How To Make Access to Hospitality Luxury Easier and In Tune with Our Times

1 - > SPEAKER_02: It's the facilities brought to you by Swiss 2 - > hospitality guild, the reference and training for hospitality 3 - > professions, and leading authority in hospitality 4 - > training. 5 - > SHG is renowned for its excellence in preparing 6 - > professionals for the hospitality industry. 7 - > Their training programs have produced health tier candidates 8 - > who have achieved notable success, winning medals at 9 - > prestigious competitions like Swiss Skills, Your Skills, World 10 - > Skills, and the AIC Mark, the world's best receptionist 11 - > contest.

12 - > To learn more about SHG in this podcast, get in touch with Jideo 13 - > Marcato, the founder of SHG, and the producer of this show by 14 - > emailing welcome at Swisshospitality Guild.com. 15 - > Good afternoon and welcome to Fifty Shades of Hospitality. 16 - > This is Crystal Cavan, your host.

17 - > Today we're welcoming Robert Ricupero. 18 - > Welcome, Robert. 19 - > It's a pleasure to have you on our podcast today. 20 - > Can you tell our listeners a little bit about yourself?

21 - > SPEAKER_01: Hi, Crystal, and thanks for having me. 22 - > So, yeah, a little bit about myself. 23 - > I'm Robert. 24 - > I'm born in 1967, mind you.

25 - > I'm born and raised here in Geneva, Switzerland, where I'm 26 - > broadcasting from today. 27 - > And um, yeah, so born and raised here. 28 - > Uh I thought a pretty jigsaw career. 29 - > So my background is uh the financial markets, but it's 30 - > funny because I was uh a high school dropout, so I dropped out 31 - > of high school and I started the first job in the 80s you could 32 - > do without a degree was travel agent.

33 - > So it's interesting because we'll circle back to that. 34 - > And uh I started off at a very small agency called Etoile 35 - > Polaire, the polo star. 36 - > And I started there, I learned the ropes of the job, then I did 37 - > my EATA accreditation, and then I worked for American Express at 38 - > the time. 39 - > Very prominent travel agency, absolutely loved it.

40 - > And then for some reason I left American Express to work with 41 - > Suisseir at the time, all the ground operations, so I did 42 - > pretty much every work there is to know on the airport. 43 - > I did luggage, I did uh check-in, I did uh boarding, I 44 - > did accept passengers on wait lists, and that really I think 45 - > uh started the seeds of my passion for customer service 46 - > because uh uh without knowing it, I was doing customer service 47 - > day in and day out, and that was really a very formative 48 - > experience for me.

49 - > I really loved it, I loved the airport, and then just to cut it 50 - > short, I decided ah, this is not gonna be a career for me. 51 - > I need to go back to school at some point. 52 - > So I went back to school at the age of 19, and then I more 53 - > classic, you know, I did a law and finance degree from the 54 - > University of Geneva, and then I started my first job at Thomson 55 - > Reuters at the help desk, which they call the knowledge center, 56 - > but really, in essence, it was a call center uh here in Geneva.

57 - > But I was answering, you know, calls from traders and I was 58 - > supporting basically Thomson Reuters financial products. 59 - > So it was anything from you know helping a trader doing you know 60 - > uh bond pricing or pricing an option or building a zero coupon 61 - > curve. 62 - > And that was very, very interesting for a young guy, 63 - > pretty interested in Excel and everything else. 64 - > But then again, the key to this, especially in high-tense markets 65 - > like the financial markets, you want to have customer service 66 - > skills.

67 - > And this is gonna go along all my career, that passion for 68 - > customer service and understanding that beyond the 69 - > hard skills, you need to have the soft skills that get along 70 - > with it. 71 - > So that's me in a nutshell, uh, Kristen. 72 - > SPEAKER_02: Okay, great. 73 - > We're gonna circle back to what you just said about the soft 74 - > skills because I think this is a really important topic for our 75 - > podcast.

76 - > Roberto, in reviewing your profile, we observed that your 77 - > involvement in hospitality seems to be fairly recent. 78 - > Could you please share with our audience the studies that you 79 - > completed and describe your professional and personal 80 - > journey in this field? 81 - > I mean, you gave us some information about, you know, if 82 - > you could fill us in a little bit more about this path that 83 - > you uh took. 84 - > SPEAKER_01: As I said, my path is really Thomson Reuters help 85 - > desk, if you want to call it call center, whatever they 86 - > called it.

87 - > And then I moved to more leadership positions and ended 88 - > up 10 years after as global head of uh data and applications for 89 - > Thomson Reuters. 90 - > So I used to be based in Geneva, then I moved to Manila and New 91 - > York, so all sorts of places. 92 - > But in those positions, then I was really in touch with 93 - > customer service skills. 94 - > And when it came to really create in Geneva and elsewhere, 95 - > so basically we had a basic strategy, which was let's keep 96 - > Geneva as the language center for Europe, let's keep Sydney as 97 - > the language center for Asia, and let's move all the support 98 - > to Manila for the English support.

99 - > So we had a huge recruiting exercise. 100 - > Uh, we're talking about 1,500 people. 101 - > So it was a huge operation. 102 - > And when we had to decide the basic principles for the 103 - > recruitment, we thought, do we need people with hard skills?

104 - > Or do we need people that have more, you know, maybe less of a 105 - > technical background and more of a hospitality background? 106 - > So that's where really I started to weave in my passion for 107 - > hospitality into my work and taking an interest in, you know, 108 - > what are the great hospitality scores? 109 - > What kind of stuff is taught in these places? 110 - > You know, what are really the, and I'm talking now the early 111 - > 2000s, these years, and that's where I not only myself, but 112 - > everyone in the leadership team uh started to realize that 113 - > hospitality profiles were really what we were looking for, 114 - > leading and building high-performance teams in these 115 - > great language centers.

116 - > So Geneva, Sydney, and even Manila, where I've been based 117 - > two years. 118 - > So that's really uh, I don't know if that answers your 119 - > question. 120 - > SPEAKER_02: Yes, yes, it does. 121 - > SPEAKER_01: It it exactly that's exactly where my passion for 122 - > hospitality is born.

123 - > SPEAKER_02: And of course, that's exactly what we want our 124 - > audience to know is we want them to realize how important a 125 - > hospitality field can be as a jumping off point, how an 126 - > hospitality education can really bring you to so many places. 127 - > I'd like to just go back and revisit your career history at 128 - > Swiss port. 129 - > You said you worked for a travel agency, so it's quite obvious 130 - > that you have a passion for travel, for hospitality.

131 - > Could you talk a little bit more about this? 132 - > What attracted you to working for a travel agency, then on to 133 - > working at the Geneva Airport, working for Swiss port? 134 - > SPEAKER_01: First of all, it wasn't really a choice, as I 135 - > said. 136 - > At the time I had very little options without a degree, 137 - > especially in Switzerland.

138 - > You couldn't go to many places, but I had a passion for travel. 139 - > I had an ambition to travel, didn't have the money to do it, 140 - > but I had that passion. 141 - > So I figured maybe I'm becoming a travel agent, maybe I'll have 142 - > those cheap tickets, you know, ID 75 or whatever they were 143 - > called. 144 - > And that's where it started, really.

145 - > But then I realized, whoa, this is really a great environment. 146 - > This is really wonderful. 147 - > And when I moved from that little agency called Etoile 148 - > Polaire to American Express, now I realized, wow, this is really 149 - > big. 150 - > It's a big network of agencies, it's a big company.

151 - > And I only knew at the time the credit cards, but American 152 - > Express travel was pretty big. 153 - > And I used to work in an implant within Union Carbide, so it was 154 - > really mostly professional, you know, travels and things like 155 - > that that we were servicing. 156 - > At the time, I was doing everything, even delivering the 157 - > tickets, physical tickets to the senior executives. 158 - > That was funny.

159 - > And then I realized maybe I got an offer. 160 - > I met this girl and she was team leader at the airport, and she 161 - > said, Do you want to come here and work for the check-in? 162 - > And I really loved it. 163 - > So I moved to the airport.

164 - > It was Suisse Air, very prestigious at the time. 165 - > It got bankrupt afterwards. 166 - > But at the time it was really super well regarded as an 167 - > airline and still is, but it's changed the name of obviously. 168 - > But I really loved it.

169 - > And then that's when I really got that passion to servicing 170 - > people. 171 - > At the time we had smoking flights, so you had to check-in, 172 - > you not only were asking, you know, window or aisle seat, but 173 - > you were asking smoking, non-smoking. 174 - > So you had four options. 175 - > So for me, that was a very diverse job already.

176 - > So but then I moved, and then I realized as to my earlier point, 177 - > that maybe it's not really, I don't want to do incurities, 178 - > it's really hard work, it's uh it's shifts and everything. 179 - > So I said I decided to go back to school, but I never lost my 180 - > job. 181 - > So I just decreased my hours and I became, they called it an 182 - > auxiliaire. 183 - > So I reduced my hours to 20 hours per week and then 15 hours 184 - > per week, but I kept the job.

185 - > But as my responsibilities went down, I could really tour every 186 - > possible job at the airport. 187 - > So I know the industry inside out from an airport perspective. 188 - > I did the check-in, I did the assistance, so you know, 189 - > carrying, you know, wheelchairs and everything else, and and 190 - > unaccompanied miners, I would take care of them once they 191 - > boarded off the plane. 192 - > I did the luggage stuff, really uh charger at the airport.

193 - > I did boarding flights, closing flights at the gates, and that's 194 - > very, very formative. 195 - > You have those um really angry passengers on a Friday night 196 - > that have been confirmed and they're now on wait lists. 197 - > And how do you handle these people? 198 - > So I had to learn on the job how to handle these kinds of uh 199 - > high-tense situations.

200 - > Uh, and then it's funny because it ties back as my career in 201 - > terms of responsibility decreased at the airport. 202 - > I finished my graduation, so I had a high school degree and 203 - > then my college degree, and then I started at Thomson Reuters. 204 - > So, what's great about Thomson Reuters is all the learning and 205 - > development opportunities they offer to their employees. 206 - > At the time, it was really amazing.

207 - > Now it's been sold to the London Stock Exchange, but it's still 208 - > very, very efficient in terms of LD opportunities. 209 - > So I started to put science around customer service. 210 - > So I started to have courses around what it is to be a great, 211 - > you know, service person, what other soft skills requires. 212 - > And beyond just the attitude and being polite and everything 213 - > else, it is a science.

214 - > And that I learned it through learning and development 215 - > opportunities that I could apply to myself. 216 - > And these are things that I still to this day use, and 217 - > that's very important. 218 - > So, again, there is like a funny hidden, like the universe wanted 219 - > me to follow a certain path. 220 - > And I got there uh very empirically first, but then I 221 - > weaved science into it.

222 - > And it's really great because that led me to very senior 223 - > leadership positions at Thomson Reuters, when then you have 224 - > really to weave in how do we measure the user satisfaction. 225 - > And remember, this is 2002, 2003. 226 - > So it wasn't as sexy as now customer support. 227 - > It was really, it's not about at the time user experience, that 228 - > that word didn't exist, it was just user support or customer 229 - > service, and every all the rest of the company chucked 230 - > everything into that.

231 - > So, but we had to deal with real customers and real frustrated 232 - > customers, but we had to drive loyalty and really uh customer 233 - > retention. 234 - > And that's really the essence of customer service, and that's why 235 - > I have a passion for it. 236 - > So, and then we weaved like the science into it. 237 - > How do we measure user satisfaction?

238 - > How can we have an event-driven program where we could measure 239 - > constantly user satisfaction and so forth? 240 - > So, from very empirical, funny kind of um, I'm trying just to 241 - > do my job to a more scientific approach to how do I handle this 242 - > customer now? 243 - > I really got better and better in the learning curve in terms 244 - > of handling customers and understanding customers, which 245 - > is what loyalty is all about. 246 - > SPEAKER_02: So, as you're aware, this podcast series aims to 247 - > serve as a source of inspiration for nurturing aspirations, 248 - > fostering passions, encouraging career choices, and exploring 249 - > the various facets of professions within the 250 - > hospitality industry.

251 - > Having a rich 11-year experience at Thompson Reuters handling 252 - > client sales and services, could you elaborate maybe a little bit 253 - > more on your insights related to customer service within this 254 - > particular context of finance? 255 - > SPEAKER_01: So very high-tense markets, the financial markets 256 - > are very tense. 257 - > Um, the more closer you get to the cash, so you have the Forex 258 - > traders very tensed, they need an answer right now, right here, 259 - > to the bond traders, to the equity traders, to the option 260 - > people.

261 - > So it's these were very highly tense situations. 262 - > And you get to realize your instincts alone may not do the 263 - > work. 264 - > So you need great products, you need you know great personal 265 - > skills, but then beyond that, you need a great process around 266 - > you where an issue, if I can't solve it, can be can travel and 267 - > navigate within the organization to resolution. 268 - > And that really is a science.

269 - > So it taught me at the very low level to the most senior 270 - > leadership positions to okay, let's have people trained on how 271 - > to handle highly tense situations. 272 - > But beyond that, let's have a process that really can help and 273 - > facilitate the resolution of issues. 274 - > And besides the process, then let's try and figure out what 275 - > metrics do we need to put in place to realize whether we're 276 - > moving the needle or not, really. 277 - > Are these guys leaving the company because they're so 278 - > frustrated?

279 - > Are these people keeping with us? 280 - > Are they loyal or not? 281 - > So we had to invent really a formidable metric suite. 282 - > And all the senior leadership positions at Thomson Reuters 283 - > were all behind us in support in trying to really invent what 284 - > then would become the UX framework, the user experience 285 - > framework.

286 - > But at the time it was more about let's try and understand 287 - > what is it we're doing, how we can drive customer loyalty, and 288 - > let's try and figure out how we can measure user satisfaction. 289 - > So we invented what was then called at the time the 290 - > even-driven program. 291 - > So after a service event, you know, customer support call or 292 - > whatever it was, a sales intervention, we would a 293 - > company, actually GFK, would call up the customer and measure 294 - > the satisfaction through a survey.

295 - > It was called the EDP, the even-driven program. 296 - > And that led really to us really understanding how we were moving 297 - > the needle or not, in which areas. 298 - > So they were asking all sorts of questions for our clients, 299 - > overall experience, how was your overall experience with support, 300 - > what was the welcome process, what was the passion and 301 - > dedication of the staff, what was their level of knowledge, 302 - > you know, what was the call service experience for you?

303 - > So we were really measuring all sorts of metrics, and against 304 - > each of these pillars, uh, we would track the percentage of 305 - > very good and excellent ratings we would get. 306 - > So not only would we be in a position for every agent 307 - > individually to tell them this is your overall client 308 - > satisfaction score, this is your score in terms of knowledge 309 - > perception. 310 - > So, and it's funny because sometimes the most knowledgeable 311 - > people didn't come across as the more knowledgeable.

312 - > It's a matter of service skills and soft skills. 313 - > So it was very interesting because, as I always say, the 314 - > more intelligent data you gather, the more intelligent 315 - > discussions you may have. 316 - > And it was more about really then trying to have those 317 - > intelligent discussions, especially with highly 318 - > operational staff. 319 - > You want to have really data-driven discussions.

320 - > Now, it seems very obvious today, but in the early 2000s, 321 - > that was very, very new. 322 - > And so we were able across the service organization to have 323 - > those EDP scores. 324 - > Oh, this is how your personal score is right now. 325 - > And it wasn't really well perceived at the time.

326 - > Oh, you're really measuring everything I do. 327 - > But as we didn't link it to compensation or anything like 328 - > that, at the time it wasn't really well perceived, but it 329 - > was a great driver of satisfaction for our users and 330 - > for our clients. 331 - > So that maybe summarizes it. 332 - > And then I took this, and maybe you're gonna ask me about JP 333 - > Morgan, but I moved from some role to JP Morgan, and again, 334 - > this is what I had been asked to do at JP Morgan.

335 - > So very interesting. 336 - > SPEAKER_02: Actually, I am going to ask you about JP Morgan, but 337 - > before I do that, I can imagine if you go back and look at 338 - > between 2001 and today, the technological disruption that 339 - > you and revolution, I would say, that you've seen has been 340 - > probably phenomenal. 341 - > Could you just talk just a little bit about how have you 342 - > seen this revolution, this disruption? 343 - > And I think one of the questions uh we want to ask is how 344 - > difficult is it to keep up with all of these technological 345 - > advances?

346 - > SPEAKER_01: So it's a fascinating question, Crystal. 347 - > So I'm not an engineer, right? 348 - > But as you can see, all my life I've been working with engineers 349 - > and great engineers. 350 - > And so I've been following, but more as a consumer of 351 - > technology, but also they put me in these senior leadership 352 - > positions in tech as a non-tech guy.

353 - > So it was a great combination. 354 - > So to answer your question, it's very interesting. 355 - > If you think about technology in the 90s, 20th century 356 - > technologies, they were meant to do one thing, to do stuff for 357 - > us. 358 - > And they weren't producing much data.

359 - > So it was a fax machine, it was producing faxes, it was a 360 - > copier, it was copying stuff. 361 - > And then, you know, all the technology we used to have, even 362 - > a car, it wasn't producing much data. 363 - > So what evolved in the 2000s was that technology not only was 364 - > helping us, enabling us to do stuff we don't want to do, like 365 - > copying, printing, calling, whatever. 366 - > But alongside this, the more and more the tech advanced, the more 367 - > and more data, our tools, our technology devices started to 368 - > produce data.

369 - > Our own phones, if you think about the Nokia phones, they 370 - > weren't producing any data, but now it can tell you how long 371 - > you've been on the phone, how long you've been wandering on 372 - > social media, how long you've been, and that mirror effect is 373 - > really changed everything. 374 - > And if we take this now back to the industry, to the business 375 - > world, this is new, new wealth of data which we need to digest 376 - > and understand. 377 - > How do you make sense of all this data?

378 - > Like an engineer would say, you need to decouple the noise from 379 - > the signal. 380 - > And what is the signal? 381 - > Now I'm a senior leadership guy, I'm a CEO, whatever. 382 - > Um I'm just a guy in technology or in hospitality.

383 - > What is the signal? 384 - > What is the noise? 385 - > And that's the key question. 386 - > And understanding and decoupling the signal from the noise is 387 - > really what it's all about now.

388 - > What is noise? 389 - > What is signal? 390 - > And this has evolved so much that now you need even 391 - > technology to tell you what is the signal and what is the 392 - > noise. 393 - > So that's ironic, but that's where we are.

394 - > So it's really fascinating. 395 - > But overall, it's been massive. 396 - > The help that the technology has brought. 397 - > And not only now technology can tell basically what we've been 398 - > doing, it tells us who we are more and more.

399 - > How do you consume technology? 400 - > Tells us who we are. 401 - > And so in the business world and in the hospitality world, how 402 - > our users use the technology will tell us how they are as a 403 - > client. 404 - > And that's really fascinating.

405 - > If we talk about my company, we use data day in, day out to 406 - > understand what are the trends, what are people liking, what are 407 - > less inclined to like, what are less, what are they less using. 408 - > So behavioral pattern and behavioral metrics become the 409 - > key to customer service because you want to anticipate what 410 - > people want. 411 - > So it's really aligning all these dots that lead us from the 412 - > early 2000s into now. 413 - > But the question remains: what is the key drive of 414 - > satisfaction?

415 - > What are our customers wanting from us? 416 - > And that's really a fascinating question. 417 - > SPEAKER_02: Well, I'll give you one answer for that. 418 - > Not to wait so long when we want to call the call center.

419 - > SPEAKER_00: Yeah. 420 - > SPEAKER_02: Not to be put on hold and listen to some terrible 421 - > music. 422 - > SPEAKER_00: Exactly. 423 - > Exactly.

424 - > Get me the person, get me to the guy. 425 - > It could be a robot, I don't care. 426 - > SPEAKER_02: Exactly. 427 - > So let's go back to you just mentioned JP Morgan.

428 - > So your almost six-year tenure at JP Morgan represented a 429 - > significant achievement, obviously, in your career. 430 - > How did this role contribute to shaping your passion for 431 - > customer service, hospitality? 432 - > And although identifying a direct connection may pose a 433 - > challenge, we believe that there may have been another positive 434 - > aspect at play. 435 - > SPEAKER_01: So I think there is two angles to this.

436 - > A very private event, and I'm going to talk to that just a 437 - > little bit because it explains a lot as to why I created Momenti. 438 - > But also, the more I went into seniorship lead positions, I got 439 - > hired at JP Morgan, and my boss told me, make it professional. 440 - > The service was very disparate. 441 - > It was very existing and very passionate, but it was very the 442 - > US were doing their thing, Europe was doing their customer 443 - > support thing, and Asia was doing their own thing.

444 - > Was for me to globalize the function. 445 - > I was global head of technology operations, which means beyond 446 - > just customer support. 447 - > It was tech support, it was learning and development, 448 - > including for clients. 449 - > So it was the training for clients, how do you train a 450 - > client to use the JP Morgan apps and such?

451 - > So it was a very release, release management, disaster 452 - > recovery, business continuity, all sorts of functions, huge 453 - > role. 454 - > So that led me to travel quite a bit, Crystal. 455 - > So by traveling, I started to realize now from an end user, 456 - > from a user of luxury, because when you work with JP Morgan, 457 - > you're lucky enough that you could you get to go in great 458 - > places, great hotels, and you get to travel a lot, business 459 - > class and first class and such.

460 - > So I got to really realize, you know, maybe there's a gap here. 461 - > And that's where the idea of Momente started to stem in my 462 - > head. 463 - > And really that's where it comes from. 464 - > And now privately in 2011, I joined JP Morgan, and 465 - > unfortunately, my wife passed away.

466 - > My son was seven at the time. 467 - > So yeah, and Robin was just seven. 468 - > And then you get to realize, wow, I need to do all these 469 - > things on my own. 470 - > And I, you know, from the age of seven up until now, he's 20 now.

471 - > So I used to take care of everything, every leisure 472 - > option, travel, you know, vacation. 473 - > And kids that age, even if you're in the most luxurious 474 - > place in Palm Beach or whatever, they get bored after two days. 475 - > So I thought maybe there's an opportunity here. 476 - > I don't know, it would be great if there would be a platform 477 - > where I can book a pool afternoon somewhere else and 478 - > where I'm actually staying.

479 - > And that's where the idea comes from. 480 - > Not only was I witnessing this gap on a professional 481 - > perspective, because I was in New York one week every four 482 - > weeks, but also on a private level, I was there trying to 483 - > organize stuff, and it was very cumbersome. 484 - > And nobody, at least here in Europe, thinks about luxury 485 - > hotels as a viable leisure option. 486 - > We don't think about them really.

487 - > So I thought, oh, maybe there's an opportunity for a marketplace 488 - > to basically display, have a collection of luxury experiences 489 - > I could do and book in a few clicks without calling anyone, 490 - > without doing anything else. 491 - > So that's the linkage, really. 492 - > But what JP Morgan really brought me is the high-end 493 - > service. 494 - > JP Morgan, it's all about ultra-high net worth 495 - > individuals.

496 - > 30 million and more, and it's really a very specific category 497 - > of clients. 498 - > So it relates to me to very specific brands, and we share 499 - > with those luxury brands the same passion for ultra service. 500 - > And you know, there is haute couture, and I think there needs 501 - > to be hot hospitality at some point. 502 - > And when I see the hospitality industry evolving, it's exactly 503 - > about that.

504 - > There is the mainstream luxury, but then there is hold 505 - > hospitality. 506 - > And you see those that break out from the pack and they do very 507 - > bespoke and very obsessed about the customer experience. 508 - > And that's what I think it's going to make the difference 509 - > going forwards. 510 - > So that's really maybe the linkage.

511 - > I was asked, you know, to globalize a service function, 512 - > which I did. 513 - > It involves a lot of travel. 514 - > Personally, I was having some challenges at home, and I tried 515 - > to reconstruct all of this, and I thought maybe there's an 516 - > opportunity here. 517 - > So you start to talk to colleagues and such.

518 - > And one of my great partners now in Momenti is Pedro, who used to 519 - > be an executive director at JP Morgan. 520 - > So there you go, full circle. 521 - > SPEAKER_02: Okay, great. 522 - > So let's learn more about Momenti.

523 - > So after you left JP Morgan, did you work as an independent 524 - > consultant? 525 - > SPEAKER_01: So I worked for uh as an independent consultant. 526 - > I left JP Morgan simply because my job was to rationalize spend 527 - > and you know I had to optimize every location, which included 528 - > Geneva. 529 - > So I knew right off the bat that my own role would need to move.

530 - > I was uh managing director, and we knew right off the bat that 531 - > my role needed to move from Geneva because we had a lot of 532 - > principles, including you know, the managing director roles 533 - > would need to follow where most of the people are. 534 - > So we moved my role back to New York, and I couldn't follow my 535 - > roles. 536 - > I wasn't in a position to follow the position, so I wasn't mobile 537 - > at the time. 538 - > So I decided to go.

539 - > Great package, managing director package, great opportunity. 540 - > And to your point, I started to do consulting and I did consult 541 - > for Geneva Airport on how to build a great customer service 542 - > culture. 543 - > So I did this for the Geneva Airport. 544 - > I did the same kind of consulting for the Geneva 545 - > hospitals.

546 - > When I started to create content, what am I gonna do now 547 - > that I need to consult and do all this training to these 548 - > people? 549 - > I started to think of the performance lifecycle we all go 550 - > through. 551 - > Like when we start in the job, we're very flexible, but very 552 - > babies, very flexible, but not really uh skilled in terms of 553 - > the framework. 554 - > And then you evolve around along the skills you know curve, and 555 - > you you get more and more skilled in the job, but less and 556 - > less flexible.

557 - > And then you reach the point where you're really on target, 558 - > and then maybe you tip the line and you're a bit less now. 559 - > You're really skilled, but maybe you're a little bit know it all, 560 - > uh, even worse, know it better, and then you tip on the other 561 - > side and you're really not desirable as a resource. 562 - > So we all go through that life cycle, and then you have that 563 - > those phases where you're more like, leave me alone, and then I 564 - > want to leave the team.

565 - > So I started to really try and do something along those lines, 566 - > which is more okay, service is a framework, it's a science, we 567 - > need to measure it, but it's also a mindset, and I need to 568 - > manage myself. 569 - > How can I have a positive mindset? 570 - > How can I avoid, you know, seeing myself as a limiting 571 - > factor in the process? 572 - > So that was really what was all about.

573 - > So I did consulting a couple of years. 574 - > My son at the time needed me, and to be honest, I really took 575 - > care of my son in those years. 576 - > That's when really I took time to take care of my son. 577 - > He was probably 16, 15 at the time.

578 - > SPEAKER_02: Oh, yeah, the teenage years. 579 - > SPEAKER_01: Exactly. 580 - > So combining, you know, the luxury of consulting, which is 581 - > not a you know, full-time all days type of work like JP Morgan 582 - > 70 hours a week, that was really perfect for me, the perfect 583 - > match. 584 - > But then I was missing something, and that's when I 585 - > really decided that that idea of that marketplace, maybe let's 586 - > try and implement it and let's try and make the company.

587 - > SPEAKER_02: So let's talk about Momenti. 588 - > What is the essence of Momenti? 589 - > What services do you provide? 590 - > How does it operate?

591 - > Who comprises your client base? 592 - > And who are the additional stakeholders involved? 593 - > So a lot of questions there, but yeah. 594 - > SPEAKER_01: So company is a little over a year old or year 595 - > and a half.

596 - > It's really Momenti is all about booking and paying for luxury 597 - > hotel facilities. 598 - > So, how can I access luxury hotel if I'm not an overnight 599 - > guest? 600 - > That's really the gist of it. 601 - > So we wanted to create a collection of great experiences 602 - > where people can really easily book and pay for privileged 603 - > access.

604 - > So we're not about discounts at all, we're not a discount app, 605 - > we're about privileged access. 606 - > How can I spend a pool afternoon at the Intercontinental in 607 - > Geneva without having to go through the very 20th century 608 - > process, which is I need to find the pool, I need to call the 609 - > pool manager, book, and so forth. 610 - > So most of these are 20th century processes where you have 611 - > to call. 612 - > So we thought of the marketplace, of the app and 613 - > everything else.

614 - > And not only that, there's a level of ambiguity around luxury 615 - > hotels. 616 - > So you never know which ones are accepting external guests and 617 - > which one are not. 618 - > So for me, it was a really an easy step to do and think, oh, 619 - > let's have a marketplace where I can list all the available 620 - > places. 621 - > And not only that, where I can book them in a split second.

622 - > And I don't have to worry about availability. 623 - > If it's on Momenti, it's available. 624 - > And I can book it morning, afternoon, after work, or for 625 - > the full day. 626 - > And that's really what Momenti is all about.

627 - > In terms of uh who are our users, I'm glad to say that 65% 628 - > of our users have uh 35 or less years of age. 629 - > We're very appealing to the younger generation. 630 - > I believe I don't want to position myself as an expert, 631 - > but I'm really observing what happens, and I think they 632 - > interact with luxury brands, with luxury in general very 633 - > differently than people used to. 634 - > It's more about moments, it's more about, okay, more frequent 635 - > moments than just a luxury week now.

636 - > So they love the ability. 637 - > We basically enable that. 638 - > We enable that lifestyle. 639 - > Oh, it's sunny outside, not today, it's sunny outside.

640 - > Let's have two friends, finish early, and go after work at the 641 - > pool at the Intercontinental or at the President Wilson or 642 - > whatever. 643 - > And that's really what Momenti is all about. 644 - > Spur of the moment. 645 - > On Momenti, you cannot book three months out.

646 - > Our booking window is only seven days out. 647 - > So it's really meant to entice the spur of the moment kind of 648 - > thing. 649 - > And for hotels, it's not how I imagine it, but for hotels it's 650 - > great because they can put all their distressed inventory on 651 - > the platform. 652 - > So although we're not a discount platform, we're just about 653 - > putting to work all the unsold inventory.

654 - > And that's really great for both our users and the hotels. 655 - > SPEAKER_02: And Robert, tell me, is this a global platform? 656 - > Are you providing this service around the world or are you just 657 - > focused mostly in Europe? 658 - > SPEAKER_01: Or no, it's a great question.

659 - > So we wanted to focus only in Switzerland. 660 - > Our ambition was Swiss, and we signed a deal with Swiss Deluxe 661 - > Hotels, which is great. 662 - > We are a preferred supplier for Swiss Deluxe Hotels. 663 - > But then for some reason, we got introduced to people in Bangkok.

664 - > So now we have a distributor in Bangkok. 665 - > So we don't want to boil the ocean, and we have just three 666 - > hubs right now. 667 - > So we have uh Switzerland, we have Southeast Asia, where we 668 - > have Wimintra doing great work in Bangkok, and now we just uh 669 - > found a distributor in Mexico. 670 - > We want to operate on this hub strategy and not try and boil 671 - > the ocean and going everywhere at the same time.

672 - > We don't have the financial means for that, but if we 673 - > operate on a hub strategy, I think it's gonna work. 674 - > And this is working because we now have great footprint in 675 - > Bangkok. 676 - > We have five hotels in Bangkok, so we're still a tiny, tiny 677 - > mouse, Crystal. 678 - > But Momentia has legs, and it's funny, I don't know where these 679 - > legs are gonna take us, but and we have now we are talking to a 680 - > person in Los Angeles, mind you, who it's called BLLA.

681 - > We signed a deal, so it's totally official. 682 - > It's a boutique luxury lifestyle association, and it's an 683 - > association of more than 10,000 boutique hotels in the US. 684 - > So they're gonna distribute us over there. 685 - > And for us, it's really great because beyond you know the big 686 - > hotels and the big structures, I think there is a space for 687 - > boutique hotels and momenti.

688 - > It's very trendy, modern luxury, it's all about you know, 689 - > bespoke, small, tiny hidden gems. 690 - > It's not only about big entities, which we love. 691 - > We all love the big structures. 692 - > So that's where we are to answer your question.

693 - > It's more a hub strategy. 694 - > Southeast Asia, so Thailand. 695 - > We signed now with the Banyan tree in Langho, Vietnam. 696 - > We're signing with Azera in Vietnam for 17 hotels.

697 - > So we're still a tiny mouse, but and it takes time to create a 698 - > luxury brand. 699 - > It takes time to establish yourself as a credible, viable 700 - > option for hoteliers to partner with us. 701 - > So I totally get that. 702 - > But we're really happy on how it's going.

703 - > SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's interesting because as you, you 704 - > know, when I was asking you this question, I assumed that it was 705 - > uh based in Europe in general, because you know, there's so 706 - > many beautiful hotels in Europe. 707 - > I just came back from travels in uh France, Spain, Italy. 708 - > But yeah, it's interesting. 709 - > I mean, it's great.

710 - > It's great that you're looking at different places that are so 711 - > different, you know. 712 - > SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's more about what's driving the 713 - > strategy is more the quality of the people we meet, Crystal. 714 - > So I would have loved, I'm I come from Italy, so I would have 715 - > loved to cover Italy. 716 - > I would have loved to cover France or the UK, but we didn't 717 - > find yet the right people to represent us and distribute us.

718 - > So it's just a matter of opportunity, who we meet. 719 - > And I wouldn't try and touch the the France territory without 720 - > having the right people, the right level of knowledge, the 721 - > right network and such. 722 - > So we're going more, you know, on a hub strategy, but also with 723 - > the right people. 724 - > We need the right people on the bus.

725 - > It's always the same, uh, the same story. 726 - > So the distributor in Bangkok has been a lead from someone who 727 - > worked at the marketing team at the Intercontinental. 728 - > So it was a great introduction. 729 - > We really hit it off well.

730 - > I met her at Women Trial, met her in uh Munich last summer, 731 - > and it's really producing a lot of results. 732 - > So that's how it happens. 733 - > SPEAKER_02: Organically, holistically. 734 - > SPEAKER_01: Organically, yeah.

735 - > SPEAKER_02: Robert, what is the meaning of the word momenti? 736 - > SPEAKER_01: Oh, good point. 737 - > Momenti means moments in Italian. 738 - > So moments.

739 - > But when I asked the legal guys and my great friend Marc 740 - > Gileron, here a great lawyer in Geneva, when I told him, Look, I 741 - > want to call the company Momenti, and he goes, get out of 742 - > this right away, like right now. 743 - > You cannot use the name Momenti when 1.0. 744 - > So I said, Why don't we put two O's to it?

745 - > And he goes, Okay, that makes sense. 746 - > And then what the website was free, momenti.com, everything 747 - > was free. 748 - > And then I talked to the marketing people, and they're 749 - > great for this.

750 - > And they go, Oh, this is fantastic, Momenti with 2. 751 - > It's like the moment we enjoy, we want to stretch it forever. 752 - > So let's stretch the moment and let's put the infinite sign in 753 - > it. 754 - > So, and that's our logo.

755 - > So that's really the story. 756 - > So, Momenti means moment. 757 - > Life is all about moments, like I was saying, and uh, that's our 758 - > motto. 759 - > We really want to offer moments to our community.

760 - > That's really the gist of uh where Momenti comes from. 761 - > SPEAKER_02: You know, after looking at your profile and 762 - > looking at what you're doing now, you know, Momenti stands 763 - > out as a really bold illustration of 764 - > entrepreneurship. 765 - > Could you share what brings you satisfaction with this 766 - > entrepreneurial path? 767 - > And maybe perhaps talk a little bit about the obstacles that 768 - > you've had to face.

769 - > SPEAKER_01: Yeah, of course. 770 - > Uh what brings me joy is when you have an idea, you try and 771 - > probe it with friends, and you try and I I was asking my son at 772 - > the beginning, what do you think about this? 773 - > Yeah, that could be fun. 774 - > And then you start and really apply a process to it.

775 - > So we built a prototype, we did like more than 100 solution 776 - > interviews, as they called. 777 - > And mind you, in the industry, you do 30, 30 or so uh solution 778 - > interviews, not 100, but for us it was our own money. 779 - > So we did 100, and then people start to think, oh, this is a 780 - > great idea, that would be great. 781 - > And why don't you so you're encouraged to do more and more 782 - > and more.

783 - > So that's really a source of satisfaction. 784 - > Of course, when people use now the app and the web app, this is 785 - > really a great source of satisfaction. 786 - > But lately, the greatest uh source of satisfaction is when 787 - > people reach out to us and say, Hey, we want to work with you. 788 - > So that really means the world to me.

789 - > And recently, a very prominent cosmetic firm who operates 790 - > longevity hubs around the world reached out to us from Bangkok 791 - > and they said, Oh, maybe we want to work with you. 792 - > It's not a signed deal, so I cannot say the name, but you'll 793 - > figure it out. 794 - > So they reached out to us, and when people proactively reach 795 - > out to us, it means the world. 796 - > It's really an incredible feeling.

797 - > Or when people, you know, when you start a startup, you talk 798 - > about yourself, and there's value to what you say. 799 - > But when other people start to talk about you, this is when 800 - > it's another layer of uh satisfaction. 801 - > When partners start to talk about you, when other folks 802 - > start to part about you, it's really a lot uh a very special 803 - > feeling. 804 - > SPEAKER_02: And what are your aspirations for Mumenti?

805 - > In what ways do you envision the growth of this brand in the 806 - > years ahead? 807 - > SPEAKER_01: It's going well. 808 - > We hope to partner with big brands, big luxury hospitality 809 - > brands, of course. 810 - > It's really about strategic partnership.

811 - > We ambition not only to work with the hospitality brands per 812 - > se, but we totally see ourselves working with uh an airline, for 813 - > instance. 814 - > We would be great to complement their offer. 815 - > So an airline basically, when you land somewhere, you want to 816 - > do experiences. 817 - > So that's where we could kick in.

818 - > Uh so that's a great idea. 819 - > Cruise, you know, companies, but also the mice angle. 820 - > So I met Oward recently, I was at IMEX in Frankfurt. 821 - > The mice, you know, the meeting incentive, the all the 822 - > convention and events angle is really great for Momente.

823 - > If we could partner with event organizers so that their you 824 - > know event attendees can do stuff, or their spouses or their 825 - > families when they travel with the families, if they can use 826 - > Momenti to really do things and have really a great, you know, 827 - > inspirational and more intimate uh view of what Geneva has to 828 - > offer or the city has to offer, it's really a great angle for 829 - > Momente to partner with. 830 - > So event organizers, airlines, of course, luxury brands and 831 - > cruise ship, that'd be great.

832 - > I have a little problem with cruises, but you know, I've 833 - > never been in one. 834 - > SPEAKER_02: So neither have I. 835 - > I can be very critical, but actually I was thinking, well, 836 - > maybe I should try one before. 837 - > SPEAKER_01: So that's really what we want for our future.

838 - > SPEAKER_02: Before we say goodbye to you, Robert, would 839 - > you like to provide any other personal message or words of 840 - > inspiration for our listeners, especially for younger people 841 - > that are considering going into this field or have started out 842 - > in the field? 843 - > SPEAKER_01: For younger generation. 844 - > Well, I would say if you embrace a career in hospitality, don't 845 - > look only for hospitality opportunities. 846 - > Look beyond the banking world is really needing you, the private 847 - > banking world, insurance, even startups.

848 - > I'd love to have someone from EHL or wherever working with us, 849 - > and that'd be fantastic because you really have special skills 850 - > that nowhere else are taught and nowhere else are executed so 851 - > well than from the hospitality school. 852 - > So that's really my advice. 853 - > And maybe for younger people, if you have an idea, create your 854 - > company early, not like me, not at 55. 855 - > Create your company the minute you have the idea.

856 - > Don't wait for it. 857 - > It's really a great journey. 858 - > I would end on this, Crystal, if that's fine with you. 859 - > SPEAKER_02: Okay.

860 - > Robert, thank you so much for being part of our 50 Shades of 861 - > Hospitality adventure, for giving us your insights, for 862 - > describing your very interesting uh career path. 863 - > Thank you so much. 864 - > SPEAKER_01: No problem. 865 - > Thank you very much for having me.

866 - > SPEAKER_02: This episode is brought to you by Swiss 867 - > Hospitality Guild, the reference in training for hospitality 868 - > professions and leading authority in hospitality 869 - > training. 870 - > SHG is renowned for its excellence in preparing 871 - > professionals for the hospitality industry. 872 - > Winning medals at prestigious competitions like Swift Skills, 873 - > Your Skills, World Skills, and the AICREST Reception is 874 - > contest.