NEW YORK—Gulliver’s Gate co-founder Michael Langer sat down with Hotel Business to discuss his past experience in the real estate market, investing in the travel industry and Gulliver’s Gate’s future.
You started in real estate more than 20 years ago as a broker renting out apartments in Manhattan. What did you learn from that experience? That this is a really tough city that really wants you to succeed. Opportunity for success is abundant; tenacity and sheer will are the price of that success.
You eventually became a partner at E&M Associates, where you became responsible for overseeing the firm’s 10,000 rental units and a team of more than 500 real estate professionals around the country. How has this role helped shape your view on leadership? Empathy and humility: Every person who comes to work has a life that I do not see two-thirds of the time. They know things I do not and have talents I wish I had. They have good days and bad days just as I do. They like to be listened to, respected and acknowledged by a job well done. I take the realization that they put their trust in me to lead seriously. I like to listen to what they say so that I can do my job, which is to lead the company and make informed and profitable decisions while providing an amazing product.
Gulliver’s Gate just opened in May in a space that formerly housed The New York Times. Did you look at other locations before settling on this particular spot? We looked at a few different locations in New York, but we truly felt that Times Square would be ideal. New York City is the most diverse city ever, and it’s truly a microcosm of people, cultures and talents from across the globe where anything is possible.
Why is now the time to invest in the tourism industry, both in New York and around the world? Experience is the new social currency around the world. From Shanghai to Staten Island, the “explorer” has replaced the consumer. Millennials have turned their backs on the accumulation of objects, instead preferring to get out into the world and try new things, absorb new cultures and take great photos. Like many cultural trends, it echoes out to older cohorts and we see Gen Xers and boomers embracing this experiential ethos.
This drive toward first-person encounters in the world makes this the ideal time to invest in tourism. As explorers, these travelers are not content to just do the “top 10” in any given location. They want to take it all in and engage with every facet of the destination on multiple visits. It’s this passion that underpins our confidence in our current and planned investments in the tourism space.
What are your plans for 2018 at Gulliver’s Gate? This will be a big year for Gulliver’s Gate, being that we’ll be celebrating our first full year in business. Each and every day we have new things for visitors to see—from new scenes to hidden treasures that you may have missed last time around.
We’re looking forward to kicking off 2018 with our brand-new airport that will be fully functioning, complete with airplanes landing and taking off, jets taxiing on the runway and much more.