In episode 4 of our 10-part Special Hospitality Series in collaboration with Forbes Travel Guide, we continue our "Leaders Behind the Stars" spotlight with Megan Torrance, Senior Vice President for Learning and Development at Forbes Travel Guide, as she takes us behind the scenes to explore how the world’s most prestigious hotels are adapting to meet these new demands.
Forbes Travel Guide’s approach goes beyond checklists—it's about creating meaningful, emotional connections with guests. With 40 expert trainers worldwide, their mission is to elevate service through personalized coaching rather than rigid procedures.
Through Forbes Travel Guide’s dynamic learning platform, hospitality professionals gain access to 60 years of industry expertise, blending digital learning, in-person training, and leadership development to foster a culture of service excellence.
"We’re here to inspire people to be a better version of themselves tomorrow than they are today," Megan explains.
If you're curious about how luxury hotels are leading the way in service innovation, this conversation offers a wealth of inspiration.
Season 5 Launched Jan 15th. New Episodes Every Weds! Check out our first 4 Seasons.
https://www.traveltrendspodcast.com/
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
Now we're seeing more and more of that single
traveler.
You know we listened to astatistic last year at this
event.
That said, I thought it wasparticularly funny that women
were choosing not to get marriedand instead just taking these
single journeys on their own.
But the interesting part of itis that when they're doing that,
they're still looking forcommunity.
So that difference in havingthe understanding of just
(00:23):
because they're alone doesn'tmean they don't want community.
And community involvement orcommunity events aren't really
something that has been huge inhotels.
It does exist.
But how do you create communityand what are different ways?
What's that community look like?
How much of it is too much?
How much is not enough?
So I think we'll continue tosee more bringing in and how do
we make sure everyone feelswelcome, everyone feels invited?
(00:45):
It will be really interestingto watch how we do a better job
of that in the hotel space.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Hello everyone and welcome back to our special
hospitality series.
In partnership with our friendsat Forbes Travel Guide, we're
in season two of our seriesentitled the Leaders Behind the
Stars and, as you've heard, inour first three episodes we
spoke to three extraordinaryleaders in luxury hospitality,
starting with Malcolm Hendry atthe Red Carnation Hotel in
London, and then we spoke toSarah McIntosh from the Mayborn
(01:21):
Beverly Hills, and then lastweek we spoke to Pradeep Raman,
who has launched the very firstCarinthia Hotel in New York City
.
We've had some great feedbackfrom those first three episodes,
since we have launched clipsand highlights on all of our
social channels, which you cancheck out at Travel Trends
Podcast, on LinkedIn, onInstagram and YouTube, and then
our friends at Forbes TravelGuide are posting as well on
(01:42):
both Instagram and LinkedIn atForbes Travel Guide are posting
as well on both Instagram andLinkedIn at Forbes Travel Guide,
and you'll be able to see clipsand highlights from today's
episode as well, which, as we gointo episode four, what I
thought we could do is bring oneof the Forbes Travel Guide team
into the conversation, andtoday we're going to speak to
the Senior Vice President forLearning and Development, megan
(02:04):
Torrance.
Now Megan's got a reallyfascinating background, because
she worked in hospitality formany years before she joined
Forbes Travel Guide.
She actually worked for theFour Seasons Hotel, so she
certainly knows about the art ofluxury hospitality.
She also worked at theAubergine Resorts and then she
joined Forbes Travel Guide about10 years ago and for the last
(02:27):
four years she has been leadingthe learning and development
side of the business.
Now I thought I'd just add someimportant context here, since
most of you have come tounderstand, or may already know,
that Forbes Travel Guide as abrand is really comprised of
their standards, their ratings,the editorial work and their
travel industry outreach.
That's really who Forbes TravelGuide is, but they have a
(02:49):
learning and development arm,which is referred to as the
Academy.
It's not part of Forbes TravelGuide, but essentially the
Academy works with hotels aroundthe world and offers the
opportunity for them, whether itbe remote or on-site, to be
able to improve their customerservice experience.
And this is why I wanted tobring Megan into the
(03:10):
conversation, since you've had agreat opportunity to meet three
hotel GMs and understand theirrole and the journey they've
been on to either achieve theirfive-star ranking or are on
their journey to do just that.
But Forbes Travel Guide andtheir official star ratings.
They don't permit anyone elseto use or train the academy, so
it's an exclusive opportunity towork with this part of the
(03:33):
organization.
So I thought today let's bringMegan into the conversation and
be able to showcase this side ofthe business and just really
understanding all the learningand development component that
makes Forbes Travel Guide sospecial.
So, on that note, let me bringin Megan to the conversation.
Thanks so much for joining us,megan.
It's great to have you onTravel Trends and our special
(03:54):
hospitality series.
Speaker 1 (03:55):
Thank you so much and thank you for having me.
It's really a pleasure to behere and you know, I think you
make a great point that it's somuch to do with the rating
system but honestly, it's somuch to do with all of it, you
know, and there's so many timeswhere we're not even training to
that five star.
We're just training and tryingto inspire people to be a little
bit better version ofthemselves tomorrow than they
are today, and showing them theways and delivering that with a
(04:16):
passion.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
Yeah, well, tell us a bit about your specific role,
because I think a lot of peopleare familiar with Forbes Travel
Guide and the five-star ratings,but tell us about your role as
the SVP of learning anddevelopment.
What does that encompass andwhat is your area of focus?
Speaker 1 (04:28):
Absolutely so.
My area of focus is anythinglearning, so it's really
exciting to see how the positionhas changed and evolved over
the years.
Currently, we have a team ofabout 40 trainers who are
positioned all over the globe.
Yeah, it's exciting.
When I started, I think I wasnumber seven and then we went
down to three during COVID, soit's been fun to kind of watch
the team grow and evolve.
(04:49):
For sure.
Yeah, and we're working withteams all over the world in the
rated market, but also non-ratedmarket of just service
development and serviceexcellence.
And the other interesting partthat's in our area is that we
also do a lot of digital andreally building our digital
products as well.
So I think everyone's heard ofthe Service Energizers, but
they're a really great tool tohelp leaders do what we do and
(05:10):
help leaders train and developtheir team.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
Well, let's actually speak to that, because I think
many of our listeners may not be, and I think one of the things
that's unique about yourorganization is the fact that
you do have a person likeyourself, a senior executive,
that is responsible for thisarea.
Many organizations, of course,have an HR function or a chief
people officer and oftentimeslearning and development and
coaching falls under kind of HR,but this is not the case here,
(05:34):
because this is, you mentioned,like having 40 trainers around
the world.
So tell us a little bit aboutthe training system, I guess,
and what makes it unique, andexplain some of that terminology
you just mentioned.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
Yeah, of course, and you know what really makes our
training in general unique is wefocus more on the emotional
connection than anything.
And you know, when we train athotels and when I was in hotels
and I was training my team inoperations I tended to focus on
the SOPs and I had to focus onthe compliance training and the
foundational orientation styletraining, the two-week training
(06:06):
and onboarding period.
But when we come in at ForbesTravel Guide not that we don't
respect those things, weabsolutely respect those things
but we have the ability to trainon just 100% the guest
experience and how to elevatethe guest experience and how to
really bring that outside voicein that has traveled all over
the world and seen so manydifferent ways and best
practices and share those withthe teams.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
And then, being here at the event like this, tell us
a little bit about how you playa role in the summit itself and
the experience we're having herein Monaco.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
Yeah.
So I'm lucky to be here with alot of the members of my team,
and we are hosting variousdiscovery sessions that help the
audience understand some of thedifferent learning pathways and
journeys.
For example, a big thing thatwe believe in and that we really
think is so valuable is that webelieve that training should be
multi-part.
So a lot of times people thinkof our training as just the
(07:00):
in-person training, but reallywe've developed an ecosystem
that we're here to spread theword about, and that ecosystem
involves first starting with adigital platform of learning to
just understand the concepts ofluxury hospitality, understand
what they mean, understand theterminology, and then we move
into the in-person training in aperfect world, because what
that does is it allows us topick up from where we left off
(07:21):
on the digital platform and itallows that such valuable
in-person time to be, instead ofgoing over terminology, to
really be focusing on what arethose guest behaviors that are
making these foundational thingsdifficult to achieve.
So in the guest behavior, it'sone thing, for example, to say
be genuine and authentic withyour guests and to have a great
friendly conversation with thatat check-in, but when we're in
(07:43):
person, if the digital learninghappens first, then in person,
what we can do is we can reallytalk about.
We can talk about what happenswhen the guest is on their cell
phone.
So we're still supposed to begenuine and authentic with them,
but it's applied differentbecause the guest behavior has
changed.
And then the final piece ofthat ecosystem is that we want
to leave the leaders with a toolat the end of the training that
(08:03):
can give them the opportunityto practice with their team and
keep that message alive, whichis where those service
energizers come in.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
Got it.
I like the term serviceenergizers.
I also really like the factthat, as I got to learn more
about Forbes Travel Guide lastyear in Las Vegas and speak to
many of the amazing GMs that arehere at the conference and
obviously there's many new GMshere, given this is much more of
an international conferencethis year One of the things that
they had highlighted to me wasjust how important the learning
(08:30):
how the ratings and standardsystems work so they can improve
the guest experience at theirhotel.
So it's one thing to get thecertification, which is
obviously great for business,but actually the entire journey
to get there is just asimportant because it enables
them to lift their standards,which is going to increase
repeat guests and even spendingwith the revenue of each of the
(08:51):
guests, and so there's so manybenefits of just elevating the
guest experience based on howForbes approaches this.
But they take a very you guys.
As I've come to understand itfrom your team, and certainly
from Herman, and who's the CEO,of course and he mentioned this
as introduction is you have toseparate church and state
between the ratings and thepartnerships, because nobody can
(09:12):
actually know when someone isactually going to visit their
property.
So, and although they can havean understanding of what they're
going to be looking at, theyreally don't have any control
over that.
There's no, it's editorialcontrol is paramount for you
guys to be able to have trustand confidence in the rating
system, so tell us a little bitabout how that plays into your
(09:32):
development and trainingprograms.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
Yeah, and you know I think it goes back to a little
bit to what I was saying earlieris that in training, yes, the
rating is the end goal for a lotof properties and, believe me,
if it's your goal, it's our goal, we will help you get there.
We will develop that path withyou.
But it's also we understandthat it is in fact a journey.
So you know, if your goal, ifyou're just opening your hotel
and your goal is five-star,we're going to help you build
that roadmap to get there.
(09:55):
So there is separation betweenthat, because we're not going to
come in and promise that in twodays you're going to be
five-star.
Anyone who has a five-star hotelknows that it's a process and
it's about building a culture ofservice.
And that culture of servicecomes with the right leadership,
the right vision and really thededication and time put into
that.
So we're working with the teams.
Yes, well, that's the endresult and the end goal that
(10:17):
most of them hope for when we'retraining day to day.
It's helping them take babysteps and really work on that
roadmap of improvement.
And we can't get to A or wecan't get to B until we get to A
, or whatever that saying is.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
Yeah, no, that makes total sense and I get it.
I guess that's the importanceof this aspect of your role and
the organization, but tell us alittle bit about the plans for
this year and how your team androle is evolving.
I mean obviously going down tothree and up to 40.
But one of the things that Icertainly see here is the
dramatic global expansion ofForbes Travel Guide and
(10:52):
especially internationalexpansion global expansion of
Forbes Travel Guide andespecially international
expansion.
So what does that look like foryou and your team as you
continue to bring on more peopleinto this business and prepare
for an even bigger 2026?
Speaker 1 (11:02):
Yeah, absolutely.
I mean, 2024 was huge, 2025 isgoing to be bigger and 2026 is
going to be nothing short ofrobust.
And really what we're doing andhow that's changing is we've
learned after COVID, duringCOVID, and even knew before
COVID, that service excellenceis everywhere, it's not just in
the rated world.
So Forbes Travel Guide, thelearning and development team,
is kind of breaking off into twoseparate divisions or entities.
(11:24):
We have Atelier CX, whichlaunched end of last year, which
is now the partner that'sworking with anyone outside of
the hotel world or rated worldto really develop their roadmap
for service and their standardsthat they want for their
business.
And then the second divisionwould be the academy, and the
academy is the trainers, and sowhile they will continue to
(11:44):
train the Forbes Travel Guidestar rated properties, the
academy will also grow intoservice excellence training, no
matter your journey, no matteryour business, to really help
support service excellence ingeneral.
As we heard from a lot ofspeakers today, that's the heart
of any great organization.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
Yeah, for sure, and for those of you listening to
this, I mean, megan's episode isa standalone with the behind
the stars the leaders behind thestars theme, and so she is
certainly a key person.
Most of the people you haveotherwise heard from on this
series she's the only one that'sactually Forbes travel guide
that will be part of thestandalone series, and we also
(12:19):
thought that would actually be agreat idea because of her
background and expertise and herarea of focus.
But one of the things that shejust mentioned is Atelier CX,
and then there's obviously BondLab.
Speaker 1 (12:31):
Yes, of course.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
Yes, and so both of those, actually, and the
individuals behind them, will bepart of our highlight episode.
So I'm just going to encourageeveryone to make sure that
you're registered, subscribed,and that you stay tuned for
those episodes, because both ofthose are actually massive
initiatives unto themselves thathave a huge opportunity to grow
this business.
Absolutely the idea of doingluxury collaborations.
It's like there's no shortageof opportunities there.
(12:53):
But back to you and your role.
Tell us.
The thing I'm really keen toask you about, megan, is some of
the trends that you're seeingin this space, because clearly
you have a unique view andperspective on that.
So why don't you tell us someof the trends that you're seeing
from service excellence andchanging customer expectations,
because I'm sure your trainingcan't stay static.
(13:14):
You're responding to customerdemands and needs and they're
changing wellness.
Obviously, that's a huge focushere with the wellness studio.
So, yeah, tell us some of thetrends that you're paying
attention to.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
Well, I think there's two areas of trends that are
worth talking about.
I think, obviously, trends inthe industry and then also
trends in how training isevolving.
So for the first part, fortrends in the industry, wellness
is huge.
So we're seeing a lot of talkabout longevity and what
longevity looks like and howlongevity will change the
traveler demographic and it'sinteresting, living in Southern
(13:45):
California, you can really seethe med spa clinics really
focusing on all the biohackingand everything and I see those
worlds emerging with luxury spasand I know it's very scary but
it's already really happeningand so how that continues to
change the perception of whatluxury is and is going to really
be huge.
Another trend is wellness islow ABV, which is something that
(14:08):
in my day and age we didn'teven talk about low ABV
cocktails.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
Just explain that for our listeners that aren't
familiar with the terminology,just to bring everyone on the
journey.
Speaker 1 (14:18):
Just low alcohol, so it's not as pungent of cocktails
, but that's really a trend.
I mean, I'm part-time in NapaValley learning that wine sales
are down.
Consumers aren't drinking thesame way.
So that's all part of thiswellness initiative and how
hotels have to quickly adapt towhat our offerings.
It's not the traditional,old-fashioned, always staple
that was on the menu.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
Yeah, exactly, and there's definitely a big trend
in non-alcoholic beverages andmocktails and just a general
focus on health and wellness.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
One of the sessions that I had the privilege to
attend was your partners at PWCdid a great trend session on
luxury and what they actuallyhighlighted was the rise of
GLP-1.
Speaker 1 (15:00):
Yes, of course.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
It's like 8% of the US population is now on one form
or another of that drug and,just with the dramatic weight
loss that many people areexperiencing, it's changing
their perception of their bodyimage, and they're taking
vacations and they're switchingto more wellness holidays and
moving away, for example, fromsalty and sweet foods to more
(15:23):
nutrient dense options, and sothese are the things that I'm
like.
This is why we come to theForbes Travel Guide event in
Monaco to listen to theseexperts and focus on the trends,
which is why I was so keen toask you.
But yeah, please continue withsome of the other highlights.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
Yeah, and another trend we're seeing or will
continue to see, I think, moreand more is the rise of the
single traveler.
It's not as taboo like it usedto be.
It never was.
For me I loved it, but forothers I don't know.
But now we're seeing more andmore of that single traveler.
You know we listened to astatistic last year at this
event.
That said, I thought it wasparticularly funny that women
(15:56):
were choosing not to get marriedand instead just taking these
single journeys on their own.
But the interesting part of itis that when they're doing that,
they're still looking forcommunity.
So that difference in havingthe understanding of just
because they're alone doesn'tmean they don't want community.
And community involvement orcommunity events aren't really
something that has been huge inhotels.
(16:16):
It does exist.
But how do you create communityand what are different ways?
What's that community look like?
How much of it is too much, howmuch is not enough?
So I think we'll continue tosee more bringing in and how do
we make sure everyone feelswelcome, everyone feels invited
Will be really interesting towatch how we do a better job of
that in the hotel space.
Speaker 2 (16:34):
Yeah, for sure.
That was actually just tounderscore your point there.
They also highlighted thedramatic rise in solo travelers
in the last five years, andspecifically female solo
travelers, and one of the statsthat wasn't part of their slides
but they had referenced I hadjotted it down is that 47% of
women solo travelers are eitherdivorced or widowed.
(16:55):
Either divorced or widowed andthey were highlighting that not
in a way to because, when Imentioned to a colleague earlier
, like that's sad, it's like,well, in certain situations
certainly it might be, but inother situations they now have
the freedom to be able to traveland travel independently.
And so someone made the jokethat maybe they're now on
Ozembic and they're single andthey're going to have the best
holidays of their entire life.
So a different way to look at it, but nevertheless there's this
(17:16):
dramatic rise in solo femaletraveler and a focus on wellness
, so I've got to assume thatthat is something you need to be
mindful of, to build intotraining programs to make sure
that the hoteliers are preparedfor this trend and ready to
serve those guests in ways thatare different than their
existing clientele.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
Yeah, and I think that's where Forbes Travel Guide
is really fortunate, becauseour trainers' main job sounds
really glamorous they travel theworld in all these best hotels,
and so what we can bring isreally that collection of best
practices and that collection ofyou know.
This is what's happening outthere, because I know again when
I worked in operations I couldnever get a day off, so I was
working around the clock and wedidn't have the luxury of the
vacation that you think.
You work in hospitality.
(17:53):
You must have seen all the besthotels.
I didn't do that until Istarted working here, and so to
be able to share those bestpractices and keep that moving
forward is really the fun partof our job.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
Yeah, well, just to highlight how organizations that
are listening to this becauseclearly we've got a large global
audience and we're very proudto have this partnership with
Forbes Travel Guide, where wehave this hospitality series of
travel trends and Forbes TravelGuide have partnered together to
create this hospitality specialseries, and one of the reasons
that I wanted to not only haveyou on the podcast and to be
here together at the event is tohelp many other organizations
(18:29):
and individuals understand howthey can actually work with
Forbes Travel Guide, sinceyou're growing so dramatically.
So what would be some of the, Iguess, tips, suggestions from
your perspective about howorganizations should plan to
work with you or partner withyou?
Speaker 1 (18:43):
Well, a couple of different things I can share all
day with how you can work withus, but I think that what's
important to know is, as you getready to work with us, some
things that are important tokeep in mind is that it is a
journey.
So you know, one training, twotrainings I have the best
trainers in the world on my team, with no question but one
training or two training withthem is not going to help you
get to your end result thatyou're looking for.
It is a journey.
(19:03):
So it's a process of you know,really investing in the
leadership to want to move theneedle and then, if you have the
team that wants to move theneedle, we will absolutely help
you move it.
So I think that's a big part ofit.
I also think that you know youwant to break up the journey
into that roadmap and you wantto celebrate the little
successes along the way.
So you can't look at I don'tknow if you can't look at oh, we
(19:24):
only score.
If you were sorry if you werescoring 75, 80% on your reports
and all of a sudden you bump to90, you can't look at that as
failure.
You know you have to look atthat as like we're moving in the
right direction, and changetakes time and getting people on
board with a new direction anda new culture of service or
enhanced culture of service, Ishould say is something that is
a multi-year journey and youhave to be dedicated to that
(19:47):
journey and, as a GM, be leadingthat vision of this is what
we're doing and this is the pathwe're taking.
We're going to celebrate all ofour wins along the way, but
then, if you want to hear abouthow to work with us directly, I
do.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
Yeah, I think that's important too, because the
reason I think it is soimportant is just because I've
seen so many companies that havebeen transformed and I've
spoken to them.
And many people will have heardthis Malcolm Hendry, who's my
great friend that runs- Hotel 41in London, which is one of the
top ranked hotels, like numberone on TripAdvisor, and he also
(20:20):
runs the Rubens, yes, and now heruns a hotel in Scotland as
well, and so he's had incrediblesuccess.
But if you trace it back tosome of the origins with Malcolm
, he convinced Jonathan Raggett,his boss, that he needed to be
Forbes Travel Guide rated.
Absolutely and he went on ajourney to reach that status and
this is the conference that hecomes to every year.
(20:41):
It's his one majorinternational conference he
attends.
He loves forbes travel guidebecause it's really helped him
build the largest uh propertycollection within the group yeah
, and he's like so.
So this is where, like, I'veseen the, the real benefit.
So I guess, when I'm asking youfor these suggestions, I just
wanted to highlight that to ourlisteners, that it like it's
coming from a really good place,where it's not because we've
just partnered with ForbesTravel Guide, it's because I
(21:04):
know it'll make a meaningfuldifference to their business.
So, yeah, please by all meansshare a few more details with
how people can work andcollaborate with you.
Speaker 1 (21:11):
Of course, I think the best way to get ahold of us
is through our LinkedIn.
We have Forbes Travel GuideLinkedIn, but we also have
Forbes Travel Guide Learning andDevelopment, and that's a
really great tool, regardless ofworking with us or not, because
it will share some of thosebest practices and tips around
the world, so you'll always seeupdates there.
We've also you'll continue tohear more about Atelier CX, but
(21:32):
they have launched a websitelast year that starts to define
their business and then, comingsoon, we'll have a website for
Forbes Travel Guide called theAcademy, which will have all of
our learning options and kind ofhelp to highlight that
ecosystem of learning that wepride ourselves on, as well as
the journey and what to expectfrom the journey and you know,
what are some realistic roadmapsfor you to take along the way.
Speaker 2 (21:51):
Oh, that's fantastic.
Well, megan, I definitely wantto put more of a focus on
learning as part of our podcast,so we definitely need to find
time to regroup again.
We will After this event and,obviously, as we continue our
partnership.
But I just wanted to say thankyou to you, thank you to the
team.
It's a real honor to be here atForbes Travel Guide again in
Monaco.
I'm excited to hear where it'sgoing to be announced for next
(22:14):
year.
I know you've got some ideas,but I was talking to Stuart and
obviously nothing can berevealed.
He didn't tell me anythingother than you're still in the
final stages of making adecision.
But I'm sure when people arelistening to this, they can go
and find out more informationabout attending next year.
So, just given that you are thekey Forbes Travel Guide
representative on thehospitality series, would you
mind just sharing with us, as wewrap up, how they can find out
(22:36):
more information about ForbesTravel Guide to be a part of the
summit in future?
Because it is membership onlyand kind of by invitation, so it
is a very exclusive event to bea part of.
Speaker 1 (22:47):
Yes, of course, and of course all of our members
will get regular communicationabout when.
We'll probably have someteasers out coming soon, but
also the summit has its ownwebsite soon.
But also the summit has its ownwebsite.
So if you'd like to work withus from a travel agent or a
travel advisor perspective orfrom a vendor perspective, the
summit's website would be thegreat place to go to get all
that information.
And we'll say destinationcoming soon, I think just a
(23:08):
couple weeks and you'll find out.
Speaker 2 (23:11):
Okay, I'll make sure that it's in the notes for those
of you who are listening tothis, but Megan, it's gonna be
tough to beat Monaco.
Yeah, no kidding, exactly, Ithink we'd all gladly just come
back for a Monaco part two, butexactly, I'm sure you guys will
surprise us again.
But yes, thank you, Megan.
It's a real pleasure to meetyou and get this time together.
Thanks for the partnership andthanks for making time for this
discussion.
Speaker 1 (23:30):
Oh, absolutely Dan it was an absolute pleasure.
Speaker 2 (23:52):
And we'll talk soon.
All right, thank youconversation, and I think it
gave really important context tothe next series of interviews
we're going to be covering,since you get a better
background of why we all cametogether for the summit in
Monaco, this extraordinary eventand the people that we're going
to be continuing conversationswith, not only hotel GMs, but
(24:13):
we're actually going to bespeaking to suppliers that are
part of the luxury network, andalso journalists and other
partners.
So there's going to be somereally fascinating conversations
to follow.
So make sure you are subscribedon the streaming platform of
your choice to be alerted whennew episodes go live every
Thursday for the next six weeks.
And then, don't forget, we postclips and highlights on our
(24:34):
social channels, which areLinkedIn, youtube and Instagram
at Travel Trends Podcast, andour friends at Forbes Travel
Guide are kindly posting as wellon LinkedIn and Instagram at
Forbes Travel Guide, so be sureto check those out, and
otherwise, we'll look forward tohaving you join us next week on
episode five of our specialhospitality series.
(24:56):
Until then, safe travels.
Now we're seeing more and more of that single
traveler.
You know we listened to astatistic last year at this
event.
That said, I thought it wasparticularly funny that women
were choosing not to get marriedand instead just taking these
single journeys on their own.
But the interesting part of itis that when they're doing that,
they're still looking forcommunity.
So that difference in havingthe understanding of just
(00:23):
because they're alone doesn'tmean they don't want community.
And community involvement orcommunity events aren't really
something that has been huge inhotels.
It does exist.
But how do you create communityand what are different ways?
What's that community look like?
How much of it is too much?
How much is not enough?
So I think we'll continue tosee more bringing in and how do
we make sure everyone feelswelcome, everyone feels invited?
(00:45):
It will be really interestingto watch how we do a better job
of that in the hotel space.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Hello everyone and welcome back to our special
hospitality series.
In partnership with our friendsat Forbes Travel Guide, we're
in season two of our seriesentitled the Leaders Behind the
Stars and, as you've heard, inour first three episodes we
spoke to three extraordinaryleaders in luxury hospitality,
starting with Malcolm Hendry atthe Red Carnation Hotel in
London, and then we spoke toSarah McIntosh from the Mayborn
(01:21):
Beverly Hills, and then lastweek we spoke to Pradeep Raman,
who has launched the very firstCarinthia Hotel in New York City
.
We've had some great feedbackfrom those first three episodes,
since we have launched clipsand highlights on all of our
social channels, which you cancheck out at Travel Trends
Podcast, on LinkedIn, onInstagram and YouTube, and then
our friends at Forbes TravelGuide are posting as well on
(01:42):
both Instagram and LinkedIn atForbes Travel Guide are posting
as well on both Instagram andLinkedIn at Forbes Travel Guide,
and you'll be able to see clipsand highlights from today's
episode as well, which, as we gointo episode four, what I
thought we could do is bring oneof the Forbes Travel Guide team
into the conversation, andtoday we're going to speak to
the Senior Vice President forLearning and Development, megan
(02:04):
Torrance.
Now Megan's got a reallyfascinating background, because
she worked in hospitality formany years before she joined
Forbes Travel Guide.
She actually worked for theFour Seasons Hotel, so she
certainly knows about the art ofluxury hospitality.
She also worked at theAubergine Resorts and then she
joined Forbes Travel Guide about10 years ago and for the last
(02:27):
four years she has been leadingthe learning and development
side of the business.
Now I thought I'd just add someimportant context here, since
most of you have come tounderstand, or may already know,
that Forbes Travel Guide as abrand is really comprised of
their standards, their ratings,the editorial work and their
travel industry outreach.
That's really who Forbes TravelGuide is, but they have a
(02:49):
learning and development arm,which is referred to as the
Academy.
It's not part of Forbes TravelGuide, but essentially the
Academy works with hotels aroundthe world and offers the
opportunity for them, whether itbe remote or on-site, to be
able to improve their customerservice experience.
And this is why I wanted tobring Megan into the
(03:10):
conversation, since you've had agreat opportunity to meet three
hotel GMs and understand theirrole and the journey they've
been on to either achieve theirfive-star ranking or are on
their journey to do just that.
But Forbes Travel Guide andtheir official star ratings.
They don't permit anyone elseto use or train the academy, so
it's an exclusive opportunity towork with this part of the
(03:33):
organization.
So I thought today let's bringMegan into the conversation and
be able to showcase this side ofthe business and just really
understanding all the learningand development component that
makes Forbes Travel Guide sospecial.
So, on that note, let me bringin Megan to the conversation.
Thanks so much for joining us,megan.
It's great to have you onTravel Trends and our special
(03:54):
hospitality series.
Speaker 1 (03:55):
Thank you so much and thank you for having me.
It's really a pleasure to behere and you know, I think you
make a great point that it's somuch to do with the rating
system but honestly, it's somuch to do with all of it, you
know, and there's so many timeswhere we're not even training to
that five star.
We're just training and tryingto inspire people to be a little
bit better version ofthemselves tomorrow than they
are today, and showing them theways and delivering that with a
(04:16):
passion.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
Yeah, well, tell us a bit about your specific role,
because I think a lot of peopleare familiar with Forbes Travel
Guide and the five-star ratings,but tell us about your role as
the SVP of learning anddevelopment.
What does that encompass andwhat is your area of focus?
Speaker 1 (04:28):
Absolutely so.
My area of focus is anythinglearning, so it's really
exciting to see how the positionhas changed and evolved over
the years.
Currently, we have a team ofabout 40 trainers who are
positioned all over the globe.
Yeah, it's exciting.
When I started, I think I wasnumber seven and then we went
down to three during COVID, soit's been fun to kind of watch
the team grow and evolve.
(04:49):
For sure.
Yeah, and we're working withteams all over the world in the
rated market, but also non-ratedmarket of just service
development and serviceexcellence.
And the other interesting partthat's in our area is that we
also do a lot of digital andreally building our digital
products as well.
So I think everyone's heard ofthe Service Energizers, but
they're a really great tool tohelp leaders do what we do and
(05:10):
help leaders train and developtheir team.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
Well, let's actually speak to that, because I think
many of our listeners may not be, and I think one of the things
that's unique about yourorganization is the fact that
you do have a person likeyourself, a senior executive,
that is responsible for thisarea.
Many organizations, of course,have an HR function or a chief
people officer and oftentimeslearning and development and
coaching falls under kind of HR,but this is not the case here,
(05:34):
because this is, you mentioned,like having 40 trainers around
the world.
So tell us a little bit aboutthe training system, I guess,
and what makes it unique, andexplain some of that terminology
you just mentioned.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
Yeah, of course, and you know what really makes our
training in general unique is wefocus more on the emotional
connection than anything.
And you know, when we train athotels and when I was in hotels
and I was training my team inoperations I tended to focus on
the SOPs and I had to focus onthe compliance training and the
foundational orientation styletraining, the two-week training
(06:06):
and onboarding period.
But when we come in at ForbesTravel Guide not that we don't
respect those things, weabsolutely respect those things
but we have the ability to trainon just 100% the guest
experience and how to elevatethe guest experience and how to
really bring that outside voicein that has traveled all over
the world and seen so manydifferent ways and best
practices and share those withthe teams.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
And then, being here at the event like this, tell us
a little bit about how you playa role in the summit itself and
the experience we're having herein Monaco.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
Yeah.
So I'm lucky to be here with alot of the members of my team,
and we are hosting variousdiscovery sessions that help the
audience understand some of thedifferent learning pathways and
journeys.
For example, a big thing thatwe believe in and that we really
think is so valuable is that webelieve that training should be
multi-part.
So a lot of times people thinkof our training as just the
(07:00):
in-person training, but reallywe've developed an ecosystem
that we're here to spread theword about, and that ecosystem
involves first starting with adigital platform of learning to
just understand the concepts ofluxury hospitality, understand
what they mean, understand theterminology, and then we move
into the in-person training in aperfect world, because what
that does is it allows us topick up from where we left off
(07:21):
on the digital platform and itallows that such valuable
in-person time to be, instead ofgoing over terminology, to
really be focusing on what arethose guest behaviors that are
making these foundational thingsdifficult to achieve.
So in the guest behavior, it'sone thing, for example, to say
be genuine and authentic withyour guests and to have a great
friendly conversation with thatat check-in, but when we're in
(07:43):
person, if the digital learninghappens first, then in person,
what we can do is we can reallytalk about.
We can talk about what happenswhen the guest is on their cell
phone.
So we're still supposed to begenuine and authentic with them,
but it's applied differentbecause the guest behavior has
changed.
And then the final piece ofthat ecosystem is that we want
to leave the leaders with a toolat the end of the training that
(08:03):
can give them the opportunityto practice with their team and
keep that message alive, whichis where those service
energizers come in.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
Got it.
I like the term serviceenergizers.
I also really like the factthat, as I got to learn more
about Forbes Travel Guide lastyear in Las Vegas and speak to
many of the amazing GMs that arehere at the conference and
obviously there's many new GMshere, given this is much more of
an international conferencethis year One of the things that
they had highlighted to me wasjust how important the learning
(08:30):
how the ratings and standardsystems work so they can improve
the guest experience at theirhotel.
So it's one thing to get thecertification, which is
obviously great for business,but actually the entire journey
to get there is just asimportant because it enables
them to lift their standards,which is going to increase
repeat guests and even spendingwith the revenue of each of the
(08:51):
guests, and so there's so manybenefits of just elevating the
guest experience based on howForbes approaches this.
But they take a very you guys.
As I've come to understand itfrom your team, and certainly
from Herman, and who's the CEO,of course and he mentioned this
as introduction is you have toseparate church and state
between the ratings and thepartnerships, because nobody can
(09:12):
actually know when someone isactually going to visit their
property.
So, and although they can havean understanding of what they're
going to be looking at, theyreally don't have any control
over that.
There's no, it's editorialcontrol is paramount for you
guys to be able to have trustand confidence in the rating
system, so tell us a little bitabout how that plays into your
(09:32):
development and trainingprograms.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
Yeah, and you know I think it goes back to a little
bit to what I was saying earlieris that in training, yes, the
rating is the end goal for a lotof properties and, believe me,
if it's your goal, it's our goal, we will help you get there.
We will develop that path withyou.
But it's also we understandthat it is in fact a journey.
So you know, if your goal, ifyou're just opening your hotel
and your goal is five-star,we're going to help you build
that roadmap to get there.
(09:55):
So there is separation betweenthat, because we're not going to
come in and promise that in twodays you're going to be
five-star.
Anyone who has a five-star hotelknows that it's a process and
it's about building a culture ofservice.
And that culture of servicecomes with the right leadership,
the right vision and really thededication and time put into
that.
So we're working with the teams.
Yes, well, that's the endresult and the end goal that
(10:17):
most of them hope for when we'retraining day to day.
It's helping them take babysteps and really work on that
roadmap of improvement.
And we can't get to A or wecan't get to B until we get to A
, or whatever that saying is.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
Yeah, no, that makes total sense and I get it.
I guess that's the importanceof this aspect of your role and
the organization, but tell us alittle bit about the plans for
this year and how your team androle is evolving.
I mean obviously going down tothree and up to 40.
But one of the things that Icertainly see here is the
dramatic global expansion ofForbes Travel Guide and
(10:52):
especially internationalexpansion global expansion of
Forbes Travel Guide andespecially international
expansion.
So what does that look like foryou and your team as you
continue to bring on more peopleinto this business and prepare
for an even bigger 2026?
Speaker 1 (11:02):
Yeah, absolutely.
I mean, 2024 was huge, 2025 isgoing to be bigger and 2026 is
going to be nothing short ofrobust.
And really what we're doing andhow that's changing is we've
learned after COVID, duringCOVID, and even knew before
COVID, that service excellenceis everywhere, it's not just in
the rated world.
So Forbes Travel Guide, thelearning and development team,
is kind of breaking off into twoseparate divisions or entities.
(11:24):
We have Atelier CX, whichlaunched end of last year, which
is now the partner that'sworking with anyone outside of
the hotel world or rated worldto really develop their roadmap
for service and their standardsthat they want for their
business.
And then the second divisionwould be the academy, and the
academy is the trainers, and sowhile they will continue to
(11:44):
train the Forbes Travel Guidestar rated properties, the
academy will also grow intoservice excellence training, no
matter your journey, no matteryour business, to really help
support service excellence ingeneral.
As we heard from a lot ofspeakers today, that's the heart
of any great organization.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
Yeah, for sure, and for those of you listening to
this, I mean, megan's episode isa standalone with the behind
the stars the leaders behind thestars theme, and so she is
certainly a key person.
Most of the people you haveotherwise heard from on this
series she's the only one that'sactually Forbes travel guide
that will be part of thestandalone series, and we also
(12:19):
thought that would actually be agreat idea because of her
background and expertise and herarea of focus.
But one of the things that shejust mentioned is Atelier CX,
and then there's obviously BondLab.
Speaker 1 (12:31):
Yes, of course.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
Yes, and so both of those, actually, and the
individuals behind them, will bepart of our highlight episode.
So I'm just going to encourageeveryone to make sure that
you're registered, subscribed,and that you stay tuned for
those episodes, because both ofthose are actually massive
initiatives unto themselves thathave a huge opportunity to grow
this business.
Absolutely the idea of doingluxury collaborations.
It's like there's no shortageof opportunities there.
(12:53):
But back to you and your role.
Tell us.
The thing I'm really keen toask you about, megan, is some of
the trends that you're seeingin this space, because clearly
you have a unique view andperspective on that.
So why don't you tell us someof the trends that you're seeing
from service excellence andchanging customer expectations,
because I'm sure your trainingcan't stay static.
(13:14):
You're responding to customerdemands and needs and they're
changing wellness.
Obviously, that's a huge focushere with the wellness studio.
So, yeah, tell us some of thetrends that you're paying
attention to.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
Well, I think there's two areas of trends that are
worth talking about.
I think, obviously, trends inthe industry and then also
trends in how training isevolving.
So for the first part, fortrends in the industry, wellness
is huge.
So we're seeing a lot of talkabout longevity and what
longevity looks like and howlongevity will change the
traveler demographic and it'sinteresting, living in Southern
(13:45):
California, you can really seethe med spa clinics really
focusing on all the biohackingand everything and I see those
worlds emerging with luxury spasand I know it's very scary but
it's already really happeningand so how that continues to
change the perception of whatluxury is and is going to really
be huge.
Another trend is wellness islow ABV, which is something that
(14:08):
in my day and age we didn'teven talk about low ABV
cocktails.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
Just explain that for our listeners that aren't
familiar with the terminology,just to bring everyone on the
journey.
Speaker 1 (14:18):
Just low alcohol, so it's not as pungent of cocktails
, but that's really a trend.
I mean, I'm part-time in NapaValley learning that wine sales
are down.
Consumers aren't drinking thesame way.
So that's all part of thiswellness initiative and how
hotels have to quickly adapt towhat our offerings.
It's not the traditional,old-fashioned, always staple
that was on the menu.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
Yeah, exactly, and there's definitely a big trend
in non-alcoholic beverages andmocktails and just a general
focus on health and wellness.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
One of the sessions that I had the privilege to
attend was your partners at PWCdid a great trend session on
luxury and what they actuallyhighlighted was the rise of
GLP-1.
Speaker 1 (15:00):
Yes, of course.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
It's like 8% of the US population is now on one form
or another of that drug and,just with the dramatic weight
loss that many people areexperiencing, it's changing
their perception of their bodyimage, and they're taking
vacations and they're switchingto more wellness holidays and
moving away, for example, fromsalty and sweet foods to more
(15:23):
nutrient dense options, and sothese are the things that I'm
like.
This is why we come to theForbes Travel Guide event in
Monaco to listen to theseexperts and focus on the trends,
which is why I was so keen toask you.
But yeah, please continue withsome of the other highlights.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
Yeah, and another trend we're seeing or will
continue to see, I think, moreand more is the rise of the
single traveler.
It's not as taboo like it usedto be.
It never was.
For me I loved it, but forothers I don't know.
But now we're seeing more andmore of that single traveler.
You know we listened to astatistic last year at this
event.
That said, I thought it wasparticularly funny that women
(15:56):
were choosing not to get marriedand instead just taking these
single journeys on their own.
But the interesting part of itis that when they're doing that,
they're still looking forcommunity.
So that difference in havingthe understanding of just
because they're alone doesn'tmean they don't want community.
And community involvement orcommunity events aren't really
something that has been huge inhotels.
(16:16):
It does exist.
But how do you create communityand what are different ways?
What's that community look like?
How much of it is too much, howmuch is not enough?
So I think we'll continue tosee more bringing in and how do
we make sure everyone feelswelcome, everyone feels invited
Will be really interesting towatch how we do a better job of
that in the hotel space.
Speaker 2 (16:34):
Yeah, for sure.
That was actually just tounderscore your point there.
They also highlighted thedramatic rise in solo travelers
in the last five years, andspecifically female solo
travelers, and one of the statsthat wasn't part of their slides
but they had referenced I hadjotted it down is that 47% of
women solo travelers are eitherdivorced or widowed.
(16:55):
Either divorced or widowed andthey were highlighting that not
in a way to because, when Imentioned to a colleague earlier
, like that's sad, it's like,well, in certain situations
certainly it might be, but inother situations they now have
the freedom to be able to traveland travel independently.
And so someone made the jokethat maybe they're now on
Ozembic and they're single andthey're going to have the best
holidays of their entire life.
So a different way to look at it, but nevertheless there's this
(17:16):
dramatic rise in solo femaletraveler and a focus on wellness
, so I've got to assume thatthat is something you need to be
mindful of, to build intotraining programs to make sure
that the hoteliers are preparedfor this trend and ready to
serve those guests in ways thatare different than their
existing clientele.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
Yeah, and I think that's where Forbes Travel Guide
is really fortunate, becauseour trainers' main job sounds
really glamorous they travel theworld in all these best hotels,
and so what we can bring isreally that collection of best
practices and that collection ofyou know.
This is what's happening outthere, because I know again when
I worked in operations I couldnever get a day off, so I was
working around the clock and wedidn't have the luxury of the
vacation that you think.
You work in hospitality.
(17:53):
You must have seen all the besthotels.
I didn't do that until Istarted working here, and so to
be able to share those bestpractices and keep that moving
forward is really the fun partof our job.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
Yeah, well, just to highlight how organizations that
are listening to this becauseclearly we've got a large global
audience and we're very proudto have this partnership with
Forbes Travel Guide, where wehave this hospitality series of
travel trends and Forbes TravelGuide have partnered together to
create this hospitality specialseries, and one of the reasons
that I wanted to not only haveyou on the podcast and to be
here together at the event is tohelp many other organizations
(18:29):
and individuals understand howthey can actually work with
Forbes Travel Guide, sinceyou're growing so dramatically.
So what would be some of the, Iguess, tips, suggestions from
your perspective about howorganizations should plan to
work with you or partner withyou?
Speaker 1 (18:43):
Well, a couple of different things I can share all
day with how you can work withus, but I think that what's
important to know is, as you getready to work with us, some
things that are important tokeep in mind is that it is a
journey.
So you know, one training, twotrainings I have the best
trainers in the world on my team, with no question but one
training or two training withthem is not going to help you
get to your end result thatyou're looking for.
It is a journey.
(19:03):
So it's a process of you know,really investing in the
leadership to want to move theneedle and then, if you have the
team that wants to move theneedle, we will absolutely help
you move it.
So I think that's a big part ofit.
I also think that you know youwant to break up the journey
into that roadmap and you wantto celebrate the little
successes along the way.
So you can't look at I don'tknow if you can't look at oh, we
(19:24):
only score.
If you were sorry if you werescoring 75, 80% on your reports
and all of a sudden you bump to90, you can't look at that as
failure.
You know you have to look atthat as like we're moving in the
right direction, and changetakes time and getting people on
board with a new direction anda new culture of service or
enhanced culture of service, Ishould say is something that is
a multi-year journey and youhave to be dedicated to that
(19:47):
journey and, as a GM, be leadingthat vision of this is what
we're doing and this is the pathwe're taking.
We're going to celebrate all ofour wins along the way, but
then, if you want to hear abouthow to work with us directly, I
do.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
Yeah, I think that's important too, because the
reason I think it is soimportant is just because I've
seen so many companies that havebeen transformed and I've
spoken to them.
And many people will have heardthis Malcolm Hendry, who's my
great friend that runs- Hotel 41in London, which is one of the
top ranked hotels, like numberone on TripAdvisor, and he also
(20:20):
runs the Rubens, yes, and now heruns a hotel in Scotland as
well, and so he's had incrediblesuccess.
But if you trace it back tosome of the origins with Malcolm
, he convinced Jonathan Raggett,his boss, that he needed to be
Forbes Travel Guide rated.
Absolutely and he went on ajourney to reach that status and
this is the conference that hecomes to every year.
(20:41):
It's his one majorinternational conference he
attends.
He loves forbes travel guidebecause it's really helped him
build the largest uh propertycollection within the group yeah
, and he's like so.
So this is where, like, I'veseen the, the real benefit.
So I guess, when I'm asking youfor these suggestions, I just
wanted to highlight that to ourlisteners, that it like it's
coming from a really good place,where it's not because we've
just partnered with ForbesTravel Guide, it's because I
(21:04):
know it'll make a meaningfuldifference to their business.
So, yeah, please by all meansshare a few more details with
how people can work andcollaborate with you.
Speaker 1 (21:11):
Of course, I think the best way to get ahold of us
is through our LinkedIn.
We have Forbes Travel GuideLinkedIn, but we also have
Forbes Travel Guide Learning andDevelopment, and that's a
really great tool, regardless ofworking with us or not, because
it will share some of thosebest practices and tips around
the world, so you'll always seeupdates there.
We've also you'll continue tohear more about Atelier CX, but
(21:32):
they have launched a websitelast year that starts to define
their business and then, comingsoon, we'll have a website for
Forbes Travel Guide called theAcademy, which will have all of
our learning options and kind ofhelp to highlight that
ecosystem of learning that wepride ourselves on, as well as
the journey and what to expectfrom the journey and you know,
what are some realistic roadmapsfor you to take along the way.
Speaker 2 (21:51):
Oh, that's fantastic.
Well, megan, I definitely wantto put more of a focus on
learning as part of our podcast,so we definitely need to find
time to regroup again.
We will After this event and,obviously, as we continue our
partnership.
But I just wanted to say thankyou to you, thank you to the
team.
It's a real honor to be here atForbes Travel Guide again in
Monaco.
I'm excited to hear where it'sgoing to be announced for next
(22:14):
year.
I know you've got some ideas,but I was talking to Stuart and
obviously nothing can berevealed.
He didn't tell me anythingother than you're still in the
final stages of making adecision.
But I'm sure when people arelistening to this, they can go
and find out more informationabout attending next year.
So, just given that you are thekey Forbes Travel Guide
representative on thehospitality series, would you
mind just sharing with us, as wewrap up, how they can find out
(22:36):
more information about ForbesTravel Guide to be a part of the
summit in future?
Because it is membership onlyand kind of by invitation, so it
is a very exclusive event to bea part of.
Speaker 1 (22:47):
Yes, of course, and of course all of our members
will get regular communicationabout when.
We'll probably have someteasers out coming soon, but
also the summit has its ownwebsite soon.
But also the summit has its ownwebsite.
So if you'd like to work withus from a travel agent or a
travel advisor perspective orfrom a vendor perspective, the
summit's website would be thegreat place to go to get all
that information.
And we'll say destinationcoming soon, I think just a
(23:08):
couple weeks and you'll find out.
Speaker 2 (23:11):
Okay, I'll make sure that it's in the notes for those
of you who are listening tothis, but Megan, it's gonna be
tough to beat Monaco.
Yeah, no kidding, exactly, Ithink we'd all gladly just come
back for a Monaco part two, butexactly, I'm sure you guys will
surprise us again.
But yes, thank you, Megan.
It's a real pleasure to meetyou and get this time together.
Thanks for the partnership andthanks for making time for this
discussion.
Speaker 1 (23:30):
Oh, absolutely Dan it was an absolute pleasure.
Speaker 2 (23:52):
And we'll talk soon.
All right, thank youconversation, and I think it
gave really important context tothe next series of interviews
we're going to be covering,since you get a better
background of why we all cametogether for the summit in
Monaco, this extraordinary eventand the people that we're going
to be continuing conversationswith, not only hotel GMs, but
(24:13):
we're actually going to bespeaking to suppliers that are
part of the luxury network, andalso journalists and other
partners.
So there's going to be somereally fascinating conversations
to follow.
So make sure you are subscribedon the streaming platform of
your choice to be alerted whennew episodes go live every
Thursday for the next six weeks.
And then, don't forget, we postclips and highlights on our
(24:34):
social channels, which areLinkedIn, youtube and Instagram
at Travel Trends Podcast, andour friends at Forbes Travel
Guide are kindly posting as wellon LinkedIn and Instagram at
Forbes Travel Guide, so be sureto check those out, and
otherwise, we'll look forward tohaving you join us next week on
episode five of our specialhospitality series.
(24:56):
Until then, safe travels.
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