Design-led Hospitality

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[00:02:38] - [First question] - Thoughts on the obligation of a business to deliver the best possible customer experience

[00:03:43] - Making a decision that actively went against improving the customer experience

[00:06:00] - What Sonder is and the key insight that led to building the business

[00:08:43] - Ways they cut down costs by leveraging technology available today

[00:10:44] - The economic model of the business and where it differs most from other hotels

[00:12:15] - The journey of $100 coming in to Sonder and working through the company

[00:13:20] - How the building or asset owner is integrated into the business model

[00:14:18] - Network density and how he thinks about it when it comes to scaling Sonder

[00:16:18] - His philosophy on design and why he thinks it matters in hospitality

[00:18:05] - What you can overspend on and underspend on to keep a guest happy

[00:21:05] - Making decisions on building in house or partnering to provide a new solution

[00:22:29] - Do property owners dress up their own hotels or are their guidelines and retailers

[00:23:51] - Lessons learned from working with overseas manufacturers

[00:24:44] - The key levers that will drive the growth of Sonder

[00:26:59] - What a typical occupancy rate is for them versus other hospitality options

[00:28:23] - Category creation and design that influence and change how people behave

[00:29:45] - Qualities of a new market and what drives success in attacking it

[00:31:15] - His contrarian viewpoint on building a business and talent density

[00:33:40] - The features of his job’s product and the interview process

[00:36:21] - Does everyone at a company need to be an A player?

[00:38:00] - His philosophy on team culture and developing synchronicity

[00:41:01] - Ways to build strategic competitive advantage inside of Sonder

[00:43:22] - What the most successful version of Sonder will look like ten years from now

[00:45:16] - New features and tech improvements that are coming soon he’s excited about

[00:46:48] - Trends in hospitality that have been accelerated and changed by COVID

[00:48:36] - Growing changes in the glamping and nature-forward guest experiences

[00:51:04] - The kindest thing that anyone has ever done for him