Sebastien Leitner
Welcome back to The Turndown. Today we have Absolute Hospitality Royalty with us. Suzanne Spieck, the managing director of Radisson Hotel Group for the UK and Ireland.
Now, when you sit down with an executive of one of the world’s most recognizable hotel brands, you might expect the first topic of conversation to be expansion, or RevPAR, or maybe even the secret of crafting the ultimate club sandwich.
But you would be wrong. Instead, we’re kicking off today’s interview by talking about something a lot of people are sweating over, literally. We’re diving straight into the realities of menopause. That’s right. Before we talk about running hotels, we’re talking about hot flashes in the boardroom, navigating brain fog, and why this deeply human experience is something we all need to be talking about out loud.
Suzanne brings her signature candor, leadership and humor to a topic that is finally getting the spotlight it deserves.
Here’s my conversation with the fabulous Suzanne Spieck.
Hi there. Suzanne, welcome to the program. It’s great to have you on the podcast.
Suzanne Speak
Thank you for having me.
Sebastien Leitner
Absolutely. Absolutely. I wanna kick us off with our sort of standard introduction question, which is what keeps you up at night these days?
Suzanne Speak
Oh, well, I have a seventeen year old son, so that normally does the trick. But in truth, mother nature. You know, I’m at that stage in my life where I don’t really have a choice, but the night sweats and sleep deprivation, that’s the stage of life that I’m at.
Sebastien Leitner
So what’s causing it? What’s the name? Menopause. Menopause. Yeah. Okay.
Suzanne Speak
I am, as you will gather, quite passionate about talking about this. I think it’s important that we do break that stigma and the reality of that’s the stage I’m at.
Sebastien Leitner
And, you know, I I wanna sort of expand a little bit on this. You know? How does menopause show up for you in a normal working day? What does it do?
Suzanne Speak
It can show it can manifest in many ways. It varies. And I appreciate that not no two women are the same. So when I’m speaking about this, I’m speaking about my experience.
But, know, yes, the lack of sleep, but I’m quite good at managing that.
The the fatigue, the energy, sometimes it manifests with that real lack of motivation where it takes up more energy and just that more drive to have to get up to finish something.
Other days, it’s it’s maybe more the brain fog or the memory note.
Not so long ago, I had to make my son a dentist appointment.
And as I’m talking to the receptionist, I swear I couldn’t remember his name. It took me ten seconds to remember my own son’s name. And I see the humorous side on that now. And, I had a giggle with my girlfriends and stuff, but that stuff’s real.
And and that’s quite scary when you have that just that blip when you’re thinking, wow, what’s going on here? And, you know, personally, I’m probably still the offspring of that era where our parents didn’t really talk about these things. Yes. I was aware of menopause, but Was I educated in it?
No. So you kinda learn as you go along. And, you know, that’s it’s a lot to take in, when you get to that point of your career where your son is a bit older, you’ve now got a bit more freedom. You work so hard from the ages of sixteen, seventeen through the ladder that I have done, through, you know, I’ve climbed.
And you get to that point of where you think, okay, good. This is a bit of me time. And then mother nature hits you with a curveball that you’re not expecting.
Sebastien Leitner
When you when you say and I’m very curious. When you say you’re managing your sleep deprivation or, you know, lack of sleep, what do you do?
Suzanne Speak
I just keep going. Okay. You know, I have supplements from from my own diet.
I did have a period there before I actually realized what was going on, of you’re overindulging in caffeine or a fizzy drink, just something to keep you going. But I recognise that quite early on and I do do focus a little bit more on my well-being. I am with supplement support. There’s a lot of resource, a lot of things out there, which is But you just When Like, I’m also a single mom.
So when you’re a mom as well as working full time, you just have got to keep going. And just as You know? It could be an Irish thing, I don’t know. But it’s just I come from a very strong line of women.
So yeah.
Sebastien Leitner
You’re at the peak of your career in hospitality. Right? I mean, you are managing a large amount of employees. You’ve gone through various careers in hospitality.
And something is hitting you, right, is impacting you.
Why do you think it hits so hard right now?
Why does it have an impact on you?
Suzanne Speak
I guess for for my journey, when I took on this role of MD in January twenty twenty four, the timing was impeccable. The two things almost went hand in hand that transition period. And, yes, you take on a bigger role, you have more responsibility.
Okay? And sometimes, you know, it’s so difficult when what people don’t see really impacts what people do see.
So there’s been times does that make sense?
You know, there have been times when I have to always be visibly my role is to be visible to be present.
And I think with some of the symptoms of menopause, be it the brain fog, be it the anxiety almost at times, be it the lack of concentration, anything, you know, whatever, Even the physical side of things, when you’re in a board meeting and you are overheating and you physically become red, there’s a self consciousness in that as well. So you have a lot to deal with, but it’s unforeseen.
Like today, doing this, you know, when we agreed to do all of this, I was I was great. I was excited. There’s things that I love to do. But over the weekend, you know, and some yesterday morning, I’m kinda think, oh, I’m a little bit you know, am I nervous? Because I’m not a nervous person. Am I anxious? I’m not an anxious person, but yet those emotions can still creep in.
So
Sebastien Leitner
You said that, you know, we don’t talk enough about it inside of hospitality, and you want to take on a more active role in demystifying and educating and I applaud you for that.
Right? Hospitality talks endlessly about well-being. Right?
What do you think you need to do? What do you think we as an industry need to do in order to make, I guess, menopause more inclusive and visible and, you know, I guess sensitize people around it.
Suzanne Speak
Yeah. It’s almost that we have to normalize it, remove the stigma.
I would would love to see you know, we have so many and I know I’ve worked for Hilton before. I’ve worked for Marriott before. We have great leadership programs.
For me, I would love to embed the education about and the awareness of menopause into those leadership programmes. This is not just about women, it’s about men understanding it also. You know? And not just for hospitality, but I would like to see and I see movements towards this for any industry.
You know, we have seen such a rise in women in leadership for so long, for the last ten years especially. We now need to close that gap of what you know, to support them because that’s important to to create that condition that people can all people can thrive. I would love to see a benefit added into for women’s benefits almost, where it’s black and white in that employee handbook when anybody, whether it be a receptionist, somebody in the kitchen, or a manager, hits that point in their life, there is a resource and there is support that that person can go straight to, and it’s in black and white.
That’s what I would like to see.
Sebastien Leitner
That that’s amazing. I I look forward seeing that implemented amongst your organization. What do you think leaders today get wrong when they think they’re being supportive of women experiencing menopause?
Suzanne Speak
I think many leaders and it’s understandable. They probably assume a quick fix is have some time off. You know, they’re supportive that way.
But menopause is a long term phase.
You know, that requires systematic flexibility.
We have to translate the understanding into policy.
It’s not an illness. It’s a condition. It’s a phase of life.
Sebastien Leitner
K.
You mentioned that you want from an employee handbook or from an employee process support to anyone in any level
Hitting menopause. Are there any other changes that you would, you know, want to see implemented to support women through menopause and hospitality?
Suzanne Speak
I think that would be a start, and I think things will be off. You know?
I am not do I I’m the start of the journey of it, do I know enough about it to try to make those recommendations from what I read?
But, you know, with the support that I’ve reached out to, you know, I think if we were to signpost people to that, that’s endless. That’s they’re the experts. Yeah. You know?
Think as women, we have accountability ourselves. Think we have to talk about it. You know? Silence doesn’t mean comfort.
I think that we can’t assume that the employer must do, you know, A, B, C and D. We have our part to play in this too. And I think it’s important that we do. You know?
I if you don’t mind, I’ll tell you. I, when I went to Brussels to, to do a presentation with with my boss, and, you know, I was first time meeting in Brussels. It was one of our head offices, and it was a pretty big, important board main board meeting. And, you know, myself and other engaged in parts of the world, we were talking and conversing.
We were putting so much effort into what we were doing. I was prepared, but the execution was a car crash. It was awful. And these were new bosses to me as well.
So I wasn’t you know, I came back home and I’m thinking, you know, the presentation was great and but the delivery, it was just one of those days that, you know, headaches, the anxiety came Just that clarity of brain fog that was very difficult to articulate what I was trying to portray.
In my mind, it was working, but couldn’t be right, it wasn’t. And, you know, I come home and I thought about it. And, you know, the next day I thought, no, I’m gonna ring my COO. So I called Muppen teams and there was silence.
And for a second, I had to interpret what was that Did that silence mean? What’s this all about? But it wasn’t. He gave me so much respect.
He really just stopped everything and just listened.
And that was probably the first time I really experienced true listening and the impact that had. And it was great because he had a very open conversation with me and he understood. He respected me more for, you know, phoning up and saying, this is where I was in this. So subconsciously, I guess as well, that’s given me more confidence to bring it forward because I know I have that support and I know that he now understands.
And that’s a that’s a big part of that barrier that I was finding in my progression.
Sebastien Leitner
As I’m listening to the story, I I can’t help myself but feeling, you know, that it must have taken you quite some energy and, you know, to actually phone up to have that conversation. Must have been quite a hurdle for you to to take that leap of faith.
And but that’s amazing.
Suzanne Speak
I you know, I felt strongly I felt the only way I’m going over this is by confronting it.
didn’t want it happening again.
So, you know, we’ve had meetings since then, similar styles, Hugh and I will have a conversation almost like a car park chat before I go into that meeting, if I needed to.
But I have to adapt the way I do things. Like, I make notes for a lot of things now. I’ve always kind of thought I had a great memory and a great I could memorize things.
There’s times when you just physically can’t. It’s scariest thing.
Like, can you you know, you have children. Could you imagine forgetting one of their names?
And that’s the truth.
And luckily, the receptionist find this funny side of it and, you know, well yeah.
Sebastien Leitner
I mean, I always call one the other name and vice versa. Right? So I don’t know if that’s where we’re getting it, but I I get your point. Right? Like, when you’re when you’re suddenly drawing a blank and that brain fogged it.
Suzanne Speak
And that’s the word, drawing a blank. That’s the phrase, it’s drawing a blank.
But we have like we talk in Radisson, one of our strap lines is a lot about memorable moments.
I work with a lot of phenomenal women. And we now have a WhatsApp chat called menopausal moments. You know, and it’s enduring. It is so funny. One day I might even publish it, but it’s actually very real And it is the day in the life of what can you know? And we support one another. So we know when we have owners meetings or board meetings or doing presentations with students or doing leadership programs that we will send those kind of motivational comments.
But some of it is very, very funny.
Sebastien Leitner
Yeah. For all its impact on life and work and, you know, your well-being, there are probably comical moments in there too. Right? Especially the moment after or the next week, or when you have a bit of distance where you’re like, oh my god, I can’t believe that just happened.
Suzanne Speak
Yeah. Yeah.
We had one situation where we had someone I’m not gonna destroy it. We had somebody who had couldn’t find the car in the car park, and it was like it was you know, police were called out at one point, definitely was gonna report it stolen to realize they had come in their partner’s car. Just so, you know, those funny things, but then there’s the most serious side to it as well. You know? Yeah. There’s the humorous side of things that keep us going, I guess.
Sebastien Leitner
Suzanne, we drove straight into it, but for many listeners in the program, they don’t know you. Right? You are the managing director of the UK and Ireland for Radisson Hotel Group.
Suzanne Speak
Yes.
Sebastien Leitner
That’s an enormous title. I’d be curious to sort of say, what do you do? Right? What’s your role in the organization?
Suzanne Speak
Well, my role as a senior leader is to support the portfolio in the UK and Ireland. So I support the hotels. I support the owners of these hotels. We have different contract types. We have franchise. We have managed hotels.
I’m more actively involved in the managed hotels because we’re responsible for that performance.
With the franchise hotel, it’s the largest portfolio. You know, I’m responsible for the brand, for the compliance, for the relationship with the owners.
I also have, you know, director responsibilities in the UK for, you know, your health and safety and your financial compliance, and very much for succession planning and leadership. So we invest very heavily within Radisson on our leadership programs. We have our own Radisson Academy, and all the senior leaders are very invested and have accountability in those areas as well.
Sebastien Leitner
I wanna talk about the current state of hospitality in your region. I mean, that is must be quite an interesting one. Yes. What’s going on in the UK and Ireland when it comes to hospitality?
Suzanne Speak
Okay. Ireland.
Ireland is strong. Okay. Ireland that’s that’s my homeland. It is strong. It has totally rebound since the pandemic, and we are seeing great growth in conversions and new openings and and and ADR even outside of the hub of Dublin, you know, everything from Limerick, Galway, Cork, we’re seeing such great growth. So Ireland, yes, is strong.
UK, the sector’s a bit more of a different dynamic.
Strong demand, yes, especially in those event hubs like your Manchester, your Liverpool, your Birminghams, but cost pressures are rising. There I can see that having an impact. You have the cost of construction, the cost of labor, the business rates increase.
There is a lot of factors that I see impacting the UK more than Ireland.
The the growth plan is aggressive for a lot of some within the UK. It seems as Ireland, and that is happening. But we were, for example, hoping to open another two brand new builds by twenty twenty seven. That is being prolonged now because of the cost of construction and, different elements. So, yeah, UK is tougher. Ireland is stronger in terms of rebound.
Sebastien Leitner
So re in Ireland, you’re experiencing more tailwinds and less cost pressures?
Suzanne Speak
I think there’s still cost pressures, but it just hasn’t come to the forefront as much as what I’m seeing in the UK.
You know, the I think as well, when I take a look at Ireland, the domestic and the international tourism is is strong. You know? I was actually talking to a colleague not so long ago when everywhere I look on social media or be it on some sort of, you know, live platform, Ireland are really good at storytelling. You know, their country marketing is excellent.
Everywhere I go, I see something like I have seen Irish people living in Bangkok to different parts of America, to different parts of Europe. And as I guess as part of their their livelihood, they’re doing a lot of social media blogging. But even wherever they’re living at in the world, unless Irish are known to travel, they are still ninety percent of their blogs are about go and visit Ireland. And it’s because it’s so authentic, it’s so true, it’s so honest. And there’s a real, I guess, patriarch, you know, patriotism where they’re showing off the country.
I’m not joking you. Some of these I’m I’m listening to or watching have got millions of followers. And I do think subconsciously that has an impact on the tourism in that country.
You know? They’re better at storytelling than perhaps I see in the UK. You know? And I don’t think we can deny the UK’s had its fair share of ups and downs recently. You know, if you take a look at what we witnessed, I guess, last summer with the the rioting and the things in the streets, that does have an impact, not only in that area, but also from, I guess, international perception. And we see that now hitting the headlines more.
And I think we have to admit that as leaders. We have to see that.
You know, another is the ease in the UK. Life in the UK seems harder. You know? I travel a lot, especially in the UK.
And our public transport, it it’s unreliable. There’s not one week where I will get a full train on time, not a cancel train, or get to one destination. At least once a week, I’m having to cancel a hotel visit or a night or change the day.
And, you know, for me, when I’m traveling on my own, okay, I it’s an inconvenience I gotta put up with it. But when I’m on those platforms and I see others that have to get home because of childcare or because of something, you know, I don’t think anyone really has a plan to solve this because I see it getting worse and not better.
And from, I guess, the domestic traveler or the, you know, through the country, it is tough. And I I travel in Europe as well, and it is the infrastructure there is unbelievable. The infrastructure in Ireland is much better. But I, you know, I do think that has an impact.
Sebastien Leitner
Yeah. I was it was interesting.
I was in London in November for WTM, and I was blown away by the Elizabeth line as
Suzanne Speak
I’ve called Yeah.
Sebastien Leitner
How does London survive for that long without it? I I thought it was fantastic.
But it did feel that, the owners and operators that I was talking to, there’s somewhat of a chip on their shoulder. Right? There’s something that is, you know, holding them back or feeling proud of themselves, feeling good about themselves. Right?
So, yeah. I I wanna shift a little bit to guest expectations and booking patterns, particularly around UK and Ireland. You said that demand is strong across the board, whether it’s in the UK and Ireland. But how are guest expectations changing or shifting these days from your perspective?
Suzanne Speak
I think I think our guests are expect are expecting something much more as an experience, more so than maybe material. You know, with the world of social media that we live in, we get to hear what our guests think of us firsthand, real time, real life. And so that I use as a benefit because we’re only as good as what our customer tells us we are.
You know?
We spoke I do think that our guests are less tolerant, you know, and I think that is also aided by sometimes a frustration of getting to a hotel if they’re using trains as an example or for whatever reason. I think, you know, we all felt the we all feel the impact of, you know, of the cost of living in the UK. And I think so, you know, people are less tolerant.
I I value and I understand that guests, you know, expect a lot more value for money, a lot more rate conscious. And I think when you know, that’s what we decide is. That’s what we try and really instill in our hotels and our managers is to put yourself in the guest shoes.
You know, our booking patterns are changing. It is shorter lead time.
Expectations are a lot higher.
Tolerance levels are a lot lower.
And, yeah, people are after experience.
Sebastien Leitner
What does that experience look like these days? Has it is it, you know, a sport? Is it culture? Is it food? Is it all of the above? What do you see your guests mostly interested in experiencing?
Suzanne Speak
Oh, it depend you know, it depends where they’re going to they’re going to city center. It’s either cultural or to attend an event. If it’s called more of a resort property or you know, it it very much depends. You know, we have got one thing in the UK.
We’ve got so many event hub cities. You know, we really do. And we are very, very fortunate, be it Birmingham, Leeds, Liverpool, Chef. You know, we have so much going on.
So there is a very high volume of event into those hub cities, if you will.
So with them traveling, I think you’re very much at the boutique just looking at those event goers or sport goers. They’re going for a full immersive experience. You know? So whether that venue is close to the hotel or they’re having to travel, you know, it’s all about ease, convenience, but also emerging yourself to become part of that event because you’re becoming part of that experience. You’re you’re part of that memory.
For the business traveler, again, it’s very much about convenience, about ease, about comfort. You know, it’s similar touch points, but maybe perhaps just different delivery.
Sebastien Leitner
Yep.
Interesting. And you now these events haven’t been new. Right? They’ve always existed. Soccer sorry.
Football, we should
Suzanne Speak
call them
Sebastien Leitner
football, like, not not the North American version, has been, you know, around for decades in many, many stadiums.
So how are how do you think the guest experience have changed? Is it just more more service, more value, more, I guess, shorter lead times? What has changed from your perspective?
Suzanne Speak
In what?
The stadium hotels or just hotels
Sebastien Leitner
general from from a guest expectation perspective.
Suzanne Speak
I think it’s all of the above. I think from a guest, I think a guest feels the pound more and has the You know? I I think it’s rare that you can really command such high rates unless you can match that experience with them. And that’s why, you know, it’s so important because when we talk about social media and people can view a hotel, like, people know Booking dot com or they know TripAdvisor, but there’s also a lot of personal social media out there and TikToks and different things that influence decisions.
I don’t think we can underestimate the power of that.
So people already have a perception. Are they gonna get the value for money? Are they gonna get the experience they desire? And, so I see a shift in that. I see a definite shift that people will book based on the reputation that they that they res you know, based on reputation more so than ever because they want that value for money. I do see in certain hotels the booking window being a lot shorter or being like peaks and troughs is spiking a lot more.
And maybe people aren’t genuinely as organized as they used to be, or maybe there’s other other factors for that, and transport could be one of them. But I am seeing booking window shorter.
Sebastien Leitner
In a lot of cases, and I I see that from personal experience, when I’m required to pay upfront my hotel stay, which in a lot of booking platforms, you now have to do even when you book directly. Sometimes hotels take a deposit. You kind of wait until you’re hundred percent sure to book that stay because the expense to your point is it’s becoming a big expenditure. Right? Like, a three night stay over an event can be easily a few hundred pounds.
Suzanne Speak
Oh, at minimum. And even with the with the food, you know, the food inflation on top of that, transport, you know, you can’t travel anywhere on a on a train from for less than a hundred pound if you’re going from here to Birmingham or to London.
So the costs are, you know, are all increasing, and it’s our job to become creative to ensure that that we show value for money.
You know? And then but then again, from a hoteliers perspective, there’s only so much that we can do because we have to cover costs as well. The national living wage, the national insurance, you know, the the business rights.
I think we’re gonna see a lot of change come April when this really comes into force, especially faulty sector. You know, we know these rights are changing. We know we’re getting hit with more costs.
And, you know, we are very lucky in the hotel industry, I guess, more so than maybe the smaller pub tech industries in that we can leverage on technology to really help us make those efficiencies, you know, with your your self check-in, check out, your, you know, your self concierge and your phone, different different, you know, tools like that.
But, yeah, it’s hospitality will always react. It will always rise. It will always, you know, find innovation to succeed.
And, that’s the beauty. It’s very resilient, and hotel leaders are very resilient.
I just hope in the next couple of years that that things will ease, and and we can maybe stop looking so much at trying to be innovative and find ways to to save costs and make profit, then we can really focus on on that people element.
Sebastien Leitner
Is that where you think innovation does come from in your perspective? Is it mostly around cost cutting, or are there any other drivers that accelerate innovation in hospitality from your point of view?
Suzanne Speak
No. I don’t think if I don’t I don’t class innovation as being cost cutting. I see innovation as more of a mindset.
You know, it it helps support create efficiencies.
You know? I think in if used the right way, in many respects, it it can save those positions because you are creating efficiencies that you can then invest in your in your labor force. I see a lot, know, we’re listen, we’re we’re all getting used to AI. And it’s just it’s just erupting everywhere.
You know? I find many benefits from it, but I also quite fearful of it at the same time. But when I see it in the workplace, it’s excellent, you know, from really helping us personalize guest days, from really helping us, you know, with our to correspond, you know, to generate ideas, to research. It does take a lot of time away.
And, you know, so I find it very useful. But I think we’ll we’ll see a lot more of that evolving over the next few years.
But I do firmly believe that the winners in hospitality will be those that can combine technology, innovation, but still maintain that people connection.
Sebastien Leitner
Nice. Nice. There’s so many things I wanna sort of double click on. You said benefits of AI. What are what is one or two things that you wouldn’t miss AI these days? Is it search? You you you mentioned it, like, the research portion has been shortened or has been accelerated.
Suzanne Speak
And, you know, I can because AI kinda gets used to, I guess, me. It’s can you get to know me? So I can, you know, I can write into AI and drafting a response to my COO, for example, who likes things clear, concise into the bullet points. And it will pick up on that and help me draft or redraft an email that I know that he will take and appreciate.
Equally, I can be talking to an owner that’s thinking of investment or construction or conversion, and I can very quickly research that area. I can deep dive into AI so I can give the that owner or that potential investor some real concrete information and detail that might take me a good week or two to do, but now I can do it very, very quickly. But equally, so can they. They can look at areas too.
I think if you’re using the right way, it can really help you make very good informed decisions.
It can take away a lot of the administration we have to do. We don’t how far it can evolve inside, do we?
Sebastien Leitner
Yeah. Yeah. And that’s the scary part. Right? Yeah. In a way. And and you mentioned also something in the context of innovation to keep the human aspect of hospitality.
Right? Like, and as you as you were talking about AI and, you know, keeping it human, how would you define the human aspect in hospitality in twenty twenty six? Like, what’s that what’s that human touch?
Suzanne Speak
It’s you know, when you come to when you go to hotel for whatever reason, it’s with AI, I think there’s bit of a fear factor that they have to replace jobs. What I mean by the human connection is that we hospitality is a ho is is a people driven business. It’s ensuring that we have that we maintain that that touch point. You know, I’m seeing now in some parts of the world that they have you know, you walk into a hotel and you just check-in completely by yourself, which is fine.
We have some of those as well, but we still have somebody there. But you’ve got completely digitalized reception areas where maybe there’s nobody. I think for me, you know, that might be the way we go. But for me, personally, I feel strongly about keeping that human element too and that that person.
We need to have visibility. We need to have presence. We need that engagement.
You know, we’re emotive beings, and that’s in the generation that I’m from. Like, that might change in ten years’ time, but I hope in hospitality that we will still always keep that human connection.
And also from you know, I’m gonna kinda divert a little bit. Sure. But hopefully, I’ll bring it back and you’ll understand. But this is but I’m hoping, you know, when as sixteen, seventeen year olds I’m passionate about the youth as well. You know, we don’t necessarily know what we wanna do at times. And I think with some of the some of the functions that AI can take on, which is great, there are entry level jobs as well that help get people into employment.
And I’m quite an advocate for you know, hospitality can open up many doors. I started off in housekeeping. Had no idea what I wanted to do.
Okay? And then it was a leader that believed in me. And I wanna open the same doors for the youth of today. And if you get into hospitality, you can.
It’s not just about the operation. It’s not just about food and beverage, front office. There is IT. We have and we’re investing so much in IT and technology.
It’s such an exciting time to get involved in hotels, if that’s something you’re interested in.
We have to we have law. We have sales. We have marketing. You know? We have finance.
There is I don’t think there’s one industry that whatever kind of profession you wanna have can actually almost fit into hospitality and somewhere along the line.
So that’s what you know, when I talk about those entry level, you know, and those trainees, That’s what I wanna safeguard so that we have those doors opened.
Sebastien Leitner
Aren’t you afraid and and it’s it’s a genuine question. Aren’t you afraid that with automation, with, you know, the technology you’re implementing, that some of these entry level jobs will disappear?
Suzanne Speak
That’s what I’m meaning. That’s what I wanna safeguard against. Yes.
Sebastien Leitner
Okay. Okay.
Suzanne Speak
That’s what I’m sorry. That’s what just to be per clear. That’s that’s what I wanna safeguard against, that we still that we still keep a human connection, that we now I understand the technology advancements.
Sebastien Leitner
Yeah.
Suzanne Speak
We need them To allow us to kind of maintain the employment and the labor that we do because you need to have you need to create efficiency somewhere.
But I’m hoping this will all come full circle one day, and then maybe in five or six years, those costs will start to reside, and we will kinda get back to a bit of normality that we might have witnessed twenty odd years ago.
No. But yeah.
Sebastien Leitner
What’s one piece of technology that, I guess, you’re very excited to implement right now in your properties?
Suzanne Speak
We are going with we’re doing a lot of work with our front office now. We’re looking at, obviously, this we have self-service kiosks in most of our hotels, but we are looking at the mobile check-in and the digital keys. And I think that’s quite exciting. You know? And I guess from a sustainability perspective as well, from all these plastic keys and things that we’re using, when you have the mobile key, it it it does play a part. I think sustainability is a massive part of innovation too in the next five years. Massive.
Sebastien Leitner
Nice.
When we talk
Suzanne Speak
when we just wanna mention that word.
Sebastien Leitner
No. But it’s it’s it’s so true. Right? And When you when you think from a guest experience, I’d be very happy to fill out my guest registration, you know, on my mobile phone.
Right? I I don’t need to and the airlines have taught us so well-to-do the check-in online or check-in on our phone. It’s time for hospitality to do that too. Right?
Suzanne Speak
We have we’ve made massive advancements on the self check-in, checking out on your on your phone. We we can do that via pre email or your phone. It’s the next part of the digital key that you can use that same form then.
You’re checked in and your keys on your that’s the next
Sebastien Leitner
price points.
That’s it. Right?
Suzanne Speak
That’s my yeah.
Sebastien Leitner
It it beats queuing on a Friday night when you wanna get to a game or to a concert or something, and you’re just excited about experiencing, you know, the reason why you’re traveling versus queuing at the front desk for, you know, a long time, which does happen to me whenever I go to Vegas or some real big
Suzanne Speak
Oh, yeah, Vegas, very nice.
Sebastien Leitner
Anyway, we’re digressing. Yeah. I’m I’m very curious. You mentioned UK and Ireland earlier in the context of international domestic travel. What’s happening in that perspective? Are you seeing any meaningful shift, domestic, international demand from where you’re standing?
Suzanne Speak
And like I said, Ireland, I I see growth. You know? I see It’s got a very healthy corporate sector in Ireland.
It’s got a robust domestic travel.
Dublin might remain the epic, you know, the centre and the hub, but regional cities like Cork, Galway, Letterkenny, Limerick, we are seeing a rise in those regional cities as well. UK, like I said, it’s more sensitive to the global conditions.
You know, it didn’t help as well. But I had a hotels in burnt a couple hotels in Birmingham. And, again, I don’t know if you’re aware of this, but for quite a period of time, there was no bin collections.
So that has an impact.
So you can imagine
Sebastien Leitner
this I’ve read that somewhere in the new you know?
Yeah.
Suzanne Speak
I went to take a look and it was bad. And So those things don’t help, and that did have an impact on business.
We take a look at, you know, like we spoke about, Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds are great events cities, great sporting cities, great vibe cities. So, yes, those they’re strong. We are seeing strong, you know, strong domestic tourism there too. From an international side of things, we’ve had a very good summer.
Yes. We’ve we’re very we are very blessed in the UK that we have many national events. We’ve had a lot of events taking place, be it in London, it the o two, be it on stadium concerts or and we’ve had that throughout the entire country, which has been wonderful.
But I’m just a little bit more conscious, and I wouldn’t say it’s a it’s just more conscious with we we touched on it earlier about the riots we witnessed in the summer.
Some of the unrest that we’re feeling in the UK, how is that being perceived internationally? Does it have an impact?
And think, you know, time will tell on that. But I guess from a global perspective, the UK’s current challenges hasn’t gone unnoticed.
You know? I am My eldest brother, he’s He We’re kind of a hotelier family. You know, he He’s one of the global directors for Rosewood Hotels, and he’s based out in LA. And we talk quite a bit, and I guess I would ask him quite a lot, you know, what’s the perception over there about the UK? And he would phone me up and say, what is going on over there?
You know?
So
Sebastien Leitner
I guess we all ask ourselves that question.
I’m in Canada right now. What’s going on?
Suzanne Speak
Oh, yeah. Yeah. I forgot that too. Yeah. Yeah.
Sebastien Leitner
Yeah. We we can keep chatting. Maybe we should check-in once in a while and say, what’s going on? Yeah, we can’t talk about Radisson without talking about stadium hotels. Because you already mentioned, you know, some destinations that you have in your portfolio that have big, I guess, stadiums and hotels in the same building combined? Is how do I need to envision that?
Suzanne Speak
Well, we work I’m from a sporting stadium hotel background before I joined Radisson. That’s where I came from, so I’m quite passionate about this too.
You think about menopause and football, you go, what? What a combination. Anyway, yeah, we work with Bolton and Blackpool, the Twickenham, the launch there. We’re heading for the launch of that one on Thursday night of this week.
And obviously, we have the Etihad Man City Medlock Hotel, the Addison Blue opening later in the summer. And those hotels, yes, are fully integrated into the stadium. So it’s almost like for part of the the inventory, you you know, you open your bedroom curtains and the pitch is right there.
Sebastien Leitner
Wow.
Suzanne Speak
Yeah. It’s an experience.
Sebastien Leitner
So you’ve bed you’re sitting in bed and you see the pitch. Like, it’s Yes. Right there.
Suzanne Speak
Wow. Yeah.
Sebastien Leitner
That would have been amazing experience.
Suzanne Speak
It is. You know, it’s unique even for the not so sport fan. It’s something that you want you know, that you see. You know? Even for those that maybe aren’t avid sport fans, it’s it’s just an experience. Yeah.
Sebastien Leitner
Yeah. It must behave very different from a traditional city hotel. Walk us through I mean, you’re very passionate about it clearly. Walk us through what sort of distinguishes a stadium hotel from a traditional city hotel. Same inventory, same size.
Suzanne Speak
Okay. Well, you’ve got when a sports or concert plan, there’s it’s emotive. The the guests are emotive. They’re coming they’re coming for that full immersed experience.
And from a stadium hotel, you know, you have to, I guess, create that. You’re part of that event. You’re part of that experience.
Whatever happens on the pitch, you have to adapt, if you will. Because if the team that you’re there to support wins, listen, it’s great to celebrate. Everybody celebrates. It’s great. If that team loses, that mood can change. And again, you have to be creative and, you know, post match to do something that kind of lifts that.
But when you’re in that hotel and the gang’s ongoing, you can hear the fans. You can hear the whole building shake. You know, it is it’s it’s it’s a wonderful experience for an employee as well. You know? But from an operator, it can be challenging in terms of, you know, six days a week, you can operate. Let’s maybe say, hypothetically speaking, fifty staff is your operating model.
Then one day a week, you’ve gotta ramp it up to maybe a hundred and odd staff to deal with them each day. And that can be difficult because you know yourself, there can be fluctuations in standards. You can’t maintain that number of casual employees, but constantly topping up, working with agencies. And that himself can have its own operational challenge.
Well, there’s ways around it. You know, there’s ways around it. And equally, you know, although there’s a real benefit of where, you know, you you open a business like a hotel in the stadium, and you have thirty five dates sold out already without having to do anything at weekends. That’s great.
Okay?
Not many businesses can say they’ve got that consistently with a challenge
Sebastien Leitner
some price, I assume.
Right? As well.
Suzanne Speak
At a yeah. At a at a much marked yield of price. Absolutely. Yeah. I guess where the challenge comes from is when fixtures change. Doesn’t happen very often, but it can happen.
In my experience, we had I used to be at a stadium hotel. You know, we had to outbrook and cancel within five weeks, notice three weddings. That’s quite tough.
But, you know, it’s very clear in your correspondence and contracts that these things can happen. But operationally, that can be quite a logistical challenge.
Sebastien Leitner
So let me get this straight. I’m trying to get married at one of your properties, and somebody qualifies for the next round of Champions League, and it so happens that it’s going to be played at that stadium. My wedding is not happening at the venue. Is that correct?
Suzanne Speak
Yeah. But if you remember it, yes. But you’ll you’ll clearly know the risk when you book the wedding at a stage itself. However, you know, whenever people do choose generally choose to get married at a stadium, it’s because they’re, you know, they are diehard fans. They are associated and so embedded in with that club. They just wanna get married there. You know?
Sebastien Leitner
Do they get two tickets to the game at least when they
Suzanne Speak
Oh, yeah.
Look.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You know, it’s it’s a relationship, and that’s one thing about the hotels with them, your sporting fans, is that you have a a real relationship.
Because your season ticket holders, I guess, feel very part of your hotel, feel very part if you are integrated, I’m going on Bolton’s experience here because I was very, you know, involved there. You know, the fans and the supporters, they were involved. They wanted to support their club. And, again, that was such a unique time because, yes, you had those dates of games and events sold for you, but also, you had a network that people and other companies would spend tens of thousands for of the season ticket holders, company owners, sponsors that were so loyal to this to this footballing brand or and this club that you had that niche of where you could tap into.
So it was a yeah. It was a very good business model.
Sebastien Leitner
So as I’m listening to you, I’m wondering, your challenge is not the weekend games. Right? Like No. You’re always going to be full. You’re going to be busy. You’re going to make decent amount of revenue.
How do you fill a stadium hotel the rest of the year?
Suzanne Speak
That’s that’s the priority. That’s the focus. You know? You kind of you you’ve got the given. Like I said, you know, for me, in my experience, it was very much building relations and networks with the season ticket holders. We built business hubs because we knew that whether it be Christmas parties or boardroom meetings or conferences, they would use us.
Bolton were very smart. Bolton have because most of your most stadium hotels are just outside the heart of the city with excellent infrastructure, great public transport links, great car parking.
Now both of them were very smart in that we built a international sports program. So during that time, it was always during school holidays where your stadium hotels will be quieter because maybe, you know, the fixtures were off were finishing from May to August and everything else. You had international break in February. So, again, it was enough peak time there during during school holidays. And they must have had about forty or fifty clubs that would come and visit their hotel every in February, May, and the June, July period.
And what they would do is they would come in and live like a pro. It was marketed, you know, come and train like a pro. So they would come and live in the hotel, stay in the hotel, groups of thirty, four between four and six nights. They would full board.
They would train. Then they would go to the academy. They would train over there. They would train in a pitch nearby at a school.
But it was very, very, very well thought out and very, very well delivered. And it’s got, you know, it’s got a great reputation. And I see that as happening at a lot of clubs. So, you know, you you have to tap in and and, I guess, use your asset, but tailored to what you know you can you know, where you stand out.
And that was smart.
Sebastien Leitner
What a what a great experience as a, you know, traveler to to experience that first half. Live like a, what did you say, live like a pro? Was that the part?
Suzanne Speak
Yeah. Live like a pro.
Sebastien Leitner
That’s amazing.
Suzanne Speak
Oh, we always use things like, you know, we’ll always give you the home advantage. You know, those there’s so many plays on words. If you look at our our Radisson Red brand, it’s quirky. It’s a real play on words. It’s lifestyle. This was you know, Stadia hotels are quite similar in that they’ve got, you know, they’re distinct.
Sebastien Leitner
Suzanne, you’re looking back at a career of, what, twenty eight years or so in major hotel brands.
You’ve been named rather
Suzanne Speak
like gold.
Sebastien Leitner
Sorry. Yeah. Well, we started with menopause. We may as well go back to sorry. Sounds terrible.
I’m curious, you know, sort of because we we talked a little bit about sort of the next generation.
When you think of your leadership style, what leadership principles have stayed with you throughout that journey?
Suzanne Speak
It’s a good question. I care deeply.
Sebastien Leitner
Okay.
Suzanne Speak
I have learned and something I value very much is to decide clearly. I can elaborate on that a bit if you want.
Sebastien Leitner
And I I was going to ask you. Yes? Yeah.
Suzanne Speak
And then to execute relentlessly, but together.
There’s only so much I can do, but I have to do it with the team. So if we if I just if we just make a decision clearly, it’s clearly defined how we’re gonna execute that decision, then we relentlessly do it. And that comes everything from communication comes in there to how you bring everyone on that journey with you. But the big one for me is definitely care deeply, decide clearly, and execute relentlessly.
Sebastien Leitner
I I think you can put a mic drop next to that. Think that’s pretty self explanatory.
Know, we also talked about coaching, right?
Suzanne Speak
Sort of
Sebastien Leitner
bringing that next generation of, you know, executives along the way.
Why is coaching in hospitality specifically still treated as nice to have rather than retention strategy? What’s your opinion? Like, how do we how do we get better?
Suzanne Speak
I would have to challenge that, my reticent perspective, because if I’m honest, because I do think it’s a our core retention and development strategy is is is part of our DNA. It’s who we are. And I see it as an optional extra.
You know, we have a Ruddison Academy that’s reinforced at every level.
And it’s backed by leadership buy in. You know, we we sponsor it. We have to deliver on it.
And I guess we really move I I like to think we move beyond fixing the gaps. You know, we’re future proofing careers. And I think that ties back a lot to what we spoke about, you know, with the whole AI and the entry level jobs we do for future proof careers. We integrate career conversations into development programmes. You know? We very much have separate performance reviews and then development dialogue.
And we have it’s in our calendar. We do these twice a year. You know? We have job chats.
And it’s not just something that’s kept at hotel level. You know? We have a very you know, a system that collates all of that information, And we we, you know, we have to do it as part of our targets. I then go once a year over to Brussels where I meet with our CEO, our COO, and our vice president of HR.
And for all my hotels, I have to do a talent review. So I discuss the aspirations, the ambitions, the up and, you know, the up and coming talent, who’s who should be in spotlight, who should be and I’m talking about not just from a GM or, you know, an HOD level, supervisor, and somebody that we see coming through the ranks from employee, supervisor, HOD, general manager, and beyond.
So I I think Madison and very rightfully so are extremely proud of them.
Sebastien Leitner
That’s amazing. So I assume if I ask you my next question, you’ll probably challenge that assumption as well. But I’m I’m wondering, you know, how do we make, and, you know, I asked this to many hotel operators and owners. How do we make hospitality attractive again from a career choice perspective? Right? How do we make a hotel a great place to work?
Suzanne Speak
The reality is hospitality is a great place to work. I think showing so much more flexibility. It’s no longer you know, you when you come back twenty years ago, you would think hospitality is sixty seven hours a week every single weekend. It’s not like that.
I think, you know, we’re getting a lot better at promoting. It’s not just about the operation. But like we spoke earlier, you can go into legal. You can go into sales.
You can go into marketing. You can go into social media. You can go into PR.
You can go into finance.
You know, there is so many distinct career paths that you can have when you come into hospitality. And I I’m starting to speak now more at universities and so are my colleagues because even to high schools, for those people that don’t know what they wanna do, I didn’t know what I want to do. So I went traveling sixteen, seventeen, went and started working in housekeeping, you know, and and you you climbed the ranks because you, you know, because they do have invested training.
So I think we just need to tell our story.
I think we need to tell our tell our testimonials, if you will, as to how, you know because I didn’t expect to come in, become an MD, a hotel group. I didn’t know what I wanted to do.
And I see the same confusion on my own seventeen year old son. It’s like, I don’t really know what I wanna do, mom. He goes, well, decide quickly because if you don’t, you’re gonna start in hotels because then you can do anything. You can do engineering. You can do whatever. You can do a trade.
But it’s a really good secure environment to grow while you’re working out what you want to do. And I guarantee most people, when they start in hotels without an idea of what where they wanna go, they will end up doing something they love within hospitality.
Sebastien Leitner
And if I understand you correctly, your argument is also that hospitality is such a diverse Yeah. Team. Right? So even if you get started somewhere, you may end up being specialized in
A very specific area that is highly We
Suzanne Speak
We have many leaders.
We have many leaders who are doing specialized functions like finance directors who are doing maybe marketing, who started off in an operational role.
Absolutely. Invested in as they as they went through. And that’s the beauty. And the same thing happens at many other hotel chains as well. You know, they had the same opportunities.
Sebastien Leitner
So hospitality must be doing something right in coaching and training these entry level employees to become executive leaders such as yourself.
What is hospitality doing right in order to advance a career like yours?
Suzanne Speak
I think as hospitality has evolved, we are a people industry. So I think very clearly we know how to invest in people. We know, you know, there has been sir we work with some incredible professionals who design and work with our leadership programs that evolve and adapt over time, that are currently evolving to, you know, incorporate our technology now as well.
But also, you know, hospitality is built on relationships.
If you see a spark in talent, could be anything. We we allow it to grow. We don’t mold it. We allow it to grow. And I think as a leader, I’m very, you know, very aware of that.
But does that answer your question?
Sebastien Leitner
It does. It does. I mean, what you’re what you’re articulating is that we are a people’s business that cares about its, I guess, asset, which is the people. Right?
Yeah. And informs an environment in which we can excel and become the best version of ourselves. I’m sorry. I’m paraphrasing.
Is that
Suzanne Speak
No.
You you paraphrase that very well. We are we are a people business, and we I guess we know how to develop and manage people. You know? Because what happens from within is what comes out.
You know? So we know from our internal departments, we have to treat people correctly. We have to train them. We need to train them.
We have to, you know, have succession planning at every level. We actually you know, to kind of resonate what I’m saying from a Radisson perspective, when we look from, you know, as as a team of leaders, we have certain targets that are bonus every year. And equally and on there, we have financial targets. We have another target, which is a development of our people.
So how many people were promoted from Supervisory Level Up? How many people went through the Accelerate? How many people?
And I love that because people is up there as much as any kind of pro profit performance.
And I think that’s a telling sign of how important it is.
Sebastien Leitner
Before we wrap up, I I I love it, by the way. Before we wrap up, I wanna do a quick rapid fire and then talk to you about your next trip, your next personal trip, because I’m very curious around where you vacation, where you holiday, where you’re going, how do you unwind when you’re not working in hotels? Because that’s always an interesting question for a hotelier to ask. So rapid fire, stadium concert or sold at match night? Which one would you prefer?
Suzanne Speak
Oh, Match night.
Sebastien Leitner
Okay. Event guests, best customer or hardest work?
Suzanne Speak
Hardest work. The influence, the hardest work.
Sebastien Leitner
People or profit, which is harder to protect right now?
Suzanne Speak
Both under the UK and the climate both.
Sebastien Leitner
K. London still king or losing ground? And if so, to whom?
Suzanne Speak
Still king.
Sebastien Leitner
Still king? Okay.
Suzanne Speak
Yeah.
Sebastien Leitner
Suzanne, where do you vacation? Or how do you vacation?
Suzanne Speak
Whichever picture of the I I live in in the Morne Mountains. I’m from the Morne Mountains in Northern Ireland. And because I do travel so much within Europe and within the UK and Ireland, I do like going home. Switch alcohol because I I I do, and that’s being honest.
However, I do I I’m a lot I I love Italy. I love Italy. You know? I love I’ve got to explore France quite a bit more, which has been interesting, which has been very, very good.
And but my favorite in the last two years has been Croatia.
It it was unexpected.
Sebastien Leitner
Okay.
Suzanne Speak
And my phone didn’t work.
Sebastien Leitner
Wow. Okay.
Suzanne Speak
So I am lucky I get to travel.
But
Sebastien Leitner
How many days of no phone did you have? That must have been quite
Suzanne Speak
Yeah.
Sorry? Four four days of no phone.
Sebastien Leitner
That must have been quite the experience.
Suzanne Speak
It it you know, day one, was bit of panic mode, wasn’t it? Was a bit like, oh my goodness. Day two, you began you began to start to kinda get used to it. Day three, I switched off. And then day four, the thing switched back on again. There was a signal. But it does make you actually think how much you’re attached to your phone into that noise.
I need to get better at that. I need to get better at switching off.
Sebastien Leitner
On that bombshell, thank you so much for joining the program today, Suzanne. Have a great afternoon, and I can’t wait to see the session go live.
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