Rapid Response: When your business disappears overnight, w/Marriott’s Arne Sorenson
Masters of Scale
WaitWhat
4.6 • 4.4K Ratings
🗓️ 22 October 2020
⏱️ 33 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
95% of your business disappears. What do you do? Marriott CEO Arne Sorenson recounts how the travel industry drastically changed last spring, with hotel bookings all but disappearing overnight. In the midst of his own battle with cancer, Arne has spent the year balancing the needs of his workforce against those of his partners; having blunt but critical conversations; and empowering his team to make tough decisions. He has wise words about the role of business leaders in times of social unrest, including how to think about who you speak for – and when to speak up. Arne admits the hotel industry will take years to recover. That hasn't dimmed his personal belief that travel matters more than ever.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Late January, this rolls out in China, and our business immediately drops by 90 to 95 percent in China. |
| 0:08.0 | The virus pops in South Korea, Iran, and Italy, and it becomes fairly clear that it's going to spread around the globe. |
| 0:17.0 | By the middle of March, we're running down 90 to 95 percent all around the world. |
| 0:23.0 | We would expect that it's probably a good two, three, four years before hotels get back to the level of performance they had in 2019. |
| 0:32.0 | Having said that, I do think that we will see people get back on the road. |
| 0:38.0 | We are itching to get back towards where we were before. |
| 0:43.0 | There's no substitute for being together, and I think as we can do that safely, we'll step back and do most of what we did before. |
| 0:53.0 | Well, I don't know when I'll get back to 225 nights a year. I am eager to get back on the road and start traveling again. |
| 1:01.0 | It's only one word together that we really do the most collaborative and creative things. |
| 1:06.0 | As a globe, as a country, as communities, we've gotten through enormously difficult times. |
| 1:13.0 | And there's no reason we can't get through this one. |
| 1:19.0 | That's Arnie Sorenson, CEO of Marriott International. |
| 1:24.0 | Hotels have been among the hardest hit businesses in the pandemic, and despite some recovery, the road ahead is uncertain. |
| 1:31.0 | I'm Bob Safian, former editor of Fast Company, founder of the Flux Group, and host of Masters of Scale Rapid Response. |
| 1:39.0 | I wanted to talk to Arnie because no one has a better view of the global and national repercussions of COVID-19. |
| 1:46.0 | He talks about the financial struggles and the human struggles, from small businesses to big cities. |
| 1:54.0 | He also talks about personally wrestling with cancer, as well as wrestling with racial injustice, and he offers his own formula for how businesses might approach social action. |
| 2:04.0 | Arnie believes that if businesses band together, they can have an important voice. |
| 2:09.0 | But he also argues that business leaders shouldn't necessarily speak on every issue. |
| 2:24.0 | Hey listeners, it's Alex Morris, a staff writer here at Masters of Scale. |
| 2:28.0 | As important as it is to seek strategic advice, like the kind you hear on Masters of Scale, sometimes you might need some really specific guidance. |
| 2:36.0 | And that's where the podcast Fixable comes in. |
... |
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