Trendsetter Tuesday: Where Does Javier Cano Find the Time to Be So Awesome and Inspiring?

Native Los Angeleno Javier Cano wears many hats, from overseeing 10 hotels in Greater Los Angeles, including LA LIVE’s JW Marriott and The Ritz-Carlton, to being chair of the Los Angeles Tourism Marketing District and on the executive committee of the Los Angeles Tourism & Convention Board as well as the California Hotel & Lodging Association.

In addition, he’s on the board of directors of the California Travel Association, Hotel Association of Los Angeles and Central City Association, among others. Cano has also been recognized among the 500 most influential people in L.A., GM of the Year for Marriott and GM of the Year for Los Angeles. We also named him a 2024 Meetings Trendsetter.

Meetings Today's Tyler Davidson somehow got worked into Javier's busy schedule for a podcast interview. Discover the unique perspectives, encyclopedic knowledge and inspirational advice this 45-year Marriott veteran brings to meetings and hospitality, and by all means share it with someone who may be considering a career in this dynamic industry!

[Related: The 2024 Meetings Trendsetters Paving New Paths in the Events Industry]

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Transcript:

Editors note: The following transcription was facilitated by AI program Otter.ai and proofed by our editors. Although it is very accurate, there inevitably will be some mistakes, so please consider that when reading. Thank you.

Tyler Davidson
Hello, and welcome to this Meetings Today Podcast. I'm Tyler Davidson, Vice President and Chief Content Director for Meetings Today, and this is one of our special Trendsetter Tuesday podcasts, where we're introducing our audience to the various Meetings Today Trendsetters that we just announced in our last issue in September. So, joining us today is Javier Cano, who is the area general manager for Los Angeles, for Marriott International. Thanks for joining us, Javier.

Javier Cano
Thank you very much, Tyler, it's a pleasure to be here today.

Tyler Davidson
Yeah, thank you. And we were just talking; one of the things that always impresses me about you, and one of the reasons we really wanted to name you a Trendsetter this year, is all the different hats you wear and your dedication to the hospitality industry in Los Angeles.

You know, you are native Los Angeleno. You oversee 10 hotels in LA, including LA Live JW Marriott and the Ritz-Carlton. You're the chair of the LA tourism marketing district, on the board of Visit California, etc. I mean, am I missing something? And how do you find the time to do all this stuff?

Javier Cano
Well, thanks, Tyler. I appreciate that. I've been very fortunate to work in this great industry, and it's been very, very good to me. So, I am just lucky enough to have a great team that affords me the opportunity to be able to do a few things that are out there, and giving back to the industry and trying to help promote it has been one of the things I've been fortunate enough to be able to do, whether it be on the local level, state level.

Tyler Davidson
And why don't you just tell us a little bit about your history. How did you get into this industry? And you know, maybe some highlights along the way?

Javier Cano
Sure, it'd be my pleasure. You know, I actually started off like many people. I was going to school and needed to work to make money to make it through. And started a job working in a small motel while finishing up. And then there was a Marriott hotel in town in San Antonio, Texas, on the Riverwalk, and they were paying $1 more an hour, which was a big amount of money in those days, and I ended up getting a job there, started at the front desk, and was getting ready to finish school. And they said, ‘Look, you're pretty good at this.’ And I said, ‘Well, I'm not sure I want to do it.’ They said, ‘Try it.’ 
So, I tried it and I never left. And it's been wonderful. I've been with Marriott now for 45 years.

Tyler Davidson
45 years. Wow, that's amazing. In my line of work, I speak with a lot of Marriott veterans, and usually they're talking about like 35 years, but 45 years, that is super impressive. I mean, what keeps you inspired to keep going like that?

Javier Cano
Well, thanks, Tyler. You know, I just love what I do, and I really enjoy the opportunity to be able to work with people, both as staff—line staff, here in the hotel—and work with customers. That has been really fulfilling. And then, yeah, the last, I don't know, x number of years, also working to help promote our industry. That's been a lot of fun as well.

Tyler Davidson
And, you know, I guess this is sort of a big question, but how have the industry and hotels changed the last 45 years? That's a lot to bite off!

Javier Cano
Well, look, there's been a lot of changes over the years, and it's been interesting to see the growth. You know, I will tell you, when I started with Marriott, I started off in the 63rd hotel that Marriott had, that was the one in San Antonio, and we just recognized the 9,000th hotel that Marriott has, and so it has been a spectacular growth and I've been lucky to be part of that.

But one of the things I would probably highlight is the technology that has changed so much. I mean, when I started, everything was manual; you wrote things down on paper; people signed in to check in; and you had all these different jobs needed as processes, but they were all manual, and now obviously the technology … so much more can done by just pushing a couple of buttons.

Yeah, I know it's in really every industry, but it's amazing how much automation and efficiency has been created in hospitality.

Tyler Davidson
You’ve had to learn all that in your career, but was it hard for you to adopt that stuff? And you mentioned, you have a great staff, so I'm sure they help you, too?

Javier Cano
Oh, yeah, you know what? It's been interesting all the way through. Going through the very first computers that we had, the very first systems.

We literally started with a system that was built by a couple of guys in a garage in Wichita, Kansas, and it just kind of built from there. But technology has come along, and it's been very natural to replace a process or a system that had been manual.

So, all that has been really great. The last few years just have been phenomenal. It is just the amount of information you can get and the amount of tools that are out there now just boggles the mind. I'm just amazed at some of the work that so many talented people do in our industry now, with data and with being able to provide information to the guests, for the guests, about the guests. It really is inspiring to see.

Tyler Davidson
And, so, tell us, what is your sort of day-to-day like in your job? And I'm sure it's highly varied. What does Javier Cano do in a typical day?

Javier Cano
Well, sure, Tyler. I tell you that I am an early riser, so I get up very early, usually four, 4:30 at the latest, and I get to work early as well. I'm usually in the building by 6:30 and spend the first hour/hour and a half walking around, talking to a lot of the staff in the various areas, checking in to see how they're doing. I tell you what, I would much rather be out talking to the staff than I would be behind a computer or answering a phone.

With technology now you're constantly in touch, though; you know messengers are coming in, and I am on a number of committees. I'm actually on 10 boards, and those are scattered across the state. I'm on the Cal Travel Board. I'm on the board of CH and LA, and then the Hotel Association of Los Angeles, a couple of nonprofits here associated with a local hospital, California Hospital Medical Center. The Collins College of Hospitality Management out in Cal Poly Pomona, to name a few.

But you know, that takes a little bit of your time, and then I try to walk around as much as I can, both to get out of the sedentary lifestyle and just to talk to people—that's the part that I enjoy the most.

Tyler Davidson
And there must have been a time in your career where you really made a transition to being a manager, and what were some lessons that you learned at that time that you carry forward to this day?

Javier Cano
Yeah, I have a great number of mentors that kind of helped me along the way. And one of them, you know, told me, ‘You're very good at what you do, but you can't do it by yourself. You have to have a team that is successful.’ And you know, for the longest time in the job that I had, I really believed if I worked harder, I would make that result better, and that did for the first sets of jobs, until you had people report to you and your organization got bigger and you had to change and learn how you do things.

So, that was always one of the big lessons that was learned along the way.

Tyler Davidson
And you know, you are involved with the future of the hospitality industry and serve on at least one board in that respect. As someone who has put in 45 years, what is your advice to someone just entering this industry?

Javier Cano
Look, today, I think it's the best time ever to enter our industry. The world is getting smaller every day. If you are connected, you can get information on flights that will take you anywhere, and then you get a chance to go and learn about another country, learn about other cultures.

I'm such a believer that our industry brings people together. The more you learn about others, the better we can understand each other. And I think that's something that young people have an opportunity now getting into our industry to do. And there are so many sub-segments of our industry as well. When I started, there were only hotels.

Tyler Davidson
And now there are so many subcategories, and you have the cruise industry that has just exploded, and you have so many different variations of our industry that are out there that it makes such a great career. I always want to communicate to a young person just how exciting and vibrant and different this industry is, but I wonder what the disconnect is why some of them may not want to jump into it. I mean, you are a person who started at the entry level basically, and now.
You've risen to near the top echelon of the industry. How do we communicate to younger people that, ‘Hey, you got to stick it through. And if you do, this is just a life-changing career for you in an industry that's all about people and good vibes in general, you know?

Javier Cano
You make a really good point. We are one of those industries that don't necessarily get as much attention as some others, maybe not as much credit as others, but you're right. There's a great opportunity within our industry. And you know, I'm part of this. You know, the school out of Cal Poly Pomona Hotel School—great hotel school.

We work with a lot of young people there, trying to attract them to go into the education to learn more. But we're still an industry that, look, if you start off at entry level, you can work your way up as far as your ambition, desire and interest will take you, and I think that's different than a lot of other industries.

We do, as an industry, have to work a little harder to try to get the word out, because the opportunities are significant.

Tyler Davidson
And, you know, and maybe part of it is there is a bit of ambiguity there, right? I mean, you could jump in and you don't know where you're going to end up, whereas if you go to business school, you pretty much can visualize where your career is going, the various paths it will take.

Javier Cano
Yeah, I can't speak too much for other careers, but I know in our world, the neat thing about it is, as you mature and you grow and you get different interests, you get a chance to continue to grow and go within our same industry. I tell people all along that I started and I've changed careers three or four times, and I've been lucky enough to stay in the same industry, and luckier to stay in the same company, because it affords us the opportunity to do these different things within the industry umbrella.

Tyler Davidson
Yeah, that's fantastic. I mean, in today's environment, you just don't hear of a lot of people putting in over 40 years with one company. But you do hear that about Marriott. So, they must be doing something right, to treat their people good and make them stay so long, right?

Javier Cano
Yeah. I think that as everybody goes through their career and everybody starts taking their path, there's a path for everyone. And some may be similar to mine, others very different. But the neat thing about our industry is that you have an opportunity to plug in and you can take paths that take you off the main road and plug back in to where you started from. A number of colleagues that have left the hotel side, went to work for other, different businesses within the industry and came back to the hotel side and vice versa--people that went the other direction as well. Just a lot of offerings and a lot of opportunities. 
So, for us that are in it, it's a lot of fun.

Tyler Davidson
Tell us about what's going on in L.A. these days. I know we talked a couple months ago about all the major sports events coming up there, of a global scope. What's going on there in general? And then also with the Marriotts you oversee?

Javier Cano
Yeah, you know, I'll start off with the city, the destination. I'm a huge—obviously—huge fan of Los Angeles, one of the great cities of the world. And we've got a lot of things out on the horizon to be excited about.

In 2026 we'll have the NBA All-Star game that will host here in L.A. Also, we'll be having the World Cup. We'll have eight games here in the Los Angeles area. Then, 2027 is the Super Bowl, in 2028 is the Olympics. So, a lot to be excited as we go forward.

You know, some great infrastructure projects are being done in L.A., and I think there's some good things coming. Yeah, we've got our issues, things we’ve got to deal with, but every major metropolitan city has those. I know a lot of folks are focused on getting plans to address those, and we just have confidence in our leaders that we're going to get there to where we want to be.

Tyler Davidson
And I mean some big news at the convention center too, right? The city council approved an expansion of it, and I know something folks like you are keenly interested in is having a vibrant and desirable convention center, right?

Javier Cano
We're very excited about the work that's being done at the convention center. A lot of folks are putting a lot of effort behind that. We are hopeful that that crosses the finish line here very, very soon, and that, you know, sometime in early 2025 we'll get that shovel in the ground that will really be a game-changer. I don't think many of the people in L.A. realize how important that will be, when we have that shovel in the ground, and then go out to the industry to be able to showcase the new center. That's really going to make a difference to the type of business that we can attract here to Los Angeles, which currently doesn't include us in rotations.

Tyler Davidson
One of the reasons that we thought you were a trendsetter was your dedication to the industry. You're 24/7, but in your mind, what would you think defines a trendsetter in our industry?

Javier Cano
You know, I think we are so blessed in our industry to have so many people that care so much about what they do. So many people give back to communities. So many people give back to the industry. We're littered with really great candidates that are out there and people doing great work. That's the fun part about being in an industry.

I know I'm blessed to work with a number of amazing people here in my hotel, here at the local level and the state level, and I think that I’m very, very fortunate to have been recognized. But I know a lot of my colleagues that deserve recognition as well that are out there.

Tyler Davidson
What sort of piece of advice would you give to others in the industry? You might want to kind of strive to become a quote, unquote Trendsetter themselves. How should they embark on that path? I think that a lot of folks that are involved, you can't really be in our industry without being involved in a lot that impacts your business. In our case, our hotels. I think it's just taking that extra step to being out there. Your voice matters. And I think that you realize that your voice speaks for so much more.

Javier Cano

So many of the employees, so many of the small businesses depend upon you for success, that when you start amplifying that voice through either local organizations or with elected officials, it becomes something that is important, and I would encourage everybody to do so—use their voice. Now more than ever, our industry needs people to stand up and talk about what's important and what impacts us, and the important things and important work that's being done out there.

Tyler Davidson
Great. Well, thank you for your time today. Javier. You’re really one of the people I've met in my almost 30 years of covering this industry that made a big impression on me, and I appreciate that.

How can people stay connected with you?

Javier Cano
Well, certainly. I'm out here in Los Angeles and would welcome people…I'm on LinkedIn if you want to reach me through that method, and I can be reached here at javier.cano@marriott.com.

Tyler Davidson
And I suppose if they brought a huge convention to one of your properties, they get to meet you too.

Javier Cano
You'd be my best friend.

Tyler Davidson

Well, thank you. That was Javier Cano, the area general manager for Los Angeles for Marriott International. Thanks for joining us today, Javier,

Javier Cano
It's been a pleasure, Tyler, I really enjoyed it.

Tyler Davidson
And I'm Tyler Davidson, vice president and chief content director for Meetings Today. Thanks for joining us for this Meetings Today Podcast. And if you're interested in more of our podcasts, including podcasts with other Trendsetters, just head on over to MeetingsToday.com and check out our podcast section, where you'll find lots of different interviews with key industry thought leaders.

So, thanks again for joining us today, and no matter what you're up to with the rest of it, go out and make it great.