Editor’s Note: Connecting the Dots is a series of monthly conversations with Michael Dominguez, President and CEO of Associated Luxury Hotels International. The series examines issues in the global economy that will “connect the dots” to be helpful not only in business but in life as well.
We’re here at the beginning of April, and I can tell you that the word of the day is uncertainty. Every day we think we know. The next day there's something else that's coming at us. I've been presenting a lot in the industry and the one thing I keep reminding everybody is it's an important time just to breathe. We need to really slow down and understand what we do know, and not try to assume what we think is going to happen in the future.
We are learning very quickly that what we know yesterday is going to change today, or even over a weekend, as it did this weekend right when we're filming on a Monday. The tariffs that we thought were in play aren't in play. They now are changed and being negotiated once again. What we thought was happening with China has changed as well as far as what's going to happen with electronics. We need to breathe.
There was an old John Wooden phrase that always served me well. John Wooden had this quote that was very simple: move fast, but don't hurry, and that's the environment we're in right now. Let's not get past our skis. Let's not try to assume what we think this all means. Every time I get a data point there's a data point that counters what I just thought. It’s just a real important time for us right now to understand that we're going to have to go day by day, week by week. We're going to have to talk to each other and look at our signs. But most importantly, let's not take one incidence and make it a trend.
We know there's going to be impact to Canadian travel. We've already seen that. What other impact we're going to have around the world? I'm not sure. But you know, I was able to watch the earnings report from Ed Bastian with Delta Airlines, and I thought he said it brilliantly when he's like the future is really blurry. That's just a great way to look at it. It's blurry right now. We're not quite sure.
What we do know is moving forward right now, meetings are still holding strong overall. If you have any kind of government or federal employees, there could be a little bit of uncertainty on what is going to be moving forward. In those cases, specifically in the association and government meetings, you've seen a little bit of a pause, not an end, but a pause. Every now and then, yes, we have a cancellation, but we see other things moving forward. When it comes to Canada. I can tell you, just within ALHI, we've booked three meetings into the future of a Canadian company in ‘26, ‘27, ’28, but that is a Canadian company that has both American and Canadian offices, so not everything is going to be singular.
We are really going to have to look at everything intentionally, and it's an important time to breathe. More to come. We're going to keep you updated. But again, as you get through uncertainty, I think we all just need to be calm and something that I've lived by most of my life: I can only control what I can control, and what I can control is trying to understand what is really happening and making sure I'm doing my due diligence before I make any decisions.