Vom Bodenwischen zur Leitung von Miamis führendem Wellness-Resort

But merely being a doorman, the thing that really pushed, made me stand out was the same natural component of the human interaction, right? Just being flowing naturally with it. So I would come up with even silly phrases that would go a very long way. I would even tell the gas, we've been expecting you welcome when we had an arrival as an example. Welcome to our podcast, The Future of Hospitality. I'm your host, Arjen Aikilebo, and today our guest is Armando Cedra, Executive Hotelier at Carrillion Miami Wellness Resort in North Miami Beach. Armando, welcome to our show. Thank you, Arjen. Thank you for having me. Yeah, wonderful, wonderful. I'm a big fan of Miami. Actually, it's my second hometown. Maybe we talk about that a little bit more later. It's a very vibrant city. It has developed a lot over the years and you have a very interesting career path in Miami. I want to hear all about that. But let us start with where you started and why and how. Absolutely. And who is Armando? Thank you, Arjen. Armando is a very passionate and relentless individual heavily. It's precisely about hospitality. It's been my passion. Initially I thought I wanted to be a lawyer right after high school. But it just turned out not to be the case. I started working, well, hospitality goes back way before my after high school and into college. It goes to the 90s where my mother and my oldest brother, they had the management agreement for the bar inside of our city, Santiago de los Caballeros in the Dominican Republic. Most exclusively. Dominican Republic. Because you were born, because we forgot to talk about it, you were born in New York and then definitely moved to the Dominican Republic. Correct. I always raised another Dominican Republic. I would visit New York in the summers, but my entire teens up to 20s I was in Santiago in the Dominican Republic. At this point, back in the 90s, they had this management agreement for the most exclusive social club in the city, which is El Centro Español. And it started there, right? I would just be involved in that indirectly and just learning and seeing how they manage and just the people, the aspect of loving the human interaction that they both had, right? Shortly after that, a few years later, take place and then my middle brother, which they're just a year apart between them, many years between them and I, 13 and 14. After that, my middle brother, he joined into a venture in a very exclusive nightlife property as well a club called Francifol. After that, it just, he started growing and growing and growing and then from one business, he jumped into four, six, within the next five years at this point. Same thing. I'm shadowing indirectly. I didn't know that that was going to be my thing, hospitality. Right after that, I finished high school and listening, he was the one supporting us financially. And I would ask him, hey, you know, I need a little bit of money, I want to go out. And he said, yeah, sure, go do the dishes. And then we can have this conversation and I said, absolutely, no problem. So from doing dishes, then moved into busing and then moved into serving and then just even moved into having an opinion on activations. What do you think we should do on Friday nights here in one of the restaurants? Of course, he never wanted me to delve into the nightlife. Rightfully so. I can see how that can take many years. Okay. So your brother didn't want you to go into the nightlife. He wanted you to learn to wash dishes, start there. And he was trying to keep you out of that, what he was doing, because for obvious reasons you say what reasons are those? Well, it takes a lot of years, I think, of your, you know, it changes your overall train of thought, right? You're sleeping during daytime, which I saw, you know, I lived with him and also when I clubbed myself during those years, you sleep through the day and then you work at night. It's not for everybody. It's not for the faint of heart. And he knew what he was into, you know, the difficulties of nightlife and he didn't want that for me, right? He always pushed for me to be a professional. He wanted me to follow, fall into law school and all that. My grandfather was a lawyer. My father unfortunately didn't finish college and then also my father's wish was for me to be a lawyer. But it just, and I wanted it and I have a skill for it, I'd say. If I really put my heart into it, but the reality is that my passion was always after going through all these years was the human connection, the human interaction, right? I've always arranged parties for my friends, my siblings, so it came natural, right? It was, I didn't force it, just, oh, I think we should do this. So what part of that human interaction is what do you think that makes you, okay, this is what I like about it. This is why it feels so natural to me. Can you elaborate a bit on that? Absolutely. So it's selflessly selfish in the sense of I loved when I saw people having a great time, my friends, my loved ones. It was just awesome to see them just having a great time and being able to provide the platform for them to do so. It was very, it felt, I felt in my waters, I felt like that was my call, my passion. It was, I didn't have to force, I didn't have to force these interactions. It just felt amazing. His clients, his guests, they loved me, they see me just busing and they're like, good job. He had a lot of, he still has. You're a natural. This, that is what you feel and that's what all other people saw as well. Correct. So this is in my teen years after that and jumping into college, I did, I believe, two semesters of law school, which are just the initial stages, obviously. Nothing really delving into what actually the law structure is. And then I just said, he always pushed for me to move to America as a whole, right? New York, ideally. And Mayan continued to, Mayan, just like a mother to me, she really pushed for me to try it out. Hey, you were born in America. Why not just give it a try? And I'm like, nah, I'm not sure until the day that I say, you know what, let me take the leap of faith. My father and my siblings, everybody pushed me and I did. So I landed in Miami in Hollywood Beach. Mayan, she has an apartment on Ocean Drive, so I lived there for a bit. How old were you then? Twenty years old. You were twenty years old. I was twenty. You moved from the Dominican Republic, aged twenty, after doing two semesters of law school. Correct. Correct. Okay, so then you moved to Miami, Hollywood. I know Hollywood very well. Highlandale, Hollywood, that area. Correct. Then I got my first job. Where did you start? Where did you start? What was your first job? Dunkin' Donuts. It was Dunkin' Donuts on Highlandale Beach Boulevard and U.S. 1, which was in the, it's an in-between area. You have nice and then you have not so nice. But I know. I don't know where it is. Nevertheless, it was an amazing experience. My first job in America, first time I ever picked a mop, I'll say that probably I picked, but it was natural, hey, I gotta do what I gotta do, right? So, excuse me. Day after, just a few months in, I'm just trying to get all these hours, getting paid in dollars, right? A tennis player, Orlando, I'll never forget, he approached me and he said, what are you doing here? So, he was a frequent, he was a frequent client and I was just so good at memorizing all of the frequent's orders, so which is the attention to detail that really, I think, perseveres in hospitality as a whole, but we'll go into that in a second. Orlando approached me and he said, what are you doing here? And I said, I'm just starting out, I just got here, pretty much, right? He said, no, you have to be somewhere else. You have to be in Miami Beach. And I said, really, yeah, let me make a few calls. So, long story short, he introduced me to a friend of his, Ray Linus, which we're soon in touch nowadays. He wanted to bring me in as a valet attendant, but he couldn't because my license wasn't two years. At that time, I'm not sure what the regulations are right now, but you needed to have a license without pulling suspensions or tickets for over two years. And unfortunately it didn't work out, so I ended up, Ray called somebody else and then I ended up at the Eden Rock as a doorman. The Eden Rock? Correct. That's one iconic property. Very iconic property dates back to the 50s, if I'm not mistaken. And it was just amazing, 600 and plus keys, very high end, it was direct competitor, still is direct competitor to the Fountain Blue, right next to each other. It was just amazing. You start seeing, imagine me coming from a third world country, where we do have a lot of things, don't, don't, don't. It's a difference. I remember seeing that part of Miami Beach for the first time. My first time was 1988 in Eden Rock. That was something compared to what you knew in Europe. That was like, oh my God, wow. Yeah. I know what you mean. So that, that must have been very impressive to you. That metal lobby bar, the circular, the chandeliers, which is very, felt very, very royal, very regal. But you started off as a, as a valet? No, actually, as a doorman. I was a doorman. Okay. Can you tell, tell us something about that? Do you have an experience? Maybe you want to share? So merely being a doorman, I, the, the thing that really pushed, made me stand out was the same natural component of the human interaction, right? Just, just being flowing naturally with it. So I would come up with even silly phrases that would go a very long way. I wouldn't even tell the gas. We've, we've been expecting you welcome when, when we had an arrival. That's an example. And some guests would be like, what, how do you know I'm coming or whatever the case is. And so mothers were like super, wow, like, oh, wow, this is, this is luxury hospitality to an extent, right? Yeah. So I would just always go above and beyond, you know, and, and to the point that one day I remember this must have been within my first two weeks. I received the, I remember Mr. Carol, he was just staying, I remember his last name, he was staying there. I welcome him every time, you know, I, I brought him to his car as well. And he would, at the end of the day, he gave me my first ever hundred dollar bill tip. I'm like, whoa, this is, I think to myself, 20 years old, I'm thinking I'm going to be a billionaire. I'm going to have an hour. That was, that was the tip that he gave me a hundred bucks. Sorry, so, okay. So at this point, I thought to myself, you were spoiled right away at 20. Yeah. Yeah. I skipped the 20s in 200. That was, that was very, not even 50s. You know, it was, it was, it was very special to me. And now I thought to myself, Audi RA, the apartment on the beach, you know, it was, think about it, 20 years old, right? So shortly after that, sorry, shortly after that, I, a friend of mine convinced me, convinced me into jumping into his marketing agency. Amazing dreams sold. And I'm always, I like to see it for myself. It sounded very convincing. So I gave it a try. Didn't work out at this point. I moved a little more of North, Tamarack, and I wanted to go back to hotels. So I said, but not as a bummer now, or doorman, I'll be from this agent. So then I can bump into my career back into hotels inside. And additionally, I have a solid start, which was a, there was a Romana in US one and commercial, same, just a very heavy business district. And I'm doing from this agent. I'm learning the basics. It was awesome. But the same thing happened to me as Orlando and Dunkin Donuts. A guest came to me five months in and he says, what are you doing here? And I said, you're starting out again, you know, and, uh, uh, shortly after I had the great opportunity to start interviewing for the short club, which was, uh, uh, Ian Schrager hotel, uh, Morgan's hotel group. And very famous as well. The short, amazing property, just unique. I mean, I remember even at this point, uh, going a little bit forward, the lines to get into Nobu and the red room, which were the signature restaurant and bar will go. If you remember vividly, the back entrance is right in front of the residential entrance for the satire and the lights will go right across the street on 20th. So it was, it was an extremely happening place. Uh, at some point we'd even see, uh, Pierce Brosnan, James Bond walking down the lobby at, I'd be starstruck James Bond. Ah, you're all in the middle of it. Exactly. I was, I was born, you know, I was raised watching, uh, James Bond precisely Brosnan. That was, that was the stage, uh, where I was at. And it was just to me, very young guy, just look, being in the midst of all this, uh, um, stardom and, and so many happening moving parts. Right. It was amazing. But going a little bit back, uh, it was a very extensive interviewing process, what they had. It was amazing. You know, even for a front decision, we had to do, uh, five different interviews, five different interviews. So they were very peculiar about the way they hire, you know, they wanted, uh, skill, I'm sorry, not skill, they want, they want a character over, uh, skills, skills can be thought. I think this is so. So were those interviews with different people for that particular property? Okay. Oh, they didn't play bingo. Did they? Not. It was, uh, initial was, um, HR, secondly hiring manager. On top of that director of operations, then hotel manager and then general manager. So it was a very, um, uh, it was long. At some point I thought, ah, maybe I'll just keep on applying to some of the places. And then I got the call, Hey, you're in. And it was just a very, very, very special place and company as a whole, um, shortly after I'm loving it. I'm just really enjoying the ride, uh, very high end profiles, amazing team. We've built beautiful relationships to work to this day. Like we'll, I have really close friends, uh, uh, from, from, from that time. Shortly after that, um, my leadership started coming back, just pushing itself into me. I didn't, I wasn't necessarily looking into it. And I'll share briefly the story that catapulted me into just being in the folk lie and being given different other opportunities, given, given my, uh, um, sportsmanship. Um, one night we were, the alarms just started going off to in the morning, sold out hotel. It must have been a Friday or Saturday. And again, sold out short club ADR back then was in the 500s, 2000, I mean, 2012 alarms going off, guests are calling more calls. We had a few guests show up downstairs, but it was more so calls. It was a false alarm. So we were selling the guests. No, no issues. Everything's fine. We'll take your apologetic. But still everybody woke up. Absolutely. Sorry. What can I do? Go ahead. So that became, uh, the second instance, which was at about three 45 in the morning. Same thing. More guests come down. Some guests are coming back from the party. All same repeat, taking numbers down, just making sure they're taken care of. They feel like they were hurt sometimes. That's really all what, what, what they need. Right. They're not looking for something. They just want to be heard. They want to express frustration. And that's what we're there for. That's what we're here for in hospitality. You know, we're, we're here to make sure we, we, we smoothen that out. We, we ease it up. At the third time, it was just five in the morning. The alarms just stayed on. They didn't just ring once it just stayed on. So at this point, uh, 15, 20 minutes in, I have, uh, the entire hotel, probably 80% of the rooms downstairs in the lobby. At that point, we have a greener night manager, a very nice guy, but you could tell there was a lot. And if you think about it, it's really, he's the face. So situations like that can, they're not for the, they're not for everyone. Um, they're looking at us like, you know, they want to eat us alive. What are you guys? What's happening? Nice. It was a very interesting, but I have this skill where I just during the chaos, I, I'm like the duck, right? Just calm on the surface and just paddling on the water. So, so at this point, um, I see that they're not paying attention to him. He's trying to speak with them, but he's sweating bullets. So I, I feel the need to do something. Um, so I got very loud and I respectfully, of course, guess, we're, and I said, guess something in the likes of guess we are, we, uh, we're deeply apologetic. Please know this is a false alarm. There's no fire whatsoever. If you make two lines for me, I'll ensure that you are taking care of. So it looked at me for a second. Like, who is this guy? What is it? It felt like that for a second, but then I felt like a border collie, uh, uh, hurting the, the, the cheap and they made two lines, they followed along and I was like, whoa, okay, this work. Let's take care of them. So they listened to you. So you stood up, you raised your voice, two lines, one here, one there, that's it. See how easy it is to be a good leader. It just, I was, I was surprised. I was like, whoa, uh, yeah, okay. Let's, uh, let's, let's, let's do this. I'm sorry. What's your number? Yeah, I want a five PM late checkup. You got it. We're not even going to go back and forth. This deserves it. Instead of you asking me for tonight, I'll give you, I'll give you the late checkup. I can always have somebody take care of that room for you. Right. So that really pushed me. My brand new hotel manager at the time was actually staying on site. So he witnessed the whole thing. I didn't even see him because I was focused on, on my, on the gas, obviously. And, uh, to the point, like later, this became such a big thing. I came out on the, uh, I appeared on the global newsletters we had, uh, given the, the scenario. It was awesome. It was a great heroic, uh, not looking for heroic act that I did, right? And, uh, they, they gave me a very nice bottle. I remember this, uh, Perrier duet and I wasn't drinking. I was very heavy into working out. I was, and I've never been a, I'm a, I was, uh, very much into tequila or, or just scotch because of the workout regens, right? Just neat. And I said, guys, thank you very much. I truly appreciate this. But is there any chance that I can exchange this for, uh, two of the pillows you have upstairs because they were amazing, uh, uh, goose feather pillows. We, we had the opportunity to experience the property. And they were just laughing. They were just laughing it off. And they said, absolutely. And then in addition to, to the champagne, they gave me the, the, the two pillows, which I probably kept for like three or four years after that. Um, and shortly after an opportunity, open that Mondrian South Beach, which was also also a big name. Oh, come on. You, you went through all the places. Amazing places, right? Uh, part of the, it was part of a portfolio and a manager and duty, uh, role came up and I, I went for it and I, and I, and I got it. And, uh, amazing. This is a different component because now you have condo hotel, uh, um, uh, key, uh, sorry, condo hotel property, um, amazing, different new mindset, learning difference, lift different, uh, um, aspects now on the, uh, residence site, which we didn't have a short club, but it was solely hotel. Uh, and after, shortly after, again, my skills, I was just plowing through issues and just how to make things better, uh, reinventing wheels on many broken, uh, procedures. And that put me again on the focal. I were short club open now, another position, right? And they were, I was helping them out at some point I was, I had probably 45 days, no, no days off, but I was great. I enjoyed it. I, I didn't need it. I didn't need the time off. I was on my, on my, uh, the, the peak of my youth, if you will, and I was helping them out for a few days a week working at Mongeon and short club, 45 days straight. And they just asked me, we want you to come back. And I said, well, this comes, yeah, it comes with a, are you offering me a different role? Absolutely. So that happened. And throughout, I did a total of six years with Morgan's, then serve Coleman, not to my door. That would have been, that was my first, uh, uh, department head role as the, uh, front office manager, I took the leap at that point. I had a housekeeping company at the same time I was running with some partners. And I was working as, uh, as a phone at the serve Coleman at the very end of my stint, I had an, I had to make a choice. I couldn't do both at the same time. No, that is a lot. It was a lot. Uh, and it wasn't like I was a silent partner. I was very much active. So at this point I had to make a decision. I decided to go with the housekeeping company, which was actually doing very well. Uh, the name was, it is pro housekeepers. Uh, they started out in Tampa and they brought her here, um, along these partners. And I put the, I came up with this idea. I put the hot pink Miami right beneath the pro housekeeper. So it was, it was an amazing logo. I will still have the shirts and everything. Um, and, uh, I, I did well, uh, until a point where it wasn't doing well enough. So I'm, okay, I got to go back and let's cut our losses and then, you know, go back into the workforce. Showboard came up and then showboard was just history was probably the biggest, learning curve. This is a much more, uh, back in fixed issues. Kind of find the black ops type of sense. Take care of issues that make sure that they don't transpire and they affect the operations or the guests. Uh, many, many roles, different roles. I started as an assistant from office manager and built my way up with, until, uh, a hotel manager, uh, under the watch of, uh, Steven Highbloom. He was, I got to say, he's, uh, um, he was also a Morgan's, uh, um, original. Uh, that's how we called them and, and, uh, a trailblazer. He, we never worked together at Morgan's, but we learned of each other right after, uh, um, him, he went to 60 afterwards and then he came to showboard and it was just, we built that relationship, that bond where he knew he could rely on me and he pushed me and I will always be grateful to him for that because he truly gave me that chance to really shine and, and, and develop yourself. That's, uh, because, because, because what I'm hearing is I want to make a little roundup because I want to go to the next point that is your, your outlook for your future because in a very short time, what I'm hearing is that you develop yourself from, um, an aspiring lawyer at first then you quit, um, your education, moved to Miami, started washing dishes and worked at all these iconic places in Miami Beach and I know every single one of them, uh, become a hotel manager and I just want to know, I want to hear from you. What did you feel and in that growth process where the moment you went like, I want to meet this or I think I'm going to can become that or what, what, what, where are your goals and what is it now? So really when I started in you, I'm sure you, you can identify with this, uh, uh, in my, during my younger years, I was always thinking, well, what, what is the end goal? What is the end goal? What is it for me? What's the end goal? And I'll share more detail later, but I'll give you in the, in the nutshell now, um, owning my own property, right? Being a managing partner. Um, ah, yeah, yeah. So I'm sure it's, it's, it's, it's, it's a lot of hoteliers dream and I'll share that because it's really, um, it's really, it's, it's a really special dream when you know, you can do it yourself. You can do it differently, right? You know, you can do it different than, than everybody else, uh, and make it very distinguishable. I think of if I'm not sure if you, um, uh, very into sports, but for example, I listen a lot to, uh, Dana White, which is a very rough on the edges character, but he, the way that he handles his operation as a quick example, I didn't know this, but around the octagon, the first five rows, he's the one that plays dom, uh, plays chess with it. He knows where to put people individually. He handles that himself, if you will, he may see extends the invitations he follows through on them, which is very, how can you do that at that level? You know, you're running a multi-billion dollar company and you have to talk. Yeah, that's, that's in the, in the, in the likes of what I really want to do. It doesn't matter that you're the managing partner, managing director, it doesn't matter. You still have that line of communication because that's still, that's, that's what that's where the passion started and they should never skip a bit in my eyes. So that's where, um, it is a property in Miami Beach. I'll share the details of there eventually. It's not for sale right now. Okay. Very, uh, that's so guys, you know, that's, that's a huge ambition. You want to stay in Miami Beach. What is it that attracts you to my, I understand it, but I want to, I want to hear that from you because I get it. It's, it's, it's my second hometown. Miami Beach is, it's, it's really a mythical place. And look, it has its ups and downs like everywhere else in the world. Um, I believe trends started going up in Brickle. Rightfully so, you have brand new key inventory. Most of the hotels on the beach, 80% of the properties are, uh, uh, historical preservation, a part of historical preservation for, so there's so much you can do, right? Yeah. Uh, but even then, when you start seeing a lot of these guys emancipating, uh, flip, sorry, going over to Brickle and the downtown area, even then, what I see, what I start seeing and the, what I could see in the future is that Miami Beach will come back. Um, I mean, had a great run in the early to the 90s were like the end of the 90s where the startup, right? For Miami Beach. Then the early 2000s were great. And then comes their recession and went down. And then 2012, you have Pierce Brosnan and the rest of these guys just walking down the street. And, um, right now it's still undergoing a strange phase where it's, it's coming back up after COVID and, and, and, and else. But when you look at the numbers historically, 2022, we had 20, sorry, 23. I apologize. It is 22. We had 26.5 million visitors then, uh, 23 went up to 27.2 and 24 o'clock that 28. So it's still coming, right? Those are big numbers. Correct. And it's, it's just undergoing that transition period. But now, say Miami Beach in 2027, um, mid 20. It's always busy. I mean, I've seen it develop ever since the 80s. Um, I'm a frequent guest ever since the 80s. And I've seen it develop. Um, I can't honestly, my, my honest, my, my, my opinion is that it's getting a little too busy at times. Uh, but hey, that's an opportunity for, for a lot of, uh, hotel years to indeed start something to stand out. Um, I want to go to the current position that you're in, because, um, you have the ambition to have to own your own property or to have run your own property on my, in Miami Beach on the beach. And, um, I can only imagine seeing you doing that. And I will visit it. But now you're, um, the general manager or hotel executive, what is your notes? I am a consultant right now. I'm taking special projects on the property, helping it reshape, revamp, revamp itself into a higher potential. That's my current role. I'm such in many different that different areas of opportunity. And what is it? What is it that, um, made you decide to start working for a wellness resort? Because that is something to totally different. Well, Carolyn, it's a very special property in Miami. Also dates 1950s. And, uh, yeah, it has built, uh, two additional towers, residences have over the years. Caroline is one of the only hotels in Miami. There's only three of them that are part of the leading hotels of the world. Leading hotels of the world's portfolio only carries four hundred plus independent properties all over the world. So this is a very big, huge thing if you ask me and very respectable. So that always was an attraction, uh, for me to join this property. But more so, the wellness aspect of this resort is, it's very, it's so natural. Um, it's not forced upon you. And then when I say you, I mean, the team members even not just gets focused as an example, it focuses heavy as well on its team members because at the end of the day, you can have the Bugatti of the properties. But if you don't have the right people, you have nothing. You're going to have a Bugatti running with a Corolla's engine, if that makes sense. So it really pours a lot into their team members and to the employees and to all of us. We do walking Wednesdays, yoga classes. We pay for the employees. Where does the guests, where where do your guests come from? Because again, Miami is super busy. And you have to stand out to attract your audience. So how do you focus on your targeted audience? Who are they? And how do you do that? Very heavy New York. We have a very heavy New York. Okay. But New York is go to Miami anyway. I mean, that's was what back in the days. It was all New York, New York around Canadians and New York is that's what I remember from back in the years. But you would think like because Carol on this, it's a little more separated, you know, up north from Miami Beach. You think it would be a completely different crowd. You think more South America, you think Argentina, Chile and whatnot. But this is very heavily New York, even through the summer, which is it's usually not the case. Right. In the summer, what you have is a heavy influx in that in South America, you also have a heavy influx from France. You also have Italy and Europeans go on vacation in June, July, August. Exactly. So even to this day, it's so heavy in New York. But it's too hot. It is. But there I think moving from the team members and the employees wellness aspect, it also has an amazing reach on these guests. The property, look, we have the second largest spawn the Eastern Seaboard, 70 thousand square foot. So it's. Oh, OK. Right. So we have between seventy five and a hundred different treatments besides massages. It's also. We have touchless. We have red light bed. We have red light beds. We have a sorrel deprivation tank, which I tried for the first time the other day after hearing Anthony Keedy's speak about it from the Rahat chili peppers. And I just always wanted to try and I did was awesome experience. So we have we offer so much, right? Then we have rock climbing classes that we have a huge gym. It's just a lot of different aspects. We also have one of the only restaurants in Miami that has earned the Michelin star three years in a row. And we are reopening now soon. It's it's called the time. Oh, wow. OK. That is that is that is that is really, really I'm again, I'm impressed. I didn't even know there was such a restaurant north Miami Beach. So I learned something new. Yeah. Yeah, it's awesome. OK. Because we don't have too much time. I want to know from you. You mentioned that first of all, I want to do a little round up. You do not go to hotel school or anything like that. You learned everything with your food in the soil in a mud, as I used to say. And you work yourself up from the ground up washing dishes, all kinds of hotels, not not the smallest, not not not not not the cheapest and you want to own your own property. What kind of property would that be? I know now it's going to be in Miami, Miami Beach, where in Miami Beach and how are you going to stand out? Draw us a picture of Armando's Hotel in the future in Miami Beach. Go ahead. Forty to seventy keys. Forty to seventy keys. OK. On the water. Of course, on the water. Lot of lush green in the common areas, including lobby. A lot of heavily focused on nature, but not necessarily a super not not not thinking of one hotel, if you will. Something more gardenish. Armando will be given the amount of rooms. The the the first and last point of contact taking. Making sure that all the guests, you know, no guests escaped, right? That's that's a whole idea. And then you make sure that you lead by example. And then this. This mindset is transmitted to everybody else as as it's been throughout the years in my career, right? So we're very. It's done differently. It's done. It's more heartfelt. It's taking from all these years that I've learned, for example, going back to Schragers, Morgan's Hotel group, learning, you know, why so many interviews because we want to make sure that we hire the right. We bring in the right candidate, right? Somebody that's going to make sure that they mirror that passion that's that starts from the top. And as far as the core, I have a very clear idea, but I'll share with that with you. As as the dream gets closer, right? Wonderful. Well, I think it's it's a great dream and you have many years ahead of you and you're going to you well, you got to make it. I'm 100 percent confident. I will. So Armando, thank you so much for sharing your story and your insight and your your plans for the future with us here on the future of hospitality. Is there one less thing that you may want to share for people who want to start a career in hospitality? Absolutely. Going back to the beginning, be passionate. If you're passionate and you are relentless, even when there are times where it feels like it's taken too long or it's just not going your way, trust me, it will go your way. If you're passionate and relentless enough, just don't settle. Go for what you want and just make sure you love every step of the process, even the ugly ones, because it will all pay off. And even to me where I feel I am nowhere near, like you said, that even the halfway of my career, there's so much to to achieve yet. But that's really what's been a very good mindset and engine to where I'm at today and where I'm going in the future. Wonderful. Armando, thank you for being on our show. Thank you so much, Arnie. You're a stellar.