Return to Transcripts main page
Quest Means Business
U.S.-Iran Ceasefire Under Threat Amid Fresh Strikes; Iran Mourns Ali Khamenei; Questions as Trump Swaps New Air Force One for Classic Version; JPMorgan Chase Shifts Marketing to Fit Customer Needs; Marriott Launches "Ask Bonvoy" to Simplify Trip Planning; France and Morocco Face Off in Quarterfinals; Interview with Kayak Chief Executive Peer Bueller; Restaurant Empire Endures Through Good Times and Bad. Aired 4-5p ET
Aired July 09, 2026 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[16:00:19]
RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST, "QUEST MEANS BUSINESS": Closing bell ringing on Wall Street. Gosh! The ebullience and jubilation there. No
closing highs, but some gains -- unimpressive gains there for the market re-up over and one and two and a one, two, three, four!
Trading is over. No record. Strong markets. But this is all the more of what we will be talking about in the next hour. Those are the markets and
the main events and see if we can make sense of them all.
The ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran is on the brink of collapse. So why are investors unfazed? Tonight, our goal is to find out.
Many travelers are finding Europe's new EES, Entry and Exit System very confusing. I am one of them. Chief executive of Kayak is going to join me
to see if he can make sense of it all.
And the famous French chef, Daniel Boulud, is expanding his restaurant empire. Michelin stars don't make him immune to rising costs. We discussed
at his restaurant in Manhattan.
We are live in New York on Thursday. It is July the 9th. I am Richard Quest, back in New York, good to be here and I mean business.
Good evening.
We begin tonight with Iranian state media, which is reporting new explosions at two strategic port cities. There are images posted of damage
at a fishing pier. No immediate information on casualties or the extent of the damage. A U.S. official has told us that the American military is not
currently carrying out strikes.
A regional official in Iran claims the U.S. hit several locations, including the perimeter of a nuclear power plant, and Iran also says it
fired ten missiles at a U.S. base in Jordan. A man said they were all intercepted.
The renewed hostilities are having an immediate effect on U.S. gas prices. They posted their biggest one-day gain since early May after falling
steadily for a month.
So there you see, $2.98 February, $4.54, $3.84 -- oil prices still remain low or lower than the peak. The New York Federal Reserve President, John
Williams, said he expects oil to come down even further.
He said that would bode well for inflation, and the U.S. investors seem to agree. The triple stack closed higher, led by tech stocks on the NASDAQ.
Before we go to our next guest, go back to that last graphic if we can.
I want to show the prices what they did. Oil prices, Brent and West Texas. They are down even though hostilities are continuing. And if we look at the
markets, they are up. And yet at the same time, the hostilities are continuing and threatening to get worse, with Donald Trump even suggesting
that he thinks the ceasefire may be over.
Jeffrey Yu, senior market strategist at BNY for Europe, Middle East and Africa. This is -- it is counterintuitive, bordering on perverse that
markets are on a rally when the fighting continues and there is the threat of it getting worse. What's going on?
JEFFREY YU, SENIOR MARKET STRATEGIST AT BNY FOR EUROPE, MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA: Good evening.
Well, the market is looking at different drivers right now and even with the current situation, I think the view is oil prices are not really going
to rise aggressively. Supply is adequate right now and demand, we have to think about the demand side of things. That is soft.
If you look at Chinese growth, for example CPI coming up one percent, Chinese demand is weak and that's a big marginal buyer of oil. So right
now, putting everything together, markets are not too concerned about oil. Not too concerned about inflation and it really is just looking at the tech
theme and everything else.
QUEST: Put the tech scene to one side. We will come to that in just a moment. When we got oil prices over a hundred and above, the circumstances
were pretty much the same as they are now.
Now, admittedly, there was a ceasefire, but, you know, not much is getting through the Straits of Hormuz. So when you look at the situation, how
fragile are those numbers? In other words, if the fighting got worse, would those numbers go much higher rather quickly?
YU: So worse, I guess, how worse? Markets will ask that question.
I think for the time being, if you look at oil futures curves and also volatility markets, they are not too concerned about things getting worse.
[16:05:10]
But people are buying insurance through other asset classes. Let's be clear on that. If I look at bond markets, for example, there is much greater
expectations being priced in for higher yields further down the line, or the risk of higher yields, that is adequate. But people feel they have
enough insurance right now. If I look at break-even inflation, that's basically a measure of inflation expectations.
They are 50 to 75 basis points higher. Its adequate.
QUEST: Okay. So here is a toughie. Is the market fooling itself? Is it sort of on some rose tinted spectacles view of what happens? And actually, the
truth is, if things got much worse, the whole thing could crumble quite fast.
YU: So we are very used to looking at the broad market index. But here is where we just look below the source. As Sir Alex Ferguson used to say, and
see what's underneath and then, we will find that the breadth of what is driving markets right now perhaps is not that wide.
So going back to that tech theme, those stocks are still doing very well. But the assets may be exposed to oil, not so much. Not down significantly,
but a bit more cautious.
QUEST: Okay. So tech, which of course has been on the biggest tear known to man, so to speak, tech -- we've got the data centers needing to be built.
We've got all sorts of issues of that. We've got valuations that don't make much sense, and yet, we all seemingly know that this is the only game for
the future in a way.
And again, are we just suckering ourselves?
YU: Well, you have to make certain assumptions about the future and the productivity gains and the like. But here is where we go back to the issue
about inflation -- oil driven inflation, less of an issue, but if it is tech driven inflation or the data center investment, as you mentioned, and
other aspects, power costs, for example, if that inflation surges before the disinflationary productivity gains come through, then maybe it is a bit
more of a challenge, but we are not there yet, at least Central Banks are not that concerned yet.
QUEST: You know, if I were you, I would be putting that before that you just talked about, before the productivity gains in big, bold letters,
because there is an enormous amount riding on that productivity gains.
YU: Certainly, and that's what is underpinning the valuations as well. But also, you look at what future growth is and people are counting on that.
But if there is anything to be concerned about, what we are looking for at this point is beyond all the CapEx build out for A.I. and tech, we need
other sources of growth right now. That's the challenge for governments.
QUEST: Jeffrey, thank you. You made sense of it all for us and helped us understand what seems to be a rather perverse market in difficult days.
Jeffrey Yu, you're in London for us.
YU: Thank you.
QUEST: Now, mediators are scrambling this ceasefire. It hasn't crumbled completely. Its crumbling. Iran is saying farewell to its slain Supreme
Leader.
Huge crowds are gathering, of course, to pay respects to Ali Khamenei. It is all taking place at the birthplace.
CNN's Fred Pleitgen is in Tehran.
A reminder, of course, we are operating there with permission of the government, but we do maintain our full editorial control of our reports.
And with that in mind, Fred, how are they -- two things really going on here. Obviously, there is the funeral commemorations continuing, but also
there is this how much on its last legs is this ceasefire?
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it certainly seems as though the cease fire between the United States and
Iran, Richard is very much on the ropes in these hours and really has been over the past 48 hours. One of the things that we've sort of been watching
here, as all of this has been unfolding, is that in the night from Tuesday to Wednesday, you had the American strikes on coastal sites in Iran that
usually or that was mostly confined to the areas around the Strait of Hormuz.
Then last night, it was a broader area that the U.S. hit. Now, the Iranians have been hitting back and if you look at, for instance, today, even in the
daylight hours, the Iranians saying that they were using some of their very powerful ballistic missiles to try and strike a U.S. base in Jordan. So
that means moving all of this beyond the Gulf region to the broader Middle Eastern region, using some more powerful munitions as well.
So certainly right now, it seems as though things are looking more like escalation or de-escalation. Nevertheless, as you mentioned, the mediators
trying to somehow get this out of control and try to salvage this ceasefire even though it is in trouble -- Richard.
QUEST: So what I've not been able to understand so far in this latest skirmishes is why Iran, if they did attack those ships that were on the
Omani side of the Straits of Hormuz, or sort of under the Omani control area, what was the purpose of attacking those ships?
[16:10:06]
PLEITGEN: Well, basically, it seems to all boils down to a different reading of what the Memorandum of Understanding between the United States
and Iran means.
The Article V of that Memorandum of Understanding essentially says that it up to Iran to create the framework for the transit of the Strait of Hormuz,
to make sure that there are no obstacles in the Strait of Hormuz, that there are no munitions left there. And also binds, for instance, to be
cleared.
Now, the Iranians take that to mean that they are essentially the ones who are in charge of the Strait of Hormuz, that there is not going to be any
fees or any tolls at this point in time. The transit is free, but that it does happen under Iranian rules, no matter where ships go through, and that
the Iranians define what the corridor is that ships use.
The U.S. sees that very differently. It believes that the Iranians are just there to clear those obstacles and aside from that, ships can go through
the Strait of Hormuz as they please also on the Omani side, the Iranians obviously saying that that is not what they believe and that those ships
that were trying to cross the Strait of Hormuz were doing so, not illegally, but without the permission of Iran and that seems to be what led
to that standoff.
QUEST: So, Fred, as best you can gauge from what you're hearing where you are, and I get that that's sort of maybe a little more difficult. Is there
much traffic moving in the Strait?
PLEITGEN: It seems to be very little. The information that we are getting is that the traffic is certainly down considerably over the past couple of
days, that some of the tankers that have been trying to go through there actually turned around.
One of the interesting things that appears to have been going on is that as all of this has been building up and the U.S. has been, first of all,
revoking the sanctions waiver that put in place for the export of Iranian oil, but also threatening to put in place the blockade again, that it had
before, that the Iranians seem to be accelerating the traffic of their oil tankers to try and get out of the Strait of Hormuz, to get as much Iranian
oil onto the High Seas as possible before things might get worse.
At the same time, it does seem as though the traffic has gotten considerably less, as a lot of ships seem to not be going through the
Strait of Hormuz with that threat of possibly being targeted if they don't play by the rules that the Iranians have put in place.
QUEST: Very grateful. Fred Pleitgen in Tehran for us tonight. Thank you.
It is QUEST MEANS BUSINESS in New York, so yes, you see it. Arrives on one, leaves on another. So it sort of explains why they took two planes. But why
did he arrive on the new Air Force One, but went home on the old one. In a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:15:07]
QUEST: It was only more than a week ago that Donald Trump unveiled his brand new Air Force One. The Qatari gift. Then leaving the NATO summit.
Look, he flew to turkey, to NATO on the new plane, and then switched to the old plane to come home. The apparent reason, of course, security. It is not
clear what the concerns were. Sources say there is no specific threat per se.
The President did eventually switch back to the new Qatari gifted plane in the U.K., hinting once on board that Iran could have been the factor.
Betsy Klein is at The White House. Now, look, I understand, Betsy. I understand we, are not going to get into the speculation of the security
threat leaving Iran, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. But it is an odd business.
He flies in on one plane, he leaves on another and if reports are true, he then changes planes in the U.K. and heads back home. I mean, this is a very
strange business.
BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER AND WRITER: Right. Exactly. I mean, there had been so much ado made by President Trump and top officials
even bidding farewell prominently to the old plane that when President Trump announced that he would be taking the old Air Force One from Turkey
back to the United Kingdom yesterday, it raised a lot of alarm bells. It was highly unusual.
So his reason ostensibly was to allow U.S. service members that were stationed at Mildenhall Air Force Base in the United Kingdom, an
opportunity to tour the plane, which they did. But now, we are learning more about that decision. According to four sources familiar with the
matter who say that it was made in part because of security concerns around this escalating conflict in Iran. Of course, we have seen that escalation
of strikes in recent days.
Two of those officials said that security personnel felt more comfortable with President Trump aboard the old plane. And two sources familiar with
the matter tell us that the new plane did not possess the same capabilities as the old one.
QUEST: Sure. I've heard one -- I heard it put that essentially, there are now two Air Force Ones, one for domestic use, if you will where, you know,
you can guard it, and the new one will be used where you can put it, you can guard it properly. And then when he travels overseas, you know, more
often than not, they'll take the other one as well.
But I guess, we will never really know the full story on that other than security comes first.
KLEIN: Right and one source that I had talked to about this raised a lot of concerns and questions about this new Qatari donated planes capability in
an international setting that is much higher risk than in the United States, where they have a lot more control.
But internationally, traveling on this plane, that has been really retrofitted to protect the President in a matter of just simply days, about
a year-and-a-half, it does raise a lot of questions about how safe it really is.
QUEST: When you get to fly on it without getting into trouble, oh, a couple of snapped pictures.
KLEIN: I've already flown. I went to Rushmore last week.
QUEST: What is it like?
KLEIN: Oh it is -- it is definitely a major upgrade from the old plane. The press seats lie flat. They've got a massage function. It is the pinnacle of
luxury. Everything shiny mahogany, leather. It is very luxurious cosmetically. Now that I have these questions about its safety, maybe I am
glad I am on the ground.
QUEST: Oh, I bet -- you and I need to talk more about this, actually to be near -- thanks very much, Betsy. There we go. Glad to have you.
Now, let's turn to other matters and other stories happening in the United States and it concerns immigration agents.
And an outrage that's now taking place in Texas. It follows a Mexican father of three being killed by U.S. Immigration agents. The family of 52-
year-old Lorenzo Salgado says he was killed during a traffic stop involving unmarked vehicles. He was on his way to work.
The video is disturbing.
It shows the moments after Salgado-Araujo was shot. Immigration and Customs Enforcement say he tried to evade arrest, rammed into a law enforcement
vehicle and an agent fired in self-defense.
Mexico's President, Claudia Sheinbaum, says she will be filing criminal complaints over his death and other Mexican citizens who have died in U.S.
Immigration custody.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLAUDIA SHEINBAUM, MEXICAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Obviously, we will maintain the diplomatic relationship, but we made the decision to file
a formal complaint with the state prosecutors offices and the federal prosecutor's office of the United States against those who are found
responsible for what we consider to be homicides.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[16:20:10]
QUEST: Ed is with me. Ed Lavandera in Texas. And his report contains more of the disturbing video showing the moments after Salgado-Araujo was shot.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: More than 48 hours after the shooting death of 52 -year-old Lorenzo Salgado-Araujo, Immigration and
Customs Enforcement officials have not released any more details beyond their initial statement, which said that it was the 52-year-old Mexican
national who had been living in the U.S. illegally for about 35 years, they say that that man weaponized his vehicle, in the words of ICE officials,
and went after ICE agents there in the field as they were conducting a targeted operation.
They say that the ICE agent fired at Salgado-Araujo in self-defense but family members of the man, as well as Latino Civil Rights activists, say
they simply do not believe ICE's version of events here. They say this sounds very similar to the playbook description in their words of what
happened and transpired earlier this year in two deadly shootings involving ICE agents in Minnesota -- in Minneapolis, Minnesota. So because of that,
they have a lot of questions.
The only video that has emerged of this shooting came in the aftermath, people who were driving by. In that video, you can see Salgado-Araujo on
the ground surrounded by agents bleeding from his midsection. There has not been a video, as far as we know, that has emerged that shows the entire
scope of what happened.
But one of his sons, Salgado-Araujo's son, spoke yesterday with the news media talking about how emotional -- the emotional toll that this has taken
on his family and the emotional way that they found out that their father had been killed.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RONALDO SALGADO, SON OF LORENZO SALGADO ARAUJO: I saw my dad's van, but no sign of him. I frantically called family, friends, loved ones to see if
they can find any information. I saw a video posted on Facebook that he had been shot.
I recognized him immediately, not from his appearance, but from his voice crying for help as he lay on the street, bleeding out.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LAVANDERA: Salgado Araujo's family says that the man had been in the country in the U.S. for 35 years, had no criminal history, worked in
construction. He had picked up these three other men as they were on their way to a job. They feel that they were being followed by unmarked cars, and
perhaps felt that they were being targeted for robbery.
The family and Latino Civil Rights activists are calling for an independent investigation, but local officials there in Houston say that is going to be
very difficult, if not unlikely, because federal investigators at this point hold all of the evidence.
Ed Lavandera, CNN, Dallas.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: Every industry you can possibly think of A.I., A.I., A.I.
I recently spoke to a leading executive from JPMorgan, as well as executives from Marriott and they -- it is all about the practicalities,
especially when it comes to large organizations with millions and millions of customers and consumers. How do you put A.I. to work efficiently,
effectively, and at the same time, you don't want to frustrate or piss off your consumers. In a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:26:33]
QUEST: Hello, I am Richard Quest. Together, you and I, we will have a lot more QUEST MEANS BUSINESS.
Marriott says its new A.I. tool will transform the way people book their hotel stays. Meanwhile, Europe's EES, Entry and Exit System is a headache
for travelers, assuming you can even get there. The chief executive joins me live to discuss this.
We only get to those stories after we've got the news headlines, because this is CNN, and here the news will always come first.
Iranians are burying their late Supreme Leader after a six-day state funeral. There were huge crowds in Ali Khamenei's hometown of Mashhad for
the final prayers.
The Ayatollah was killed in a joint us Israeli strike at the beginning of the recent war with Iran.
Family members and friends are demanding answers after a Mexican father of three was fatally shot by U.S. Immigration agents in Texas. Lorenzo Salgado
Araujo was killed during a traffic stop on Thursday.
Federal officials say an agent fired in self-defense after Salgado Araujo rammed into a law enforcement vehicle whilst trying to evade arrest. His
family are disputing the government's account of what they say took place.
Democrats in the U.S. State of Maine are scrambling to replace the Senate candidate, Graham Platner. He has been accused of raping a woman five years
ago. He has now told campaign staff he is quitting the race and continues to deny the allegation. Democrats have less than three weeks to nominate
someone new.
A reminder of how U.S. markets finished with oil prices coming off the top a little bit, and as a result of which there were no records, but good
gains across the board as you can see, with the NASDAQ seeing the best of the day, tech is still on a tear, the Mag 7. You also saw the South Korean
chipmaker, SK Hynix set to start trading tomorrow on the NASDAQ, and if you look overall at chip stocks, AMD is up more than five percent. NVIDIA took
a bit of a wobble, but the others were all up sharply. So it is still very much a computer tech led A.I. boom, if you will.
And those chip makers are the ones powering A.I. The models used by companies like JPMorgan Chase, with its millions, tens of millions of
worldwide customers.
The chief marketing officer says JPMorgan Chase is using A.I. to personalize with interactions with customers. As I heard at the Cannes
Lions Festival, it is a very delicate balancing act.
But as things move forward. Carla Hassan told me the bank is expediting the process dramatically.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CARLA HASSA, CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER, JPMORGAN CHASE: To me, the A.I. helps us take a process, for example, that could be internal marketing process to
get a campaign out the door to be call it like 20 weeks long.
Today, make it one week long, to take the data that we have tens of millions of customers that we have the privilege of actually, like, you
know, being partners with at the end of the day for the Chase brand to take all of the data that we have, the behaviors of consumers and say, how do I
say, what does -- what would Richard want that's different than what Carla wants?
The key, so that's I think, what the technology allows us to do. Here is the differentiator is the creativity. Because if you're not careful, what
happens is A.I. slop, what you said, the robot is making the creative.
QUEST: So how important is all of this in terms of affordability difficulties in times when people are having difficult times? I find
nothing more obnoxious than a bank that promises to be standing with you when times get tough and you just know it is a load of bollocks.
[16:30:32]
HASSAN: I think if you know your customers very well, the messaging becomes really relevant to them. So what I would say is in times we feel very
strongly that actually behind the scenes, so we would not necessarily say what you just said, but behind the scenes, it actually is really important
that your customers know that you've got their back. Through thick and thin, you've got their back.
You don't always get it right, but I think that's OK because I think also as a brand, you've got to say when you don't think you have gotten it
right, but you correct yourself. But here's what I would say. I think brands should never go silent in those times. Your messaging might change.
So we would probably never say we got your back in good times and in bad. But what we might think about is, you know, when savings becomes more
important, we should probably be focusing our messaging more on that than on spending.
QUEST: At the end of the day, when you look at -- and you're here, are you optimistic?
HASSAN: I think what I am most worried about, if I'm being honest, is that we don't have the right -- I've said this word a few times talking to you.
The right change management. I think this change, this innovation, particularly with A.I., is coming so fast. And I think if you are not
necessarily like hands on keyboard and understand the tools, you will think that those tools everyone can use and they can't.
I had this sort of false impression that in the very early stages of gen A.I., with creative tools, that anybody could do it. And so I downloaded a
couple of tools at home by myself. I thought, I'm going to be a creative. So I went on to one tool in particular. The amount of time it took me to
learn, the amount of prompts I had to do, I was like, no way. And so -- but I will tell you because I like just went through that, to your point, I
went through it. It was awful.
I like battled myself through it. I thought when I came out on the other end, now I actually can honestly say, hand on heart, when someone says,
give the tools to everybody, everybody can be creative, I'm like, no, they can't. And I'm living proof of that because I tried it myself. And so I
think the industry as a whole has got to go through that. And yes, we will all make mistakes, but when have we not? You know? To get to the other side
of innovation and the other side of growth, you've got to get through it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: Fascinating insight. I love this idea of how you have to tailor without actually annoying people. But and we can't all do it. Well, as we
delve deeper into A.I. and the science of selling, Marriott's chief customer officer says its new tool will transform the way we book. The
company has launched "Ask Bonvoy" last week, and like most of these things, it's all about how can you do it and search in simple English.
And if you look or whatever language it means, forget personalized results. I sat down with her to talk about it more with Peggy Roe.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PEGGY ROE, CHIEF CUSTOMER OFFICER, MARRIOTT INTERNATIONAL: The way we distinguish is actually talking about what Marriott stands for and what
Bonvoy can give you access to. So we know that for almost 100 years, we've built a reputation on quality, consistency, and service. And that is our
promise.
QUEST: Where does A.I. now fit in?
ROE: We just launched last week "Ask Bonvoy," and it's a test for our members for conversational search. I think the industry -- I've been
personally waiting for this forever when we could open up the funnel and just allow you to ask us anything you want in terms of where you'd like to
go. And now we're there, and I think it will open up a world of opportunity. It will collapse the funnel. It will allow you to solve your
planning needs faster.
QUEST: As you do this.
ROE: Sure.
QUEST: You are aware that it's a long way to go yet. We're still at the very early stages.
ROE: Well, and I -- well, it is early and we are out there testing and learning because of that exact sentiment. But to me it's a conversation.
Right? You're training, you're learning, you're teaching at the same time, and you're conditioning that agent to work on behalf of you. So it's sort
of up to you to make sure that it is feeding you the right information, getting you the things that you need. And I think over time, that should at
the end of the day, it's advocating on behalf of you. So if it's not doing something you want, then you should correct that.
[16:35:01]
QUEST: Right. And on the opposite side of that equation, where the LLMs are now a major force more than, say, search, does that mean -- does that alter
your strategy?
ROE: I think for us, it's still a data driven strategy. We believe that we don't necessarily have to go other places as much. And so our focus has
been understand the customer, passions and preferences, so that is job one. And then if you think about the inventory of our hotels of 10,000 hotels,
we've been investing in making sure those hotels have all the data behind it. And that is what allows for the right and accurate information.
QUEST: Finally, back to the first point you were talking about Bonvoy, this is the walled garden, isn't it?
ROE: It is.
QUEST: You know, it's the walled garden philosophy, which is great once you've got me into the walled garden, but you've got to get me into the
walled garden and keep me there.
ROE: Exactly. Exactly. And so that's why today, you know, we're talking -- we're out there talking about access to passions and preferences. We're
here on the cresset, bringing you access to Jamie Oliver and Hoda and Ejei and Elaine Gu, because we know that those are the things that are driving
people to travel. And even with the FIFA World Cup this summer, right, we gave away over almost 700 packages of tickets for people who are just
passionate about football. And that's how we get you in the ecosystem. Then we get to know you and then we can start delivering.
QUEST: And you won't let me out.
(LAUGHTER)
ROE: You always have a choice on every stay to go somewhere else if you want to, right? That's why we have to keep delivering the experience that
you mentioned.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: That's the fascinating part about it, the science of selling and how these major companies -- at the end of the day, it's you and me that's on
the other end of it, and it's selling to us.
The World Cup and the quarterfinals are underway. Kayak says interest in traveling to the remaining host cities is surging. We'll talk to him after
the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
QUEST: All right. Look at these pictures. Live pictures from Paris and Casablanca. There you are. Just look at those faces. They are wrapped in
attention. I was in Spain last week, and every time there was a match played of importance this is what you saw in these fan zones, particularly
with France and Morocco tied nil-nil in the quarterfinals match.
[16:40:09]
It's all taking place up in Massachusetts. Morocco is chasing redemption after losing to France in the last World Cup semifinal, and in Casablanca
there, I was going to say cheering. They're not. These people are so -- Matias Grez is in the fan zone in Paris.
The reality is both of those groups are literally biting fingernails and angst-ridden as we go through this. How long has the match been going and
how much more to go?
MATIAS GREZ, CNN CREATOR: Yes. So we're about 40 minutes into the first half now, and here a lovely fan zone on the Seine in Paris. It was a little
bit too civilized for my liking in the minutes leading up to kick off, but that certainly isn't the case now after a frantic opening half. Well,
almost the first half over here.
France started brilliantly. They've dominated so far and had several great chances to take the lead, the best of which coming from the penalty spot.
But Kylian Mbappe, of all people missing that penalty and seeing his penalty saved. But based on their start in this match so far, you can
understand why French fans that we've been speaking to all of this week have been so confident in their team going into this match.
Now, that's not to say they're overconfident. That's not to say they expected to win or they're taking this for granted. They know how talented
of a team this Morocco team is. And look, this was always going to be a really special occasion. Not only have Morocco for the second World Cup in
a row cemented themselves as one of the best teams in the world. There is, of course, a huge Moroccan community here in Paris.
I don't know if you can see any Moroccan shirts behind me, but there are plenty of them here. And of course, like you said, this is a rematch of the
2022 semifinal. But look, the fans, having seen their team start brilliantly so far, just missing that penalty to take the lead, you can
understand why, speaking to us earlier this week, they were in such high spirits going into this game.
QUEST: I'm grateful to you. I like your comment, it was all a bit too restrained for you at the beginning. Something tells me that it won't be
too restrained at the end, Matias.
GREZ: Yes, absolutely. I mean, like you saw here, I don't know if you can hear. I mean, I can barely hear you. I can barely hear myself think, but
there's just something about the World Cup, isn't there? Whenever it gets to this stage.
QUEST: Right. Absolutely.
GREZ: Like you mentioned, the faces on the people you were seeing in Casablanca and here in Paris really nail-biting. But it's quite amazing to
feel and see and hear the belief that the French public have in their national team. We went in our first night in Paris and watched their last
knockout match against Paraguay. We went to a bar to watch it with some French fans, purely for research purposes, of course, but I find as a
pessimistic, defeatist England fan that belief in their national team is so surprising.
I asked them, are you not worried now going forward in this tournament after a disappointing result? And they said, no, we've just got through one
of the toughest matches we've had at the tournament.
QUEST: All right.
GREZ: And they believe they could not only get to the final again, but go on and win it. And I just compare that to the kind of national meltdowns
that we have in England after an underwhelming performance in the World Cup.
QUEST: Oh, no --
GREZ: The first knockout match against the Congo comes to mind.
QUEST: No. But still got a long way to go. Not having that. We'll talk more about that. I'll have to take you to task on that on another occasion.
Matias, thank you very much indeed.
Joining us now, as to those people who are going to the quarterfinals, actually, the number of flight searches to host cities is surging. Boston
is up 65 percent as of a quarterfinal nearby. And in Miami, up 200 percent, which is the largest that Kayak has seen so far. You've got hotel searches
with host cities all up quite sharply.
Peer Bueller is chief executive of Kayak, and joins me now.
Good to see you, sir. So it's slightly late. A bit of a renaissance, but these fair -- but the searches are there. The demand is there. And I bet --
and having seen a falloff in prices, maybe even we're going to see a bit of pricing power.
PEER BUELLER, CEO, KAYAK: I think so, too. Great to be here, Richard. Thank you very much for having me. It's been fascinating to watch. Once every
four years we get this event. This time around indeed demand searches moving around like crazy. Every time a city moves on to the next match, we
see a spike. In fact, we've also seen spikes in surrounding cities where fans might place themselves. So it's a lot of fun to watch for travel data
aficionados like ourselves.
QUEST: Is it going to save the U.S. travel industry in 2026 this do you think?
BUELLER: It's -- what's going to save the travel industry always is this deeply rooted desire to travel.
[16:45:01]
It's been a tough year with pricing spiking and people reacting to that. It's heartwarming to always see people find a way to travel still, even if
airports close, even if prices go off the hook, people will find a way to scratch that itch.
QUEST: So we have the fiasco that is the EEF. My words, not yours. The European entry and exit system. I came through Malaga yesterday and I went
through France last week or two weeks ago. The reality is that there were no great crowds. But the thing is so complicated. Whereas you used to have
just two, you know, E.U. and non-E.U., now you've got registered, non- registered, Schengen, non-Schengen.
This is a nightmare. What are people telling you? What are you hearing?
BUELLER: You and I, Richard, both I think we frequent airports all the time. I'm a big fan of making airports more efficient. I think it's a quite
a frictionest part of the entire process. So I'm applauding the effort. It's a monumental effort. Anything like this getting launched is likely to
stumble a little bit at the start. So I'm not surprised with what we're seeing here. And I bet they'll figure it out eventually, and it will make
the terminal experience a lot better.
QUEST: Right. But it is a problem and we are seeing it. Is there any indication it's putting people off?
BUELLER: Right now it definitely doesn't affect search interest as we can tell. In fact, prices coming down, especially internationally, between the
U.S. and Europe for about 13 weeks consecutively, has driven up search demand.
QUEST: Now this is also interesting because over the last few months, we've witnessed westbound travel to the U.S. has been noticeably softer than
eastbound travel from the U.S., which has held up pretty well overall. Now spikes in travel prices and all of that. Are we sort of seeing more price
sensibility coming back in?
BUELLER: I believe so. It's taken a little longer than some people expect because oil prices and flight interest aren't linked one to one. There's a
lot at play. Supply demand, competitive dynamics. Jet fuel isn't quite the same as crude, but we are seeing prices come down and hand in hand with
that you can see demand spike back up.
QUEST: OK. Most difficult question of the whole interview. The number one place people are searching to go and visit or they want to go and visit.
Number one place. What is it?
BUELLER: Right now, I'd love to give you one. I'm going to give you two. Cairo and Honolulu are two cities that are seeing prices down year on year,
cheaper than they were this time in 2025, which is unique in an atmosphere right now in which prices are generally elevated. So those two, while
they're both worth to visit in their own right, right now you can do it at a discount as well.
QUEST: Thank you, sir. Cairo, one of my favorite cities in the world. Absolutely magnificent.
BUELLER: Yes.
QUEST: And Honolulu, what's not to love about that? Thank you for joining us. I'm grateful.
It's QUEST MEANS BUSINESS tonight from New York.
The chef, Daniel Boulud, has overcome many economic challenges since he joined -- became part of the U.S. restaurant business decades ago. The
latest issue, higher ingredient costs. How would you like to sit down with a five-star chef? After the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:51:12]
QUEST: U.S. inflation continues. Food prices rose 3.1 percent in May over year on year, and that rising cost of groceries puts pressure not only on
households but on restaurants as they try to hold on to customers by offering good bargains.
The Michelin Starred chef Daniel Boulud is used to economic pressure. Daniel has been leading fine dining in this city for the last four decades.
I sat down with him and the chief executive of his restaurant group, and when times are tough, what people want is good value but don't sacrifice
quality. Just manage your business better.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST (voice-over): The art on the wall is as decadent as the meal itself. And just like the Statue of Liberty printed on the plates here, its origins
are in France. Chef Daniel Boulud arrived in New York in the 1980s. Since then, he's survived through some hard times. The dot-com boom and bust,
9/11, the great financial crisis, COVID and more.
DANIEL BOULUD, CHEF AND OWNER, THE DINEX GROUP: Late '80s, I wanted to leave New York City.
QUEST: But it's difficult. Times have changed.
BOULUD: Yes. But what makes me happy is that it's even more difficult in Europe, more difficult than other places.
QUEST (voice-over): There's not only a team of cooks behind this Michelin Starred chef, there's a business empire, too. The parent company, Dinex
Group, runs Chef Boulud's 20 plus restaurants around the world. There are a dozen or so here in New York, and even as ingredient and labor costs have
gone up, the chief executive of the group, Sebastien Silvestri, says they are equipped to handle it.
SEBASTIEN SILVESTRI, CEO, THE DINEX GROUP: The restaurant as a whole, the industry as a whole is a thin margin industry, so we have to really manage
the business really well and be very cautious. There's a lot of sensibility on the price, so that doesn't mean that if the food costs increase, that
you can pass it on to the customers. But I think ultimately it still come down to the experience. Daniel is known for the quality of cuisine, the
hospitality, the service. This we cannot touch it. We just have to manage the business tighter.
QUEST (voice-over): Current headwinds aside, Chef Boulud continues to expand. Terrace Boulud just opened at the Mandarin Oriental in Hong Kong,
and a new steakhouse in New York's Flatiron District opened a couple of years ago. There's more. A few blocks from here, a new brasserie soon. And
whilst he's earned his reputation at restaurants like this, Michelin Starred Daniel, he wants to offer a meal at many price points, with quality
remaining constant.
BOULUD: No, I mean, you know, our business has always been challenged and we always tried to be very attentive to our customer first. Of course, we
watch the economy, we watch everything happening, and we make adjustments based on that. But I think the diversification of our group, I can offer
you a meal for $25, or I can offer you a meal for $250. So, you know, we have the whole range in between. And I think that makes the strength of our
group.
QUEST: How important is that to you? Because your name has been made on restaurants like this, Daniel, which is at the top end.
BOULUD: Part of our team, for example, we have a dozen of bakers every day that make all the bread for our restaurant. I could buy cheaper bread. I
could definitely do it like I do a jambon-fromage, which is a typical French ham and cheese sandwich with baguette. We make the baguette, we make
the ham.
[16:55:02]
We don't make the cheese because it's gruyere. So it's done in Europe, in Switzerland, but we care to put the best ingredient even in the most
simplest thing.
QUEST: You are a man of a certain age.
BOULUD: Well, yes, I'm young.
SILVESTRI: Experienced.
QUEST: Why don't you retire?
BOULUD: Oh, no.
(LAUGHTER)
QUEST: You know, I mean, you know, you don't need the money.
BOULUD: Well --
QUEST: You've got your restaurant. You're an institution. Retire.
BOULUD: No.
SILVESTRI: I should take the --
BOULUD: No.
SILVESTRI: I should take that. There's no way you'll ever retire. You have no idea. This is his life. This is passion. He wakes up in the morning,
from morning to night he's in the restaurant.
QUEST (voice-over): Chef Daniel makes it clear. He's not leaving anytime soon. So that there will be many more diners asking for the (INAUDIBLE) for
years to come.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST (on-camera): Fascinating part is that it doesn't matter what the restaurant is, however expensive or reasonable, the one thing I've always
discovered with any chef, when they invite you to join them, they just want to feed you. They just want to feed you. They don't want to give you the
bill. They just want to feed you more and more food. And as youll see in our next item later this week, tomorrow, when it comes to the food, then
we're talking about something completely different. But that was the top end of course.
The market for food, the market for stocks, that's how things are looking. Best of the day, that's the Nasdaq. We'll take a "Profitable Moment" after
the break.
QUEST MEANS BUSINESS back in a minute.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
QUEST: Tonight's "Profitable Moment," I was flying back yesterday from my holiday and on the plane I was sitting next to a chap who sort of was a
trader, a crypto trader, and all things like that. And we got talking about the markets and the seemingly imperviousness to the latest Iran war, the
latest saber rattling by the president. And the core question and tonight, that's why we asked very much.
I mean, you saw the markets. Nasdaq up 1 percent. And yet the fighting continues. The market and traders, and the industry seems to want to focus
solely on tech. The Mag Seven and the way in which things are going to move forward with A.I., even with all the problems. You can't help being a
feeling, though, that if things get really sticky, the collapse is going to be quick and it's going to be brutal.
And although people will never, ever give you a time on it or what's going to happen or how, there is definitely a feeling that this cannot continue
and that if you keep pushing your luck with, for example, oil prices, attacks in the Straits of Hormuz, difficulties with energy, eventually, as
my late grandmother used to say, you're going to come a cropper. The only question is when.
And that's QUEST MEANS BUSINESS for tonight. I'm Richard Quest in New York. Whatever you're up to in the hours ahead, I hope it's profitable. I'll see
you tomorrow.
END
