Senior Housing Investors
Bringing you the innovators, investors, and leaders across the full spectrum of assisted living and senior housing, all of whom provide for the betterment of our senior population.
Senior Housing Investors
Does Your Labor Deserve a Technology Lifeline with Sue Graves
What if technology could improve human connection in senior housing—not replace it?
In our latest episode of the Senior Housing Investors Podcast, Sue Graves shares how thoughtfully implemented tech solutions are transforming both the resident experience and the employee experience in senior living communities.
From reducing staff turnover to streamlining operations, here are just a few highlights:
✅ Conversational AI handles up to 80% of routine inquiries
✅ Robotics reduce physical strain and increase efficiency
✅ Earned wage access has cut turnover by up to 60%
✅ QR code-enabled shuttle requests eliminate thousands of monthly calls
✅ Digital tipping improves retention and service quality
Susan makes it clear: the future of senior housing isn’t about replacing people—it’s about empowering them to focus on what matters most: meaningful, human-centered care.
🎧 Listen now and learn how to reimagine operations through tech.
📩 Want to connect? Reach Susan at sue@experiencealive.com or on LinkedIn.
#SeniorHousing #TechInSeniorLiving #DigitalTransformation #EmployeeRetention #ResidentExperience #SeniorHousingInvestorsPodcast #HavenSeniorInvestments
I think, the more that we can take repetitive tasks that also cause injury, right in some cases, when you think about a housekeeper pushing and pulling a vacuum all day. How do we take those repetitive tasks and let technology to take care of those repetitive tasks and allow our most valuable asset, which is our labor, that is experiencing in our industry over a 70% turnover rate, how do we make them stay Okay? So how do we enhance the stay for our employees so they can enhance the stay for our guests? That's what really needs to take place. Stay for our guests that's what really needs to take place. We've got to institute technology faster to take care of repetitive tasks so our labor is happier and, again, happy employees make happy guests and make happy residents.
John Hauber:Welcome to the Senior Housing Investors Podcast. If you are an owner operator, investor, developer or buyer of senior housing, you've come to the right place. The best way to stay connected with us is to sign up for our weekly newsletter at havenseniorinvestmentscom. This podcast doesn't exist without you, our community. Thank you for listening and reach out to us anytime.
Kelsie Heermans:Welcome back everyone. Today, our host, john Hauber, is speaking with Susan Graves. Susan is the founder and CEO of Experience Alive. Experience Alive delivers modern, cost-effective technology solutions for the hospitality industry, enhancing guest satisfaction, reducing operating costs and optimizing staffing to drive greater value for owners and asset managers. Take it away, john.
John Hauber:Thanks, kelsey. Sue, Welcome to the show.
Sue Graves:Glad to be here. Thanks, John, for having me.
John Hauber:You're welcome, and so Kelsey gave us a background on you. But I want to ask you a real, pointed question right away, and that is you come out of the hospitality. You know the hotel business, convention centers, restaurants. How does that pertain to senior housing?
Sue Graves:Well, we've got guests, we just call them something different. You call them residents, we call them guests. So, and it depends, frankly, on the length of stay. So one of the brands I worked for was Extended Stay. The average length of stay for me was 14 days. So, you know, for some of those they do become residents, residents. I did host a group for two and a half years that were building a new automobile in Detroit, and so I guess I could have called them residents, but they were guests and they became family, and so I feel like that's probably what happens in senior housing is like family in the hotel business, depending on, like I said, what brand you're working in. They can be guests. I ran airport hotels and they're in and out in 1.2 days, so, and then long-term stay easily could be corroborate with senior housing. So there's food there, there's food in hotels, there's food in convention centers to a greater degree, so it all kind of mirrors each other.
John Hauber:Awesome. So your passion and you and I spoke offline for a while, but your passion is technology, correct.
Sue Graves:My passion is to institute technology to be a human companion in the hospitality industry, that is, and senior housing as well, to take care of repetitive questions, allow the humans to have more time to have human contact, which is what we're all built for. Why we go into the industry that we love is, to you know, not answer the phone 50 times a day telling somebody what the restaurant hours are, but instead how can I help you have a great experience in our city, in our hotel, in our resort, on our cruise line, in our senior housing. So that's the point of people getting excited about being in the hospitality business is taking care of people and making sure they have a great stay.
John Hauber:So what is your vision as a operational technology consultant? What do you envision for the future in both of our industries?
Sue Graves:Yeah, I think, the more that we can take repetitive tasks that also cause injury, right in some cases, when you think about a housekeeper pushing and pulling a vacuum all day. How do we take those repetitive tasks and let technology to take care of those repetitive tasks and allow our most valuable asset, which is our labor, that is experiencing in our industry over a 70% turnover rate? How do we make them stay Okay? So how do we enhance the stay for our employees so they can enhance the stay for our guests? That's what really needs to take place. We've got to institute technology faster to take care of repetitive tasks so our labor is happier and, again, happy employees, make happy guests and make happy residents.
John Hauber:Yeah, amen. We've been touting that for many, many years, so what operational pain points are the staff experiencing that could be relieved through this technology that you're going to go over with us?
Sue Graves:Well, in its current state, they might not even realize sometimes that it's a pain point because it's what they've been taught to do. So oftentimes you'll walk into a hotel and they've got, you know, they've got two phones in their ear answering repetitive questions and they've got a lineup of guests that are just trying to get to their room and may have a quick question to ask. And that's where the human to human contact needs to take place is at that desk, when you're greeting that customer and taking time with them to see if they have extra needs that you can address for them, to make sure that they have a pleasant stay with you and show them around the city you know, help, help them understand, you know the city, what restaurant they might be able to take a client to, et cetera, et cetera. Able to take a client to, et cetera, et cetera. So if we can institute some conversational AI to take care of those repetitive questions, keep those guests in front of the employee being taken care of. That's what really needs to be done. So conversational AI can take 50% of calls off a front desk. Onboarding can be. There's conversational AI that can improve onboarding, taking 80%, cutting onboarding time by 80%. So imagine if you could hire faster and hire better talent faster. That's what conversational AI can do. These are affordable solutions.
Sue Graves:Then enter into the scene robotics. Imagine a patient or a resident in your case requesting a glass of water. Maybe they buzz that into the front desk. Is a nurse now carrying that water back and forth? Okay, so that's a lot of steps and, yeah, people want to get their steps in, but maybe not that way. So what if robotics could deliver that water and save that nurse time to spend nursing? You know what he or she is trained to do, what a desk clerk is trained to do.
Sue Graves:So oftentimes, when a hotel guest calls down for extra towels, you've got a front desk clerk that is already short-staffed at the front desk. Now they're running towels up to a room. So think about that repetitive task having a robotic companion to take those towels up to the guest. The guest is going to get a faster delivery. They're probably going to get a cleaner delivery, because you don't know where the hands are and where they've been carrying those towels. They're going to get a faster, cleaner delivery and it's kind of fun from a robotic delivery standpoint. They, you know you can play games, you can press a button, but the guest is alerted to the fact that, hey, you've got a robot coming up and the hotel staff can name the robot, so it becomes part of their team. They love it, it's a lot of fun, the guests love it and they're using it.
Sue Graves:You know, for retail as well. So imagine calling down to a retail outlet and you just want coffee and a Danish in the morning. Now a robot can deliver that to you in less time. The average wait time right now for a robot is six to eight minutes. The average wait time for a guest for a room service is 30 to 45 minutes. So what would you like to have? You want your coffee in six to eight minutes and the robot can actually call the elevator themselves. So it acts like, you know, a companion. I call it a human companion for our wonderful labor that's working in the industry just trying to take care of guests.
John Hauber:All right, let's put that to the back end, because that's where we want to end with this cool robotics stuff. Okay, it's coming, okay, but let's talk about that conversational AI that you mentioned. How robust is it today, and can you give us an example of how one of your clients is using it within their community or within their hotel?
Sue Graves:more repetitive questions you get. So I'm going to take a big hotel, I'm going to take a thousand room hotel located in Atlanta and offloading more almost 80% of calls off the front desk in about 120 days. That is a lot of calls. So now you've got. What does that do to morale? Think about all those calls being taken off the front desk. Conversational AI can even address giving you know. Oftentimes there's a lot of calls for guests that need a invoice or a bill from their previous stay. So instead of transferring that call to accounting, conversational AI can actually look that up in the system and process that request immediately. So these are the kinds of things that are out there. They've been around for years. These are not new. They're entering into the hospitality industry because hospitality is now considering the adoption of these great solutions From an onboarding standpoint.
Sue Graves:Imagine, you know, a conversational AI solution that sits on job boards that actually responds to the top three questions that you want to ask and then continues that conversation with the employee, even scheduling the interview for the candidate, giving them an opportunity to reschedule, giving reminders. All of this happens autonomously. The only thing in this solution that the staff has to do is actually interview the candidate. But as far as giving a job offer, that's all handled autonomously. All of the paperwork for hiring is sent digitally and digitally signed. So now you're taking that risk away that people are sometimes concerned about.
Sue Graves:Did I get an employee to sign all the appropriate paperwork? Did it go into our ATS system? That can autonomously be sent into your ATS system or you can utilize the solution as your ATS solution if you don't have one. So when I say 80%, I mean 80%. So I'm gonna give you a real life example of a hotel, a large hotel, that needed to hire 6,500 people and did so in under 120 days. Now they expected 80,000 applicants for 6,500 jobs to be filled. They received 320,000 applications. They received 320,000 applications. If you can imagine what that would look like, john, to process, humanly process 320,000 applications it would be virtually impossible and to get that hiring staff and get that hotel opened in 120 days. So these are phenomenal solutions that are affordable and help with human capital that we have and take the stress off of the day-to-day functionality of repetitive tasks.
John Hauber:So Sue, how many FTEs full-time employees are reduced by this conversational AI or automation in the hiring process.
Sue Graves:Well, that's a great question, John, and I'm not a proponent of reduction. I'm a proponent of reallocation. We have valuable resources. The labor in the hospitality industry is already short-staffed Over 67% of hotels are short-staffed now. So what I talk to people about when I talk to them about these solutions is imagine what the reallocation of that most valuable asset would look like to help support your strategic goals and to help make you more money doing things that robotics and conversational AI can't do. So I'm not a proponent of reduction. I'm a proponent of reallocation and helping relieve the stress and pressure that is currently out there and is a real thing for the hospitality industry.
John Hauber:So what tasks are ideal for automation versus human interaction in hospitality or senior living?
Sue Graves:So when I talk about repetitive tasks, think about repetitive questions that conversational AI can address. When I spoke about the taking the 80% of questions, they guarantee this company that I work with guarantees 50% offload to the front desk. So when this hotel achieved 80%, they were even blown away, so you can imagine. So when I talk about repetitive questions, yeah, I don't know the exact repetitive questions that might be faced in senior housing, but they might be a little bit similar what time are dining hours? You know? Do we have valet? Where do I tell my family member to park? Do you have spa services? What time are the pool hours? What time are the recreation hours? What time are the recreation hours?
Sue Graves:All these questions are necessary that you know residents or guests alike face and need an answer to. But when you have conversational AI that can speak in 20 different languages and 40 different dialects, it sounds like a real human. So do you want the answer fast or do you want to be put on hold? You know, and wait for that answer. I think the answer really is the guest doesn't care how they get the answer, they just want an answer and they want it quickly. So these are the kinds of situations that conversational AI can improve and help employees have a better stay as well. We want to extend the life of the employee just as much as we want to extend the happiness of the guest you know or resident. We want them to be happy. How do we take these things that are repetitive off their plate so they can focus on the human needs?
John Hauber:Tell us about some of those human needs that all of a sudden you take these repetitive tasks off of caretakers, take these repetitive tasks off of front desk staff. How about that human connection enhancement that comes from automation and robotics?
Sue Graves:Yeah, that human connection is so important being able to come out from behind the desk and welcome you know a family and give a little you know stuffed toy or something like that to kids that are there and have a conversation and ask the family if there's anything else that they might need during their stay. Do they know what you know? Asking them like what is the purpose of your stay? How can I help you have a great stay with us?
Sue Graves:So, if you release some of this pressure that's unnecessary right now with the technology solutions that are in place, release that and relieve that, what kind of passion does that employee have now to do what they're hired to do, which is to help create better guest and resident experiences? What do you do with a nurse who's on the phone answering repetitive questions rather than spending time with the resident who might need care or wants to talk to them about family members that might be visiting? How can they make that a better guest experience and resident experience? That's what we need to focus on and when we relieve the pressure for this repetitive stuff that, yes, needs to be answered, but doesn't need to be answered by a human boy. It just opens the doors for amazing experiences that can take place and builds brand loyalty.
John Hauber:Well, I also think that what it does is it allows those full-time workers to feel like they're making an impact, that they're coming to work and doing what they actually love, and that's either caretaking, connecting with humans, hospitality in the hotel industry, rather than the mundane tasks that take place in these environments. It's got to give them a tremendous joy to come to work every day because now they have a companion working alongside them that helps them give a great resident experience. Would that be fair to say?
Sue Graves:Yeah, it's empowering. Technology is empowering for, you know, for senior living, housing as well as, you know, hotels, resorts, convention centers, the way we can communicate. It's just empowering for the employee and empowering for the guests. It's a great experience.
John Hauber:So you know, across the United States there's many, many small hotels, small senior living communities. They don't always have a tech budget. What is the baseline tech that an individual community needs to be able to bring in the technology that's coming up?
Sue Graves:Conversational AI is the baseline. It needs to be instituted in every facility as soon as possible and they can onboard in two weeks or under. It's not a difficult. These are affordable, easy to implement solutions. Obviously there's refinement that is taking place because you want to individualize right. For every senior housing area there are different questions that guests may have about the area, so you work alongside these solution providers to insert the individuality that's needed for a hyper-personalized experience when the guest is staying at the hotel or the resident is residing in a senior housing environment. So that does take time to build but it learns fast and there's constant. You know white glove treatment and you know introduction and it's something that should be instituted in every single hotel, every single resort immediately and every single senior housing.
John Hauber:I agree. So let's pivot. Okay, let's get into some of the more fun stuff. Okay, and that is, you know, robotics. Are they having an impact now and are they being utilized, and what is the impact for operations, employee and guests? And Sue, you, sue, I saw something on YouTube that showed a robot in a hospital setting cleaning a bathroom. Can you imagine if we get to take away from the caretakers having to clean bathrooms, how happy they would be?
Sue Graves:Yeah, nobody wants to clean a bathroom. Yes, there is a company that does that. I would say that I have looked at that technology and I've interviewed those founders and they've come a long way with that half three years. And I don't work with 400. I work with the top, you know, 20 to 30. They're making the biggest impact. They're affordable, they solve a really big problem pretty easily, they're easy to implement and that's a solution. But I always help founders. That's a solution that I didn't adopt right away because I told them that we need to downsize that machine. You got going on there, but, yes, it is something that is coming.
Sue Graves:The solution that I work with now is instituted in hotels. There's a hotel in California that just ordered another delivery robot. So this delivery robot and they name them this delivery robot it's an independent hotel and they have two robots that actually can, you know, can run coffee and Danish and minor retail things that fit right inside of it. So it's safe, it's secure, it's lockable and this robot will, you know, make its way. It's LIDAR detection, so it makes its way to the elevator, it calls the elevator, doesn't press a button anymore. Used to have a little appendage. I called it to press the button, but doesn't do that anymore.
Sue Graves:Through API integration with the elevator companies it can call the elevator, goes up to the floor and will alert the guest by phone that they are at the door. And so the desk clerk. So imagine this is what happens. You know Simon will be up, you know, momentarily to deliver your coffee and your Danish. So they give it a name. It's part of the employee staff, you know. And so the desk clerk now, or the food and beverage attendant now, just puts you know, safely and securely, puts the beverage and the, you know whatever the guest has asked for, puts it right inside the little compartment that actually can fit a pizza inside there and towels if guests call for extra towels, extra pillows, but anyway and then takes that up to the guest, alerts the guest, the guest pops that open.
Sue Graves:It actually says thank you on it and they can play a little game if they want. I mean, it's gamified, it's fun. And then they you know the guest doesn't have to tip, they don't have to rush around trying to figure out a tip. You no longer have somebody at your door saying you know, is it okay if I enter? Oftentimes you're counting on 30 minute delivery. So you're trying to grab a quick shower. You might not be in the best position to answer the door, so you're like sneaking out there. So yeah, it just makes everything fun. Guests are taking Instagram posts, you know, doing Instagram posts of the robot and their delivery. So now guess what that hotel is getting? You know some brand excitement and they're getting some Instagram posting around it. They're getting some extra marketing. They didn't intend on and you know the robot is safe and secure and they pop the top down and the robot delivers the next item.
John Hauber:So that's one of 20 that you said that are in your top 20. Let's name like four more that are top of your list, like oh my God, this is coming. This is so cool, it's saving time, it's making our employees happy. Other than conversational AI, what robotics or other technologies are coming to the forefront in hospitality so that our senior living investors and owners and operators can learn from you as a consultant in the hospitality industry to bring that into the senior living space?
Sue Graves:Yeah, I mean training and development is huge. There's not enough training that's taking place. If we really put that high value on the employees, then we would really be focused on training and development. There are training and development solutions that are using AI and machine learning now to actually give non-subjective feedback. If you think about sitting down and coaching somebody now it is a human to human, so there are inherent things that take into play that make that discussion very subjective. If you like the person already but they're having a little bit of a problem or a struggle, you know you might deal with them differently. If Joe is having problems and boy, I got to coach Joe, you know, maybe you're not so nice to Joe. So if you take that human factor out and you allow machine learning and AI to do coaching coaching using AI ML has a proven track record of improving guest satisfaction by 10 to 20 points almost within 30 days, 10 to 20 point increase. So hotels that are currently suffering from lower guest satisfaction are instituting this to help train not only their leaders but any position within a hotel to help support improvement of guest satisfaction. And that happens within 30 days using AIML and the employee that's going through the training receives feedback within minutes that is not subjective in nature and gives them a real opportunity to improve and develop their skills. So training and development by far is.
Sue Graves:I have two training and development solutions. One of them, actually, is gamified using animation. So training employees in bite-sized pieces. So we all know TikTok and Instagram and all those reels have a timeline on them, right? Well, they have a timeline on them because people get distracted pretty easily. So imagine doing your training segments in three to five minutes. So gone are the days where you get everybody into a room and you say, okay, for the next six hours we're going to go through training X, y, z.
Sue Graves:No, let's empower the employees to take the training in three to five minutes at a time. It's logged autonomously, it goes into the ATS system so it's documented for performance purposes and for any risk. You know, senior housing, I know, has a lot of oversight, right, and hotels have oversight as well. Depending on what state, city, county that you're in, whatever jurisdiction, there are laws that are in effect for, let's just say, human trafficking. Training has to happen in some hotels, depending on its jurisdiction, within a 90-day period of time.
Sue Graves:Well, we've got a highly paid human resource director spending a significant amount of time on an Excel spreadsheet now making sure that Joe in the kitchen sorry Joe or Sally in housekeeping completes that training within 90 days. Why don't we let that happen autonomously? Why don't we let the employee take that in chunks when they have time to take that and get that training done in a really great, fun way Instead? I hate to say that that could be fun, but other training can be more fun. Let them take that training in a fun way and smaller, bite-sized pieces that are absorbed quickly and you know you're meeting your goal and it's done autonomously. Let's save that him. Resource director for working on higher strategic needs of the organizations. So that's just one, oh, that's number two.
John Hauber:Oh, that's number two. Oh, that's number two. Give me a number three.
Sue Graves:Yeah. So one thing that's really cool I ran three airport properties and shuttle service is a real headache. Ok, there's 2000 to 6000 calls that come in for shuttles at a at a front desk Wow, at any given time for an airport property. So imagine stranded flights, which I dealt with many of those. I ran a property in Detroit that was an airport property. So if you can imagine the amount of the volume of calls that would come into the front desk. So now you've got stranded customers calling to find out your location, calling to find out if the shuttle is on its way. In the meantime, you've got the first or second batch of 14 to 20 passengers being dropped off that need to be checked in. So now you've got a desk work on the phone trying to take care of a stranded passenger at the same time at the front desk. What does that look like to you? It's chaotic.
Sue Graves:So this solution that has happened. When I found these guys, I was like, oh my God, where were you when I was running airport properties? So you know there's valet service and shuttle service at senior and senior housing as well. So imagine using a QR code, not an app, to be able to identify where the shuttle is like Uber or Lyft right now. Okay, so now the guest knows where the shuttle is, they're stopping all these unnecessary phone calls to the desk, allowing the desk clerk to once again take care of the guests in front of them and get them comfortably checked in.
Sue Graves:Maybe a chaotic situation, but imagine being able, from a senior housing standpoint, being dropped out for shopping or any other type of activity that might be taking place, and they can actually view the shuttle and its location. They can actually book the shuttle themselves. They can let the shuttle driver know that they've got two kids and they've got extra groceries, or they've got extra baggage, or they're bringing golf clubs. All of that can take place autonomously without a desk clerk's involvement. Now imagine if a desk clerk now sees that transcript upon check-in and they know that on the next shuttle we've got four kids coming in with a family and there's two sets of golf clubs. Imagine what that experience looks like and what that first connection looks like now at the front desk instead of being surprised. So it's a win for the guest, it's a win for the employee. Saves all those phone calls off the desk 2,000 to 6,000 calls a month off the front desk. So that's number three. That is a huge, so give me a robotics.
Sue Graves:So there's cleaning robots. We talked about the one that cleans bathrooms. There are robots that can vacuum autonomously now. Now it takes a human to bring the vacuum up to the spot. But you know what? All of this is mapped out, pre-mapped out. The robot now can read a QR code on its own, once the human drops it off and puts it in place to read the QR code zone.
Sue Graves:Once the human drops it off and puts it in place to read the QR code, the robot now autonomously cleans a bankrupt facility, cleans hallways, cleans guest rooms, vacuums. Okay, not only that, it can send an alert to the houseman, housekeeper, attendant let's just put it that way attendant saying I'm done with floor four. And so now then the human comes up and brings it to the next floor. It will tell you how full, how much debris it picked up. It can even tell you what the oxygen level in that room was during that period of time. I mean, there are so many sensors now that go into this, but in its current state, we've got vacuuming or mopping taking place. There is a robot that can actually vacuum and do the mopping and recycle the water independently of a human, so all of these things can take place. Imagine that going into a residence facility a residence facility that might have carpet can take care of the vacuuming. Now the push pull of a vacuum right.
John Hauber:Yes.
Sue Graves:Causes a lot of injuries in the workplace. If we want to extend the life of those employees, we need to replace that repetitive task with something that can support them bringing the vacuum to a new location, not doing the vacuuming. So these weren't previously available, they are now, and every hotel and every residential living space should take advantage of these simple robotics that are saving time, adding consistency, saving money and implementing safety. Frankly, you know that the robot is reporting that they vacuumed.
Sue Graves:You don't know that a housekeeper has fully vacuumed, that to the extent that it needs to be vacuumed. These robots can actually read and detect obstacles, so it can go around housekeeping carts. It can go around banquet chairs. It's not going to hit a human, it will stop, and oftentimes humans want to play with them and play with the robot. I've watched this happen in a very, very large resort, but it will pick up anything from a hair clip or anything on the floor, not just dust and dirt. So these are amazing solutions that are available now and, like I said, they can do the mopping as well for the heart of house.
John Hauber:So okay, so we have these that are here now, and then individuals who are kind of watching the news and such. You have an Elon Musk who's talking about the Optimus robot, humanoid robot, dexterity of their hands, saying that in some of his podcasts that there's going to be, you know, I don't know, one billion of these roaming the Earth in 10 years. Let's, let's get a little esoteric and say, ok, you know, sue, what do you see coming? I mean, you're, you're ingrained in this robotic and artificial intelligence. When do you see that being implemented in the home and within hospitals, within hospitality, within senior living communities?
Sue Graves:Yeah, well, I'll tell you. I hope it's in before I retire, john, because I'm going to hire. You got a name for mine and I'm ready to go, that's awesome.
Sue Graves:There are already robotics that are, you know, folding laundry and picking up probably picking up the kids' toys. I don't know In-houses now, that's available now but I do see humanoid robots making a big impact. The dexterity that you spoke of, especially with the fingers and the hands, has not previously been available. They've come a long way from a technology standpoint available. They've come a long way from a technology standpoint. There are robotics now that can actually pick up an egg and put it in a container, you know, seamlessly, without breaking the egg.
Sue Graves:So the dexterity that is needed for housekeeping, when you think about making a bed, when you think about all the bending and lifting and I was tall, I still am tall and when I was in housekeeping I had to make the bed on my knees because my back was too painful.
Sue Graves:So I had volleyball knee pads and I would make those beds on my knees and save my back and save my knees. So you know, if you think about the injuries that are caused, you know, by the twisting and the turning and taking out your back, all these repetitive things can go away. Now imagine that human, you know, using the robotic as a companion. Maybe the robot takes one side of the bed and the housekeeper takes the other side of the bed and they make the bed together. Now you can do it faster, right? So instead of 17 minutes a room you know you could probably make that you know you can make up 10 minutes a room Well, 10 minutes a room means a lot, right? You can save a lot of time and labor. They are going to be in the market, they are going to be affordable. It's a matter of time.
John Hauber:All right. So when I put a $10 bill on the dresser for my housekeeper, how happy is he or she?
Sue Graves:Very happy. But I will tell you, john, even digital tipping is in place now, so I support a digital tipping QR code, not an app. It's not an app. So when a guest checks in, they've got a QR. Less than 15 percent of guests carry cash. It's probably less than 10. Ah, interesting, everybody's using Apple Pay. Everybody's using Visa, mastercard, you name it, amex, whatever they carry now in their wallet. And do you know how bad people feel when they can't leave a tip?
John Hauber:That's right.
Sue Graves:Digital tipping is in place now, allowing you to actually access that QR code, leave a tip. And you can not only leave a tip, but you can also leave a really nice message for your housekeeper, and if there's something wrong in the room, you could report it there. But most people use it as a way to say thank you to their housekeeper Great clean room. Really appreciate you. So there's comments that are available to use. If you should choose to use that, you don't have to. You can do the tip and then leave. And not only that, that tip goes right onto your bill. So now you can record that tip on your expense report and you don't have to worry about carrying cash anymore. So that digital tipping can take the place in senior housing as well.
John Hauber:I would love to see those entering senior housing. You know, starting at age 75 onward, you know their baby boots right, they're all tech-based. You know they don't carry a lot of cash what a greater thing that they can do than to tip their caretaker, right, yes, you know the caretaker's making barely a living wage. But to have a resident who really loves their caretaker because the senior living community has integrated technology to allow that caregiver to really love on the resident, the resident to be able to award that love, it's going to be amazing. It's absolutely going to be amazing for those caretakers, thereby keeping employees from turning over within your space. Hospitality, hotels and senior living, because that's the hardest thing about this business is labor turnover. So give me one last instance where labor turnover and how you measured success with technology to reduce labor turnover within a community or a hotel that you worked with.
Sue Graves:Yep, I'm going to finish. I'm going to give you two only because I'm going to finish off on the digital tipping. Digital tipping, okay, you can either use it if you're a facility, because I brought this up two years ago when I was at a health collaboration meeting and I said to the hospital directors, what if you instituted digital tipping? And they go what, what are you talking about? I explained how important it would be for a really great caregiver that a family sees that wants to show additional generosity financially. And they go well, yeah. But what about the houseman? I go, well, you can make it either individual or you can make it for the whole facility, which means that the tips would be split, so they would be pooled. So you can do pool tips for a facility or you can do individual tips. So I wanted to finish off that. But I also wanted to share with you there is information to back up that. Digital tipping reduces turnover by over 29% and the rooms are cleaner. Because guess what, if you get a hundred dollar tip from a guest and you're running around sharing that with the rest of the hotel staff, they're going to be like I want to clean, like Sally, how did you get that tip. So now you know there's a reduction in inspectors, because you don't really need inspectors, because now the guests are sharing their generosity financially and inspectors are doing other things. Now they are reallocated. So that's one way.
Sue Graves:The other solution is earned wage access. This is a huge deal. I'm a huge proponent of it In its current state. Earned wage access allows an employee to secure cash for their personal needs the day they earn it. This is a free solution. This does not cost a facility or a hotel any money. They integrate it right into the payroll system and that reduces turnover by 60%.
Sue Graves:Do you know how many times employees near the end of the month or near a holiday couldn't get bus fare and ask their supervisor or me, as a general manager of a hotel, for money? I always gave them money, but imagine how embarrassing is that for them to ask for $2.50 or $2 to get a bus when they can just get that. And they offer this solution. Provider offers financial wellness tips as well. So the employees go through, have access to financial you know security instructions or financial wellness. You know some training that they've never had access to. They can see their wages the day they make them. So when they leave.
Sue Graves:Employees are accessing this five to six times a week, but they are not taking the money five to six times a week. They are looking at how much money they're earning on a daily basis. That's awesome. That gives them a sense of wow. Look what I accomplished today. Look how much money is in my bank account. If I need that, I can use it. So earned wage access is a huge one. I'm a huge proponent of it, and there's legislation in Ohio around earned wage access right now, and I told them that I would certainly, you know, go to support that and be a voice for the employees that need their money the day they earn it, instead of waiting two weeks.
John Hauber:So it's interesting that you brought this up because I'm going to regress a little bit in terms of my life. When I was starting Haven Senior Investments from scratch, I had lost everything in the real estate market as a broker back in 2008 to 2010. So I started with this company that came into Denver called Lyft. Oh yeah, I was on the first group that drove in Denver and this app was on this phone and after I got done driving, I said I'm done and it goes. We're transferring the money to your account tonight. Yeah, I'm like, oh, I needed that for a bill, that it was about to come due and that I would get charged like 25 bucks if I didn't pay it on time. Right, and all of a sudden it was like Pavlov's dog, like ooh sugar, and boom, I was in that car for the next three years as I built Haven Senior Investments to where it's at today and Haven Senior Living Partners and the other companies that we have.
John Hauber:But I could not have done it and built a small business without that type of system being in place through Lyft, where I got paid on a daily basis. It's amazing, it's so good for the soul. A daily basis. Yep, it's amazing, it's so good for the soul, it's so good for productivity, it's so good for being enthusiastic to know that all you have to do is go out and work or drive and you have money in your account that day. Yep, reduction of stress. What other things does it do for a human being, sue?
Sue Graves:Yeah, well, I'll tell you why. It is a game changer and that's why I'm such a proponent of it. You know, employers shouldn't keep the employees money. I'm sorry, I'm an employer too, but employees earn it and if they need it, they got to have access to it, and this is a great solution to allow that access. Oftentimes people think, oh, but they're going to spend all the money and they're not going to have any money. I'm like that's not what happens, because they're getting financial training that they never had before as part of this, and they have an opportunity to put some away in a 401k with the solution too. So there is plenty and plenty of opportunities for employees to look at what they made that day. That's why they're clicking on it. They're like I wonder how much I made today.
John Hauber:Literally that's correct.
Sue Graves:Wow, I worked really hard today, but look what I earned and they see it, they can visually. They can visualize their paycheck on a daily basis.
John Hauber:It is awesome. I remember I would have to make $250 that day, right, and yeah, all I did was kept driving until I made $250. And I knew I made it and I can do. You know, it was just beautiful, it was very empowering. It allowed, just you know, a huge reduction 80% reduction in stress, uncertainty, anxiety, everything. So keep advocating that suit in Ohio and the rest of the country. It's been a real pleasure speaking with you. You are full of energy and love and you really want to help this industry. So how do people get a hold of you?
Sue Graves:Yeah, the best. Thanks, john, and it's a pleasure. I am super passionate about the industry and about helping people. That's why I started this business to really really help relieve obstacles. But best way to get a hold of me is on my LinkedIn page. It's the easiest. They can check out my bio and I will respond.
Sue Graves:I'm on LinkedIn every day, susan Graves. On LinkedIn I'm the lady in the red dress and I would love to help anybody who connects with me for a call and help support them in various areas. I work as a boutique consultant support them in various areas. I work as a boutique consultant, you know, asking a lot of questions to help drive a response that will allow me to help provide a solution that will take care of their obstacles, not, you know, spewing out solutions that might work. So I ask a lot of questions because it's a really personal story for people. Sometimes people don't need all these things, they just want one, and that's okay. And then we meet, you know, every four to six weeks to make sure that they're happy with that solution, and I can offer up two to three more if they're ready. So that's how I work.
John Hauber:So you, you have a company called SG Consulting. Is that correct? Experience Alive, experience Alive, doing business as SG Consulting.
Sue Graves:Yeah, I use the. I use the Experience Alive. If you want to email me, you can do so, sue, at experiencealivecom. Just how it sounds.
John Hauber:Sue, thank you so much. It's been a pleasure. It's always fun. I said to my team that we were going to focus on technology big time this year, and then you just show up in my Facebook feed Not Facebook, I'm sorry LinkedIn and it was the exact time that I needed you on this show. So, thank you, thank you. Thank you so much, and I hope, I hope you have a great week.
Sue Graves:Yeah, you as well, john. Happy to support as many people as I can. We got to get moving with this technology. We need some adoption. Amen, all right, take care, see you, bye Great.
