With a remarkable career in the hospitality industry spanning over 35 years, Christian Marich has been an active player in the Swiss Hotel scene.  He is a specialist in design, planning, implementation and management of tourism and hotel businesses.Originally from Uruguay, Christian has been responsible for several hotel openings and renovations and was involved in the Glacier 3000 project and the Palafitte Hotel project for the 2001 Swiss Expo.  He was also the president of the SIRHA Salon in Geneva and the Gastronomia Salon in Lausanne for several years. Christian worked several years in the UAE helping them to develop tourism and real estate ventures. In 2006 he became the General Director of the Geneva Starling Hotel and Conference Center (the largest hotel in Switzerland) and in 2008 he was appointed the Administrator President of Starling Hotels and Resorts. During this adventure, he worked with the Ecole Hotelière de Genève, and allowed the students to get practical experience while using the hotel as a learning laboratory.In this podcast, Christian talks about the challenges that the hospitality field is facing and offers some ideas and solutions.  He also talks about how COVID disrupted the industry and catalyzed issues that were just below the surface.  He touches on the reasons why many hospitality workers have left the industry and what can be done to retain talent.