Phil Castle, The Business Times

Phillips Armstrong Jr. has learned from personal experience entrepreneurship is hard. Entrepreneurship in the hospitality industry can be even harder.

But ambition, a willingness to take risks and empathy contribute to success that’s important not only on a personal level, but a broader one, he said. “This world needs hospitality more than it has ever needed it before.”

Armstrong, founder and chief executive officer of Destination Hospitality Group, discussed entrepreneurship, hospitality and human connections during his keynote address at the Entrepreneurship Day luncheon at Colorado Mesa University in Grand Junction.

Based in Steamboat Springs, Destination Hospitality Group operates restaurants and hotels in Colorado and Hawaii resorts. Armstrong brings to his role more than 25 years of industry experience.

Armstrong told an audience of business leaders and CMU students entrepreneurship can be difficult and the hospitality industry even more difficult. Restaurant staffs work nights, weekends and holidays — all to serve perfect strangers.

Moreover, entrepreneurs and those who work in the hospitality industry must be willing to face failure.

But those who avoid that kind of pressure also avoid an opportunity to become great, Armstrong said.

Three attributes help in realizing success, he said, including work ethic, ambition and a willingness to take risks.

Armstrong says he learned his work ethic from his father — and in part striving to beat his dad in the daily table tennis matches they played as he grew up. “I hard to work for what I wanted.”

In addition to ambition, Armstrong said he’s learned what works and what doesn’t through mentorships and taking executives to lunch.

Armstrong described himself as a serial risk taker who once flew to South Korea to profess his love to an unrequited former girl friend.

As for success in the hospitality industry, he said empathy, human connections and willingness to throw a party are crucial.

Armstrong said he cringes when he considers the “horrible” first question often asked of customers and restaurants and hotels: Do you have a reservation? The focus should be on why those customers what to spend their time and money at those businesses.

Those seeking success in the hospitality industry should have empathy, Armstrong said. They should strive to make human connections in a digital world.

Moreover, they should be willing to throw parties for their guests, he said. “You’re there to throw a party for other people.”

It’s all part of what Armstrong said is a badly needed effort to improve the human experience.