YouSaid · the spoken record

Chris Nassetta

lines on the record: 29
first: 2021-12-09
most recent: 2021-12-09
sittings or episodes: 1
sources: podcast

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“I'm going to do it for the foreseeable future. I love what I do. And the reality is we've accomplished a lot. As you described, we've made Blackson a lot of money. We made our shareholders a lot of money. More importantly, we've grown the business and we've been a huge engine of opportunity. If you think about all the jobs we've created around the world, all the communities we've made better places, all the ownership groups who we've helped grow their business and having built a world-class culture, the opportunities we've created for upward mobility for people. And this business, I would still say, is like a coiled spring coming out of COVID particularly. So I feel like we just have more to do. My job's far from done.”
2021-12-09 · The David Rubenstein Show · Chris Nassetta · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I that you're one of the smartest investors on earth, so I'm not going to give you, and I'm a lowly hotel guy. I'll let you decide that. I think why the stocks have performed well. Really quite simple. I think it's an underlying belief that the business broadly will”
2021-12-09 · The David Rubenstein Show · Chris Nassetta · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I do not think it's a real competitor to us. So, if you think about what we do, it's something different than what they do. And I think we coexist with them quite well. We deliver a high quality, consistent product with the amenities wrapped in service with all the technology, loyalty, and people pay us, generally a big premium for that because they want that level of consistent, high quality experience. What they do is something different. What they're doing is by definition can't have the consistency and the quality and the products and the amenities that are tailor-fit because it's just something different. But it doesn't mean it's bad. It just means it's satisfying a different kind of trip occasion. So if you look at the numbers, even pre-COVID, we were coexisting quite well. We were at the peak levels of performance at a time.”
2021-12-09 · The David Rubenstein Show · Chris Nassetta · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I've read that same rumor, but no, I can't comment on that. I have a very strict rule. I'll comment when something is done. And so the rumors are justified in the sense that there's a lot of work and discussion going on, but nothing is done.”
2021-12-09 · The David Rubenstein Show · Chris Nassetta · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“As what I think will be the best luxury hotel in New York in 2023, with 400 rooms and about the same amount of high-end luxury apartments.”
2021-12-09 · The David Rubenstein Show · Chris Nassetta · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, let me correct one thing. That is not the original Waldorf Astoria. The original Walter Festoria was put together as a consequence of the two members of the Astor family feuding that had two hotels that were on the site of what is today the Empire State Building. And the way they settled the feud was they one hotel was the Waldorf, the other was the Astoria, and they settled the feud by connecting them with what they called Peacock Alley. And it became famously the Waldor Festoria in New York. That was in the late 1800s. They ultimately sold it to what got redeveloped as Empire State Building. And where the current Walter Festory is was built during the Great Depression and opened in 1931 and is under massive redevelopment and should open, reopen.”
2021-12-09 · The David Rubenstein Show · Chris Nassetta · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Wall of Restore. Our luxury brands are Walter Vestoria, Conrad, and LXR. You're in a Conrad, as it turns out today, but the very highest end of luxury for us is Waldorf, then Conrad, and LXR is a collection of luxury historic luxury hotels.”
2021-12-09 · The David Rubenstein Show · Chris Nassetta · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, it is. And by choice. If you go back 50 years ago, Hilton was probably the leading pioneering luxury brand on Earth. But as time went on and as we learned that segmentation mattered in the business and that the customers had these different needs, we really tried purposefully to make Hilton a four-star brand to allow for other things above it.”
2021-12-09 · The David Rubenstein Show · Chris Nassetta · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“She had more recently we've been working with Paris on the marketing side of it. We're working with her. She's got married and she's on her honeymoon and we're helping sponsor the honeymoon. And so we have been doing some work more recently”
2021-12-09 · The David Rubenstein Show · Chris Nassetta · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Saying I haven't, but I do have his bust right next to my office. When we moved out of Beverly Hills, we had all sorts of paraphernalia that was related to the history of the company, most of which I sent to the Conrad Hilton Museum at the University of Houston because I thought it would be great for them to catalog it and have it. The one thing I did keep was his bust, which I keep very close by my office. So I did know Conrad personally. I did meet his son Baron, who ran the company for over 40 years and was very close to his father. And at least talking to Barron, he was quite proud of what we had done with the company and suggested to me Conrad would have been as well.”
2021-12-09 · The David Rubenstein Show · Chris Nassetta · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“He did. I wasn't alive to see it, but he was quite famous in the time, and he ended up on the Johnny Carson show on more than one occasion. At one point as it goes, I've seen the clip, so it's not legend Johnny Carson said, all right, Connie, he went by Connie. You're the biggest hotel man on earth. Could you just give everybody in the audience one piece of advice? He said, if I could give you one piece of advice, I would say, please keep your shower curtain inside the shower.”
2021-12-09 · The David Rubenstein Show · Chris Nassetta · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“It's a really complicated issue, and it always has been. But as the representatives, most senior representative of the company for the company effectively through me to have a view, it has to be directly connected to our purpose. So I'm constantly looking at the convergence of what is good for society, but is also good for our business. And looking at that point of overlap and making sure that we're focused in those areas, because here's the thing, again, in my humble opinion, today's world, everybody wants you to have an opinion on everything and do everything. Last night, focus and discipline matter. And so we've picked sort of three areas that are most important to us. Diversity and inclusion, which is clearly a huge part of our business. We serve an immensely diverse customer base, immensely diverse team member.”
2021-12-09 · The David Rubenstein Show · Chris Nassetta · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I think so. We did our job for Blackstone and their investors, and they made a great profit out of what looked like a difficult setup during the Great Recession. And yeah, anybody that has that bought the stock when we went public and held it has done exceptionally well.”
2021-12-09 · The David Rubenstein Show · Chris Nassetta · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Definitely. I definitely did. But I found it, I definitely got more gray hairs, and I'm not going to say it didn't stress me out on occasion. But I love a challenge. I mean, the truth is I had a really great job running hosts and I love the company and the people and the board was incredible to me. And so why did I leave? I wanted a bigger challenge and something that was more global and needed fixing. And so the reality is the Great Recession, while it was hard and it was stressful. It was also an opportunity to sort of stretch myself and to fix it and to really push myself to get to the other side.”
2021-12-09 · The David Rubenstein Show · Chris Nassetta · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“David, I slept like a baby. I slept for two hours. I woke up, cried, slept for another two hours, woke up and cried. Kidding. No, you know, the truth is there were some tense moments at the beginning of the Great Recession, but we never lost faith, John and I particularly as the two that sort of put our heart and soul into making this thing work John Gray and I, we knew we had a really good strategy. We were building a world-class team. And, you know, I'm a big believer in a steady hand on the wheel. What goes down will come up. You know, don't panic if you've got a strategy. Work the strategy, adapt it to the times, and you'll get to the other side. And we did.”
2021-12-09 · The David Rubenstein Show · Chris Nassetta · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And the truth is, as I step back from it And as I talk to my wife, who was an equal partner in the decision, we realized how many chances in your life are you going to have where it's a counterparty like Blackstone who you know really well, who you trust, it's a business that you know but has massive opportunity and it suits your skill set and those things just don't come together that often and so eventually I decided we would be pick up and be the Beverly Hillbillies and we moved.”
2021-12-09 · The David Rubenstein Show · Chris Nassetta · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Really well, and as a result of that relationship, I guess when they decided, you know, in July, early, late June, early July of 2007 that they were going to buy Hilton, John Gray called and said, I've got the perfect job for you. We know you. We like you. We trust you. We think you've sort of trained your whole career to be able to run a company like this. We think there's a huge amount of upside and potential this company's been grossly undermanaged and you should come do it. And I said, what are you crazy? I'm going to pick up my wife and my six little daughters at this time. And we're going to move to Beverly Hills, California. I famously said, like, we're going to be like the Beverly Hillbillies out. I don't see the decettas on Rode AO Drive. But those that know John Gray know that he's very persuasive.”
2021-12-09 · The David Rubenstein Show · Chris Nassetta · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I think so. So, how did you come to I mentioned in my private equity days I'd gotten to know the Blackstone guys really well, John Schreiber then, who's since retired, but John Gray, you know, particularly really well, Steve Shoresman a bit. And when I got to host as a result of that relationship and given their interest in the hotel space, we did a bunch of transactions with them. So while I had known them, I got to know them really.”
2021-12-09 · The David Rubenstein Show · Chris Nassetta · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Host Marriott. Yeah, I came in as the COO and I became the CEO within four years. My partner in our private equity business, Terry Golden, was CEO, I was COO. He retired in four years and I took over as you're.”
2021-12-09 · The David Rubenstein Show · Chris Nassetta · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“No, in between there I created a private equity business, a little teeny one compared to the big behemoth that you're part of. At the time, this would have been in 1991. This was the early days of private equity generally, certainly real estate private equity. And our view was that there's going to be Did a lot of tax exempt multifamily in our fund and had a lot of great partners, one of whom was Blackstone, and then got recruited, my partner and I to go to what was then host Marriott after doing that for five years.”
2021-12-09 · The David Rubenstein Show · Chris Nassetta · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Public high school in Arlington, Yorktown High School, went to UVA and ended up at the McIntyre School of Commerce Undergraduate Business School, got out and decided I wanted to follow my father and uncle's footsteps and be in the real estate development business and ended up working for one of the biggest developers and still a good friend today in the DCR Oliver car. And my first job actually ended up being a hotel, which was the Willard Hotel in office complex.”
2021-12-09 · The David Rubenstein Show · Chris Nassetta · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I have no real worries. I mean, every time we've sort of, as we've been recovering, if you look at the minute people start to feel like we're through the crisis, the demand for meetings and events, which is the longest lead, skyrockets. People are dying to get out.”
2021-12-09 · The David Rubenstein Show · Chris Nassetta · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Not a big concern for me. I think the world's figuring this out. A year ago, I think people were saying, gosh, this works. It's so efficient. Maybe I don't need to do the things that I was doing. I think a year later, as at least everybody I'm talking to has realized there are real limits to it. I mean, don't get me wrong. It's great technology. We use it and it is facilitated our ability to continue to communicate during this crisis. There is an unstoppable force that exists with humans, which is humans want to interact with humans. And that isn't just for a vacation. Humans need to and want to interact on business to build partnerships, to innovate, to build culture. And they want to congregate the meetings and events business. They want to network. They want to, you know, to grow their business, to build relationships.”
2021-12-09 · The David Rubenstein Show · Chris Nassetta · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Some people will just have been reevaluating life and what they want to do and some of those folks have said I'd rather go work in a warehouse rather than clean rooms and other things. So it's a complex equation that's going to take a significant amount of time to sort of work through. We're a lot better off than we were even three months ago. And I think when we wake up over the next year, we'll be able to get, I'm hopeful, labor back to be able to do what we do.”
2021-12-09 · The David Rubenstein Show · Chris Nassetta · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“It is. At this point, almost all our hotels are open, but they're not fully staffed. The single biggest issue that we have is getting labor back into the hotels broadly, but particularly in certain roles like housekeeping in the culinary areas. And while we've seen some easing of that over the last few months, we still have a ways to go. And so it's something we're working very hard on. It's a complicated issue. It's part throughout this, it's been health concerns. People don't want to go to places where other people are congregating. It's been significant issues on childcare, particularly when schools weren't open. People had nobody to take care of their children. There have been government policies that have obviously compensated people that were unemployed in ways that provided some disincentives. And you put, and then, to be honest,”
2021-12-09 · The David Rubenstein Show · Chris Nassetta · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“We closed a significant percentage of the system. At some point in time, we had probably 1,500 of circus 7,000 hotels were closed. But the difficult part you asked in the question was the people. Hotels were closing their, you know, it had a huge impact on our frontline team members in the sense of necessitating furloughs, reductions in force, both in the field and corporately. And so as hard as it is to close hotels, it was really the people side of it in the early stages of COVID was heart-wrenching.”
2021-12-09 · The David Rubenstein Show · Chris Nassetta · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“It was interesting having done this for almost 40 years, we open hotels all the time. In fact, at this point, we're opening more than a hotel a day in the world still, even during COVID. We've been opening more than a hotel a day around the world. But we very rarely close hotels. It's something people don't focus on. When a hotel opens, it's open. Most of them forever. Like you open them up, they open their doors. They're open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. They're sort of an epicenter of activity, and you rarely close them. You close them pretty much when you're going to tear them down for another use or build another hotel. So we are not very experienced at closing hotels, but we gain the experience. But the hard part.”
2021-12-09 · The David Rubenstein Show · Chris Nassetta · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Been really interesting and been well documented, I guess, at this point is the leisure business has been off the charts. If you look at demand for leisure broadly, the rates on leisure, they're already significantly higher than the peaks of 2019. The business segment and the group and the meetings and events segment is on a slower recovery, which you'd expect. you know, building up some momentum.”
2021-12-09 · The David Rubenstein Show · Chris Nassetta · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, I think so. Maybe the cruise industry would probably top the list, but I think we'd be near the top of the list. Yeah, it's been a difficult couple years, but things have improved by significant margin from where we were. We started out in the first quarter of 2020 at 8 or 10 percent occupancy, which we've never experienced that kind of downdraft, certainly in the almost 40 years I've been doing this. But at this point, we are, well, we're not through COVID. We're not back to where we were at the peaks of 2019. We're sort of like still 15 to 20 percent down and generally trending in a positive direction. My guess is when we get to the second, third quarter of next year, we will be back to peak levels of demand, similar to 19.”
2021-12-09 · The David Rubenstein Show · Chris Nassetta · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source