Episode 34: Making an Impact with Greg Früchtenicht from Saira Hospitality

We sit down with Greg Früchtenicht, Chief Operating Officer at Saira Hospitality, to explore how technology and human connection can work hand-in-hand to create meaningful change in the hospitality industry. Saira Hospitality, a pioneering nonprofit, builds pop-up hospitality schools worldwide to train and empower local communities, equipping individuals from underserved areas with the skills to thrive in luxury hospitality environments.

Greg shares his journey with Saira and dives into the organization's mission to uplift local talent, reducing reliance on overseas hires and fostering a stronger sense of community impact. We discuss how automation and technology help alleviate repetitive tasks, freeing up hospitality teams to focus on exceptional guest experiences. Greg also highlights Saira’s unique partnerships with luxury hotels and tech companies like Mews, showing how Saira is preparing its graduates with essential tech skills for the evolving hospitality landscape.

Whether you’re passionate about hospitality, technology, or social impact, this episode offers inspiring insights into how Saira Hospitality is transforming lives and the industry as a whole. Tune in to discover how technology can complement a human-centered approach, making hospitality more accessible and impactful for everyone involved.

Timestamps:
00:00 Introduction
00:30 Greg's journey to Saira Hospitality
03:00 Overview of Saira Hospitality's mission
10:00 The impact of technology in hospitality
20:00 Partnerships with tech companies
30:00 Curriculum development and community engagement
38:00 How to get involved with Saira Hospitality

Quotes:
00:00:45 - "If you are able to automate and simplify some of the more mundane or less human tasks in a hotel, that frees up so much headspace and so much actual time for the teams to celebrate and deliver great hospitality."
00:04:58 - "Opportunities should be given to local community members and considering local community members is not having the right skills to work in a luxury lifestyle hotel is simply wrong."
00:06:45 - "We shouldn't just be poaching people anymore or flying people in from overseas. We should be giving people opportunities."
00:09:12 - "Hospitality is a transformative experience for so many people."
00:11:41 - "Sometimes you got to shoot your shot when you hear about something that excites you."
00:13:28 - "It's really easy to see is the impact that a hotel at any level, especially luxury hotels, has a huge impact on the community."
00:15:45 - "Automation... frees up so much headspace and so much actual time for the teams to celebrate and deliver great hospitality."
00:19:49 - "AI and automation is not meant to replace, it's meant to help."
00:22:03 - "If as a technology company, you're able to say we're supporting a nonprofit, and we're also able to say to our customers, we're bringing in newly trained teams who are impassioned by our tech, but also your brand, you start to solve two problems."
00:25:32 - "It's easy to talk about these things, hard to put into practice."
00:26:59 - "Most people or many people do want to do the right thing. It's just how do you take your focus off profitability?"
00:30:36 - "No two destinations are the same."
00:32:01 - "You're much more interested in who they are as a person and their personality than what they studied at school 10 years ago."
00:35:30 - "It's how can we start to partner with... brands that we feel are aligned with the vision that we have and the impact that we're having."
00:36:17 - "I often find that you guys are great problems solvers."
00:39:01 - "the impact that you're creating in communities."