Hospitality Leaders - Interviews with leaders, entrepreneurs, and supporters of hospitality.

On this episode of the Hospitality Leaders podcast, I’m joined by Aaron Berger, Executive Director at The Neon Museum.

In the hospitality industry, it can be easy to view employees simply as bodies capable of completing a task. It’s easy to train someone to clean a hotel room or wait on a table. So many organizations approach their hiring practices from the perspective of valuing quantity over quality.

Aaron takes a very different approach. For him, employees are the bedrock that the business’s values, culture, and public perception are built on. He hires people based on the mission he wants his organization to embody. If the skills needed for hospitality are so easily trainable, it makes sense to recruit team members whose personalities and interests are aligned with the company culture, regardless of prior experience.

In this sense, hiring for quality doesn’t mean looking for the most skilled worker but for the candidates who are a natural fit for what the business wants to be. Aaron practices this philosophy perfectly, going out of his way to recruit a staff that is passionate about history, culture, and education.

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On this episode of the Hospitality Leaders podcast, I’m joined by Matt Scovill, Executive Chef at Bacchanal Buffet in Las Vegas.

Matt has a clear love for the art of craft food and for providing a high-quality culinary experience for his guests. He tries to impart that same passion to his team and create complete buy-in for the company vision. He does this by encouraging creativity and giving his staff constant opportunities to see the impact of their work.

The structure of Matt’s kitchen puts his fellow chefs right in front of his restaurant’s patrons so that everyone gets some facetime with the guests they serve. Hearing praise directly from a guest is a powerful motivator, and it’s an outstanding way to build unity and keep morale high.

That praise means much more when chefs are allowed to take ownership of their work and to be involved in the making of the menu. Matt encourages his team to experiment in the kitchen; coming up with new ideas that help create future menus. It keeps his team invested in providing consistent quality work, day after day. While most kitchens are plagued by employee burnout, Matt’s team comes to work every day energized by the environment he has created.

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On this episode of the Hospitality Leaders podcast, I’m joined by Hartmut Ott, General Manager of San Diego Mission Bay Resort.

In the wake of global inflation and supply chain problems, both of which are increasing the cost of doing business, Hartmut has had to raise prices at his hotel. To entice customers to spend those extra dollars, Hartmut has sought to increase the perception of value in tandem with the increase in price. This can be done in small ways, like extra amenities in guests’ rooms or complimentary sides served alongside expensive entrees. It can also be done by providing unique value propositions that enhance the guest experience in a way that’s unique to their needs.

Creating these unique value propositions requires commitment from a dedicated team, so a big part of increasing value for the guests entails increasing value for the staff. Hartmut works to make his team’s jobs easier and more enjoyable in every way he can. He seeks to provide extra services for them, like onsite childcare, as if they were guests in his hotel.

This holistic approach to value is an outstanding way to ensure that every dollar spent and every hour worked is creating greater business opportunities.

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On this episode of the Hospitality Leaders podcast, I welcome Kristine Goodwin, General Manager at Hyatt Place.

Working in a hotel can involve a lot of hard work and long hours. It can be easy to let that amount of labor drag staff morale down.

Kristine knows that as well as anyone because she started out on the front desk of a hotel. That’s why she’s so intentional about creating an uplifting and encouraging company culture. The kind of lighthearted joking and silly games that Kristine has developed with her team is not just a product of her personality. She has worked hard to carefully craft a work environment that keeps her team’s spirits up, no matter the circumstances of their work.

This culture cultivation starts at the very beginning, when Kristine brings on new hires. For Kristine, the most important characteristics of any potential employee are their people skills and their workplace compatibility. Her guests and her coworkers can tell when someone is faking enthusiasm, so she goes out of her way to hire people who exude friendliness and passion for hospitality.

Because of her effort, Hyatt Place has maintained an optimistic and positive culture that develops naturally from the outstanding people that work there.

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On this episode of the Hospitality Leaders podcast, I’m joined by Ryan Klaasen, Chief Operating Officer at El Dorado Cantina and Co-Founder of Smoke & Fire Restaurant.

While Ryan is certainly proud of the work he’s done to build both of the businesses he’s a part of, he also knows that he can’t be in charge forever. To maintain success in the long term, Ryan has to build up a future generation of leaders that can continue the work he has started.

This mindset leads Ryan to constantly look for ways to empower his team and bring them up within the business. Whether it’s encouraging better training or making long-term employees partners within the ownership structure, Ryan is always cultivating future leaders. He views his organization as a garden and it’s his job to grow managers out of the bussers and hostesses he’s hired.

This future-oriented vision is an outstanding leadership style. It creates buy-in from his team in the short term, making them more committed workers, but also lays the groundwork for longevity within the business. With the team he’s training up, Ryan’s restaurants will continue to thrive, long after he stops managing them.

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On this episode of the Hospitality Leaders podcast, I’m joined by Siobhan Steiermann, Vice President of Ticket Operations at Las Vegas Ballpark, to hear some of the ways she connects with the community both inside and outside of her organization.

The last two years have made many feel disconnected. Isolation and solitude have made meaningful interaction and community all the more important, especially in the workplace. Siobhan and her team make an effort to engage each other, and the community around them to, provide a way to cope with the stresses of the last two years, while at the same time serving the needs of their locality.

These outstanding connections have created a supportive environment within the Las Vegas Ballpark team that translates to a more hospitable atmosphere for their customers. Siobhan and her staff continued to offer whatever services they could throughout the pandemic, from small tours of the stadium to movies on the field, adapting to changing public health requirements.

This determination to partner with her community in the face of such trying times is a reflection of Siobhan's attitude of service and also what makes her such an outstanding leader in the hospitality industry.

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On this episode of the Hospitality Leaders podcast, I’m joined by Chuck Johnson, General Manager of the Las Vegas Aviators Baseball Team.

Besides a brief stint working behind the scenes in an unofficial capacity, Chuck has been a part of the Aviators team for nearly 30 years. Many of his colleagues in leadership positions have served for similarly long tenures; the longevity of the team has allowed Chuck and his peers to cultivate a culture and a consistency in their work environment that few companies can match.

Chuck attributes this outstanding stability to his company’s willingness to invest in its people. From extra days off to team nights out, the Aviators leadership has always gone above and beyond in the name of caring for their human capital. Even during the Covid-19 pandemic, when revenue was declining and other businesses were undergoing layoffs and wage reductions, the Aviators maintained competitive wages at the cost of their bottom line.

In the end, it proved a worthy financial risk. The Aviators were able to keep a team with decades of combined experience through the pandemic and have been able to surge ahead in a post-Covid market without missing a beat.

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On this episode of the Hospitality Leaders podcast, I had the opportunity to speak with Jeff Keeley, General Manager at InterContinental Kansas City at The Plaza, about some of the ways he’s trying to change the popular perception of the hospitality industry.

In days past, there was a stigma of immobility with hospitality jobs, especially hotel positions. Being a dishwasher or a hotel receptionist was thought of as a final destination and there was no ladder to climb if you found yourself in these entry-level roles.

Jeff, who himself started as a front desk clerk, is trying to dispel that notion. Especially now in a post-Covid world, the hospitality sector is hurting for mid-level staff, and entry-level hotel jobs may actually be some of the most upwardly mobile positions available right now. That mobility doesn’t have to come with an 80-hour per week work rate, either. That’s another myth Jeff wants to put to rest.

Hospitality can offer a sensible work-life balance and to work in a hotel or restaurant does not mean selling your soul to your job. From Jeff’s perspective, everyone has a life outside work and a job should never take its place. It’s an outstanding management philosophy and it’s helping Jeff to change the narrative around hospitality work.

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On this episode of the Hospitality Leaders podcast, I’m joined by Joshua Abelson, Co-Owner and General Manager of The Industrial Event Space.

Joshua’s business is defined by its creativity. The Industrial Event Space works with clients to create truly unique events for each and every customer. That embedded creativity allowed Joshua to adapt well to Covid-19, putting on non-traditional events that let customers continue to gather and enjoy an entertainment experience in a safe and accessible way.

While some venues may be trying to return to business as usual in a post-pandemic world, Joshua wants to continue to push the boundaries of what entertainment can be. For him, the forced pivot during the pandemic was an opportunity to stretch his creativity, and it showed him what future events could look like.

To Joshua, the future of hospitality is in the continued pursuit of those non-traditional guest experiences. Businesses shouldn’t try to replicate past standards but push future boundaries.

For those willing to put in the work and expend the creative energy to serve clients on an individual level, the avenues for success are endless.

If you enjoyed today’s show, please leave a 5-star review. For more information and links to all of the resources mentioned in today’s episode, visit

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On this episode of the Hospitality Leaders podcast, I’m joined by Kimberly Beaudin, CEO at the Chick-fil-A College Football Hall of Fame, to hear her perspective on the increasing role of technology in the hospitality industry.

The College Football Hall of Fame is steeped in the latest technology available, from RFID systems to an immersive virtual reality exhibit. These systems allow Kimberly and her team to personalize the guest experience to an utterly astounding degree. This personalization only works, however, if the available technology is paired with a well-trained staff.

The human element of hospitality isn’t going away. It’s just being given new tools to enhance guest experiences in the form of digital solutions. Kimberly knows that her team is still her greatest asset, and she’s careful not to depend too much on technology without equally investing in her staff. By allowing digital tools to complement and aid her team’s strengths, rather than replace them, she’s creating an ideal environment for guests to feel personally catered to, without losing the warmth that comes from human hospitality.

Kimberly has an outstanding understanding of balancing these two assets, and the success of her organization is proof of its effectiveness.

If you enjoyed today’s show, please leave a 5-Star review. For more information and links to all of the resources mentioned in today’s episode, visit HospitalityLeaderspodcast.com.