Ryan Minton
Ryan Minton is a two-time bestselling author and customer and employee experience expert with more than 20 years of leadership experience with world-class hospitality brands including Hilton and Marriott.
Recognized by Global Gurus as one of the World’s Best Speakers in both Hospitality and Customer Experience, Ryan helps leaders understand how the way people are treated behind the scenes directly shapes the experiences customers remember most.
Ryan Minton is a best-selling author, keynote speaker, and former hospitality executive who brings more than 25 years of real-world expertise in customer experience and leadership to the stage.
Ryan spent his career rising through nearly every level of the hospitality industry, from frontline roles in hotel operations to Senior Vice President overseeing a portfolio of Marriott and Hilton properties across the country. Along the way, he became known for transforming underperforming properties, strengthening workplace cultures, developing high-performing teams, and improving the customer experience from the inside out.
His philosophy is grounded in a lesson learned over decades of leading people: the way employees are treated behind the scenes shapes the experiences customers remember most.
Ryan has seen firsthand that exceptional customer experiences aren’t created through scripts, slogans, or service standards alone. They are the result of leaders who build cultures where people feel valued, connected to purpose, and empowered to make a difference.
Throughout his executive career, Ryan led organizations through periods of growth, operational challenges, staffing shortages, and industry disruption while driving improvements in employee engagement, guest satisfaction, revenue, and profitability. During one of the hospitality industry’s most challenging periods, his culture-focused approach helped move guest satisfaction results from the bottom rankings into the top 25 percent.
Today, Ryan brings those lessons to organizations around the world, helping leaders understand the powerful connection between leadership, employee experience, customer experience, and business performance.
Ryan is the best-selling author of Thanks for Coming in Today and Uplifted. He has been recognized by Global Gurus among the world’s leading experts in Customer Experience and Hospitality, including a #2 global ranking in Customer Experience in 2026, and has ranked among the Top 30 worldwide for six consecutive years. He has also served on the Forbes Business Council and Newsweek’s expert panel.
Engaging, practical, and grounded in decades of experience actually doing the work, Ryan gives audiences more than ideas about creating exceptional experiences. He shows leaders how to build a culture of service their employees can deliver and their customers can feel.
THANKS FOR COMING IN TODAY! CREATING A CULTURE WHERE EMPLOYEES THRIVE AND CUSTOMER SERVICE IS ALIVE
The experience your customers have is a direct reflection of the experience your team is having.
Yet in many organizations, that connection is overlooked, resulting in disengaged employees, inconsistent service, and customer experiences that vary from one interaction to the next.
Organizations can create service standards, scripts, and expectations – but exceptional customer experiences aren’t created by standards alone. They are shaped by the culture behind them and by the everyday experience of the people expected to deliver them.
When employees feel supported, valued, and connected to their leaders, it changes how they show up for one another and for their customers. And that starts with the everyday choices leaders make: how they listen, communicate, recognize contributions, build trust, and support the people doing the work.
In this heartfelt and humor-filled keynote, Ryan Minton reveals the powerful connection between the employee experience and the customer experience, showing leaders why taking better care of their people is one of the most effective ways to take better care of their customers.
Drawing from his experience working with leading brands and independent operations, Ryan combines memorable stories with practical strategies leaders can immediately put into action to create workplaces where employees thrive, service becomes more consistent, and customers feel the difference.
Key Concepts and Takeaways:
- Employee Experience Drives Customer Experience — Understand how the support employees receive shapes the care and service they deliver.
- Your People Bring Your Brand to Life — Recognize how everyday interactions turn your company’s values into experiences customers remember.
- The Cost of Disengagement — Explore how disconnected teams and inconsistent service can erode customer trust and employee commitment.
- First Impressions Matter — Set the tone from day one with welcoming experiences for new employees and customers alike.
- “You Are the Experience” — Help every team member see how their attitude, choices, and actions influence the people around them.
- Hospitality Belongs in Every Business — Apply the principles of care, attention, and personal connection to any role or customer interaction.
- Kindness as a Strategic Advantage — Discover how everyday leadership behaviors build trust and help employees feel valued and supported.
- Blow People Away (BPA) — Look for opportunities to go beyond expectations and create memorable moments that earn customer loyalty.
SHOW UP POSITIVE: LEADERSHIP STRATEGIES FOR OPERATIONAL EXCELLENCE
Great performance starts with how leaders show up.
Every interaction a leader has sends a message. Their energy, attitude, communication, and response to challenges shape how employees feel about their work, how teams perform together, and ultimately, how customers experience the business.
In Show Up Positive, hospitality expert Ryan Minton challenges leaders to recognize the influence they have on the people around them and use it intentionally. Because showing up positive isn’t about ignoring problems or pretending every day is a good one. It’s about bringing the mindset, consistency, and leadership behaviors that help people perform at their best, especially when the pressure is on.
Through relatable stories, humor, and lessons drawn from real-world operations, Ryan gives leaders practical strategies for building stronger teams, creating greater accountability and engagement, and establishing a culture where people want to do great work.
Designed for general managers, business owners, franchise leaders, and anyone responsible for leading people and performance, Show Up Positive demonstrates how better leadership creates better workplaces, stronger customer experiences, and better business results.
Key Concepts and Takeaways:
- Why leadership energy sets the tone for performance and consistency
- The impact of frontline teams on operational success
- First Impressions Matter – reinforcing standards daily through leadership presence
- “You Are the Experience” – leadership visibility and influence in every moment
- Applying hospitality principles to drive operational results
- Kindness as a leadership strategy that builds trust and accountability
- Creating a culture where people consistently bring their best
- Blow People Away (BPA) as a driver of performance and customer satisfaction
- Simple, practical ways to elevate team mindset and execution
FROM MANAGER TO EXPERIENCE MAKER: ELEVATING SERVICE EXCELLENCE IN YOUR OPERATION
Great service doesn’t happen by accident. It happens when leaders create the conditions for their people to deliver it consistently.
In From Manager to Experience Maker, CX expert Ryan Minton shows leaders how to move beyond simply managing operations to intentionally creating experiences that customers remember and employees are proud to deliver.
At the heart of Ryan’s approach is BPA: Blowing People Away. But exceptional service isn’t about grand gestures or doing something extraordinary once. It’s about empowering frontline employees to recognize opportunities, take ownership, and consistently create moments that make people feel valued and cared for.
Through memorable stories, real-world examples, and practical strategies drawn from both franchise systems and independent operations, Ryan shows managers how to build a culture where service excellence becomes part of how the team operates every day.
Leaders will discover how to empower employees without sacrificing consistency, turn service standards into meaningful experiences, and develop frontline team members into passionate ambassadors for the business.
Because the best managers don’t just run great operations. They create the environment where great experiences happen.
Key Concepts & Takeaways:
- The shift from task management to experience leadershi
- Why frontline employees define and differentiate the customer experience
- First Impressions Matter – for both team members and customers
- Establishing clear, simple service expectations teams can execute
- “You Are the Experience” – ownership at every level of the operation
- Hospitality in action: moving from transactional to relational service
- Kindness as a competitive advantage in delivering service
- Blow People Away (BPA) – creating moments customers remember and share
- Empowering teams to consistently deliver standout experiences
