Veerkracht in hospitality: aanpassen aan een veranderende wereld

the Future of HospitalitySo True. What what makes you what makes you your your ingredients that you applied, What what are give me give me a little bit hint of what your special ingredients are. What what what is it that you did?

Rocco BovaFor me, what I did, I think I I I used the right quantity of each of each of the ingredients. Okay. You know? But the most important the two most important ingredient. Surround yourself with great people, treat them well, lead them well so that they can deliver the vision. And treat your your client, your customers well so that they can become your ambassadors. Not necessarily a return guest. You know, a lot of a lot of company, they talk about loyalty. To me, loyalty is dead. You know, the future Loyalty is dead. Loyalty is dead. Yeah. I'm I'm telling you why. You know, brand loyalty is one thing. Okay? And and for certain brands, it's okay because, obviously, you know, they have different hotels in different parts of the world. But the newest generation will not go back to the same hotel twice. You know? They just go there once, that's it. They think the box next, please. You know? They will go somewhere else. They might continue to stay loyal to the brand, but not to the same hotel.

Rocco BovaSo if it's an independent hotel, if you are if you have an independent hotel or a hotel with a very small footprint around the the world or the region where you are, you cannot expect people to come back every year. It's just not possible. What you what you can expect, you're gonna expect ambassador. You need to create ambassador of your brand so they the people talk about your brand. And, you know, that's that's what I I guess I did. You know, I created ambassadors from from both clients.

the Future of HospitalityGot so it's employees and and and visitors?

Rocco BovaVisitors, suppliers, and employees. So so, you know, the the the the spectrum of your of the people that provide you business or service. Right.

the Future of HospitalitySo you made them investors. How did you do that?

Rocco BovaYeah. Caring for them. Okay. You know, I I I think I applied an extreme level of care, you know, to the to the point, for example, that I was going to meet and greet guests at the airport personally many times. You know, that that to me is a special touch that I learned with other company and applied to this one. You know, with the team members, I I followed a a a philosophy that I think works. You know? And the most important is to make things very clear from there from the big from the interview stage. You know? I interviewed every single individual that came for a job. You know? Not didn't matter whether it was for back of the house or front of the house. You know? I learned this for for example from for season for season, that's where I worked as well a couple of years. Four season, the general manager or the regional vice president in charge of that property interview, every single employee.

Rocco BovaEven if he's only for five minutes just to shake hands and say, welcome to the team and thank you very much for choosing us, that's enough. Right. And, you know, that it was also something that I learned and I applied. And it worked, you know, because even during the interview, I said to to the to this employee, I didn't even expect them to stay for life. I just wanted to to stay a year, twelve months. You know, giving them some clear clear expectation also what if you like to stay more, you're most welcome. But if you want to stay stay for at least twelve months, you're going to learn something, we're gonna get something out of you. The guest will enjoy your presence, and everybody's game. If you stay for three months or four months, you're gonna lose. The client is gonna use. The lose, and the company is gonna lose. So to make it a win win win, invest some of your time, and then bring this knowledge to the next place. No problem. So Right. So you you you you kinda motivate people to

the Future of Hospitalitycome work with the property, with with with the organization, but not necessarily as a career for that particular organization, but just to develop themselves. And you give them all the freedom and all the tools to do that. Is that correct?

Rocco BovaTotally. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that was my career too. My life, we I didn't get married with any brand in particular. You know, a lot of when I go for interview I mean, I don't go for interview now for it's been now more than four years. I didn't go for an interview. Actually, no. More than eight years, I didn't go for interview. I do interview for other other other purpose, but Yeah. I don't go for interview just to look for a job. But Right. So not to go for a job. So Yeah. Those days those days company were asking me, why would you change why do you change job every two or three years?

Rocco BovaAnd my answer was very simple. I told them, do you prefer to have a a person with thirty years of experience in one company, or you prefer to have a person with thirty years of experience in 10 different companies?

the Future of HospitalityMhmm. Yep. And Yep. What's the challenge? Twenty years ago, they would have told you you're crazy. We cannot rely on you. That is how things have shifted. Nowadays, someone with more experience in the in in in a variety of fields and sort of different levels is considered to be much better. So that's what you did in the first place.

Rocco BovaI I I guess I I did well.

the Future of HospitalityYou did well. You did well. Let me let me move on to the the change that I was talking about at in in at the intro. What you just said, you are making changes yourself to your approach, how to hire people, how to build a business. Can you tell me some more about what you're doing right now?

Rocco BovaSure. So when I left my last job, which was this hotel in Yucatan, my I've started to look for another traditional employee or employment within Mexico because I like this country, and I I know I thought I should stay longer here. I am going to stay longer. What do you like about the country? What is it that you that they can say in America? So many things. I mean, people are very nice. One, people are very nice. There there is a thriving economy in Mexico. There is a it's a huge country with huge opportunities. And tourism is one of the most important, you know, source of business for for the country. So I think with my experience, I can bring quite a lot to to the table. So that's why I'm I think I wanna say my wife, she also like it. So if we both are enjoying a place, then I guess it's even easier.

Rocco BovaSo so, basically, I I I started to look for a job, but I couldn't find anything really so attractive or so engaging for me. And my wife, she told me, why don't you start working as a consultant? At the beginning, I was kind of skeptical. You know? I said, you know, maybe I'm too young to work as a consultant. But they I said, okay. Maybe I can give it a try. You know? But it was just very light. You know? I was not very serious about that. I I was planning to do this later in life, you know, maybe in another ten, fifteen years. So I speak to two friends of mine, and immediately immediately, I got my first two client. Like, immediately. Oh, really? So I worked with these two clients. With one, I worked for about three months, and the other one, I'm still working with them. You know? For it's been now three years now. Sorry for interrupt. What were you doing with those two clients? What you get to teach these two clients very quickly. So what did you do with them? What what's what's going go? So one basically was just about to open a small boutique a small luxury boutique hotel, and he wanted to have an advice on how to go about, you know, what kind of, you know, how to commercialize, you know, what channel to sell it, you know, which event to participate, you know, training and development of the staff for the main new development and so on and so forth.

Rocco BovaAnd so I worked for with him for three months. The other one had a plan to build to build two two hotels two boutique hotels, beachfront in a location called Las Colorado, but where there is an existing touristic park today. So I I I joined him about three years ago, and the project is still ongoing. Know mean? It's a bit slow, but it's it's going there. So this year, this 2025, we should implement a new attraction in the touristic park. And next, 2027 is the year where we will begin the construction of the first boutique hotel. But then from there, I started to understand, okay. With these two, I cannot it's not enough, so I need to find more. So I need to find a strategy on how to find new client. Okay? Because before, I I was looking for client to stay in a hotel. Now I have to find client to work with, you know, to help them. Yeah. It's a different approach. I know. It's a different approach. So I have to learn I have to learn that, but it didn't take me long time either because because the selling skills, I have them. You know? I'm I think I'm a good salesperson.

Rocco BovaI know I know my own knowledge. I have a lot of connection, and selling my services was not so difficult. So I started to develop, know, my existing network, and I started to talk about what I do. And I think slowly by slowly, you know, here in Yucatan, there are so many new projects. So people knew knew me, and then one recommend me to another one and then another one and then another one. Sometime I do I do free free advising. You know? For example, I provide a free consultancy because that's also an investment. You need to provide something for free in order to get something back later.

Rocco BovaYep. And, you know, basically, now now I have a, you know, I I a continuous in and out of of newer client. You know, every month, two to three new one, you know, every two months, then I change again. So I like I like this more dynamic environment rather than working for one client for very long

the Future of HospitalityIt keeps you alert. You alert.

Rocco BovaIt keeps me alert, and I learn more. So I can bring more to the table. So it's like, now instead of changing job every two years or three years, I change job every two weeks.

the Future of HospitalityRight. What is your main what is your main job? You got clients here, clients there. So what is the main task that that is up on your plate?

Rocco BovaIt's I help people starting from the conceptualization of the of the hotel, basically, you know, to understand the, you know, the purpose of the hotel to, you know, learn about market segmentation and, you know, to whom direct, you know, this prop this product. Then I work with the with the architect and designer to make sure they don't forget basic space because most of the time, they create a beautiful space, but they forget the most important space, you know, storage, staff area, and so on and so forth. They only think about the customer, the user. You know? But user is also a team member. You know? So sometimes it's it's it's very important to work with them. And then and then, you know, we go to into preopening, positioning, sales and marketing, digital application, you know, technology, operation, you know, re recruitment and selection of staff.

Rocco BovaAnd, occasionally, I also help owners to sell their property. Very, very rare, but occasionally, I also help them to dispose of their property.

the Future of HospitalityRight. You mentioned technology because that's a big thing nowadays. It's developing so fast. How do you what's your approach with all your with your variety of clients and and and moving forward in the hospitality business? How is how what is your approach when it comes to, like, for instance, AI? I mean, I can imagine that it's it's also in hotel business, hospitality business. It's getting more and more important. How are you looking at that?

Rocco BovaSo I don't know if it's getting more and more important. It's getting more and more essential. I don't know if it's important or urgent to to use technology because this will disrupt I mean, the more technology we're gonna use, the the less human interaction we're going to have. This is as simple as that. Hospitality was about human interaction. If we're gonna start to change that, it's a choice that we need to accept for good. This is gonna make a major impact in the hospitality as such. Do we want to be like in the movies, you know, where we are served by robots, where we we make make an order with telepathic communication, or we want to be attended by a human being and and, you know, have a conversation and have a a a an a human interaction during this process of pre arrival, stay, post departure.

the Future of HospitalityRight. Well, we can use AI, of course, to enhance the the the human interaction to make that stronger. But I fully, totally agree with you that it's about the human interaction that is that is important. It's always been important when I travel, and that's what I where I get interested in the in the business. I started at a very young age and it is about service interaction and growing and all that. So, yeah, I can understand that with modern technology, it gives people the idea that it's it's getting less service oriented. But if we combine the two, and I think that's also important for for you, for for providing the best service to your clients to understand where that fits in in all these procedures.

Rocco BovaI I call me an old fashioned guy. I'm not sure I'm not sure yet, sir. This is going to really to really be, you know, the the future I want. At least I I want. This is Rocco talking. I'm not talking about, you know, general. You know? I'm talking about me, Rocco. And probably there are many Rocco's out there that they still want and prefer a human interaction compared to an enhanced artificially enhanced, you know so we if if we take it back into food, you know, would you prefer a nice organic grown tomato, or you want to have an artificially flavored enhanced can of tomato coming from a from a a a factory?

Rocco BovaI'm not sure.

the Future of HospitalityNo. I agree. I agree. Well, then I think for you for you, you are a very passionate man for the hospitality industry. That's clear for for decades. So your experience and your vision only gets more and more important than in in your field where let me to let me talk about talk a little bit more about that, about your Humble House because I read something about Humble House. And what you just described, how you approach the the the the the hotel business, what you think is important, I see that in Humble House. So fill us in about that a little bit.

Rocco BovaSo humble my humble house is a is a twenty years old project. It's not it didn't it was not born yesterday. No. No. So the first approach I had with my humble house, I was in Singapore. I was at the at the well, I was working at the Four Seasons in Singapore at the time. And one day, I received an invitation for the grand opening of a restaurant at the Esplanade. The Esplanade is the opera house in Singapore. So they didn't mention the name of the restaurant. They said, you know, the the name of the restaurant will be unveiled during the ceremony the opening ceremony. K. I said, okay. Let's go. I was not expecting anything, to be honest, because there are many great restaurants in Singapore today, and there were many great restaurants then. So I I said to myself, I'm sure it's gonna be another nice restaurant, but nothing really special.

Rocco BovaBut then, okay. So I go around. I see the place, decoration beautiful, blah blah blah. You know, the food, like, you know, like, this novel cuisine. If you remember the novel cuisine of of about twenty years ago that was very trendy at the time. Yeah. And they they you know, the owner of the restaurant goes to unveil the name of the restaurant. And the name of the restaurant was my humble elves.

the Future of HospitalitySounds cute.

Rocco BovaIt just it just got engraved in my brain. I said, this is unbelievable. I love this. I'm gonna use this name for something. Yeah. So I I write a diary. A lot of people, they write a a hard copy diary. I have a digital diary where I write down anything that comes to my mind. So I put it there and say, one day, I'm gonna use it. About twenty years later Yeah. About twenty years later, when I when I when I was about to turn 50, so I was still kind of me my 40 birthday. I said to myself, I think it's time to do something for my half century birthday.

Rocco BovaAnd and I said to myself, well, I can only do hotels because that's what I love. That's what I is my passion. And then the name came back to to my mind. Say, wow. I can use this name to call it my humble house. So that's that was the name the name mistake of the hotel. And so at the starting when I really celebrated my fiftieth birthday, I started to write down a concept. And I wrote down about a 150 pages of concept. You know? It it was just coming naturally because all all this experience, it just came naturally to to me. And we were just in the middle of COVID, by the way. So this were we're talking about 2020.

Rocco BovaSo December 2020 when I turned 50 and into twenty twenty one. So we were in the middle of COVID,

the Future of Hospitalityand I had time in my hand. Although I was Because the hotels were closed, so we were on lockdown.

Rocco BovaIt we were on lockdown. But Mexico, believe it or not, Mexico was the only country where hotels were actually open.

the Future of HospitalityI know. I remember that. That was yeah.

Rocco BovaOkay. Let's talk about that later because that was that's an interesting moment. Yeah. Go ahead. So was working, but I had time because, you know, people were traveling, but not at the volume and and pace where they were traveling before before COVID. So I had this time on my hands, I started to write and write and write. And then when I finished to write this 150 pages book, I start to share it with a lot of people. And I mean, a lot of people, like, 50 plus people from around the world, all c level executive, general managers, friends, family. And everybody say, Rocco, this is amazing. This is wonderful. We love it.

Rocco BovaYou know? But then a couple of friends, which I guess they were the good one that I mean, not the good one, but the one that they understood what I wanted to achieve with that, they told me, Rocco, you need to make some clarity in what you wrote. This is this looks like a brain vomit, literally. Okay. That's what they thought. But that's very well. Yeah. So I said I said, okay. So you mean, like, a business plan? Structure it. Yes, Rocco. You need to make clarity. You need to you know, you need to clean it up, filter what is really relevant and what is not. So I I I learned how to write a business plan, and I now wrote a business plan, which is now about 65 to 70 pages, you know, with some references which I, you know, which I take every now and then, and I copy paste in this document so that it's my humble house business plan. Right.

Rocco BovaSo then then then I go to the to the other to the other side. You know? Okay. I've got a business plan. I've got an idea. I've got a brand. I registered the brand name in Mexico listed. I I went on to talk to people, and and a lot of people were interested are interested, like you, for example. Then I I created a page on LinkedIn, which this page has now more than 5,500 followers.

the Future of HospitalityNice.

Rocco BovaAnd then I said to myself, okay. Okay. That's that's in interesting, you know, to have just an idea with more than 5,500 followers. Yeah. So last year, one of my friend, know, in Mexico told me, hey, Rocco. I've got land. If you want to do your your your hotel, let me know. I can give you some land. No problem. Alright. And and then I came across a piece of land myself. This was, yeah, about six months ago. And I found a price just right for something that I can afford to invest in. So I now have the land. I've got the idea. I've got the brand. I've got the business plan. I've got the connection. I've got the experience, and now I'm looking for investors. So starting Alright. Starting March, I'll begin I will begin looking for investors.

Rocco BovaAnd I'm I'm currently working with a studio of architects who are helping me to develop the master plan. In fact, after this call, I'm gonna have my third meeting with them. And and so this is the story in a in a in a nutshell.

the Future of HospitalityThat is good. I'm so the humble house itself, how can you, in a few sentences, draw the picture how that's gonna look like?

Rocco BovaOkay. So first, I'm gonna start with the tagline. I think this is very important for people to understand the purpose of it. Mhmm. So the tagline for my humble house is profit is the consequence of our purpose. I don't know how this I came out with this tagline, but I I like it. To my Profit is the consequence What? Yeah. Of our purpose. Of our purpose. So, you know, this this this tagline came up because I don't want to talk to investors that ask me as a first question, what is my return on investment? No. Okay. But in fact, just this morning, I received a message on my LinkedIn page, and and and this person asked me, okay, Rocco, how much money you want and what's the ROI?

Rocco BovaAnd my answer was very simple. I'm not interested to talk to investors, any investors. And the first question is, what is the ROI? Good for you. I don't care. No. I may never find these investors. Never. But I don't I prefer to stick to my to my philosophy of life, which until now has worked very well. And even in past career, you know, my career as a as a as a hotelier, I never went to work for a company because of the salary they would offer me. Salary was part of it, but it was not the primary purpose. For me, the purpose was to work for a company that is aligned with my values.

Rocco BovaIf I cannot find a company that's aligned with my value, no matter how much they're gonna pay me, it's never gonna work.

the Future of HospitalityWell said.

Rocco BovaI agree. In a in a nutshell, what is my humble house is is nothing new, really, because as much as people tell me, you know, we created a new brand or we created a new concept, there is no such a new concept in hotels. No. A hotel is a hotel. So I'm building rooms, and I'm building residences, which the residences are gonna be for sale. So it's hotel plus residence, which is typical business model that works pretty well around the world. Four Season does it. Ritz Carlton does it. Mandarin. Oriental does it. Raffle does it, and and Excel, Excel, So Yeah. I'm not I'm not reinventing the hospitality. I'm reinventing the business model of the hospitality. But there are two main things which are different from the rest of the industry.

Rocco BovaThe first one is a profit sharing model. So the net profit or part of the net profit that is gonna be made by the company will be shared with the team member. Not all, of course, because at the end of the needs to be a business, And there will be investors which are expecting as well a dividend or or or a return on the investment. And I will make sure I will comply to that to that part that is that is nobody's gonna give me money for free, you know, to burn it. Nobody. I know that. No. So part of the property will be shared with the team member. So I will make sure that the team member, number one, will be will will feel they are part of the of the business and not just employees that they get a salary at the end of the month.

Rocco BovaWhy why did I come with this idea is because employees, let's take this honestly, they steal from a company in three ways. The first way, they steal in time. They're not efficient. So you pay them for eight hours a day. They work probably six, probably. Maybe even less than six hours of actual work. So you are not optimizing the salary that you you you pay your team members. So if you if they're not efficient, then you're not optimizing your your investment. Number two, they steal in money. And I'm not saying that everybody does, but, you know, there is always there is always pocket of people, percentage of people here and there. The second way they steal from you is in cash. Whenever there is a cash transaction, you provide a platform for people to say, uh-uh.

Rocco BovaThat looks very tempting. Maybe I can take $5, and let's see what happens. Maybe nobody's gonna is gonna see it. So $5 here, $5 there, $1 here, one dollar there. It's it's this micro stealing that at the end of the year will become macro stealing. Okay? Yeah. The third is stealing in items. Equipment, small equipment, of course, amenities from the rooms, beverage or food from the kitchen or from the bars, mini bars in the rooms, how many times a guest complain that I never consumed that. And probably they didn't because maybe it was one of the team member that drunk a bit that beer or that Coke. Or Seriously. I never thought about that.

Rocco BovaWell, alright.

the Future of HospitalityGuess what? It is real. It's real.

Rocco BovaIt's real. It's real. It's happening all the time in every hotel in the world. Every hotel in the world. Every. So that's that's one be one part of the business model. The second part of the business model was actually a a a consequence of COVID. Because during COVID, you remember very clearly that suddenly, hotel companies said, hey. I'm so sorry, but there is no more money. The well, sorry. There is no money. There is no money. Monies, so we have to terminate your employment. Yeah. And the and the employment of millions of people around world was terminated with no excuse and with no regret one day to the next.

the Future of HospitalityYeah. Yeah. Companies,

Rocco Bovathey didn't care about people having families. They had children. They have costs and expenses. There was no regret and no care about the consequence of what would happen. A lot of people, they they committed suicide by losing their job because they didn't know what to do. They didn't know they they went into a panic. They went into a situation of fear, and the fear took over. And the panic grew, grew, grew until to the point that they say, you know what? Better I take my life. The panic

the Future of Hospitalityhappened because all of a sudden, many hotels had to close cruising cruising companies, they had to close. I mean, it was all all stopped. It stopped for months and months and months in a row. So a lot of hotels, a lot of companies, businesses, they they were not prepared for such a dramatic event.

Rocco BovaSure. Sure. But I'm gonna tell I'm gonna ask you something. Did we not have crisis in the past? We did have crisis in the past. We had wars. We had the nine eleven. We had another pandemic called SARS in in in Asia, which, you know, which was confined to mostly Asia. But we had another pandemic which should Yeah. Took, you know, business away from most Southeast Asia and China, you know, in the twenty years ago. It's exactly twenty years ago when I was in Singapore. So this happened. So we had many crisis. This was probably one of the biggest that that happened and maybe one of the longest that affected our lives.

Rocco BovaBut what did what did we learn from the past crisis? Apparently, nothing. What did did we learn from this crisis? Most probably nothing again because business is as as usual now. So the company that, you know, delivered this message and disposed from millions of employees around the world. Now, today, they are celebrating record breaking profit. They are celebrating record breaking occupancy, ADR,

the Future of Hospitalityblah blah blah blah blah. But they're still not prepared for a next event.

Rocco BovaI I don't think so. No. Many companies during pandemic, and I I can mention some companies, they have invested heavily during the pandemic. Right in the middle of the pandemic, they invested billions billions of dollars, some companies. Alright. So, you know, for me, that was a a be a big hit. You know? And I said, in every family in the world, there is always a bit of money somewhere. You know, whether it's hidden in a in a in a cave or under the mattress or in the bank, you know, a little a little saving that you use for emergency. Correct or no? Yep. Every every household that. In an old sock under the mattress. Exactly. Exactly. So every every household do that.

Rocco BovaWhy companies haven't done that? Why company haven't haven't considered that a little saving, you know, a little bit of money will always help you to instead of reinvesting this money in growing, you know, opening new hotels, buying a new car, or buying a new villa, or whatever, or giving back to the shareholders. Why not? So so my humble house is that 10% of the net profit is not going anywhere. It's gonna stay in a in a place where it's gonna be used for emergency like this. It may not be useful to save the world, for sure, but it may be useful to save the employees that work for that company or that business unit at least for a period of time, maybe two months, three months, six months, a year. I don't know.

Rocco BovaBut at least I'm doing something to prepare for the next crisis. If we continue not to be prepared for the next crisis, then the next crisis is gonna happen exactly what happened now. So today, what what what I what is what is happening is that everybody's crying because the new generation, they don't want to work. The the millennials are lazy. You know? They're not committed anymore to the industry. Of course, they're not committed. The industry was not committed to them during the the COVID, while they should be committed, you know, to them now. Boom. So everybody, you know what? I care for myself now. You know? I work for you for as long as you care for me. The moment you don't care for me anymore, I don't care for you anymore. Simple. Mhmm.

Rocco BovaSo it's a big it's a big deal. Just yesterday, I was talking about somebody that is a part of leading hotel of the world. Every leading hotel of the world I'm talking about LHW. So leading hotel of the world company. Every hotel owner or hotel general manager complained that the biggest issue today is human resources. It's the finding and and and and keeping staff in their hotel. They just they just cannot. So how can they solve this problem? I think we need to do a little bit of self evaluation and say,

the Future of HospitalityYeah. Yeah. Yeah. Make your make the employees yeah. Make it a family again. Think that is what it was back in the days. I'm old. I'm I'm I worked in in in restaurants in the eighties. But back in the days, I remember, it was more like a little family. I mean, every day, it was you start together and this is we're gonna face the day. It's gonna be an exciting day, and you're gonna do this. You're gonna do that. It was we worked together, and it was a celebration at the end of the day because we achieved something. That is my experience from the hospitality business back in the eighties and nineties. But I think that's a little bit it's it changed a little bit according to what I hear from you.

Rocco BovaYeah. It's a it's a little history now. I mean, history books used to be like that. It was like that. Now it's different.

the Future of HospitalityIt's different, but you see an opportunity there. You are very excited. So about this humble house idea. So how far are you now? So what can we expect in the next few months? There is a fundraising coming. That's not why we're on the call, but you mentioned it. What can we expect for the rest of the year?

Rocco BovaSo let's say that early early early next year, I will make some further announcements. You know? I I I don't want to unveil too much now. I think I'd rather keep it as a surprise from for for many.

the Future of HospitalityAlright. Interesting. Watch One less way. Watch this space, I guess. Yeah. Yeah. Well, you were very clear of why this all is important, and it all comes down to personal I mean, interpersonal service. I mean, interpersonal interaction. I mean, it's just like it was back in the days where hospitality stands for. One last thing is you mentioned the South America con no. South Mid Central America. What is it? Summit Mexicano

Rocco Bovadel Hospitalidad.

the Future of HospitalityOkay. Tell me a little bit more about that before before we end this because that's happening in February. And what is it exactly and for who?

Rocco BovaSo, again, you know, through observation and living in in Mexico for the past eight years, you know, I observed that of all the conference that I participate or events travel events that I participate, there is very little time provided to learning during an event or during a conference. So there is a lot of emphasis on learning about the business. You saw investors looking for land to where to build a hotel or banks looking for people that they want to lend money so they can build their own dream hotel. Or you have a supplier's events. So where you have the service provider or or product provider that want to sell the service or product to an hotelier.

Rocco BovaRight. And and there was a little time for conferences. You know? There was a little time for hoteliers to learn about the hospitality industry. What's going on there? And so I said to myself, well, maybe I should do one myself. You know? If there is no such a conference, maybe I should create one myself. So one day, I came with this idea, and and I put together a group of people. We we were six. Now we are three three members three members of this, let's say, company that we created to to to to plan this event. And the Summit Mexicano de la Hospitalida was born. So this was born around April this year.

Rocco BovaMhmm. Now for the next for the following event, we are already considering to call it to change the name and call it the summit Latino Americano de los Hospitallida, which include also Latin America and not just Mexico. We decided to do it in the Spanish language because in in English language, you have many conference already. So why to continue in the same so let's let's look at the people also that speak Spanish. Even though I'm not I'm not Spanish of origin or Mexican of origin, I live here. I need to contribute to the local community, not to the international community alone. And I can bring the international experience I have into the local community. So so, basically, this is it. So the February 20 in Merida, they will be the event of 2025.

Rocco BovaWe are really doing very well, to be honest with you. I'm very happy with the way things are are progressing. We already sold more than 50% of the of the ticket. And so

the Future of HospitalityOkay. I'm I'm looking forward to it. I'm I want to hear from you after this event, how it went. Wanna stay updated on that. Definitely. If you speak Spanish, you're most welcome to come. Like, everything is gonna be in Spanish, I'm afraid, but you're most welcome to come a rusty. It's still there. I started no. I studied Spanish for two years, but that's four years ago. It's still there, but it takes a few days. Right. Of course. Course. Of course. Oh, lovely. Rocco, thank you so much for being on our podcast, The future of hospitality. It was amazing to have you here today. It was very insightful and a fresh voice, and thank you.

Rocco BovaThe pleasure was mine. Thank you for the opportunity to share my views, and I hope I'm I'm gonna inspire some people out there.