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Brian Chesky is Interviewed about Airbnb Criticism; Union Members Voting Republican; Anderson Cooper is Interviewed about the Astor Family; Eric Adams is Interviewed about Immigration. Aired 8:30- 9a ET

Aired September 21, 2023 - 08:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[08:30:00]

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: -- $275 after taxes and all of the fees.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: OK, you went on Twitter -

BRIAN CHESKY, CEO AND CO-FOUNDER, AIRBNB: Yes.

HARLOW: And you asked people, what do we need to change?

CHESKY: Yes.

HARLOW: Because you're hearing this, Brian.

CHESKY: Oh, yes.

HARLOW: So, what are you changing to respond to people like this?

CHESKY: Well, I always want - yes, exactly. So, I always want to be that kind of CEO that's on the ground listening to customer feedback.

In the beginning year we I - we started really going deep on people's complaints. We went on social media. We created a blueprint of the entire experience and we made 53 upgrades based on the experience.

Then I went on Twitter and I said, tell me what else we can fix about Airbnb. I got 3,000 responses. The top eight suggests, we've knocked down the five of them most recently. People say that like prices of Airbnb are more expensive than they used to be. In the last year our prices are down 1 percent while hotel prices are up 10 percent. And that's because we've done new - new pricing tools. People said they didn't like the cleaning fees.

HARLOW: They're still more expensive than they used to be.

CHESKY: They are more expective than they used to be, but they are not going up as fast as hotels in the last year. That's important.

HARLOW: Fair. CHESKY: Cleaning fees. Two hundred and sixty thousand hosts have reduced or removed cleaning fees. We now have 3 million listings without cleaning fees.

I think the basic idea is this -

HARLOW: Yes.

CHESKY: We want people to love our service.

HARLOW: Right.

CHESKY: That means that every single day we're going to work and we are listening to customer feedback and we're continuing to bring the community along on the improvements we're making.

HARLOW: Do you - I'm sure you saw this headline in "The Atlantic" just two days ago, quote, "Airbnb is really different now." And they're - they're arguing it's not the scrappy startup it used to be. It's not what you founded it as.

Obviously, companies grow. But I thought it was interesting, you said a few days ago, "we can't improve our reputation until after we've solved these issues."

CHESKY: Yes.

HARLOW: It seems like you see your company sort of has gone from when you built in that apartment that I first interviewed you in, in San Francisco -

CHESKY: Yes.

HARLOW: And you're trying to get back there. Is that right?

CHESKY: Oh, yes, and we've been doing that for a number of years. And I think that we are getting very close to where we need to be. But it's going to take time for people to really feel like, you know - you know, if you look at the stats on Airbnb, the number of five star reviews is higher than it's ever been. The satisfaction is actually statistically higher than it's ever been.

In May we launched Airbnb Rooms, an all-new take on the original Airbnb where you can stay with a host in their home. That's still very popular.

HARLOW: You had (INAUDIBLE) in your house.

CHESKY: I am hosting people every like couple months in my house.

HARLOW: And I -

CHESKY: And that's part of getting back to the basics is, using the product yourself.

HARLOW: So, I want to spend the remainder of our time talking about something that I have never heard a CEO talk about, certainly a Silicon Valley CEO billionaire. Loneliness.

CHESKY: Yes.

HARLOW: Why are you so worried about people being lonely? Why are you lonely?

CHESKY: Well, first of all, maybe the reason I'm worried about it is because the surgeon general, in the beginning of the year, put out a report and - you know, the surgeon general has put out a report, like tobacco, it's very concerning. And they said that we are living in a loneliness epidemic.

HARLOW: Vivek Murthy.

CHESKY: Vivek Murthy. And that like, you know, depending upon what - what stats you read, somewhere between a third and two-thirds of Americans are feeling lonely. And that has a pernicious effect in their mental health. And if you look at teenagers, as many as two out of three teenagers are feeling lonely.

Now, why is this? I think modern life is starting to isolate us inadvertently. You know, the mall becomes Amazon and the theater becomes Netflix and the office becomes Zoom. And all of these - and it's not - they're not - it's not anyone's fault, it's just that all these things are a step forward, but they ultimately maybe have a fact of isolating us. And we need to still get out.

And the reason I'm talking about it is because I think, you know, maybe our service, we can point the service to be helpful.

HARLOW: Yes.

CHESKY: There's a lot of things I could do with our time and our money, but we want to help bring people together, encourage people to travel together.

HARLOW: But you lived this? You are living this?

CHESKY: Oh, yes. I mean, with the pandemic, I live alone -- or I lived alone. I was at one point by myself, then I got a dog. But I -- I started realizing. And one of the other things I noticed is, the more successful I got, I thought I'd have a lot more people surrounding me. And it's true that often that has a way of isolating you. And it's not to say that my story's unique. It's a story that no matter who you are, you can be lonely, you can be isolated and you've got to really work to connect with other people around you.

HARLOW: I know President Obama helped guide you out of this loneliness, is that right?

CHESKY: Well, he gave me some advice. And one of the things -- pieces of advice he gave me was that he stayed really connected to his old friends, his close friends from high school, from college. And I think a lot of us probably have friends from high school. We have friends from college. We have friends from our past. But we haven't picked up the phone. We haven't spent time with them. And one the best things somebody could do if they're feeling isolated is know they're not truly alone, that there are many people out there. They just have to reach out and rekindle those relationships.

HARLOW: We all remember the moment when Airbnb went public.

CHESKY: Yes.

HARLOW: And I want to play people the moment you realized and were told on live television this is a $100 billion company, making you a multibillionaire.

Here is that moment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Shares indicated to open right now at $139 a share, which is more than double.

CHESKY: That's the first time I've heard that number. I - I don't know what else to say. It's -- that's -- that's a -- that's a - that's a very - that's - that is -- yes, I'm very humbled by it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: But then you've called some of those months the saddest of your life.

[08:35:00]

Did it feel good when you got to the top of that mountain?

CHESKY: I think that so many of us, like, if there's something missing in our life, we want to climb the mountain feeling that by the top we get to that - the time we get to the top of the mountain we're going to feel different. And maybe for a moment you do. That moment you stand on the top of the mountain. And then, when it settles in, you go back to the -- feeling like the way you were before and you start realizing, maybe everything I needed to be happy was already inside myself and I need to look inward. And it's really -- ultimately happiness is not just about climbing a mountain, it's about the people that are with you along the way. And as long as you bring those people close, you can be happy.

HARLOW: You've said -- I was shocked when I heard this, finally, Brian, "if I die, will I die Brian Chesky or the Airbnb guy just died?" That's kind of a wow stop you in your tracks moment.

CHESKY: So much of my life has been completely dedicated to Airbnb. And many of us, if we're not careful, we can become the thing we're trying to pursue. And we can lose a little bit of a sense of who we are as a person and be able to have a little bit of boundaries and know that there is Airbnb and there is me and I'm a distinct person and I need to invest in myself. And that is a really, really important thing. And, hopefully, people get to know me, not just as the Airbnb guys, but as Brian, a guy that lives in San Francisco with a dog named Sophie and, you know. HARLOW: And makes chocolate chip cookies.

CHESKY: And makes chocolate chip cookies for his guests.

HARLOW: Thank you for opening up about this.

CHESKY: Of course.

HARLOW: I think a lot of us have felt it or are feeling it. And we always think you guys have it all.

CHESKY: No. Everyone is more similar than we imagine.

HARLOW: Thanks, Brian.

CHESKY: Thank you.

HARLOW: Appreciate it.

Phil.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN ANCHOR: Well, members of worker unions have historically voted Democrat, but new data suggests a growing shift. Harry Enten is here to break it all down.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:40:34]

MATTINGLY: Well, new this morning, there appears to be real optimism about progress towards ending the Hollywood writers strikes. Writers and the heads of four major studios are set to meet for a second consecutive day. A person familiar told CNN the talks yesterday left attendees feeling encouraged. A deadline is nearing for both sides to hammer out a deal if they want to salvage the winter portion of the television season. The economic toll of the writers and actors strikes is approaching $6 billion across multiple industries.

HARLOW: This morning, an historically pretty Democratic group of American voters are increasingly voting Republican. After three years of inflation, higher interest rates, union workers are complaining. Many are feeling pushed out of the middle class. And now as President Biden calls himself the most pro-union president ever, some of those union workers are saying they're not so sure he is on their side.

Harry Enten here with the numbers.

Harry, good morning.

I was just really interested in knowing what the actual numbers are because, obviously, Trump's going to Detroit next week. Republicans are trying to take the state again and the Senate and the presidential race.

Do the union voters look like they're going to help them?

HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR DATA REPORTER: Yes. So, you know, look, let's take a look at this morning's number, and that is, look, Joe Biden won union members by 22 points back in 2020. But, look, Democratic Harry Truman won them by 62 points back in 1948. So, over the last 70 years, we've seen an increasingly - an increasing push among union voters to vote more Republican, even if they still vote Democratic.

And I will note this. There is a massive divide within union members between college graduates and non-college graduates and how they vote. Among college graduates, look at that, Joe Biden won union members by 46 points. But among non-college graduates, Donald Trump actually won them by six points. So, there's been a real shift, especially among non-college graduate union member.

MATTINGLY: Well, there's also been a real shift in terms of demographic changes, right? What - what's that been?

ENTEN: Yes, so, how about this? Share of union members with a college degree, of voters, in 2020, it was 51 percent. Back in 1952, it was just 2 percent. So, we've seen union members become increasingly more part of the college educated group.

And more than that, you know, we talk about who are union members, right? 2022 workers who were union members, look at that, 33 percent of those in the public sector are part of a union. Among the private sector, it's just 6 percent. This number was basically triple 40 years ago. Private sector members, union members, have dropped a ton, guys.

MATTINGLY: That's fascinating. The numbers are fascinating and also very important.

Harry, as always, my friend, thank you.

ENTEN: Thank you.

HARLOW: To some the Astor family represents sort the quintessential American dream, right? John Jacob Astor, a German immigrant, first arrived in the U.S. in 1783 and made his fortune on the beaver fur trade, going on to become America's first multimillionaire and leaving behind a legacy stamped across New York City, including in one of my favorite subway stations. There is Astor Place in Greenwich Village. Look at that, that is in the subway there, still adorned with a beaver. The famed Waldorf Astoria Hotel, created by two Astor cousins.

MATTINGLY: Now, when Astor's son - grandson died on the Titanic in 1912, he passed down $69 million. In today's estimation, that's the equivalent of $2 billion. Billion with a b. Now CNN's Anderson Cooper, a descendant of a different New York dynasty, the Vanderbilt family, is peeling back the curtain in his new book, "Astor: The Rise and Fall of an American Fortune." And Anderson joins us now.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, good morning.

HARLOW: Hi.

MATTINGLY: I should warn you, Poppy's been talking about the subway station beaver all morning.

HARLOW: I'm obsessed. I never --

COOPER: Absolutely. Yes, it's fascinating that, you know, there's remnants of the Astor family, you see their name all over and in many places in America. But, yes, Astor Place is where they lived. They owned all the land there. They owned the land of Greenwich Village. But, yes, and the Astor Place subway stop there is ceramic beavers, which is an homage to John Jacob Astor, who - I mean that's the first way he made his first fortune. He plowed it all into New York real estate and basically owned much of the land that New York was built on.

HARLOW: It -- first of all, the book opens, chapter one, there's this quote above every chapter, and the first quote is, "after Miss Astor, there was disaster." And the way I -- just in chapter one, the way you open it up talking about your personal experience, it just takes us right into why this isn't just history.

COOPER: Yes.

HARLOW: This is sort of still living and there are lessons in it for us.

COOPER: Yes, you know, it's interesting. We look at, you know, Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos and these, you know, these huge fortunes that are created today and we think, wow, there's never been anybody like Elon Musk. But there actually has been. John Jacob Astor was the Elon Musk of that day.

HARLOW: Yes.

COOPER: Commodore Vanderbilt, who I also wrote about in our last book, was - was the same way.

[08:45:02]

And I'm fascinated by how these quote/unquote great fortunes are created and the ripple effects of it over the generations.

MATTINGLY: Along those lines, and I find the analogue between kind of the Musks and Bezoss to that era, the second gilded age, I think as you refer to it as, fascinating. But should the takeaway be that money ruins everything to some degree?

COOPER: I mean -

MATTINGLY: Because I feel like these aren't exactly the happiest, most (INAUDIBLE) --

COOPER: There -- yes, there's a lot of pain in the Astor family.

Look, I think the - the - the originators of these fortunes, whether it's Commodore Vanderbilt or John Jacob Astor. Certainly, in Commodore Vanderbilt's case, and I think you could argue in John Jacob Astor, I mean the pathological desire to succeed and make money overrode most things in their lives.

MATTINGLY: Psychologically (ph).

COOPER: They weren't necessarily -- I think there was a pathology to it.

MATTINGLY: Really?

COOPER: I don't think you do what it takes to build a fortune like this without having -- being driven by something that probably doesn't come from a secure, happy place necessarily. But the pathology infects -- you see it time and time again, that that pathology infects the next generations, you know, Commodore Vanderbilt, John Jacob Astor were not particularly great fathers and pretty cruel to a lot of people in their orbits. Their focus was the money and everything else sort of, you know, took second place.

HARLOW: There is this part in the book -- I was looking for my -- I guess they gave me a new copy, but in my marked-up copy of the book, and it's in the first chapter, and it's this story that was so striking. It's about Brooke Astor. And you run into her a restaurant. I think it's 1981.

COOPER: Right.

HARLOW: And then you become a waiter at the restaurant.

COOPER: Yes.

HARLOW: And then - and then you write this from that experience, "I got to see what my future might look like from the other side of the table. I didn't like what I saw. It got me thinking about what kind of person I wanted to be, what side of the table did I want to be on, if I even wanted to be at the table."

And we've all seen what you've chosen to do with your life since then.

COOPER: Yes.

HARLOW: And how you conduct it and the reporting you do. How did that moment --

COOPER: Yes, you know, I - I -

HARLOW: Form the Anderson we know today?

COOPER: Yes, I was working this place called Mortimers, which in the - at the time, in the mid '80s -

HARLOW: An institution.

COOPER: Was this upper east side where the sort of upper east side establishment would eat. My mom would eat there. I used to eat there with my mom as a kid and I met Brooke Astor there when I was little. I met her again when I was a waiter at Mortimers, dressed as a waiter. She didn't recognize me as the waiter. And I had that experience a lot that summer. I was serving people who had met me through my mom and treated me one way when I'm standing next to my mom, Gloria Vanderbilt, but as their waiter, it was a very different interaction that we had because they didn't recognize me. And I found that to be a remarkable and important education. I mean that -

HARLOW: Did it shift what you --

COOPER: It -- absolutely. I mean seeing things from the other side of the table and realizing I didn't really want to be at the table at all. And this was not something -- I didn't want to be, you know, having these lunches and stuff like that. And it was a -- it was a great education that I'm incredibly grateful for.

MATTINGLY: How much of that experience do you want to carry - I should let you know, my wife and I were talking about this last night, all she cared about was, ask Anderson how his sons are doing.

HARLOW: Yes.

MATTINGLY: I was like, I think I can do that off set. But you also - you dedicated this book to your sons.

COOPER: Yes. Yes, yes.

MATTINGLY: The book about the Vanderbilts, I think, was in part because you wanted your children to learn from that experience.

COOPER: Yes.

MATTINGLY: What do you want them to take away from this?

COOPER: Look, I think -- you know, you -- time and time again you see how generations of people in the Astor family, you know, the men who had youthful exuberance to become a writer or a poet or whatever it was, John Jacob Astor kind of reached out his long hand and brought them back and made them work in the Astor accounting house. You know, it was a very ruthless business that they had. I want my kids to, I know, figure out what they're passionate about and figure out what they can do and I want to help them as much as possible, but I don't believe -- I think that that idea of inherited wealth, I think it can really infect and suck initiative from - from generations. And I think that's something I think a lot - that's certainly something I think a lot about.

HARLOW: Yes.

Congratulations.

COOPER: Thank you.

HARLOW: Two books. Well, no, you had one a long time ago. Three books under your belt?

COOPER: Four. This is the fourth book.

HARLOW: Four. Who's counting? MATTINGLY: Look at all that time you have.

HARLOW: Four.

COOPER: Yes.

MATTINGLY: You have multiple jobs and other things.

COOPER: Yes.

HARLOW: Congratulations.

COOPER: Thank you very much.

MATTINGLY: Thanks, Anderson.

HARLOW: Thank you.

OK, this breaking overnight, the Pentagon is sending 800 new active duty troops to the southern border and the White House just gave nearly a half a million Venezuelan migrants temporary protections. New York City Mayor Eric Adams with us next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:53:29]

MATTINGLY: Well, brand new this morning, the White House is sending 800 new active duty troops to the southern border as we and they see pictures like this out of Eagle Pass, Texas, crowds of migrants under a bridge. The mayor says 2,500 people crossed the border yesterday alone. And the administration has also just announced humanitarian relief to hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans already in the United States.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams joins us now by phone.

Mr. Mayor, we appreciate your time.

I want to start with, this is something you have been calling for, temporary protected status expansion for a while now. Have you spoken to the White House? Are you happy with how this turned out?

MAYOR ERIC ADAMS (D), NEW YORK CITY (via telephone): Yes, I spoke with the White House last night. And we need to be clear on where we are. We appreciate the TPS for 15,000 people who are eligible that are currently in our (INAUDIBLE). But as you indicated, we have 60,000 that's in our care. We're getting 10,000 a month and this surge may continue. And so this is a good move in the direction.

Since April we've been calling for this. And I want to thank the congressional delegation, Congressman Hakeem Jeffries and Senator Schumer. But this is really moving in the right direction. But we have a long way to go.

HARLOW: It sounds like you're saying, Mayor, this is a good start but we need more. Is part of the issue that this ends at people that came in after July 31st?

[08:55:05]

So that means any new Venezuelan migrants coming into the city since then, this will not apply to?

ADAMS: Correct. And that's a good point that you're asking. Because we're not only getting asylum seekers from Venezuela. We're getting them from West Africa. We're getting them from Russian-speaking areas, South and Central America. And so this is an important step for the 15,000 people who are in our care, but it's (INAUDIBLE) the overall crisis that we continue to have and the cost that's associated with it. We spent $2 billion. It's going to cost us $5 billion during this fiscal year and $12 billion in the -- during the next two cycles.

MATTINGLY: Mr. Mayor, the -- your relationship between the governor's office and the White House has been, I think, something a lot of people have been paying attention to over the last several months because of this issue specifically. How would you characterize your relationship with the White House right now? I know you spoke to them last night, but the president was up here. You guys didn't meet, I don't think, based on my understanding. There have been many conversations between the two of you over the course of the last several months. Where does that stand given this issue, as you noted, is still very much a live issue?

ADAMS: And I am extremely clear. My results must be for the city of New York. And if I can get those results by speaking to the chief of staff of the White House or any other representative, I'm going to do that. The goal is, I think the president is doing a great job on many issues in this country. My focus is this migrant and asylum issue that is extremely hurtful and harmful to the city of New York. And I think today's -- last night's decision is the starting point of what we can do. We can't spike the ball, but we appreciate that 15,000 migrant asylum seekers are now something that we can look towards moving out of our care. But we still have, again, 10,000 coming a month and over 60,000 that's - that are in our care.

HARLOW: Governor Hochul of New York told our colleague Abby Phillip on her show last night that she would support temporarily rescinded what is known in New York City as this right to shelter mandate. A lot of your critics, as you know, have said, well, essentially he said this can be a sanctuary city and so therefore this is what has come. So -- would do you say to them and do you - would you support removing temporarily that right to shelter mandate?

ADAMS: Our legal team is looking at every aspect of right to shelter and every aspect of what we are responsible to do. And when you remove it, we still have the issues of people coming to the city. We don't want people sleeping on our streets. I saw what happened in El Paso and other municipalities. We need to resolve the issue, and that includes immigration reforms that many Republicans have been holding up. But it also includes making sure all of these cities are not carrying the burden of a national issue. It's wrong for New York City, as well as other municipalities in this country, to be carrying a national issue. MATTINGLY: Mr. Mayor, I want to play it for people, because this got

strenuous pushback from some, but also helped highlight I think the scale and the urgency of the issue in your eyes at least something you said a couple weeks ago. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ADAMS: Never in my life have I had a problem that I did not see an ending to. I don't see an ending to this. I don't see an ending to this. This issue will destroy New York City. Destroy New York City.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: Mr. Mayor, subsequently, there was an interview that I listened to and watched where you provided some clarity and I think context to those statements, which pushed back on some of the criticism you got. But that position right now, does that stand, your view on this, and what it could mean?

ADAMS: Yes, it does stand. And I think you see the surge at the border. Twenty-five hundred in one day to one city. And, you know, people want to distort my words and to say that migrants and asylum seekers will destroy the city. That is not true. They should not be going through this. They should not be living in these conditions.

When I take $12 billion out of my budget, that is going to impact how I deal with low income New Yorkers, the services that are provided for them, the long-term impact to my seniors, to my housing. This is a severe issue that we don't want to get out of control.

And when you see the continuous flow that you reported at the beginning of this conversation, you realize that, where is the end in sight?

[09:00:01]

This is a national problem and New York City taxpayers should not be picking up the cost of the national problem and asylum seekers and migrants should not be living in this condition.

HARLOW: Mayor Eric Adams, thank you very much for calling in on a critical issue. We appreciate your time this morning.

ADAMS: Thank you. Take care.

HARLOW: And thanks to all of you for joining us. Have a great day.

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