Designing an Ethical Triple Bottom Line Tourism Business Model

Episode Transcript

Britnie Turner: When people get there and they start asking questions and trying to see if we’re not aligned or if we’ve got some sneaky thing, everything from environmental to where the money goes and all that stuff. The more layers they peel back and actually find out what we’re doing, they’re just unbelievably, overwhelmingly impressed. And then they talk about it. I really hope people copy us. We want to live as a case study of what’s possible. I’ll go through all the hard things so that it’s easier for you because the world needs more people to be operating this way. 

Robin Trimingham: Welcome to the Innovative Hotelier podcast by Hotels magazine with weekly thought provoking discussions with the world’s leading hotel and hospitality innovators. Welcome to the innovative hotelier brought to you by Hotels magazine. I’m your host, Robin Trimingham. On this show, we regularly talk about transformative power of travel and the importance of developing a sense of place for your hotel and your brand. My guest today has taken this concept to a whole new level and uses her brand to accelerate her mission of empowering people, sustaining the planet, and utilizing capitalism as a force for good. In 2021, she expanded her portfolio of projects to include an eco tourism resort on a private island known as the Aerial BVI. Join me now as I chat with the founder and CEO of the Aerial BVI, Brittany Turner, regarding the benefits of using the triple bottom line business model to provide a transformative travel experience that guests will crave, generate revenue and ultimately benefit mankind and the planet. Join me now for my conversation with Britnie. F.O.H is a global food service and hospitality company that manufactures smart commercial grade solutions headquartered in Miami. The company designs and manufactures all their restaurant and hotel products. They have showrooms and distribution centers located throughout the globe, and their products are always in stock and ready to ship from any of their distribution centers worldwide. Welcome, Britnie. It’s a pleasure to meet you. How are you doing today? 

Britnie Turner: I’m doing wonderful. Thank you so much for having me on here. 

Robin Trimingham: Well, I’m really excited about our conversation today because I read a little bit about your background and you are an incredibly passionate, inspiring businesswoman and you also have a very unique approach to how you’re doing. Your most recent I’m going to call it hotel project, if you will. So I think this is going to be a great conversation to start us off here, though not everybody is going to be familiar with the triple bottom line business model, otherwise known as the TBL. So maybe you could start just by telling us very, very briefly what this is and who created the concept. 

Britnie Turner: Oh, gosh, I don’t know who created the concept, but it’s something I definitely picked up and ran with because this is resonated with my heart since I was a little kid. So most businesses are judged as successful or non successful based on their bottom line. And so a triple bottom line company bases their success on their effect of people, their effect on the planet and profitability, not just profitability alone. So if we’re profitable, but we destroy the earth in the process, then we can look at ourselves and say we are not successful. Or if we hurt people to get ahead, we are not successful. And so I’ve come up with lots of different methods and ways to be able to catch making sure profitability is never the primary focus and or we don’t tank our company. We can’t help anybody if we’re only in one strong in one area. And so to be a true triple bottom line company, you’ve got to have those policies and procedures in place to be able to monitor yourself as well as judge your success. 

Robin Trimingham: You know, I couldn’t agree with you more because really, financially, this should be the byproduct of doing amazing things and developing amazing people. So you’re speaking to the converted here. I think this is going to be a very interesting conversation. So you recently launched a luxury private island hotel concept utilizing this model. So why, in your opinion, is this the best business model for a hotel project? 

Britnie Turner: I can’t say it’s the general ideal model. I can say it’s our ideal model and that’s because of who we are. You know, there’s so much that went into this project that it blows their minds when they get there and they start peeling back layers on layers on layers. And for me, it’s been layers of impact, not just, oh, well, it looks good on the front. You peel back and what are they really funding with the money? And so for me, I have wanted to help stop sex trafficking since I was 12 years old. And that has been my biggest cause in the way that I’ve found to do that. It’s multiple. It’s such a big problem all over the world that it takes multiple approaches. And so one of the ways to help is to give people better opportunities. So to boost the economy. So with every single ounce of. Bringing this project to life. We employed as many locals as we could. We use local products and we sell local products in our giving shop as well as continue to utilize local everything as the ongoing operations take place. So how do we create opportunity in places that there is none, but also just locally? How can we be a blessing? So that’s one. And the other one is to really wake people up to the fact that you can really make a difference in the world. And one of our main concepts on the island is it’s not a place to go. Get away from it all. It’s a place to get away from it all. But that one thing, and that’s about finding yourself. So many people just want to escape, escape, escape. 

Britnie Turner: And we want to help you have a life that you don’t want to escape from, that you want to constantly be elevating. And that’s why the our tagline is heal, elevate, transform. That’s what you go there to do. It’s not a place you’re just going to go get trashed and and booty dance. Like that’s we have a lot of fun on the island. But the point is for you to heal, elevate and transform your life. And that is really something I’ve found is is critical because I’ve been going on different missions since I was 12 years old that are now pretty high profile rescue missions with our nonprofit. And the biggest thing I see is how big the need is, but how easy sometimes it is to to solve it and to help people in a dignified way, help pull people up and give them these opportunities. And so when people have resources and means, anybody listening to this I know has that if you just start to align your life with that calling the thing that you care so deeply about, it’s unbelievable the impact you can make if you stop self sabotaging. And so there’s so much mindset work, there’s so much body work, there’s so much spirit work that we just have ingrained into everything from the food to the activities on island that you can’t help but become the best version of yourself while you’re there. And that’s one of the best ways I’ve found to actually wipe out the issues in the world, is to again wake people up to the powerful person they already are. 

Robin Trimingham: You know, that’s really interesting because I completely agree with you. It’s amazing, particularly in this age and time, how many people have lost touch with what I’m going to call their core mission in life, too. We’re all born. I, I agree with a reason for being here, something that we can or need to achieve. And a lot of us push that away because that’s not necessarily about our university education. That’s not necessarily about making money. That’s not necessarily going to give you a huge job title, but really like that. Everything you’re doing is really about getting back in touch with all of that and then figuring out how to actualize it. So your brand, your mission is empowering people, sustaining the planet and utilizing capitalism as a force for good. So those are obviously very lofty goals. How are you using the private island to make travel a truly transformative experience for people to start really tapping into this core mission and then more importantly, actualizing bits of it? 

Britnie Turner: Great question because it’s not been an easy like, Oh, we just do these three things. We’ve figured this out. I don’t have anybody to copy. I wish I did. But it’s honestly kind of a weird concept, like, how are you going to use an island to change the world? And so again, being very intentional with the activities, being incredibly intentional with the food, once you’ve felt how good you feel eating the way that you do on the island, you can’t go back. You didn’t even realize how bad you felt before until you felt this good. And if I had a cookbook, it would be called Healthy Food Doesn’t Have to Suck. Yeah, it really would. I’ve never liked healthy food growing up. It was like bunny food or dirt. And I’m like, Have you tried this? You can’t tell me this is good. And so what we’ve done is we’ve that was the perfect candidate because I didn’t just love bunny food. How can you make vitamins and freshness tastes so ridiculously fire that you can’t not be interested in it? So we’ve woken a lot of people up in their health journeys and because, again, you are stuck in this vessel, if this doesn’t feel good, it’s really hard to care about other people when you’re sick and barely making it. It’s really hard to care about the problems of the world if you are unable to get out of bed or riddled with disease. 

Britnie Turner: And so we start there very, very particular about the way we source our food. We have very little meat, but we don’t talk about that very much because you don’t notice it when you’re on island. That’s the thing is, it’s everything is so good you don’t notice what’s not there. I’ve had on average, people lose between 5 and £7 in four days. Interesting. Five nights. That’s the average. Our record is £27 in five days. That person’s pants were like falling off. That was a big person. But it was. Since coming to the island again, we do email out our recipes every single week and we’ve had at least 12 people now lose over £100 since they’ve been to the island. And we get fitness shots all the time. Again, people are just like excited and awake. So that’s been an amazing starting point. But then the activities aren’t drinking games. We’re not serving you ten shots. The first dinner we are again getting you out and connected to nature. And we do that by making it really beautiful and interesting and fun. Not like we have to go. There’s no have to. It’s all get to. So we have more trails on island than any other island. We have a ranch called Indies Redemption Ranch where all the animals are rescues. 

Robin Trimingham: I heard you of zebras. 

Britnie Turner: I do have. And there are rescues, too. 

Robin Trimingham: I love that. 

Britnie Turner: I’m not as eccentric as it would sound like with, Oh, she owns four zebras, but they were in a kill pen. And if I did not rescue them in the next four hours, they would have been sent to Texas where they’ve got sad. 

Robin Trimingham: Yeah, yeah. 

Britnie Turner: They’ve got people that hunt them and think that they’re real hunters. And that’s just anyway, very frustrating. So we get people out on the trails. We have a beautiful outdoor wooden gym. We’ve got, of course, the blue water and private white sand beach. But the ranch is really fun. We’ve got these horseback riding trails all throughout and getting people again, connecting to animals, connecting to themselves, finding a different level of peace than they have in years by being part of nature has been very transformative. But then our activities, everything from mindfulness exercises to yoga to guided journaling to just even our intense workouts. The thing is, we’re not like dainty flower healing process. It’s more like badass, I would say, because we want you to be a force for good. How can you be a force for good in the world? And it starts with healing yourself. It starts with dealing with your stuff so that you can be a better and more powerful vessel to help other people. And again, we’ve seen too much need in the world for us to only focus on our self, our self, our self, our self. One of the best ways that you can heal yourself is by serving others. And so, yeah, yeah, we’ve got really fun outlets. If you want to give back locally while you’re on island, we’ve got everything from turtle tagging to reef cleanups to mentoring kids in these different youth programs to being able to transport puppies back to wherever you came from, from the shelters and giving them great homes with really wonderful local outlets for you to give back while you’re there. If not, we have different outlets for you to be able to connect with leaving the island. 

Robin Trimingham: I love this concept of going to an island. I’ve lived for more than 30 years on an island. I’m in Bermuda. That’s that’s home base for me. That’s cool. It’s 21mi² in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. And in time, what that teaches you is your island is a microcosm of the world at large. And every single itsy-bitsy problem that you have, generally speaking, in the outside world, you have it on an island, but on a reduced scale. And thinking about your island in totality really has the capacity to help you see globally. And I think that is really the game changer for a lot of people. And they might be experts in their niche or very successful in their country. But I really think this transformative thing is about leading people to think globally, because once you do that, that changes everything for you. Let me ask you another question here. What would you say to other hoteliers who are listening? Why is this triple bottom line approach the ideal approach for generating revenue? If you have a hotel type product. Because we’ve got to attract their attention and then help them see what the rest of it is. 

Britnie Turner: Again, if you’re only motivated by profit, then you’re going to see a lag time because a lot of this takes more, a lot more attention and intentionality to be able to bring it to life. And you will have to make sacrifices in profitability to be able to put in these programs and initiatives. But what I have found in my experience is the amount of doors that open and the amount of opportunities I could have. Never You can’t see it on a spreadsheet. You’re not going to see an ROI for like doing these things on paper, but the kind of things that take place in your life for taking the time to put them in and for caring our doors you could have never forced open in a million years watching people come to the island and what they experience there and the change that they have take place in their life is like living in a movie. It’s almost unreal. And the amount of people they go tell because their experience is going to trump your opinion. And people want something real, especially I think after Covid. They want real things. They want real connection. And again, people are tired of just drifting through life, meaningless. We’re going to die someday. We all are. And so how can I actually do things that matter? And I think this is a hunger that is not a trend. It’s a movement. And so all I can tell you guys that are listening to this as hoteliers is you got to figure it out or you’re going to get left behind because this is not going to go away. But again, you will argue with your accounting team or whoever it is in your operations that’s trying to say it doesn’t make sense financially. That is an argument you’re going to have until it’s not. 

Robin Trimingham: Okay, So obviously you’re speaking to the converted me, but let’s try and help some of the others with the where do we start? Because this is a completely different way of thinking about everything and business in particular, to be frank. So when you need everything all at once, where do you start? How do you set priorities? Are you basing things on customer demand? What’s moving you personally? What are you see as the greatest need? How are you going about this? 

Britnie Turner: Really great question. I had a mentor because I’m the I want to do it all at once. Person for sure. And a mentor told me trying to be a social impact company is like, pretend you’re in a canoe. In every impact initiative you put in, your canoe is like a cinder block. And so until your canoe turns into a ship, there’s only so many cinder blocks you can carry. If not, it will sink your ship. And so tying your growth to the initiatives you want to continue to roll out. Think about it in phases. So phase one, we’re going to focus on healing people. Phase two is going to be our green initiatives. Phase three is going to be the composting. Phase four is whatever. Like however you feel like doing it. For me, I think that everybody has a specific grace on their life to be able to accomplish certain things. And I’ve got a really weird answer. It’s not going to sound businessy, but I tell people to write their eulogy like write the eulogy. I really do. And the reason I say to do that is because you get all the shit remembered. 

Robin Trimingham: Yeah. 

Britnie Turner: You get all the shit out of your life. I should do this. I should do that. What do you really care about? And then as the entrepreneur. You get to weave the values that you care about most into your company, into your organization, and make sure that it’s authentic all the way through. You can’t treat customers wonderful and be a jerk to your staff. How can we make sure that treating people really well is woven in in the way that we treat our vendors, our customers, our staff in front of the scenes, behind the scenes, all those things. So look at what matters most to you and then start there on how can this hotel be a vehicle in which I can live these values? Because again, you’re not going to be able to take anything with you. You’re only going to be remembered for so long. And so really, to me, while we’re here, what ripple effect am I creating that makes the world a better place overall? Because it’s not even about Brittany Turner’s legacy. It’s about, again, 100 years from now because I did these things. How is the world a better place? Because we will be forgotten. And that’s comforting. Again, it sounds morbid, but it’s a huge wake up call for people to be able to recognize their impact in every single day. Moves from purchases to operations. 

Robin Trimingham: Established in 2002 is a woman owned global food service and hospitality company that manufactures smart, savvy commercial grade products, including plate wear, drinkware, flatware, hotel amenities and more. Driven by innovation F.O.H is dedicated to delivering that wow experience that restaurants and hotels crave all while maintaining a competitive price. All products are fully customizable, and many are also created using sustainable eco friendly materials such as straws and plates made from biodegradable paper and wood and PBR free drinkware, F.O.H has two established brands front of the house focused on tabletop and Buffet Solutions and Room 360, which offers hotel products. Check out their collections today at FOHWorldwide.com. I think it really gives you the opportunity to buy into the idea that everybody has a role to play. Everybody has a part in wherever it is that humanity is heading. And we can either help make that an easier, better journey or we can stand by the side and be the obstacle, which I don’t think is where any of us truly want to wind up. One of the challenges that other hoteliers who try to emulate some of this are going to come across right away is how are we measuring the ROI? How do we figure out where our success? How are you measuring things like your social and environmental impact? 

Britnie Turner: The only thing I can tell you is you’re going to have to just track how many times people come back or the kind of leads that you’re getting from people who had a life changing experience. That’s probably the best way to do it. It’s very hard to measure up front before you do it. Extremely hard to measure up front. But again, there’s lots of islands out there, and I know lots of people rent islands to go do. And I made a bold decision on being a very different island and again, being a force for Good Island versus just a place people can go do stuff in secret. And so why are you different? What makes you different? Is it because you have beautiful trees and another blue ocean, or is it because people can again find something that that shifts them for the rest of their course of their life? And again, they’ll never forget that. So our Elevate summits are right around $10,000 per person to come to. And we’ve had people come to 13, 13 in a 15 month period. It’s unreal how hungry people are when they have the opportunities to to do these things. 

Britnie Turner: I’ve never had somebody not come back. I’ve never had people not tell everybody they know. And the kind of reviews that we get, we actually got frozen by TripAdvisor because they said these are these look fake because these are two glowing reviews. People don’t talk like this about hotels. And we’re like, no, for real. So we got flagged and taken down for a little while because they’re like, nobody talks about hotels like this. And so that’s the kind of experience I have had, is the amount of return customers, the kind of things they say, the way that they brag, Even journalists that have come to the island, they’re like, I personally changed. This is the most impactful thing I’ve ever done in my life. And so, yeah, you’re going to have a hard time up front, but watch, watch that hunger and how it spreads, because I know we’re going to not just be number one, but stay number one in the Caribbean and hopefully the world very quickly because of the way people interact with this island. 

Robin Trimingham: I think you’re in a very enviable position and a lot of people hearing and seeing this are going to want to be you and do what you’re doing. Give us a little advice here. You’re talking about radically rethinking from the business perspective your approach to things like resource consumption, waste generation, carbon emissions. What are your experiences of grappling with all of this taught you? 

Britnie Turner: It’s hard to have a leadership team. It’s hard to have anybody old school on the team because I’m not going to not do it ever. We’re always like, I’ve gone through leadership teams like crazy in my career because I’ve been this way since I was 18 when I first started my companies. And so making the triple bottom line approach again does not always make the most financial sense. And so that’s been really hard, is to have leadership teams that are just not like we just need to focus on profitability. And so again, if your team is not volunteers, you have to find a way to pay them and that is through profit. Obviously, you do need to be profitable. It’s the lifeblood of a company and that is not bad to be profitable. But. You just have to really drill into everyone on your staff. That is not the only priority. And so for me, in my experience, again, I did all those things with or without the press, with or without anybody talking about it, because it’s just the right thing to do. But again, when people get there and they start asking questions and trying to see if we’re not aligned or if we’ve got some sneaky thing, everything from environmental to where the money goes and all that stuff, the more layers they peel back and actually find out what we’re doing, they are just unbelievably, overwhelmingly impressed. And then they talk about it, they share about it. We are also open to like, you were so kind. You said you’re in a very enviable position. A lot of people want to do this. I really hope people copy us. I don’t want to be the only one. We want to live as a case study of what’s possible. I’ll go through all the hard things so that it’s easier for you because the world needs more people to be operating this way. 

Robin Trimingham: Yeah, I think you’re absolutely right. What you’re talking about is next generation business. You know, that simply said, when you have the traditional business people coming at the kinds of things that you’re talking about doing, it’s like trying to be a helium balloon that’s tied to the ground. It’s very, very hard to make all these projects rise. You have to come at it with a completely different approach. So. You when you’re dealing with things like sustainability and carbon emissions. Obviously you’re dealing with ESG initiatives and the Paris Global Agreement that the world has to change. So. A lot of what holds hoteliers back is only a certain amount of this will apply to their own physical plant, whether that’s new building, old building, building under construction, whatever. A lot of making this real is about supply chain issues. It’s not just what are you doing, it’s what are the people that you’re dealing with doing? 

Britnie Turner: Of course, yeah. 

Robin Trimingham: So what’s your approach to selecting and working with vendors in your supply chain because of all of this? 

Britnie Turner: I’m insanely involved, honestly, like, way too involved, especially on the front end and setting these things up. Like I went and picked every single material out. I went to those countries and looked at where they were sourced and how they were sourced and not just their showrooms or online. And so anytime we could create that positive ripple effect of creating opportunity where there is none through the purchases of our products, we were able to do that. But we look way up in into these supply chains and make sure because again, I don’t want somebody saying, Oh, well, you’re thinking you’re saving the world with your Tesla, but look at where your batteries are sourced. We can’t do that. We’re not doing that. So what we have done is personally gone to these locations. And then again, like I said, we don’t have I just really value life on every front. And that’s why I don’t have a lot of meat on island. But if somebody special requests it, let’s say they’re doing a buy out of the whole island and they really want beef, then we get it from sources where they were truly happy cows and they were killed in a non torturous way. And again, that’s going to affect your life whether you think it is or not, it absolutely matters. And so if we’re going to source those things that are not necessarily the values of the island, then how do we make sure that they’re still sourced in accordance with the values of the island? So that’s how it’s really I’m just insanely involved to make sure that those lines are established properly. And before we go switching vendors, there’s a whole process for that. But we were very thorough to be able to make the kind of commitments that we make. 

Robin Trimingham: And I think that if you’re going to rethink everything, then you have to do it from the ground up. Okay? The traditional, the cynical people, they’re going to be tempted to call this a social experiment or perhaps a up, because everything you’re doing is so completely different. Yeah. How do you balance the need to achieve profitability so you can pay people, as you mentioned, with the complex social and environmental concerns that we’ve been discussing. 

Britnie Turner: The best way to do it is, like I said, the canoe to the ship. You got to come out with these are the most important things. This is what it costs us to do it. I’m not going to not pay my team and do these initiatives. You have to be able to do both or you’re a terrible person. So how can we start out with these four? And then by the end of this year, if we’re at this marker, we can add these four and then add these four and then add these four. That’s the best way to do it. Again, your leadership team matters. If you’re ever getting pressure like, Well, now we can just make more money. That is a piece of it. But we’re always going to be adding these initiatives. There’s so many more things I want to add to the island that again, until phase two, we don’t get to build those things out. And so you just have to phase it. That’s the answer. But yeah. Is this a test? Heck yeah, it’s a test. Everything in my life is a test. That’s what I like about Tim Ferriss, the four hour workweek guy. He just lives his life as this giant experiment. And I approach everything that way because I don’t know everything. 

Britnie Turner: And I don’t have it perfect, and we’re just learning. And can we share what we’ve found to work? Yes. I also know what doesn’t work, and that’s just a really healthy, I think, approach to life versus thinking. I have the best way. Nobody has the best way because everything changes every day and it’s all about perspective. 

Robin Trimingham: You know, it’s listening to you. It seems to me what you’re really advocating is very long range forward planning and to have a big vision or a global vision, as I like to call it. You have personally an incredibly powerful, inspiring story that we really haven’t talked about today because we’re trying to get the business minded hoteliers to to listen up. Since you adopted the TBL model, how are you using it to foster a culture of innovation within your whole company? 

Britnie Turner: So I started my business living in my car, and I was able to get this island almost eight years later, which has been just an amazing lee crazy ride. And for the cynical people listening, I’ve had the triple bottom line approach in my mindset and my actions. Every company I’ve started and every step of the way. And that’s why I said there’s going to be doors that open and blessings that come you could never have fathomed or tried to attract and you’re not going to see on a spreadsheet. And that’s been even how I got the island was because I’ve had this mindset, because this island is very special and very different, and it’s called to do a lot of great things. The way that I foster the triple bottom line approach is instead of looking at my staff as employees that need to just do this work or else they’re fired constantly mentoring them. We don’t tolerate bad behavior, but normally even bad behavior, people acting out for some reason. So it’s I look at them as people that I get the opportunity to mentor. And I am so honored that they choose to spend their one chance in life working in an aerial company, which is just again, I respect that because I respect time is your most valuable asset. And so starting with that heart approach, my employees know I care about them and then we share constantly the impact that we’re having and why the food matters and the testimonials that come back from people. 

Britnie Turner: And we have these recap videos after the summits that we host, and we also host a program called Heal the Heroes on Island four times a year. And that program specifically is struggling veterans or first responders that a lot of them don’t want to be on Earth anymore or are struggling with addiction. And we help them find themselves and they not only find themselves, but that’s the beginning of their year long program with my nonprofit. And. The staff know that they’re not just making a drink for a guest. They are making a meaningful difference because they are part of something bigger than themselves. And that’s really where the name Ariel came from, is to keep that big picture in mind. Remembering this is not just about you. You are part of some big, beautiful, divine picture that we don’t even fully understand. And so how do you get to play a part in that? And so even the name is a constant reminder. And so we find people who aren’t just like, I need a job, but we find people who are super passionate creators, like they were born to make superfood cocktails and mocktails. That is their passion. 

Britnie Turner: They love leading mindfulness exercises or healing spa treatments. They would do anything to work at that ranch because they know they get to rehabilitate animals that are then used for equine therapy. They’re not just clock and clock out workers. And so that’s been huge for me is like the hiring process itself is so intentional because they are the experience. I’m not the experience. The staff and the way they interact with people hosting these different activities are are everything. And so the attitude matters a lot. And what’s been fun is this is something that hoteliers might be interested in too, is we’ve had such incredible humans come to the island and I don’t know if, like, guests know, if they got an attitude with my staff, they’d have to deal with me. But but we’ve not had snobby jerks at all. We have had wonderful, deep, thankful, grateful people come in and out of there forever. And my staff that have worked at other places are like, How are you doing this? And I said, Honestly, I don’t know except for the way that we even speak about what we do here is just attracting wonderful people. And so we just don’t have people come in and treat us bad, treat them bad or act super entitled and angry. That’s just thankfully not knock on wood, not happened yet. 

Robin Trimingham: Guess what you’re offering is really the antithesis of entitlement. It’s about giving back. So perhaps you’re not even attracting it, talking to you, listening to you. You reminded me there’s a really old expression translated into English. It says, When we get to the river, there will be a bridge. I can see that that really applies to everything that you’re doing. If you had a key message for everyone who hears this broadcast, because I really believe that people will find this when they need to find it for a huge variety of reasons that you and I could never even fathom if we tried to make a list, what would you be your key message? For everyone who sees this. 

Britnie Turner: It would probably be give first. Let’s find a way to give first. Everything that you’ll ever want or need will come back to you. But for the hoteliers listening, find a way to serve in a different capacity and realize again, by taking the time and being more intentional, you really can have a huge positive ripple effect on the community surrounding your resort, on your staff. I’ve had at least four staff lose more than £65 because I pay more and feed them healthy food. And you’re going to change the lives of the people who come and experience your space and you’re going to be remembered for doing something that mattered, not just making a bunch of money, which is not bad to do. You are helping the economy, but you get to do more than just that. And that makes life worth living. 

Robin Trimingham: Brittany I think that’s a good place for us to stop today. It’s been an absolute pleasure to get a chance to chat with you. You’ve been watching the innovative hotelier. Join us again soon for more up to the minute insights and information specifically for the hotel and hospitality industry. You’ve been listening to the Innovative Hotelier podcast by Hotels magazine. Join us again soon for more conversations with hospitality industry thought leaders.