A familiar face returns to the Suite Spot in this special episode. Richard Alberigo, CEO & President of Alberigo Hotel Management, joins the podcast to discuss what his hotel management group has been up to over the last couple of years, how the hospitality industry is rapidly evolving with AI technology, new guest preferences, and how to acquire top talent for your hotel staff. Ryan Embree: Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check in, and we check out what's trending in hotel marketing. I'm your host, Ryan Embree. Hello everyone. Welcome to another episode of the Suite Spot. This is your host, Ryan Embree. So happy to be sharing an incredible episode with you today. Whether you're listening to us or watching us on our official Travel Media Group YouTube page you will see and hear a familiar voice. It's been a couple years, but really excited to welcome in our guest for today, Richard Alberigo, President and CEO of Alberigo Hotel Management. Richard, thank you so much for joining me back on the Suite Spot. Richard Alberigo : Yeah, thanks for having me on, Ryan. It's gonna be fun. Ryan Embree: It's been a couple years. We're gonna cover a lot. You know, last time we heard a little bit about your hospitality journey, so fascinating to hear in our industry. We've hosted tons of industry leaders here on this podcast. Everybody got kind of have different pieces of DNA, whether it's, you know, they've worked for different brands, hotel management companies. You ended up founding your own Alberigo Hotel management company. But I want to kick off this episode, Richard, about talking about, you know, one of the common threads that I always hear when talking about hospitality journeys, which is the mentors or influences that really rose to the top for you and your career and really has lasted the test of time in your career. Richard Alberigo : Absolutely, Ryan. So I have a couple of mentors. My first one, the first manager job I, I received it was at a college station, full service Hilton Hotel, 303 rooms. And I was just a front desk agent. And I'll be honest with you, at the time, being a CEO of a company was not even in the realm of possibilities. And I really didn't even seek it. I was doing it for quote unquote beer money. That's what I worked freshly outta college. And so I had my mentor, her name was Kim Chapin, and she was the rooms division manager there. And she would, you know, recognize my accomplishments. She kept saying, I think you could do something with this job if you really put it together and you really focus. And, you know, she was very supportive. And I remember my promotion, we went to a team meeting, a front desk meeting, and she lined everybody but me on one side of the, of the field. We were playing volleyball. And then the other side of the field was just me. And she goes, you were looking at your new front office manager. So that's how I got the promotion. Believe it or not, there was no indication at all. There was like, this might, this announcement might happen. I was in total shock. But, you know, it was really cool that she saw something in me. And so obviously at that point I couldn't disappoint her. And then, you know, the rest is history. My next mentor later on in my career, I was a general manager of a Homewood Suites in Houston, and this gentleman's name was Mark Boulevard. He was the district manager for Reson Hospitality. This guy was rough. I mean every time he drove up, I just felt like I was gonna quit or I was gonna be be fired. I mean, he didn't take no, he was no nonsense and nothing positive. I would go to our team meetings and the other managers would be there and they'd be like, I'm so sicking of hearing about how great you are. And I'm like, what are you talking about? This guy beats me up every time, they'd go, no, he needs to say, you need to be more like Richard. Do you need to be more like Richard? And I mean, if I was 1 cent over in housekeeping costs,