Welcome back: we finally did it. The rest of the world (or, at least, the part worth visiting and conducting business with) is closing its borders to anyone proudly carrying a US Passport. What used to be a door opener and a cause for respect worldwide has become a scarlet letter. How we got from […]
Continue ReadingThe views and opinions expressed in this blog are strictly those of the author.
WHO SHOULD STAY AND WHO SHOULD GO?
So here we are, and you have no choice but to cut your overhead to the bone. How are you going to do it? Sacrifice the young’ uns you have invested so much in and who are just about to give you a superb return on your investment? Just because they are at the bottom […]
Continue ReadingWHAT SHOULD WE BE DOING?
Napoleon used to say an army is guided by its stomach: and here we are running out of food. In the worst possible way. When every bit of available food is used, it is merely a famine. When thousands upon thousands of gallons of milk are being dumped, it is fodder for civil riots. Our […]
Continue ReadingNOBODY ASKED FOR THE SPANISH INQUISITION
We will all survive. Unless we push our luck. William Paley’s Divine Watchmaker is clear on the subject: God may not exist, but something up there does, that cannot be controlled by mere humans. It does not matter that each and everyone of us think we have an immense IQ and are better than […]
Continue ReadingEmpty hotel or luxury senior facility?
The year is 2040 (only 20 years from now). Demographics in the US are leaning very heavily toward seniors. In fact, 55% of the population of those with a net worth of $2 million or more, are over 65. Gen X never amounted to a substantial percentage of our population. At the other end of […]
Continue ReadingVAN LIFE IS CLUTCH: LOOK AT THAT S CAR GO
First there was the Greatest Generation, then came the Baby Boomers, the Yuppies, the Gen X, the Millenia. Well. Not everyone loves living in their parents’ basement. The days of children reaching their thirties and watching the tube until 4am for free are getting old. The Van Life generation is upon us: they are in […]
Continue ReadingPAY PEANUTS – GET MONKEYS
The above is one of the oldest sayings in the history of labor. Why is it there a constant battle between employers and employees to find a relatively fair wage? At all levels, including the C suite. Public companies have to satisfy their stockholders, or they will invest their dollars somewhere else (do not be […]
Continue ReadingWHAT WOULD JESUS DO?
The tragedy of Notre Dame de Paris is nothing anyone is about to forget. Just like I remember gasping when I saw the Towers of the World Trade Center collapse, I could not help doing the same when the “flèche” of Notre Dame fell. The big difference between the World Trade Center and Notre Dame […]
Continue ReadingWHAT’S LEFT TO GRAB?
With the recent acquisitions of Belmond by LVMH and of Six Senses by IHG (InterContinental Hotel Group), what is left to “grab” in the ultra-luxury hospitality market? What makes the LVMH purchase of Belmond exceptional and may lead to “copycats” before we know it? Simply that LVMH is before anything else a “luxury conglomerate” with […]
Continue ReadingHAIL TO THE CHIEF, AKA BRAVO PATRON
Great news came out of the Annual Conference of the Leading Hotels of the World held in Shanghai earlier this month: a distinguished hotelman was picked by the membership and the board to be given the 2018 Leading Legends Award. Congratulations PAUL ZUEST. Four words best characterize him: expertise, integrity, generosity and humor. He is […]
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