Alex DeCarvalho on “Bringing the Weather” and Leading with Positive Presence

Anthony Codispoti (00:01)
Welcome to another edition of the Inspired Stories podcast, where leaders share their experiences so we can learn from their successes and be inspired by how they’ve overcome adversity. My name is Anthony Codispoti and today’s guest is Alex DeCarvalho. I practiced that with him. Vice President, Sales and Operations at Millennium Hotels and Resorts in the Americas. They are a global hospitality group

headquartered in Singapore and operate in more than 80 destinations across four continents. Alex has over 25 years of hotel management experience, including time at Hilton Hotels Worldwide and Intercontinental Hotels Group, where he developed strategic direction plans. In 2011, he became group managing director at Champneys Health Resorts, implementing a successful commercial strategy and restructuring the management team.

He later served as VP of Sales and Marketing for North America at Millennium Hotels, overseeing key initiatives that strengthened the brand’s presence in the region. Alex recently returned to California to preserve the historic charm of the Millennium Biltmore while introducing Modern Touches. Now, before we get into all that good stuff, today’s episode is brought to you by my company, Ad Back Benefits Agency, where we offer very specific and unique employee benefits

that are both great for your team and fiscally optimized for your bottom line. Imagine being able to give your hotel employees free access to doctors, therapists, and prescription medications. And here’s the fun part. The program actually puts more money into your employees’ pockets. And the companies too. One recent client was able to increase net profits by $900 per employee per year. Results vary for each company, and some organizations may not be eligible.

To find out if your company qualifies, contact us today at addbackbenefits.com. All right, back to our guest today, VP of Sales and Operations in the Americas, Millennium Hotels and Resorts, Alex, thanks for making the time to share your story today.

Alex DeCarvalho (02:11)
my pleasure. Thank you for having me, Anthony.

Anthony Codispoti (02:14)
Okay, so Alex, you’re originally from Brazil, Brazilian mother, father is a US citizen, originally from Portugal. You’re like a citizen of the world. What was it like growing up for you?

Alex DeCarvalho (02:27)
Well, first of all, I was bound to end up in the travel industry, right? Given my background, that’s, it was really interesting. The way I look at it, I got the best of both worlds. I grew up in the US as well as Brazil. ⁓ The key thing that I’m really grateful for is I learned adaptability.

Right? Especially as a kid and as a teenager, you’re desperately trying to fit in. And I actually think that that skill set has done really well for me as I progress just understanding the need to communicate and in other people’s, not just languages, but culture as well. Right? So ⁓ it was really fascinating. I, for some reason, I always seem to be open and engaged. ⁓

in having that different experience, I feel very blessed to have that upbringing.

Anthony Codispoti (03:23)
Now you’re comfortable around all kinds of different people and you can meet new people and just fit right in pretty quickly.

Alex DeCarvalho (03:33)
100%. I think that’s one of the great things I have is not only the international background and culture, but that adaptability and just understanding that it’s just respect other people’s values, cultures, and how they approach things, right? There’s no right or wrong. It’s just dealing with empathy and understanding for other cultures.

Anthony Codispoti (03:56)
And how did you find your way to your first hospitality job?

Alex DeCarvalho (04:00)
Huh, interesting question. my first hospitality job actually came, I was selling computers. I was working for IBM and selling computers to offices and things like that. And I had a girlfriend at the time and she introduced me to her colleagues and they were working at Hilton and we became friends.

a position came up over there and they said, hey, why don’t you come and join us? And so I thought, hey, I’m selling computers. I can sell hotels. Not, you know, naive and understanding that selling a product is completely different than selling a service. And, but I thought, you know, blind confidence, right? Hey, I can do that. And sure enough, it took a little bit of adapting. And, but that’s how I went from, you know, selling computers into the hospitality industry.

Anthony Codispoti (04:54)
And did you ever leave the hospitality industry or has your career just continued through?

Alex DeCarvalho (04:59)
I have been in the hospitality industry ever since. I find it’s really exciting. You have fun people, international mindset and people. I’m sure that there many other sectors that are just as interesting and exciting, but I couldn’t see myself working in another industry.

Anthony Codispoti (05:20)
And you spent your first 16 years with Helton, which you’ve described as, quote unquote, the best learning school for you. Can you share a few key lessons from your time there?

Alex DeCarvalho (05:32)
Hilton is a very well structured organization, right? They start off with a very clear brand standards, operating procedures. And so especially if you’re learning, you have all of that, direction and the structure that you need to be able to learn and then apply. And I think just growing up,

professionally in that environment enabled me to learn a lot and then later on in my career to be able to distinguish those that I felt truly were essential or added value to the business as opposed to just for administration purposes.

So I’ve tried to keep, take on a more entrepreneurial mindset, but understanding the benefit of having a certain amount of structure so you can plan and structure things efficiently.

Anthony Codispoti (06:27)
Okay, and then how did the opportunity to join Millennium come about?

Alex DeCarvalho (06:31)
So I had actually, you know, networking in the industry. I had made some colleagues and friends in the industry and it was at a networking event. ⁓

they, you know, we had a good conversation about just business and interest. And then like a week later, I get approached by a headhunter saying, hey, there’s somebody from Millennium and they’re interested in presenting an opportunity for you. And at this time, I thought, you know, I wasn’t necessarily looking, but it seemed like an interesting opportunity. And we had a conversation. I thought, okay, I think this might be a great balance between a company that’s a little bit more entrepreneurial in their mindset and their approach.

There’s a little bit more flexibility, ⁓ but it’s still a global international ⁓ organization, which was something that was important to me being, as you mentioned, a citizen of the world.

Anthony Codispoti (07:27)
Can you explain what it meant for this brand to be more entrepreneurial? What were some of the specific things that you saw there that maybe you didn’t see it?

Alex DeCarvalho (07:37)
Well, I think if I sort of take it at its essence, the business model of the different companies, right? So Hilton is a ⁓ large brand and very well structured, but their business model is different, right? When you’re running five, six, 7,000 hotels, I don’t know what the latest number is, but it’s a lot. It very much, they have become more of a brand and distribution organization.

as opposed to core hospitality, like a number of hotels are franchise operations and they’re running hotels, which happen to share a common brand ⁓ loyalty program and distribution network. So I like the fact that Millennium Hotels is a privately owned company and it focuses more on the full hotel operations.

as opposed to being more of a brand and distribution organization.

Anthony Codispoti (08:36)
And when you say brand and distribution,

are you referring to the fact that they’re, I don’t know, they’re licensing their name or they’re franchising the opportunities. And then the distribution part is what, like the website that, allows people to their, their franchisees to, to, to take advantage of that brand name and get a lot of their reservations.

Alex DeCarvalho (08:49)
Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, so obviously in addition to the brand and the loyalty program, by distribution I mean the brand website, their call center for reservations, and all of the relationships and the connectivities they have with the online travel agencies and the GDS companies, which are what the business travel agents use ⁓ for their corporations for contracting and booking ⁓ business travel.

Anthony Codispoti (09:28)
Got it. Okay. And then at some point you went to LA on a sales visit to the Biltmore Hotel and somehow unexpectedly ended up managing the property when the GM resigned. Can you walk me through how that unfolded?

Alex DeCarvalho (09:45)
Yes, I, ⁓ as I was, you know, throughout my career progression, I was given the opportunity to become a general manager.

at one point and quite honestly, it was the last thing in my mind, right? I thought that I’m a commercial person, I wanna drive business and I felt that that hotel operation was very minutiae in micromanagement. But I had a great mentor at the time and he said, know, we’re in the hotel business. It’s certainly not gonna do you any harm to have the understanding of how a hotel operates and leading that hotel, even if eventually you wanna go back into a corporate role

So think of the credibility and the insight that you’re going to have when a hotel runs. So next time you’re directing something, you’re planning something, you can take that in conversation, but you can say, hey, I’ve been there. I’ve done it. I know what works and what doesn’t work. So I really like that idea. And it was some of the best advice I’ve ever had. ⁓ And based on that ⁓ hotel operational experience,

when I came over to LA and I came in for a audit, sales visit with the team, it just happened that the general manager had turned in his resignation at the time. And they said, hey, Alex, we’re gonna need you to kind of stay over, take over the handover from the general manager until we have a plan on what to do. And that’s how I ended up.

You know, I was born in California and I hadn’t actually lived in California for, I don’t know, 40 plus years. So that’s how I ended up back here, which was a ⁓ nice surprise.

Anthony Codispoti (11:29)
Did you have family that was still there?

Alex DeCarvalho (11:33)
No, actually my family has since moved. My mother is back in Brazil and my sister is in Georgia now.

Anthony Codispoti (11:41)
Okay. Um, still California, nice place to be, right? Yeah. Uh, okay. So now you’re the VP of sales and operations for the Americas. And is that, uh, USA, Canada, Mexico? What’s, what’s sort of the territory.

Alex DeCarvalho (11:45)
Yeah, I’m not complaining.

It’s the Americas. We only have properties at the moment in the US. So we have 13 properties throughout the US and Alaska.

Anthony Codispoti (12:05)
Okay.

Alex DeCarvalho (12:10)
But it also means market responsibility. So if there were any project developments ⁓ or developing business from those markets, we have general sales agents in Canada, in Mexico, in Brazil. ⁓ Because part of my remit is also to generate business opportunities from the America’s market to the rest of our millennial portfolio.

Anthony Codispoti (12:36)
And so are there plans to expand outside the U S here in this Western hemisphere?

Alex DeCarvalho (12:42)
We would certainly like to. ⁓ Our parent companies, core businesses in real estate, commercial, residential, and hotels. So I would say from their perspective, they’re always open to any good value opportunities. ⁓ Back when I worked with Hilton, there was a very strategic goal in terms of presence in certain gateway cities and so forth. I would say our approach is more

opportunistic. If the right property at the right price comes along, we’re open to it.

Anthony Codispoti (13:17)
But explain to me a little bit about what the Millennium brand is. Are these mostly high end properties? And if that’s the case, how often is there sort of a value deal on a higher end property? Or would you look at taking over a property that maybe doesn’t meet that standard, but sort of add your enhancements to it?

Alex DeCarvalho (13:39)
Of course. the Millennium is our umbrella brand. It’s our core brand. And it’s a full service operation. Brand competitors would be the Hilton Core brand or the Marriott Core brand or Sheraton. Within the Millennium group we have, M-Social is our lifestyle brand.

We have Copthorne is our mid-tier brand. And then we have the Biltmore where I’m based here in Los Angeles, which is our kind of classic luxury brand. Those are kind of our core brands. And then we have some independent properties, some properties that have already are historic and traditional in their own marketplace and they’re known for their independent name, but they’re still part of the brand. So. ⁓

If we were acquiring a property, we would see which of those brands was the best fit for ⁓ that hotel. At the moment, we have a new build that is scheduled to open in September next year. And that’s going to be our first presence in Silicon Valley in Sunnyvale.

Anthony Codispoti (14:54)
And what name is that going to carry?

Alex DeCarvalho (14:58)
That’s going to be the M.Social Sunnyvale, which is our lifestyle brand. Which you thought specifically for that area, it would fit in very well. It’s a more modern lifestyle hotel, lots of open communal spaces, a play area.

Anthony Codispoti (15:17)
play area, like for kids, that kind of a play area. Okay. I’ve got nine and 11 year olds. So I think playground. That’s where my head goes.

Alex DeCarvalho (15:19)
No, it’s an adult player. I should have clarified that. it’ll have…

No, and that’s fair. ⁓ In this case, ⁓ it’s a pool table, a library, a music room, a foosball table, just something to make it a little bit more relaxed. And it’s a nice vibe, you know, in the evenings you have a DJ playing and just a nicer…

more modern vibe.

Anthony Codispoti (15:51)
So tell us specifically what the Biltmore is like, how many beds, what’s, paint a picture for us, what’s the inside like, what’s the customer experience like?

Alex DeCarvalho (16:00)
Of course. So ⁓ the Biltmore is, it just turned 102 years old, right? Opened in 1923. So for LA, it truly is part of LA’s history, right? There are downtown tours that the LA Conservancy carries out and the hotel is featured in the tour. So ⁓ I always compare staying at the Biltmore like experience a part of LA’s history.

There are lot of very nice hotels in the area, but this is one where you come in. It’s not just the historic value, but it’s the architecture and the design. The Biltmore has been featured in over 300 movies and TV shows. It’s the fourth most filmed hotel in Los Angeles in Hollywood. So there’s certainly a classic.

look to the design and the architecture. And ⁓ I’m always impressed. What a great job they do for a building that’s over 100 years old. Our guest satisfaction is fantastic. And yes, the building is impressive, but just the level of service and the passion that the employees have. I think we’re quite proud of the history and the architecture of the hotel.

Anthony Codispoti (17:23)
Food and beverage available on site, meeting space, any of that.

Alex DeCarvalho (17:27)
⁓ of course. So we have 680 guest rooms and we have 70,000 square feet of meeting space. So there’s three different ballrooms. The Biltmore is one of the most popular wedding venues in Los Angeles. We do a little bit less than pre-pandemic, but we do anywhere between 40 and 60 weddings a year. The Crystal Ballroom is just beautiful, still has its original chandeliers. ⁓

The artist that painted the ceiling over there also did work in the White House and he worked in the Vatican as well. It’s an Italian-American artist. So it’s a very impressive ballroom.

Anthony Codispoti (18:11)
So talk to us about how you ascended into your current role of VP of Sales and Ops.

Alex DeCarvalho (18:17)
So progressing ⁓ my career in early days, I came through a sales background, ⁓ sales manager, account manager, assistant director of director of sales. ⁓ And then I was promoted to area director of sales marketing in South America first. ⁓ My wife is ⁓ English. We met in Brazil. And at some point, she said it’d be nice to go back to Europe.

So an opportunity came with Hilton and I moved across ⁓ as regional director of sales and marketing for the Mediterranean region based in Milan for the first year and in Athens ⁓ for another three years after that. So following that, we got the opportunity to go back to the UK where my wife is from and our children were born. I have twin girls and.

It’s interesting because seeing having seen so many expats in the industry and having family and growing inside a hotel, certainly didn’t want that ⁓ fantasy life for my children. I wanted to have consistent friends and a stable upbringing. So I then said, no, no, we’re going to be here in the UK for at least until they go off to college, which is what we did. And then sometimes the timing just works out.

⁓ Millennium was looking for ⁓ a VP sales for the US. I was working for Millennium as a general manager in London, one of our properties there. And they were looking for somebody who understood the Millennium approach and culture. ⁓ We’re very hands on, practical leadership, make an impact and…

And sometimes I would say that sometimes the large organizations, tend to be a little bit more bureaucratic and process driven. And our mindset is very much entrepreneurial processes are a necessary point for you to get things done, but you shouldn’t be over processed or overdriven by reports, right? You can either win the war, explain why you lost the war, right? So just.

go out and do whatever you need to do to win the war. And that culture and mentality is very different from some of the larger corporations, right? Where the process rules how they operate. And probably for companies that size, that needs to be the way. So they then invited me, sorry.

Anthony Codispoti (20:52)
And

when you say that to go out and win the war, what’s the war? Who’s the fight against? Is this against the competition? Is that the war we’re talking about?

Alex DeCarvalho (21:01)
Yeah, I mean first of all our approach is I guess it’s about continuous improvement You know be better today than you were yesterday and be better tomorrow than you are today So we certainly any complacency and everything is looked at very that you’re always kept on your toes Okay, no matter how well you did or how poorly you did. What are you gonna do different? How are you gonna to keep improving and that mindset I think comes from

an entrepreneurial mindset, right? If it’s your business, are you just gonna sit there and say, okay, this is good enough? No, you’re always looking at different ways you can grow and you can improve. And that just, you know, that mentality, I find ⁓ it’s a stimulating one, right? It certainly doesn’t allow us to get complacent.

Anthony Codispoti (21:43)
What does it mean to just bring the weather?

Alex DeCarvalho (21:49)
So, you know, as much as leaders are expected to perform and deliver the results, I think the real impact of a leader is the environment, the communication and the mood you provide for your team. Right? And if you are coming in and you’re excited, enthusiastic, driven, working with people, listening, that generates a certain

positive ⁓ momentum to the business, right? And if you come in and you had a bad day for whatever reason and you’re in a bad mood, you need to be very self-aware of the impact that that has on the rest of the team. So I like to use that term. I as a leader, you bring the weather. And I certainly heard that in a ⁓ different video and I thought that is so true, you know.

we’re responsible for the business, but more importantly, we’re responsible for taking care of the people that then generate the business.

Anthony Codispoti (22:55)
You know, Alex, I get the chance to talk with a number of really interesting folks. Recent conversation I had was ⁓ with the founder of a temporary staffing company and they typically end up in the past anyways, being sort of a six month leading indicator of what the economy is doing. So when their business starts to go up, the rest of the economy starts to see that upswing about six months later.

Do you see anything similar from your role there at the hotels? Does your role there give you, I don’t know, a broader look into what’s going on in society or economy? Have you noticed any patterns like that?

Alex DeCarvalho (23:36)
one of the key elements for us is, is forecasting and in, it’s very core forecasting. look at the business pace, right? So how much business we have on the books into the future. What has the pickup trend been in the last three to six months? And we’ll use that in order to be able to project how well

⁓ how strong and resilient we think the business is. And then we always compare to versus prior year. And then we have a goal which we refer to as our budget. So those are the two benchmarks. How does it compare to prior year and how does it compare against our budget, our goal? And ⁓ then we break that down by market segments, right? On the hotel side, the market segmentation will have a group base, which could be.

company meetings, conventions, congresses, seminars. And then ⁓ you have obviously the international ⁓ tourism base and how’s that coming in terms of groups. You have another strong indicator is business travel, right? So these are companies that contract with the hotels to accommodate their employees and contractors when they’re out on business. So that’s always a good indicator in how the economy is doing. And then the last…

piece which is more short term is the retail business, right? Just people booking online for our brand website or OTA and that tends to be a little bit shorter term. So there’s a good mix between longer term business, medium term and then short term. So certainly we look at the macroeconomic indicators. Our industry is very good at providing benchmark so I can see not only how I’m doing but how we’re performing versus my direct…

competitors and then our each one of our markets as a whole as well.

Anthony Codispoti (25:32)
So as we’re recording this at the end of October 2025, what insights do you have on how the economy is doing just from your little part of the world?

Alex DeCarvalho (25:41)
Well, I think the biggest thing we’re seeing is the market needs a certain amount of stability. And right now what we have is uncertainty. And on the corporate side, just, they pause things, right? Until they fully realize where are the tariffs gonna end up? It’s not much whether there’s gonna be tariffs or not.

It’s not knowing exactly how much it is because you can’t project and you can’t forecast. So we’re seeing a little bit of the business slow down. The US is predominantly a domestic leisure market. If you take away the extremities, New York, LA, maybe Miami, Orlando, which have a little bit more international business, our business is 90 plus percent domestic. So that’s been okay.

⁓ But again, with the uncertainty, people just hold back a little bit in their travel plans until they feel a little bit more confident what’s going on. it has stabilized a little bit in the last couple of months. First part of the year ⁓ was, you know, it was trending down and it’s sort of now stabilized and

You know, we’re always hopeful that things will start to look better as we move forward, but I would say we’re probably expecting about a similar performance for next year in broad terms than this year. So that’s our kind of expectations for the market. And then naturally we would then put a little bit of a stretch target because we expect to be outperforming the market. So, but that’s based on our efficiencies as opposed to the general market.

expectations.

Anthony Codispoti (27:28)
Now, so Alex, when you were the group managing director at Chantilly’s health resorts, you led a commercial strategy overhaul where you restructured the management team. From your perspective, what’s one key organizational change that you believe is especially important for.

Alex DeCarvalho (27:51)
Getting the right leadership and management team on board, right? You can’t do it by yourself. You need to have not only capable managers, but managers that you can align towards. Listen, it’s difficult enough to run a business and steal market share and run the business successfully. So your best chance is to make sure that you have a team that buys into…

our vision into what we’re trying to accomplish but then they have to be great communicators as well right to be able to to cascade those priorities and focus ensure the team have not only clear direction but the support that they need in order to succeed right most people want to do a good job and if you can engage them into that process and and make sure that they their contributions are recognized and appreciated then you’ve got at least a formula ⁓ to run a successful hotel.

Anthony Codispoti (28:49)
Have you figured out some key ways to identify good talent during the hiring process so that once you’ve got them, they’re more likely to stay, more likely to be part of the team?

Alex DeCarvalho (29:05)
So there are a couple of key things we consider. mean, first of all, and I’m sure this is fairly standard for most industries, you’re hiring for attitude, right? You look at that person’s personality and do they have that right attitude? Are they engaging as an individual? listen, unless you’re going to a very specific specialized field in finance or something, the rest you can teach, right?

So that’s first and foremost. But then other than that, we don’t go into it and saying, let’s drill this candidate and see if they pass. really go into it. This is literally my conversation. Every interview says, listen, we really believe this is a two way process. Yes, you need to have the skill sets in order to do the job. But we want to understand what motivates and what drives you. And we want you to get as clear an understanding.

of what Millennium is about. Because the worst thing is that, let’s say we agree to move forward three months down the line, you’re thinking, this is not what I expected. Or vice versa. don’t think this individual can fit into our.

our culture and our environment. Now you’re looking for another job. We’re having to start the recruitment process as well. So that’s literally my opening pitch. Let’s just have an honest conversation. We’re not trying to fool you. Please just be yourself. And if we feel that this is a good fit, want to move forward. You know, we want you to know what the good, the bad and the ugly, ⁓ because it’s not whether it’s right or wrong. Is it a good fit? And I genuinely believe that.

Anthony Codispoti (30:46)
What role does technology play in your work and being able to keep guest experiences personalized and memorable?

Alex DeCarvalho (30:56)
⁓ For us, have one of our mantra is GET, which stands for growth, entrepreneurship, and transformation. The transformation part is usually innovation IT led.

And it’s always about how can we reduce the amount of admin and bureaucracy so we can focus on what really is going to impact customer satisfaction, employee engagement. So we will look at things like automation of our task order system so we can be more efficient when a guest has an issue and how quickly it gets tasked and escalated to completion.

⁓ you know, ⁓ contactless check-in to speed up the process so we have less people in line.

So we have a system that monitors all of our preventive maintenance utilities and highlights things before things actually become an issue so we can try and be proactive in addressing those. we really sort of, and of course, I’ll be remiss if I didn’t mention AI. And we now have an internal AI system which is able to pull from all of our documents, data, files, and we can just ask questions and it will

give us at least a very good recommendation, suggestions, and how we could optimize our efficiency.

Anthony Codispoti (32:26)
Can you give an example of a question that you’ve asked it and something that’s come back with that’s been helped?

Alex DeCarvalho (32:33)
It’s a more of a practical question, but if somebody submitted their monthly financial results and you can plug it in and say, you please highlight the key areas where this hotel is underperforming and come up with five recommendations on what they could look at in order to improve their efficiency and staff productivity, for example. And I find like anything, you have to send a check.

But it’s certainly a very useful tool. It does a lot of the groundwork for you and you continue to tweak it until you get to a result that you’re confident in. But it certainly made us more efficient and get to those outcomes faster.

Anthony Codispoti (33:09)
Do you use it in conjunction with your CRM in any way? asking questions about, we’ve got a guest challenge. How do we solve that?

Alex DeCarvalho (33:22)
⁓ we have not actually ventured into that, into that area.

Anthony Codispoti (33:27)
Okay. What other emerging hospitality trends are you seeing or maybe like changes in guest expectations that you think are having an impact now or likely to have an impact going forward on your industry?

Alex DeCarvalho (33:45)
think it’s very much about.

Options right, you know you look at I mean we’re investing right now in the technology that you can communicate in your room with with a virtual assistant and Rather than having to go into your TV or your menu and order some food You can you can just interact with this person say hey, I would like some breakfast and say what would you like and and it can read it out and you can make those orders through voice activated in the rooms ⁓ If you need some towels, you need more water

or anything like that, you can make those requests in the rooms. We just relaunched ⁓ the M-Social Downtown New York, which is right opposite the Oculus there by the World Trade Center. And ⁓ we launched that. It’s in…

15th of November, just under a couple weeks ago. So very good feedback on just making that experience a little bit more seamless. you know, listen, at the end of the day, a hotel is a hotel and it’s it’s you still need to provide, you know, a very comfortable bed, good facilities in the room, the right temperature, the entertainment option, channels, food and beverage facilities. So ⁓ what we do is everything that’s around that

⁓ How can we make the guest experience ⁓ less hassle and more seamless?

Anthony Codispoti (35:14)
What’s an example of one way to make it less hassle? You mentioned that virtual assistant idea, which sounds really cool. You got something else that has already been implemented?

Alex DeCarvalho (35:24)
Well, I mean, this is fairly standard in a lot of hotels, but again, not have to go to check in. you know, so that contactless really speeds up the process and less hassle. The guests automatically get their bills at the end. The virtual assistant in the room. ⁓

And as I said, some of the backup systems is just making it easier for the guests to communicate whether they prefer to speak to a virtual assistant or they prefer to send us a text or call the reception, how that gets picked up and followed up and escalated to make sure that it gets addressed.

I think the little details is how do you make a guest experience memorable, right? That’s the silver bullet that every hotel group is trying to do. But at the very least, you make sure that it’s hassle-free, everything works as expected. And then you build on that with the personal little touches.

Anthony Codispoti (36:24)
So your role as VP of sales and ops for 13 locations in the USA, right? Does that involve a lot of travel? You got to go to travel to each of these locations a lot.

Alex DeCarvalho (36:37)
Yeah, it does. It does. ⁓ I would say, you know, they come in bunches. I probably travel about 20, 25 times a year. ⁓ Last month I was on the road four times. I was in Vegas, New York, Chicago, in Boston. And then this month I’ve only got one trip. ⁓ know, it’s actually I don’t mind it. I love going out to the hotels and meeting the people and, you know, so it’s a.

It depends on your mindset, right? I have the opportunity to do something I love and engage with the hotels. So, you know, the travel is okay.

Anthony Codispoti (37:16)
And so what does your work look like when you’re, I’m going to call it remote, when you’re sort of in your home base versus when you go on site? What is it that you’re able to do that’s different in each of those scenarios?

Alex DeCarvalho (37:30)
⁓ I.

say that the challenge is the other way around. When you’re traveling, you still have to do your day job, right? So I have weekly reviews with the hotels, forecast reviews, I meeting with the sales teams. And then when you’re at a location, you’re trying to dedicate that time and focus on supporting and working with the hotel, but your day job is still there, right? So normally what it does is, but then I’m at a hotel, so after the day is done, I can then catch up with my different tasks and

emails and things like that.

Anthony Codispoti (38:05)
Okay. Alex, let’s make a little pivot here in the conversation. Had a lot of success, know, hold a number of really interesting positions at wonderful hotels across the world. ⁓ But life also has the downs as well as the ups. What is a big serious challenge in your life that you’ve had to overcome, whether it’s on the professional side or it’s on the personal side? How did you get through that? And what did you learn?

Alex DeCarvalho (38:35)
yeah, it’s a, that’s an interesting one. And it was, and it was quite humbling. I, so I faced a time in my career where, you know, I was, working for a privately owned company.

And I worked really hard. It was my first managing director position and I worked really hard to build a strong culture, a clear vision, a team that was aligned. We had some really good goals for the business. We’ve managed to successfully refinance the business. But it was a privately owned company and the owner sort of became increasingly involved in the day to day operations, was challenging the direction that I was

taking

for the business. And it wasn’t so much that he disagreed with the direction we were doing. He was just a very entrepreneurial mindset. He didn’t really believe in structured planning or meetings or communications. And it was very much on just executing and get things done.

You know, I tried to bridge a gap. I was trying to explain the alignment and the transparency were really critical for our establishing a long-term success of the business. But the relationship sort of became increasingly strained. Eventually, he became more forceful. I find myself in a position where my values and principles were being compromised.

You know, so I stepped down and that was really one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever had to make. I had never walked away from any challenge. As I said, I love what I do, but it was really something against my nature. But that experience taught me a lot about my self-awareness, integrity. I realized that leadership isn’t just about achieving results. It’s about staying true to your principles.

Even when that comes at a personal cost, it gave me clarity on what kind of the leader I want to be and the type of environments where I can truly add value and feel that I can be my best self, if you will. You know, in hindsight, it was a real defining moment for me. And I think if anything, it strengthened my sense of purpose and my self-confidence in the medium term.

Anthony Codispoti (41:13)
I’m gonna describe a situation that happened for me and I wonder if this is at all a similar thread for you. ⁓ When I was in college, I went and studied for a year in the UK. As an American in the UK, I was expecting to learn a lot about ⁓ the British culture, which I did. ⁓ But what surprised me was how much I learned about American culture. Because by just always being in America,

I don’t fully understand some of the things that make me uniquely American until I had something to contrast against it. And I would say something or share an experience and they would be, you know, aghast or, or, you know, surprised. And it’s like, that’s a more American situation or perspective or whatever it is. And so as I’m hearing you tell that story, I wonder if you found yourself in a similar situation where

You had some sense of what your values were and what your leadership style was, but I wonder if you understood it on a deeper level now that you had so much pushback from somebody else who felt very differently.

Alex DeCarvalho (42:24)
Yes, you’re right. You know, a lot of times I always say common sense isn’t always that common, And I’ve always prided myself on, if nothing else, just having good common sense, right? Being able to evaluate a situation. And I said, I’m not going to take credit for having common sense, right? People should have common sense. But as I was pushed more and more…

it allowed me to understand what those boundaries were and really sort of have that clarity in what’s important for me. know, because listen, I have a family to provide, I had mortgage to pay, but at some point, there’s something more important than that, right? And then I had that confidence to say, this isn’t worth it, right?

I will be okay and I will find an opportunity where there’s no point in having what was a great position. But if I am not happy, if I don’t feel that I can contribute in the way that I know that I can, then that’s not a good marriage.

Anthony Codispoti (43:34)
And was the hardest part about stepping down from this role, the fact that you did have a family to provide for, maybe you didn’t have another job that you were stepping immediately into, you didn’t know what the future was going to hold?

Alex DeCarvalho (43:46)
That was certainly a big factor. Plus, you know, I like the company. I had…

helped put together a team that I was really proud of. so I thought we were part of a winning team and we were accomplishing things. And I wanted to see that to its full fruition. Don’t get me wrong, refinancing the business was a huge step for the company. And there are a number of wins that I’m very proud of to have been able to implement. But I thought that there was more to be accomplished than having to leave a job which was half completed.

was also a challenge for me.

Anthony Codispoti (44:26)
So for you, the bigger deal it sounds like, if I’m hearing you correctly, Alex, was more that you felt like you were leaving in the midst of an unfinished task.

Alex DeCarvalho (44:36)
Yes, that’s fair.

Anthony Codispoti (44:39)
You felt like you were, aside from the entrepreneur boss who was a bit of a thorn, you felt like you were leaving the rest of the organization in limbo, so to speak.

Alex DeCarvalho (44:49)
and the team that I had cultivated and we had built and I didn’t want to let them down, right? And they’re kind of looking to me to be the buffer, if you will, and be able to manage some of that situation. So that played a big factor as well. I I felt bad about having to make a decision and prioritize my own.

health and sanity and so yeah that’s ⁓ you know I still keep in touch with with most of them so you know it was okay but I did feel like I was letting the team down.

Anthony Codispoti (45:25)
Was there anybody that you were able to lean on during this time for support or go to for advice?

Alex DeCarvalho (45:33)
⁓ I have been fortunate to have had a couple of really good mentors throughout my career. ⁓ you know, in these days we kind of touch base and I don’t know if it’s a mentor relationship anymore, but ⁓ somebody I trust and value their opinion. you know, sometimes you just need to give somebody.

an opportunity to grant you with that perspective, right? When you’re right in the middle of things, you can’t see the wood from the trees and it’s just really good to bounce those thoughts off of somebody.

Anthony Codispoti (46:06)
Okay, putting all humility aside, Alex, what is your superpower?

Alex DeCarvalho (46:17)
would say it’s a combination of empathy and communication. I really make it a point to communicate throughout all levels of the organization to be somebody who is genuinely curious and interested in people in development.

Listen, you have the occasional bad apple and you need to make sure that you manage those effectively and efficiently. But mostly people just want to feel inspired and they need support to grow and develop. So I approach this and saying, my aim is for you to be successful. And that’s.

Let’s say that’s even selfish. So I want the business to be successful. And the best way to do that is to help you be your best version of yourself and produce. That’s going to allow you to progress your career, get the recognition that you deserve, and allows the business to prosper as well. So we have the same aims here. It’s not, you know, this is not altruistic or anything like that. It’s out of self-interest. And I say that.

not to sound selfish, but for them to understand that I’m not just being nice. It benefits the business if I’m supporting them to succeed.

Anthony Codispoti (47:31)
What advice would you give somebody who’s looking to advance their career in hospitality?

Alex DeCarvalho (47:37)
⁓

First and foremost, do your job and do it well. ⁓ But other than that, not only be open to criticism, but seek it out. How else are you gonna grow? I always go into every ⁓ performance review by saying, listen, thank you for the praise and whatever, just tell me what I can do better.

right, because it’s that honest and direct feedback. So I really try to build trust with every one of my team members to the point that they’re really open to receiving that feedback, knowing that it comes from a good place. It’s not, you know, put your ego aside and just saying somebody’s giving you the benefit of sharing some honest feedback and…

It’s less about challenging whether that feedback is factually accurate and when I have examples is the intention of the feedback. know, even if it’s not true, it is how you’re being perceived and you have to understand that that perception is something you want to try and address as well.

Anthony Codispoti (48:48)
Alex, you’ve had the opportunity to manage, oversee, either directly or indirectly, thousands of employees in your career. I think most people would agree that the majority of the population, they would like to earn more money. So in that way, they would like to advance themselves. From your perspective, from what you’ve seen, are most people also interested in that constructive feedback that actually leads to them?

becoming better or is their primary focus on how do I get a raise?

Alex DeCarvalho (49:24)
Okay. To that, I would say they’re one and the same, right? If you’re still doing your role, there’s a limit to how much raise you’re going to be able to earn because there’s a certain expectation for that position that you’re doing. So there’s a range, right? So if the range is between 90 and 100,000 and you’re at the top of your game, you’re probably gonna be capping out at 100,000.

So if you want more money, the way is to understand what does career progression look like? What are the possible next steps? And what is the skill gap or experience gap that I need to close in order to be considered for that career progression?

Anthony Codispoti (50:06)
So you go into a job review with the mindset of, yes, thank you for all the praise, but tell me what I can do to get better. Do you see most others come in with that same mindset? Or is it a little bit harder for most people to take that constructive feedback?

Alex DeCarvalho (50:22)
Early on, it’s hard. And then once you’ve established a relationship with your director of ports and you coach them, and again, I think it all comes down to that level of trust. I said, if you can put aside that I want you to succeed and I believe you’re doing a good job in your role, this feedback is really to make you better and to help you grow. And once you have that breakthrough with somebody,

Because if the trust isn’t there, they’re going to be thinking, OK, what’s his angle? Where is this coming from? Are they trying to performance manage me? Do they want something written in my performance review so that they can use it against me? There’s a whole bunch of negative thoughts that could come through your head if the trust isn’t there. So I really think.

Anthony Codispoti (51:09)
Yeah.

Alex DeCarvalho (51:13)
What’s the expression? Some things are better said and said. I don’t believe in that. I think you say everything, right? You articulate exactly why you’re doing that and why I want to build the trust and every opportunity for you to communicate that clearly. It’s making inroads into establishing that.

that communication and trust and you know we’re not always going to agree and I would say and that’s okay you know a trust goes both ways and I said I want you to feel comfortable if you want to challenge me too and say I don’t disagree with this that’s okay and I give you my word I’m not going to hold it against you as long as we’re both respectful and honest in how we communicate things

Anthony Codispoti (51:53)
Alex, do have a favorite book or podcast that might be interesting for our audience to check out?

Alex DeCarvalho (52:01)
So in our company there’s a book and there’s been a subsequent update on the book which I really like is the Blue Ocean Strategy. It’s an old book it’s probably 20-25 years old but I love how specific it is and it gives you actually a blueprint, a framework how you could put it into practice.

I’m not saying it’s easy to find your blue ocean, but I really like that book and it sort of helped me adapt my way of thinking and trying to come up with new solutions. As far as…

Anthony Codispoti (52:36)
Explain what’s meant by blue

ocean.

Alex DeCarvalho (52:38)
So the contrast is blue ocean, red ocean, right? So most businesses live in what they call a shark-infested waters, which is a red ocean where you’re pretty much offering the same products, same services, and then it just comes down to price, right? Who can sell the cheapest? Your products become, by and large, commoditized. A blue ocean is where you identify an opportunity, a niche in the market where…

there isn’t anybody currently offering a comparable product or service and therefore it’s just about the value of your product as opposed to having to engage in this ⁓ pricing war to the bottom.

As far as podcast, I find the Ezra Klein ⁓ podcast quite interesting. ⁓

big American football fan so I listened to a lot of the NFL Daily and podcasts and I know if I want to say it’s the most hated team in America but it’s the Dallas Cowboys yeah ⁓ yeah I was growing up in California my best friend was a Minnesota Vikings fan I needed to pick a team I was eight years old and

Anthony Codispoti (53:44)
Who’s your team?

How did that happen? Just chose America’s team.

Alex DeCarvalho (54:04)
the big star on the helmet and the cheerleaders. I said, why wouldn’t you be a Dallas Cowboys fan back then, right? And then I stuck through thick and thin and it’s mostly thin over the last 30 years, but hey, you’re a fan despite of, right? Not because, otherwise everybody would have been Patriots fans. so you get me, yeah.

Anthony Codispoti (54:22)
I’m a Cleveland Browns fan, so you’re speaking my language. I get you very well.

then some. Alex, I’ve just got one more question for you today. But before I ask it, I want to do a few things. First, anyone looking to get in touch with Alex, he’s given us permission to give out his email address, which I’m going to spell for you and then include in the show notes. So it’s a lex.de car val ho at Millennium hotels.com.

And that also tells you what their website address is, which is millenniumhotels.com. Again, those will both be in the show notes. And as a reminder, if you want to get more hotel employees access to benefits that won’t hurt them financially and carries a financial upside for the company, reach out to us at addbackbenefits.com. Finally, if you’ll take just a moment to leave us a comment or a review on your favorite podcast app, we will be forever grateful to you. So last question for you, Alex, you and I reconnect a year from now.

and you’re celebrating something big. What’s that big thing you hope to be celebrating one year from today?

Alex DeCarvalho (55:29)
you

Well, over and above the obviously making our financial goals and targets. The expansion of our portfolio in the US, we are looking for opportunities. We just renovated downtown New York. We’re opening up in Silicon Valley. So ⁓ it would be nice to have four or five hotels in the pipeline so we continue to develop. ⁓

our brand and our network in the US market. Maybe even opening a hotel in the Americas, either Canada or South America.

Anthony Codispoti (56:08)
Hmm. Some place you got your eye on in South America to go back to Brazil.

Alex DeCarvalho (56:13)
Well,

you know, I’m half Brazilian, so opening a hotel in Rio de Janeiro would be nice.

Anthony Codispoti (56:19)
Okay, we’ll keep our eye out. Alex from Millennium Hotels, I want to be the first to thank you for sharing both your time and your story with us today. I really appreciate it.

Alex DeCarvalho (56:29)
It’s been great. It’s my pleasure. Thank you, Anthony.

Anthony Codispoti (56:31)
Folks, that’s a wrap on another episode of the Inspired Stories podcast. Thanks for learning with us today.