anchored it
Track 1 (16:17):
Yeah.
grant-guinn_1_04-05-2024_09 (16:19):
And then he was able to probably up
the price for the rest of thereal estate that you're selling
because he added a brandedproperty there on the corner.
And we did a first right ofrefusal on a second piece of
property, a more primary.
Piece of property right on theriver.
Just two lots over from my Tru,which I then secured under a
(16:39):
first right of refusal pen, athing, which I have since
purchased from him to do asecond hotel.
Track 1 (16:45):
that was so same owner for that as well.
grant-guinn_1_04-05-2024_ (16:48):
same, yeah, same owner, but it was the
original piece of property thatI wanted.
It was the property that was onthe river.
Track 1 (16:54):
Okay.
grant-guinn_1_04-05-202 (16:55):
thought years ago was I want to put a
Hilton garden in there because Iwas a garden guy.
I knew my locations.
Track 1 (17:00):
Yeah.
grant-guinn_1_04-05-2024_0 (17:00):
then they what changed was Hilton
came out with Tru.
And for a first time developer,Tru was like, okay, that makes a
lot more sense to It's just aneasier build because so much of
it's the work is done for you.
So I said, okay, let me buy asecondary lot, which I did put
the Tru, and then I'll go backby their initial piece of
property, the prime piece ofproperty that I want and put,
(17:23):
the right brand on it, whichultimately has turned out to be,
we're doing a home with suites.
They're not Hilton garden in.
Cause it doesn't make sense.
It didn't make sense to GardenInn.
So with all the meeting space,when I got 50, 000 square feet
of space across the street, sowe'll do.
A homewood suites there with itwith its new 10.
0 prototype.
Track 1 (17:40):
That's amazing.
Did you already had you alreadytalked to the brand about build
or that comes
grant-guinn_1_04-05-2024_ (17:47):
Yeah.
Yeah, definitely.
Yeah.
Cause I knew I had known notnecessarily the brand, but the
development team who I knew atHilton said, listen, I'd love to
do a Tru and they were justlike, well, if you, if you sign
on here soon, you could be thefirst Tru in Washington state.
If you get going and we sign onright for a Tru.
And right after or right beforethe Tru at Seattle airport
(18:08):
signed on.
So it was a race to the finishline who could open up first at
building during COVID and we gotshut down.
They did.
It was just, it was crazy.
Just because of COVID.
But ultimately, we beat them.
And 12 months and six days builta Tru from the day we broke
ground to the day we opened 12months, six days in the middle
of COVID.
Track 1 (18:28):
the middle of a pandemic.
grant-guinn_1_04-05-2024_ (18:30):
Yeah,
Track 1 (18:31):
Wow.
Okay.
So then you have to you have alot to figure out after that,
right?
Like you get the land, thenyou've got to figure out
construction.
Is that the next thing?
Or what was the,
grant-guinn_1_04-05-2024_0 (18:43):
Yep.
Yep.
So all happening at the sametime okay I'm going to get this
the guy seems like he wants tosell it to me.
Okay, who's going to build thisthing, reach out to my owner
network and Obviously a lot ofHilton Garden Inn owners I knew.
And up in this part of thecountry, there was a a general
contractor out of Montana thathad built all the Hilton Garden
Inns in Montana and a bunch downin Texas And back East.
(19:03):
And so I just reached out tothem and it was there, there
were smaller company and they'renot a big GC, but I said, Hey,
this is what I want to build.
They hadn't built a Tru beforethey built at Fairfield by
Marriott's and lots of gardeninns and courtyards and things
like that.
But he was the only one I knewthat had built hotels before.
So he gave me a price and.
I went with it, right?
(19:23):
So
Track 1 (19:24):
okay.
grant-guinn_1_04-05-2024_ (19:24):
yeah, that's how I chose him.
I didn't even talk to very many,Maybe one other, but I didn't
know who they were.
It was just A random phone callto some other GC.
Track 1 (19:33):
Yeah.
And that's for you, it seemslike a lot of this is very much
like you just, you already hadthis deep level of relationships
and trust with people that itmakes it easier when you're
coming out to do something
grant-guinn_1_04-05-2024_ (19:48):
yeah, definitely.
The owner network that I had hasbeen invaluable to me, really,
because they've coached me alongthe way.
They've different ones.
They've provided different,yeah, coaching and advice and
even, there were some of themthat had already had Trus and I
probably spoke with half a dozendifferent Tru owners before I
finished the constructiondocuments for my Tru.
(20:12):
What did you like?
What didn't you like?
Track 1 (20:14):
The flip side of that relationship thing is I think
like you do the same thing,right?
Like you work with people thatyou trust.
And so the contractor, it's notworth trying to find the best
deal.
grant-guinn_1_04-05-2024_ (20:25):
Yeah.
Track 1 (20:26):
it's about, I'm I want to work with someone that I
trust and know that it's goingto handle this and do it well.
grant-guinn_1_04-05-2024_ (20:33):
Yeah.
Yeah.
we have taken over management ofthe hotel.
So we own and manage now the onehotel, and that will be our
strategy going forward.
We'll be our, just our ownmanagement company because back
to what I've said multiple timesit's important for me to be the
brand.
Don't the mistake that some ofthese management companies make
is they try to infuse their ownculture, which is a culture that
(20:56):
they've developed to put acrossmultiple brands.
And but you have to really bethe culture of the brand that
you are because a Tru culture isvery different than a Hilton
garden in culture, which isdifferent than a double tree
care culture and Hilton's blueenergy culture or whatever it
is.
You have to be the brand.
And if you're not the brand.
(21:16):
You're trying to be somebodythat you're never going to be.
Track 1 (21:19):
What are some examples of ways that you've asked the
team there, like to be thebrand?
grant-guinn_1_04-05-2024_09 (21:24):
The best known culture in the
hospitality and Hilton world, atleast out there is that
Hamptonality culture, right?
That's out there.
But Tru is all about just beingfun, vibrant, Spirited,
colorful, meaning you walk intothat Tru hotel and there's
colors everywhere, right?
And you have your team memberswearing purple, Tru logo shirts,
(21:45):
which is the brand with jeans.
It's a little bit more relaxedand a little bit more quirky, a
little just different.
And that's the culture of beingmore fun and engaging versus,
stuffy and buttoned up with yourCintas uniform on.
It's just.
A different type of culture.
And if, in if you're a largercompany and you're trying to
(22:08):
infuse a Marriott culture into aTru or a best Western culture
into a Tru, it just doesn'twork.
It really just doesn't.
So you have to be the brand.
And then the brand does a greatjob with providing you tools and
resources.
You're paying them largefranchise fees to buy the
franchise.
And it's essential that you bethe brand and use the resources.
Track 1 (22:29):
Yeah,
grant-guinn_1_04-05-2024_090 (22:30):
of these management companies, they
don't, and it's to theirdetriment.
They try to do their own versionacross all their hotels and
desanitize the whole thing whenthey really just need to adopt
what they're paying for to beginwith.
Track 1 (22:44):
You want as a management company sometimes
maybe to try to make it morehomogenous across the whole
company.
But what, like what can happenthen is it's, it comes across as
bland across all of it.
a lot of times we try to put acompany's values on a person to
live those values out.
(23:04):
But what happens is, if ifyou're telling somebody to take
the values of that company, thenthey're not being fully
themselves anymore.
And so they need to know whatthey value and they need to know
what they care about.
And, I like what you're sayingbecause you're saying be the
brand is.
like embody the culture of the,like where you are, that doesn't
(23:25):
mean take on someone else'svalues.
It means let's act out, let's bepart of what this was designed
to do.
How do you do that with yourteam?
Because I've, in talking withpeople on your team can see that
they're engaged I can tell thatthey feel safe.
Also that they feel challenged,that they're growing, you're
(23:46):
pushing them in a kind, gentlepressure way.
So could you talk about that?
What does that look like for
grant-guinn_1_04-05-2024_ (23:53):
yeah, it's okay at our Tru hotel to be
a little bit quirky and justoutside the box, for example,
These team members, includingmyself, have complete ability to
stop what they're doing if theysee a kid or a teenager or a
business person sitting andplaying At the pool table in the
Hilton lobby and bet them,something free out of the
(24:18):
market.
If the other person wins, right?
Play them a quick game of pool.
Engage with the customer.
The customer beats you even ifthey don't beat you at the end
of the game.
You go and you let them choosesomething out of the market.
You put it to, it's a hotelexpense and away you go.
I tell you what, it adds a lotof fun and excitement.
And.
(24:39):
Engagement with the customersthat is, that we just see
nonstop.
It's the feedback is tremendous.
It really is.
Josh (24:47):
And I think that's that's also helpful for the customer.
Like you're saying, there's somuch that has been invested in
developing the brand that forthe customer to feel that
experience and the distinctionof that specific brand out
there.
It's not just about the design.
(25:08):
It is also about the service andthe interaction and the
engagement.
And when you try to be somethingthat you're not it's less it's
less memorable and it's you,it's also like confusing, I
would say, probably to acustomer.
grant-guinn_1_04-05-2024_ (25:23):
Yeah, it really is.
And that's what we're going backto the management company side
of things.
There's some good managementcompanies out there.
But you think about when youbring on a team member and you
sit them down in front of thecomputer and they do their
Hilton or Marriott or whatevertraining, right there, they're
told, Hey, here is what thebrand is.
And then they have to go throughand do a training for a
(25:45):
management company saying, buthere's what your management
company is.
So then what is the employeesupposed to do?
Which Philosophy, which idealsare they supposed to adopt?
And our philosophy is you adoptthe brand, right?
That's where you work.
When you walk out, you have thatuniform on and you are going to
be the brand.
And very focused in our worldof.
(26:06):
And they all know this isfocusing on our real four, four,
key areas, and that's drivingrevenue, encouraging loyalty,
making, doing what we need to doto help those customers be
loyal, increase profitability.
What things can we do to makethis operation more profitable?
And then investing in our teammembers, those four things,
(26:27):
revenue, loyalty, profitability,and investing in our team
members, because you have happyteam members, you have happy
customers everybody seems toconnect much better when people
are happy, for sure.
Track 1 (26:39):
So those four things are what you would say as part
of your GL8.
Like these are the four thingsand these
grant-guinn_1_04-05-2024 (26:48):
That's what's important to us.
And, but the way that you makemoney can be done in different
ways.
You can squeeze every penny outof it and just not put any money
into that.
That's not our approach.
Our approach is then,encouraging loyalty.
What kind of things are we doingto encouraging, encourage the
loyalty of our customers thatthey come back to us time after
time.
So it's the revenue side.
(27:09):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Making sure that we're engagedwith companies like yourself and
the revenue management team atHilton to drive that revenue on
the top, encourage thosecustomers to come back, manage
our expenses on theprofitability side, doing what
we need to do to Sharpen ourpencil there and to just
increase the profitability andthen invest in those team
(27:30):
members, having a fun committee,which we have at the hotel and
supporting a budget line itemthat supports growth, training
growth.
And activity growths for notonly our team members, but we
pay for their families to cometo all of our activities,
whether we rent a box at thebaseball stadium and for all the
team members and all theirfamilies, we rent a cruise boat
(27:52):
at Christmas time and we cruiseacross the lake to Santa's
village with their team membersand our family and their
families.
We do trail pick up with ourteam members and our family and
their families.
So it becomes more of a familyenvironment.
And like I said, it's not cheap,but it's something that we've
invested and it seems to havepaid off.
People enjoy working for us.
(28:13):
I,
Track 1 (28:13):
yeah I love that.
grant-guinn_1_04-05-2024_ (28:16):
Yeah,
Track 1 (28:17):
You're saying like, we are going to be more profitable
by putting this investment inthe team and we're going to
spend the money on the box andthe cruise
grant-guinn_1_04-05-2024_09 (28:25):
And just what we ask them, what can
we do in your department, inyour area of responsibility to
be smarter what can we do?
Let's talk breakfast.
What type of things can we do atthe serving our complimentary
breakfast to allow us to stillprovide what we're supposed to
provide.
But make more money in doing it,right?
(28:46):
Instead of individual milkcontainers, go bulk milk, that,
that can save you some money.
We weigh our product at the endof breakfast.
So we monitor how much waste wehave.
And we have that set is one ofour green initiative goals that
we reduce our food waste at theend of the day.
And ultimately that supportsprofitability as well.
Making sure that we.
(29:07):
We price and manage our marketitems that we're selling Make
sure that we price laundry andEV stations and all that sort of
stuff appropriately based onwhat the cost is associated with
it.
It's just taking a look at adetailed look at the expenses
associated with it and what weultimately charge the customer.
And how can we continue to tweakthese areas without impacting
(29:32):
the satisfaction of the customer
Josh (29:33):
Where I see it, like with the team is they probably, they
also are happy to pursue thatwith you because it's not that
you're pursuing profitability atall costs, they're also
benefiting when everybody on theteam's benefiting because we're
reinvesting this in thecommunity and the hotel and the
resources for you.
Where.
(29:54):
Some folks, it's like, how do wesqueeze every last thing out of
this?
But that can leave your team atthe hotel feeling depleted.
And then that leaves to worseservice, which leads to, lower
revenue.
that it's this downward spiral,but you're I love how you are
reinforcing it by, because wetake such great care of the
(30:17):
team.
Everyone's happy to be creativein the ways in which they find
these other opportunities tohelp increase profitability.
That's
grant-guinn_1_04-05-2024_09 (30:28):
And as we took over the hotel a
little over a year ago, I askedmyself, my gosh, there has got
to be a different way to reduceturnover out there than what has
been done over the prior fewyears.
And we sat back and said, howcan we do this kind of on the
profitability side?
How can we stop spending so muchtrying to recruit people?
(30:50):
And the drug testing associatedwith it and the background
checks and all that sort ofstuff, which we require we, we
do.
Which is expensive, but how wecan increase profitability by
reducing the turnover.
What could we do?
So we found kind of the secretsauce.
At least it worked for us.
We went, I went out and I triedto find some of these different
(31:12):
organizations that are dealingwith these refugees that are
coming into the country, right?
We're talking folks that aredisplaced because of political
or war or whatever it is, andthey're coming into the country
legally.
And they're looking for placesto stay and places to work.
So I went to a couple ofdifferent of those and, had some
(31:33):
conversations, but ultimatelylanded on a partnership with an
organization called WorldRelief, which helps displaced
refugees in our community.
Get settled and they providethem with translators and help
them find housing and help themfind jobs.
And we have had extreme successwith reducing our turnover and
(31:55):
filling our hotel employee poolor employee talent with folks
from that have been referred tous by world relief.
And it's great because thesefolks come to us again, they're
legal.
They've got all their documents.
They're here.
They want to work.
They show up for work, they'redrug free, and they come back
(32:16):
and they, because we treat themwell, they refer their friends
and other family members to comework for us, and our turnover
has just decreased.
Because we now have our core andour base group of folks from an
organization partnership withthat company and we didn't pay
them anything.
They were thrilled to be able towork with somebody like us that
wanted their employees.
And do we have multiplelanguages talking in the break
(32:40):
room?
We do, but we use the phones andwe use the apps, the translation
apps, and and we make it work.
Track 1 (32:47):
This is another example of how you are solving problems
creatively, I would assume thenatural tendency, which is like,
Oh, why are we having to spendso on recruiting?
Like you went above instead ofbelow.
You didn't try to cut it.
You actually solved a newproblem,
grant-guinn_1_04-05-2024_ (33:05):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Some operators take the approachof, Hey, reduce the expense by
stop, stop doing the backgroundchecks, stop doing the drug
testing.
And so it does, that couldincrease profitability.
But our approach was we'rekeeping those because we want
higher quality employees workingfor us.
(33:25):
But We can reduce the turnoverby providing a good place for
them to work in partnering witha company that has a talent pool
of folks that want to work andthey're willing to work.
Track 1 (33:38):
Yeah, I have so many more things to ask you, but I
think, maybe we can do anotherone soon if you're open to it.
And so you think there are stillmarkets that need a new hotel to
be built, like a brandedproperty that would get enough
demand
grant-guinn_1_04-05-2024_090 (33:52):
in the market that, in the region
that I'm in, maybe now, ifyou're talking like the
southeast portion of the UnitedStates, listen, everywhere you
go, there's a Hampton, there'sa, But there's not a Hilton and
Marriott properties in all themarkets that are that there
could be here in the PacificNorthwest.
We're a little bit forgottenmaybe because we're so spread
(34:13):
out up here.
Sometimes you can drive a couplehours between some of these
markets, not have much inbetween, You land a home too.
And one of these markets or evena Hilton garden in man.
The Hilton Garden Inn would bethe Hilton in one of these
college towns In our region.
So yeah, there are definitelystill some markets out there
that are ripe for the picking.
Track 1 (34:34):
where are those spaces that there's enough demand like
that?
grant-guinn_1_04-05- (34:38):
University campuses.
Those are a good starting spot,but then there obviously has to
be business there to support ahotel as well on the corporate
side and the leisure side aswell.
It's maybe not all.
University markets make sense,but there are plenty out there
that do.
Track 1 (34:53):
Yeah.
That's great.
Grant, thank you so much forbeing here today.
Like I yeah, I really appreciatejust your openness.
I see that you've found yourthing and I love like seeing
that you're just like fully litup right now.
You're fully in the in the spaceand you're doing such a good
job.
So yeah.
Thank you for sharing that withus.
grant-guinn_1_04-05-2024_ (35:15):
Yeah, There's definitely a passion
that I have and and we try tofeed that through all the way to
the entire organization of thehotel.
Thank you, Josh.
Appreciate it.
Hey, this is Josh Ramsey.
I'm one of the founders ofprosper hotels.
We support over 300 hotels innorth America.
With revenue management,performance marketing group
housing and revenue managementreports.
And, you know, I just find thehotel business so interesting.
It supports over 2 million jobsin the us.
(00:25):
And there are so many differentaspects to.
Owning and running and growing ahotel that I just want to
curiously explore that withfriends of mine.
And that's my goal with thispodcast.
It's called unpacking.
And today I'll introduce you toa friend of mine named grant
Guinn.
(00:46):
I think he's a great first guestbecause he owns one hotel.
Tru by Hilton and Spokanevalley.
And, uh, he worked for the brandfor a really long time.
And so he's got this depth ofexperience from.
Running things at the brandlevel that then he stepped in to
(01:06):
own and operate his own hotel.
And I think he's got a lot ofreally interesting insight.
Josh (01:13):
So I remember, I guess it was maybe it was shortly after
the pandemic and I saw you at anowner, I think it was an owner
conference or something.
And, you and your son were likeheaded to dinner and you're
like, Hey, just come sit withus.
Have a
Track 1 (01:28):
meal.
And,
Grant (01:30):
think it was at the hunter conference in Atlanta.
We did
Track 1 (01:32):
That's right.
Grant (01:33):
Yeah,
Josh (01:34):
what it was.
I always love like spending timewith you because you embody
this, this hospitality as avalue.
Just appreciate that so much.
Grant (01:45):
You're quite welcome.
Yeah.
It's been a good journey forsure.
Josh (01:49):
there's just this level of respect and love and
appreciation for you and whatyou do as an owner The hotel
that you have and I think isyeah.
Very very special.
I want, I just wanted to saythat I think what you are doing
is special
Grant (02:04):
it's not easy, right?
But it's a little different forus because we have one hotel,
one 92 room Tru in SpokaneValley, Washington.
And this is where we're from.
We live here.
We it's just our community andit's important for us to have
that culture of appreciation andrespect with our team members,
because we run into these teammembers when we're at Lowe's or
(02:27):
Home Depot or we're at the parkor we're at some sort of event
here in, in town and it'simportant for us to know,
important for me to know, what'stheir name, what's their story,
right?
What are their kids names?
What are their grandkids names?
It's a lot easier for us to dothat with one or two hotels
versus some of these bigcompanies.
You just lose some of that.
(02:47):
We really spend a lot of timeone on one with these team
members at the hotel infusing aculture of caring and compassion
to understand their story andand help them on their career
journey.
And it, it takes a lot.
It takes a lot of time and weput a lot of money towards that.
But it pays off.
Josh (03:06):
Yeah, there's there is this, some people I would say
probably see that, okay.
There's a game to play in termsof making money with hotels and
I'm going to play that game, butit like, It becomes something
about just squeezing as much asyou can out of this thing.
Where like what I see like foryou is this matters to me and
(03:30):
I'm going to put everything I'vegot into it and do it well and
take pride in it.
And this is an extension of, oran embodiment of who I am and
what I value.
And I'm going to have highstandards and take great care of
my people and do it well,
Grant (03:47):
that's exactly it.
Because we all see these um,larger companies or REITs that
they buy these assets and thenyou're right, they just
absolutely squeeze them dry andthen they flip them and, disrupt
people's lives and move on.
But they make a lot of money atit.
It's just not our approach.
Our approach is this is ours.
We're getting ready to do asecond hotel.
We care about it.
(04:07):
It's local for us.
And then we'll just continue togrow slowly in kind of this
regional area.
Some markets that I can drive tobut I'll have to get on a plane
and go and we'll hold theseright.
these aren't things that we'relooking to do.
Flip in five or seven yearsnecessary.
We'll just, we'll hang on tothese because this is it's
turning into a legacy companywhere we've got kids in the
(04:30):
business and they're enjoying itand maybe some grandkids
eventually will be in thebusiness.
So yeah, you're right.
We're just getting started andit's a lot of fun.
We're learning a lot.
My wife and I like to say thatwe spent a whole lot of money in
marketing research to find outwhat perfect name of the company
is when in reality.
It was like a five minuteconversation.
Oh, we need to create a company.
(04:50):
Let's just G grant L Lisa.
We've got eight kids.
Okay.
GL8 hospitality.
That's how it is.
So yeah, that's how it came tobe.
huh.
how many took very little effortto come up with it.
Track 1 (05:03):
Yeah.
Yeah.
How many of the eight are a partof the
grant-guinn_1_04-05-202 (05:07):
company Yeah.
Two, two of the eight.
Grant (05:09):
Yeah.
we're a blended family.
Yeah.
Four and four.
So we ended up with eight kids,which is fantastic.
Seven boys and a girl, but wehave two in the business.
One is our asset manager and oneis our front desk supervisor.
Cause he's still in, in collegeand has about another year to
go.
And both of them have attended afew of the different conferences
with me and on their own, andI've really embraced the
(05:32):
industry and really seem to likeit.
So you never know, there mightbe a couple more that, that jump
into it eventually once they seehow much fun we're having what
we're learning along the way,but right now there's just two
in the business.
Josh (05:43):
I'd love to hear a little more on your journey, I know you
from Hilton originally and.Youwere a senior director of brand
performance, yet for HiltonGarden.
Yeah.
And so you were at the brand forquite a while?
I, a long time.
Grant (05:58):
A long time.
My, my career being a Hiltonemployee, a real Hilton employee
was over 20 years, a little over20 what I thought.
Okay.
Yeah.
But it started with back in thered lion days, honestly, back
working on property at a redlion in 96 and then got gobbled
up by Doubletree in and thenwent to work at a second
(06:20):
Doubletree hotel and thenuprooted my family and moved to
Boise, Idaho, and.
And worked at the DoubleTree,the Hilton managed DoubleTree
in, in, in that market.
And then it was Hilton managed,but it flipped to be a franchise
a couple of years after I gotthere.
And I just didn't want to workfor that specific franchise.
(06:41):
And so I applied at the Hiltoncorporate office at the time in
Beverly Hills and got on withthem as a regional director of
brand performance support forthe Northwest region for Hilton
Garden Inn.
And really, Enjoyed it and itreally took off and got to
understand and be the brandwhich is you may hear It's my
comments throughout this podcastand just be the brand be
(07:03):
anything but the brand that youare because that's what you're
buying into So I bought intothat for 20 years of be the
brand I was the Hilton Garden inthe guy for the Pacific
Northwest and then did that Ithink for about a year and a
half and Then became thedirector of brand sales support.
So the brand sales guy notselling franchises, but really
supporting the different hotelsaround the country at the time.
(07:26):
I think we had about 140 or soHilton garden inns in three
countries.
And we were like, all right,we're starting to grow.
All these Hilton garden inns, alot of them have salespeople and
we, we need to give them someattention and.
Let's add this sales supportfunction, which then was the
role that I got added into andled the sales conferences all
the sales training, all the.
(07:47):
It just became the salesresource guy within Hilton
Garden Inn and did that for, Idon't know, five or six years,
and then became switched back tothe brand performance support
side, the operational supportside as the senior director, as
the brand really started to takeoff and launched.
Garden Inn and in Europe.
(08:07):
And then ultimately at the endof my career with Hilton spent a
lot of time in Asia as HiltonGarden Inn, grew in China we
launched the first one in China,I was there.
And it was, we spread from Eastto West and China and Indonesia
and Vietnam and, all thoselocations.
Not only oversaw the operationsin the Americas for the brand
(08:28):
performance, but then also gotthings going.
In Asia for Hilton Garden Inn.
And it was great.
I loved it.
And by the time I left, I thinkwe were in like 20 something
different countries and about700 or so hotels.
So to be part of those openingsand just the excitement of those
hotels, just really setsomething in motion for myself
(08:52):
that I never thought I would do,but got dealt that hand once
Hilton restructured for the, whoknows how many times after 20
years of being there and my teamand I, the brand performance
team.
We're let go as theyconsolidated different
departments within Hilton.
And that kind of forced me tolook at, all right, got to
(09:13):
figure out and do somethingelse.
And so at the time short termrentals were really starting to
take off in the country andshort term rentals on the
commercial scale, on the, justbulk scale.
And so I joined one of thosefast growing short term rental
companies.
And.
Let a team where we would gointo all the major markets in
(09:35):
across the U.
S.
And Seattle and Dallas and L.
A.
And Miami and would master leaseentire apartment buildings,
furnish them with hotel levelfurnishings from companies like
Hilton Supply Management andthen take those units and then
list them on Airbnb and all theshort term rental sites and run
(09:56):
them like hotels.
And under master leases for fiveor 10 years.
And so I did that for a coupleof years with a company at two
different companies.
And I learned a lot.
I learned about real estate.
I learned about development.
I learned about growth.
I learned about short termrental industry, which I quickly
realized really just wasn't myindustry.
(10:18):
I didn't enjoy short termrentals.
There's something about just atransactional experience of
providing lodging, which is whatshort term rentals do.
And.
Providing hospitality, which iswhat hotels do.
more.
than check in, pick outexperience.
You're there to talk to thecustomer and greet the customer.
You don't get that at short termAnd so did that for a couple of
(10:40):
years and then those, someconsolidation and some of those
companies are going in and outof business and left that
industry.
And then sat back and said youknow what, for years, I saw
hotel owners, some hotel ownersthat didn't run very good
hotels.
Still make a lot of moneydespite the fact that they
didn't know what they weredoing.
(11:01):
I said, if I only know, evenjust part of what I should know,
I'll probably do okay withhotels.
And at the time Hilton had justlaunched the Tru brand for a
first time developer owner.
is fabulous.
And the reason for that isbecause it's just a hotel and a
kit, right?
You don't have to have aninterior designer.
It's just all chosen for you.
(11:21):
But I knew the locations afterhaving been part of so many
Hilton garden and openings overthe years, I knew good
locations.
I knew good locations.
Then I knew good locations whenI was in the short term rental
industry.
So I knew good locations in myown backyard, went out, figured
out, okay, how do I buy a pieceof land?
How do I then get a franchise?
(11:41):
And then how do I go about thewhole process of security and
general contractors, architects,all that sort of stuff, and just
really taught myself.
How to do it.
And in November of 2019 brokeground on our Tru hotel.
And then in December of 2019 thefirst time we all heard the word
COVID appeared on our TV screensand arrived in Seattle.
(12:05):
And we then proceeded to build aTru hotel in the middle of
COVID, was.
Really interesting and askingourselves, what in the world did
we do?
What did we get into as thehospitality industry and started
tank Probably good timing for usbecause as we finished up the
Tru 12, 13 months later, we werestarting to come out of COVID
(12:27):
and then just it just took offWow.
and no stopping.
So That's my career journey fromred lion, double tree, Hilton
garden in all the way up to ourown hotels.
Josh (12:39):
Yeah.
I have so many questions.
But okay.
It's like the first thing Iwould love just what you were
just talking about the what, soyou said, what a good property
looks like, what are the thingsyou're looking for Yeah.
Finding a good property,
Grant (12:54):
Yeah, more of location, location, location, So I knew in
my market we have a a city ownedconference center that the
closest hotel to that conferencecenter was about a mile and a
half away.
And they'd been there.
It's really nice facility.
With 80 acres of undevelopedland right across the street
from it, right on the river.
(13:15):
And I was like, wow, who ownsthat piece of property?
could they carve off an acre anda half or two acres me do a
hotel?
Cause looking at the mall is amile away.
I'd be across the street from acity owned conference center.
That's never going to go away.
And then there's other revenuedrivers, businesses and
industries rather close.
(13:35):
And I just knew it was a winner.
What kind of stuff comes intothis conference center?
it's 50, 000 square feet ofmeeting space.
anywhere from home and gardenshows to weddings, to business
meetings, that sort of thing.
So there was no place for, theywould have to have meetings or
they would have meetings there,but then they'd have to get in
their car and go drive to thenext closest hotel to stay when
(13:59):
I put a hotel across the street,so they can walk across street
to That's amazing.
knowing that facility, yeah,it's just never going to go
away, especially if it's sinceit's a government owned entity.
Okay.
So how did you go about figuringout I guess that next part was
find out who owns this and let'ssee if I can pitch them on
carving off an and a half.
Josh (14:20):
How did you do that?
Grant (14:22):
It's funny because the organization or the company that
owned that is one of the, theyown a lot of land in this city
and it's it's old money in thiscity and they just have been
sitting on it and it's what Idid then I went out and I
contacted HBS and I had them doa market study based on the
brand that I Thought would begood.
I got an architect who did somerenderings for me, and then I
(14:44):
went and approached thelandowner and I walked into his
office study, a feasibilitystudy on land before you even
owned it or to them about it oranything.
And come to find out thislandowner had other people
approach him with ideas.
But what sold him on me was thatI walked into his office and I
(15:06):
showed him studied it I know itworks.
Here's the brand that I want toput there and I'm ready to go.
Here's the art and here's therenderings So he got on a plane
with one of his colleagues heflew to Boise where there was a
Tru hotel He toured the hotel tosee what like and came back and
said, okay, I'll sell you theland.
Josh (15:24):
Wow.
That's amazing.
Okay, how much did that cost youto do the work of feasibility
plus like architect renderings?
Grant (15:32):
say between the feasibility and the markets or
the market study and thearchitect, just initial
renderings, probably 10, just toget the idea developed enough
that I could show it to somebodysome sort of.
Document was pretty pictures andsome numbers associated with it
And have a little credibilitythat it's going to work, he
(15:52):
liked it because it was a wellknown name, Hilton name.
He wanted this property to beanchored by a reputable brand.
And he'd been approached by someothers that wanted to do
something else some other ideasBut he just didn't like the
brand so he said okay I'llanchor it and good for him
because he's told me a number oftimes grant you walked in you
showed me this stuff and Then heit kicked off the development
(16:14):
for the entire 80 acres we werethe first in we anchored it
Track 1 (16:17):
Yeah.
grant-guinn_1_04-05-2024_09 (16:19):
And then he was able to probably up
the price for the rest of thereal estate that you're selling
because he added a brandedproperty there on the corner.
And we did a first right ofrefusal on a second piece of
property, a more primary.
Piece of property right on theriver.
Just two lots over from my Tru,which I then secured under a
(16:39):
first right of refusal pen, athing, which I have since
purchased from him to do asecond hotel.
Track 1 (16:45):
that was so same owner for that as well.
grant-guinn_1_04-05-2024_ (16:48):
same, yeah, same owner, but it was the
original piece of property thatI wanted.
It was the property that was onthe river.
Track 1 (16:54):
Okay.
grant-guinn_1_04-05-202 (16:55):
thought years ago was I want to put a
Hilton garden in there because Iwas a garden guy.
I knew my locations.
Track 1 (17:00):
Yeah.
grant-guinn_1_04-05-2024_0 (17:00):
then they what changed was Hilton
came out with Tru.
And for a first time developer,Tru was like, okay, that makes a
lot more sense to It's just aneasier build because so much of
it's the work is done for you.
So I said, okay, let me buy asecondary lot, which I did put
the Tru, and then I'll go backby their initial piece of
property, the prime piece ofproperty that I want and put,
(17:23):
the right brand on it, whichultimately has turned out to be,
we're doing a home with suites.
They're not Hilton garden in.
Cause it doesn't make sense.
It didn't make sense to GardenInn.
So with all the meeting space,when I got 50, 000 square feet
of space across the street, sowe'll do.
A homewood suites there with itwith its new 10.
0 prototype.
Track 1 (17:40):
That's amazing.
Did you already had you alreadytalked to the brand about build
or that comes
grant-guinn_1_04-05-2024_ (17:47):
Yeah.
Yeah, definitely.
Yeah.
Cause I knew I had known notnecessarily the brand, but the
development team who I knew atHilton said, listen, I'd love to
do a Tru and they were justlike, well, if you, if you sign
on here soon, you could be thefirst Tru in Washington state.
If you get going and we sign onright for a Tru.
And right after or right beforethe Tru at Seattle airport
(18:08):
signed on.
So it was a race to the finishline who could open up first at
building during COVID and we gotshut down.
They did.
It was just, it was crazy.
Just because of COVID.
But ultimately, we beat them.
And 12 months and six days builta Tru from the day we broke
ground to the day we opened 12months, six days in the middle
of COVID.
Track 1 (18:28):
the middle of a pandemic.
grant-guinn_1_04-05-2024_ (18:30):
Yeah,
Track 1 (18:31):
Wow.
Okay.
So then you have to you have alot to figure out after that,
right?
Like you get the land, thenyou've got to figure out
construction.
Is that the next thing?
Or what was the,
grant-guinn_1_04-05-2024_0 (18:43):
Yep.
Yep.
So all happening at the sametime okay I'm going to get this
the guy seems like he wants tosell it to me.
Okay, who's going to build thisthing, reach out to my owner
network and Obviously a lot ofHilton Garden Inn owners I knew.
And up in this part of thecountry, there was a a general
contractor out of Montana thathad built all the Hilton Garden
Inns in Montana and a bunch downin Texas And back East.
(19:03):
And so I just reached out tothem and it was there, there
were smaller company and they'renot a big GC, but I said, Hey,
this is what I want to build.
They hadn't built a Tru beforethey built at Fairfield by
Marriott's and lots of gardeninns and courtyards and things
like that.
But he was the only one I knewthat had built hotels before.
So he gave me a price and.
I went with it, right?
(19:23):
So
Track 1 (19:24):
okay.
grant-guinn_1_04-05-2024_ (19:24):
yeah, that's how I chose him.
I didn't even talk to very many,Maybe one other, but I didn't
know who they were.
It was just A random phone callto some other GC.
Track 1 (19:33):
Yeah.
And that's for you, it seemslike a lot of this is very much
like you just, you already hadthis deep level of relationships
and trust with people that itmakes it easier when you're
coming out to do something
grant-guinn_1_04-05-2024_ (19:48):
yeah, definitely.
The owner network that I had hasbeen invaluable to me, really,
because they've coached me alongthe way.
They've different ones.
They've provided different,yeah, coaching and advice and
even, there were some of themthat had already had Trus and I
probably spoke with half a dozendifferent Tru owners before I
finished the constructiondocuments for my Tru.
(20:12):
What did you like?
What didn't you like?
Track 1 (20:14):
The flip side of that relationship thing is I think
like you do the same thing,right?
Like you work with people thatyou trust.
And so the contractor, it's notworth trying to find the best
deal.
grant-guinn_1_04-05-2024_ (20:25):
Yeah.
Track 1 (20:26):
it's about, I'm I want to work with someone that I
trust and know that it's goingto handle this and do it well.
grant-guinn_1_04-05-2024_ (20:33):
Yeah.
Yeah.
we have taken over management ofthe hotel.
So we own and manage now the onehotel, and that will be our
strategy going forward.
We'll be our, just our ownmanagement company because back
to what I've said multiple timesit's important for me to be the
brand.
Don't the mistake that some ofthese management companies make
is they try to infuse their ownculture, which is a culture that
(20:56):
they've developed to put acrossmultiple brands.
And but you have to really bethe culture of the brand that
you are because a Tru culture isvery different than a Hilton
garden in culture, which isdifferent than a double tree
care culture and Hilton's blueenergy culture or whatever it
is.
You have to be the brand.
And if you're not the brand.
(21:16):
You're trying to be somebodythat you're never going to be.
Track 1 (21:19):
What are some examples of ways that you've asked the
team there, like to be thebrand?
grant-guinn_1_04-05-2024_09 (21:24):
The best known culture in the
hospitality and Hilton world, atleast out there is that
Hamptonality culture, right?
That's out there.
But Tru is all about just beingfun, vibrant, Spirited,
colorful, meaning you walk intothat Tru hotel and there's
colors everywhere, right?
And you have your team memberswearing purple, Tru logo shirts,
(21:45):
which is the brand with jeans.
It's a little bit more relaxedand a little bit more quirky, a
little just different.
And that's the culture of beingmore fun and engaging versus,
stuffy and buttoned up with yourCintas uniform on.
It's just.
A different type of culture.
And if, in if you're a largercompany and you're trying to
(22:08):
infuse a Marriott culture into aTru or a best Western culture
into a Tru, it just doesn'twork.
It really just doesn't.
So you have to be the brand.
And then the brand does a greatjob with providing you tools and
resources.
You're paying them largefranchise fees to buy the
franchise.
And it's essential that you bethe brand and use the resources.
Track 1 (22:29):
Yeah,
grant-guinn_1_04-05-2024_090 (22:30):
of these management companies, they
don't, and it's to theirdetriment.
They try to do their own versionacross all their hotels and
desanitize the whole thing whenthey really just need to adopt
what they're paying for to beginwith.
Track 1 (22:44):
You want as a management company sometimes
maybe to try to make it morehomogenous across the whole
company.
But what, like what can happenthen is it's, it comes across as
bland across all of it.
a lot of times we try to put acompany's values on a person to
live those values out.
(23:04):
But what happens is, if ifyou're telling somebody to take
the values of that company, thenthey're not being fully
themselves anymore.
And so they need to know whatthey value and they need to know
what they care about.
And, I like what you're sayingbecause you're saying be the
brand is.
like embody the culture of the,like where you are, that doesn't
(23:25):
mean take on someone else'svalues.
It means let's act out, let's bepart of what this was designed
to do.
How do you do that with yourteam?
Because I've, in talking withpeople on your team can see that
they're engaged I can tell thatthey feel safe.
Also that they feel challenged,that they're growing, you're
(23:46):
pushing them in a kind, gentlepressure way.
So could you talk about that?
What does that look like for
grant-guinn_1_04-05-2024_ (23:53):
yeah, it's okay at our Tru hotel to be
a little bit quirky and justoutside the box, for example,
These team members, includingmyself, have complete ability to
stop what they're doing if theysee a kid or a teenager or a
business person sitting andplaying At the pool table in the
Hilton lobby and bet them,something free out of the
(24:18):
market.
If the other person wins, right?
Play them a quick game of pool.
Engage with the customer.
The customer beats you even ifthey don't beat you at the end
of the game.
You go and you let them choosesomething out of the market.
You put it to, it's a hotelexpense and away you go.
I tell you what, it adds a lotof fun and excitement.
And.
(24:39):
Engagement with the customersthat is, that we just see
nonstop.
It's the feedback is tremendous.
It really is.
Josh (24:47):
And I think that's that's also helpful for the customer.
Like you're saying, there's somuch that has been invested in
developing the brand that forthe customer to feel that
experience and the distinctionof that specific brand out
there.
It's not just about the design.
(25:08):
It is also about the service andthe interaction and the
engagement.
And when you try to be somethingthat you're not it's less it's
less memorable and it's you,it's also like confusing, I
would say, probably to acustomer.
grant-guinn_1_04-05-2024_ (25:23):
Yeah, it really is.
And that's what we're going backto the management company side
of things.
There's some good managementcompanies out there.
But you think about when youbring on a team member and you
sit them down in front of thecomputer and they do their
Hilton or Marriott or whatevertraining, right there, they're
told, Hey, here is what thebrand is.
And then they have to go throughand do a training for a
(25:45):
management company saying, buthere's what your management
company is.
So then what is the employeesupposed to do?
Which Philosophy, which idealsare they supposed to adopt?
And our philosophy is you adoptthe brand, right?
That's where you work.
When you walk out, you have thatuniform on and you are going to
be the brand.
And very focused in our worldof.
(26:06):
And they all know this isfocusing on our real four, four,
key areas, and that's drivingrevenue, encouraging loyalty,
making, doing what we need to doto help those customers be
loyal, increase profitability.
What things can we do to makethis operation more profitable?
And then investing in our teammembers, those four things,
(26:27):
revenue, loyalty, profitability,and investing in our team
members, because you have happyteam members, you have happy
customers everybody seems toconnect much better when people
are happy, for sure.
Track 1 (26:39):
So those four things are what you would say as part
of your GL8.
Like these are the four thingsand these
grant-guinn_1_04-05-2024 (26:48):
That's what's important to us.
And, but the way that you makemoney can be done in different
ways.
You can squeeze every penny outof it and just not put any money
into that.
That's not our approach.
Our approach is then,encouraging loyalty.
What kind of things are we doingto encouraging, encourage the
loyalty of our customers thatthey come back to us time after
time.
So it's the revenue side.
(27:09):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Making sure that we're engagedwith companies like yourself and
the revenue management team atHilton to drive that revenue on
the top, encourage thosecustomers to come back, manage
our expenses on theprofitability side, doing what
we need to do to Sharpen ourpencil there and to just
increase the profitability andthen invest in those team
(27:30):
members, having a fun committee,which we have at the hotel and
supporting a budget line itemthat supports growth, training
growth.
And activity growths for notonly our team members, but we
pay for their families to cometo all of our activities,
whether we rent a box at thebaseball stadium and for all the
team members and all theirfamilies, we rent a cruise boat
(27:52):
at Christmas time and we cruiseacross the lake to Santa's
village with their team membersand our family and their
families.
We do trail pick up with ourteam members and our family and
their families.
So it becomes more of a familyenvironment.
And like I said, it's not cheap,but it's something that we've
invested and it seems to havepaid off.
People enjoy working for us.
(28:13):
I,
Track 1 (28:13):
yeah I love that.
grant-guinn_1_04-05-2024_ (28:16):
Yeah,
Track 1 (28:17):
You're saying like, we are going to be more profitable
by putting this investment inthe team and we're going to
spend the money on the box andthe cruise
grant-guinn_1_04-05-2024_09 (28:25):
And just what we ask them, what can
we do in your department, inyour area of responsibility to
be smarter what can we do?
Let's talk breakfast.
What type of things can we do atthe serving our complimentary
breakfast to allow us to stillprovide what we're supposed to
provide.
But make more money in doing it,right?
(28:46):
Instead of individual milkcontainers, go bulk milk, that,
that can save you some money.
We weigh our product at the endof breakfast.
So we monitor how much waste wehave.
And we have that set is one ofour green initiative goals that
we reduce our food waste at theend of the day.
And ultimately that supportsprofitability as well.
Making sure that we.
(29:07):
We price and manage our marketitems that we're selling Make
sure that we price laundry andEV stations and all that sort of
stuff appropriately based onwhat the cost is associated with
it.
It's just taking a look at adetailed look at the expenses
associated with it and what weultimately charge the customer.
And how can we continue to tweakthese areas without impacting
(29:32):
the satisfaction of the customer
Josh (29:33):
Where I see it, like with the team is they probably, they
also are happy to pursue thatwith you because it's not that
you're pursuing profitability atall costs, they're also
benefiting when everybody on theteam's benefiting because we're
reinvesting this in thecommunity and the hotel and the
resources for you.
Where.
(29:54):
Some folks, it's like, how do wesqueeze every last thing out of
this?
But that can leave your team atthe hotel feeling depleted.
And then that leaves to worseservice, which leads to, lower
revenue.
that it's this downward spiral,but you're I love how you are
reinforcing it by, because wetake such great care of the
(30:17):
team.
Everyone's happy to be creativein the ways in which they find
these other opportunities tohelp increase profitability.
That's
grant-guinn_1_04-05-2024_09 (30:28):
And as we took over the hotel a
little over a year ago, I askedmyself, my gosh, there has got
to be a different way to reduceturnover out there than what has
been done over the prior fewyears.
And we sat back and said, howcan we do this kind of on the
profitability side?
How can we stop spending so muchtrying to recruit people?
(30:50):
And the drug testing associatedwith it and the background
checks and all that sort ofstuff, which we require we, we
do.
Which is expensive, but how wecan increase profitability by
reducing the turnover.
What could we do?
So we found kind of the secretsauce.
At least it worked for us.
We went, I went out and I triedto find some of these different
(31:12):
organizations that are dealingwith these refugees that are
coming into the country, right?
We're talking folks that aredisplaced because of political
or war or whatever it is, andthey're coming into the country
legally.
And they're looking for placesto stay and places to work.
So I went to a couple ofdifferent of those and, had some
(31:33):
conversations, but ultimatelylanded on a partnership with an
organization called WorldRelief, which helps displaced
refugees in our community.
Get settled and they providethem with translators and help
them find housing and help themfind jobs.
And we have had extreme successwith reducing our turnover and
(31:55):
filling our hotel employee poolor employee talent with folks
from that have been referred tous by world relief.
And it's great because thesefolks come to us again, they're
legal.
They've got all their documents.
They're here.
They want to work.
They show up for work, they'redrug free, and they come back
(32:16):
and they, because we treat themwell, they refer their friends
and other family members to comework for us, and our turnover
has just decreased.
Because we now have our core andour base group of folks from an
organization partnership withthat company and we didn't pay
them anything.
They were thrilled to be able towork with somebody like us that
wanted their employees.
And do we have multiplelanguages talking in the break
(32:40):
room?
We do, but we use the phones andwe use the apps, the translation
apps, and and we make it work.
Track 1 (32:47):
This is another example of how you are solving problems
creatively, I would assume thenatural tendency, which is like,
Oh, why are we having to spendso on recruiting?
Like you went above instead ofbelow.
You didn't try to cut it.
You actually solved a newproblem,
grant-guinn_1_04-05-2024_ (33:05):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Some operators take the approachof, Hey, reduce the expense by
stop, stop doing the backgroundchecks, stop doing the drug
testing.
And so it does, that couldincrease profitability.
But our approach was we'rekeeping those because we want
higher quality employees workingfor us.
(33:25):
But We can reduce the turnoverby providing a good place for
them to work in partnering witha company that has a talent pool
of folks that want to work andthey're willing to work.
Track 1 (33:38):
Yeah, I have so many more things to ask you, but I
think, maybe we can do anotherone soon if you're open to it.
And so you think there are stillmarkets that need a new hotel to
be built, like a brandedproperty that would get enough
demand
grant-guinn_1_04-05-2024_090 (33:52):
in the market that, in the region
that I'm in, maybe now, ifyou're talking like the
southeast portion of the UnitedStates, listen, everywhere you
go, there's a Hampton, there'sa, But there's not a Hilton and
Marriott properties in all themarkets that are that there
could be here in the PacificNorthwest.
We're a little bit forgottenmaybe because we're so spread
(34:13):
out up here.
Sometimes you can drive a couplehours between some of these
markets, not have much inbetween, You land a home too.
And one of these markets or evena Hilton garden in man.
The Hilton Garden Inn would bethe Hilton in one of these
college towns In our region.
So yeah, there are definitelystill some markets out there
that are ripe for the picking.
Track 1 (34:34):
where are those spaces that there's enough demand like
that?
grant-guinn_1_04-05- (34:38):
University campuses.
Those are a good starting spot,but then there obviously has to
be business there to support ahotel as well on the corporate
side and the leisure side aswell.
It's maybe not all.
University markets make sense,but there are plenty out there
that do.
Track 1 (34:53):
Yeah.
That's great.
Grant, thank you so much forbeing here today.
Like I yeah, I really appreciatejust your openness.
I see that you've found yourthing and I love like seeing
that you're just like fully litup right now.
You're fully in the in the spaceand you're doing such a good
job.
So yeah.
Thank you for sharing that withus.
grant-guinn_1_04-05-2024_ (35:15):
Yeah, There's definitely a passion
that I have and and we try tofeed that through all the way to
the entire organization of thehotel.
Thank you, Josh.
Appreciate it.
Popular Podcasts
United States of Kennedy
United States of Kennedy is a podcast about our cultural fascination with the Kennedy dynasty. Every week, hosts Lyra Smith and George Civeris go into one aspect of the Kennedy story.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com