This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed human. Liberty has never been just a word to we Americans. It has guided every one of our endeavors for the past 250 years. And now it takes form in a new way.
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Mike Levin. who was the president and chief operating officer of Las Vegas Sands. And an all-around hotel superstar, one of the great hoteliers of all time. More important, a personal friend. and a wise man, and wisdom, my goodness, in short supply these days, and he transfers his wisdom through story.
A Jewish guy who loves storytelling. like almost nobody else. Up next is Mike telling a story about how he puts his customers in charge. I can tell sales stories. really for the rest of the time we have together.
But at the end of the day, I really like the customers, just like my father. My best lesson was very early. And I think it's in my book, it talks about The New York State Savings Association, Mr. Guy named Bill Bodine, or Bodine was his last name. It was my first booking.
He says, funny you're in here, he said, because I need a lunch for 60 people. He said, can you find out? I said, sure, it was around the corner. He was on Fifth Avenue too. On the corner, I went back, checked the book.
with a guy banquet guy. We had a space wheel with the Madison room at the Roosevelt, held 60 people for lunch. I went back to him, didn't use the phone, you know, hadn't cell phones or anything, walked back, said, I got the room for you and whatever. It's $4.25 for lunch for whatever it was at that time, plus gratuity. And he said, fine, he said, I need 10 tables of six.
And I said Okay, what do I know? Ten tables, I didn't know ten tables are six, I didn't know twelve inch rounds, twelve foot rounds from ten foot rounds, I didn't know, and no one taught me anything.
So I go back and I say to Herber, I'm in the banquet guy, I said, I need ten tables of six. Can't do it. William Kansas, my first booking. I mean you can't do it. What do you mean you can't do it?
You can't, the union, you've got to have tables of ten. I go back to see Bodine and Bodine says to me, I said to him, you got to have tables of ten. He looked at me. Like I'm looking at you. Mm-hmm.
He said, Mike. and the customer. I want ten tables of six, or you're not getting the business. I said, Mr. Bodhien, I will try to work it out.
So I go back. I have to understand. I don't know anything. I go back to Ehrman. And I said herb.
I said, why do I have to have why does the union want? Tables of ten instead of tables of six. He says, because they have to get the gratuity from ten people per table. I said, what's the gratuity? It says 15%.
I figured out 15% on $4.50. is uh sixty cents, right?
So 10 tables of 60 cents on two extra people. Is $1.20, correct? I don't know if I'm going to ask, I'm doing it in my head.
Okay, it's $1.20. I said, I'll tell you what. Suppose I get the customer to pay a dollar twenty. for every person. For 60 people.
Does it make a difference whether they have tables of six or tables of ten? He says, no, they'll take it for the money. The money's the same.
So let's do that. He says, okay, I'll do it. I go back to Bodein, I said to Mr. Bodin, listen. I can't short the waiters.
A dollar twenty. $2.40 a table.
So if you pay me the extra, I can do the 10 tables. He said it's a deal.
So I made my first deal. to get my first booking. But here are the lessons that it's so easy for people to turn the customer down. to play the game their way rather than to play the game for the customer. And I can tell you from my whole career.
making it work for the customer. came up almost all the time. Even later in the holiday in days and the days in days, the franchisee. I'd say to people, Who's the customer in a franchise operation? And you know what they all say, most of them?
Well, the person who buys the product. in the restaurant or in the hotel is the customer. Said, you're wrong. The franchisee is your customer. If you make that person happy, He or she will make the customer happy, if they're happy.
And if they make the customer happy, the end user happy, then we're going to be happy because we're going to be collecting more royalties. Isn't that the way it works? But that all came from trying to make it work in the first deal I ever made. And you know, after that, Lee, I always wanted to be in charge. Because the basic situation in business.
or in everything is the people who want top. want it to be done their way. But when they want it to be done the customer's way, they are ultimately successful. I made some marketing decisions along the way. That was sort of customer-oriented.
I think I did that. But when I was fully in charge at the top of it, And then when I was executive EP of operations at Americana Hotels and had the whole company, I could make those decisions or at least teach people to make those decisions. You know, because they knew what my philosophy was. And then ultimately as president of Days Inn and Holiday Inn and these kind of situations, I could eventually develop that particular situation.
So I think I think that the The difference for me From what I see from many other executives or many other people, is that my power, if you had power, was really to make it happen for the customer. Not to make it power for power's sake for myself. Because the ultimate benefit of the company is to have satisfied customers. And if you don't have satisfied customers, you can't be successful for long. And what you see when you read and see what goes on in business in general or in life.
Even in politics. It's no difference. You know, I mean, how in politics do you service your constituency? The successful politician is the one. whose constituents he makes happy.
That can be positive or negative depending upon what makes it happy, but the point is making them happy means that they vote for him. And and or her. Or it. Yeah.
So my, and you know what's funny because. I always treated suppliers the same way. And I always treated the hotel media the same way. even though we were buyers of their product. I always looked at them like Like, how can I help them to be successful?
I always treated employees the same way. And so I think that if you if you know if you summarize all this stuff and roll it into a little ball. I think I think if My success, if I've had any, has been the number of people both customers and employees. that have gained an advantage. or gain something because I was involved.
that benefited. I think gains maybe is a bad word, benefited from the involvement with me. And you've been listening to Mike Levin. By the way, go to ouramericanstories.com, put in his name. And I love so many of the things he shares with us, so many of his stories about people.
And in the end, businesses are about people. The local restaurant, look, you go in two or three times to that local restaurant in a row and they serve you up a bad mood or they're rude. And 10 years of dedication to that restaurant are over. It is about the customer and it's about choice. And that is the free enterprise system.
The customer gets to choose. Leave it to the guy at the top, he'll just say something like, 10 tables of six. That's just the way we do it. And it was beautiful that the guy, the customer, said to Mike, I want 10 tables of six. or you're not getting the business.
This is what makes In the end, free enterprise hum. The customer gets to choose. Don't take care of the customer. There goes your business. Mike Levin's stories, Mike's storytelling, a hotel legend, and in the end, a friend, and Mike will forgive this a real mensch.
His storytelling here on Our American Stories. Mm-hmm. Liberty has never been just a word to we Americans. It has guided every one of our endeavors for the past 250 years. And now it takes form in a new way.
The 2026 Semi-Quincentennial Coin and Metal Program from the United States Mint. It celebrates the founding ideals that have long shaped our coinage. Available one year only, this historic collection features new coin designs, limited edition releases, and reissues. Shop new official coins at usmint.gov forward slash semi-q. That's usmint.gov/slash S-E-M-I-Q.
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