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 in 2024 that will “connect the dots” to be helpful not only in business but in life as well. This installment is moderated by Ashly Balding, Executive Vice President & Chief Sales Officer at ALHI.
Ashly Balding: There's a lot of chaos going on in the world. What are you most concerned about?
Michael Dominguez: That's a biggie. We know the wars that are still going on and we’d be remiss if we don't mention the biggest concern is the loss of human life completely. That is the tragedy of war and the chaos that we see with wars and what they're going on. When you look at what's going on in Israel, unfortunately everybody has forgotten that the war in Ukraine is still rolling. It hasn't stopped and that's happening on an everyday basis. That is not as chaotic, though, because we know what that means. We're at this time of filming dealing with a situation where there's a threat from Iran on Israel and that can be very chaotic because it could really bring tensions into the Middle East, and when that happens, what happens to oil prices? Overnight, it will go up. Any time we talk about tension in the Middle East, you're going to have a jump start on oil prices. Why does that matter? That means my jet fuel gets more expensive. That means airline prices go up; all of those pieces kind of combine. My biggest concern, Ashly, and I don't think people are talking enough about it, is China and what they are doing around Taiwan is my big concern. There's a couple of big global ones. The fact that we have Green Berets in Taiwan training the Taiwanese army tells you they're preparing for some type of incursion, whatever that looks like. The Chinese Navy has surrounded the island of Taiwan. We have naval ships in that area preparing that some battle could outbreak. But what makes me most nervous is, candidly, that the president of China addressing the General Assembly for 40 years has been consistent with their message of ‘we are looking for a peaceful reunification with Taiwan.’ This year, ‘peaceful,’ was removed. It is they are looking for a reunification with Taiwan. That's not by accident and that's just a statement that something could be coming. Is it a surprise that we're so eager to build chip plants here in the United States? Not so much when almost 80% of our chips come from Taiwan. That would be detrimental to an economy, not only to peace overall. How does that align with where the alliances lie, how does it break the world or fragment the world even further? That a concern for me. Lastly, I don't think we've paid enough attention that 60% of the world GDP has had an election this year. If you've seen what's happening, the UK completely went to the labor market, which means we have a new prime minister. France had an election where they lost the majority. Nobody has a majority yet. Three parties almost evenly split. You're seeing this across the world. India, the president gets reelected, but lost of majority. That changes everything. It changes direction, it changes alliances, it changes trade policy. There is so much fraction in that and we don't know what our election is telling us yet. That will change trade policy, that will change positions on some of these aggressive orders around the world. I don't know what it all means, but I think we're so U.S. centric we don't pay enough attention to what else is coming at us. Those are real threats. I know you know I'm the most optimistic person in the world, but those are threats and those are things we have to kind of pay attention to.
Balding: Enlightening perspective. Thank you for connecting the dots. Your perspective is always valuable. Thank you for the conversation. I appreciate it.
Dominguez: Thank you all.