CONFERENCE REWIND
nearly 1.5 billion people off from the rest of the world .
“ China ,” Nassetta said , “ is a year behind us .”
There , travel has been mainly domestic , with little to no inbound or outbound due to air lift . Consider a city like Shanghai , traditionally a huge source of inbound travel . “ It will take some time ,” Nassetta said , with expectations of further outbound China travel coming in the second half of the year . Some 200 million Chinese travelers came to the U . S . in 2019 .
Bazin was even more bullish on India as a source market for hotels , but not necessarily a destination where Accor is looking to scale up . “ India alone has a 500-millionperson emerging middle class ,” he said . “ Watch out .”
NEW BRANDS Three on the panel — Capuano , Nassetta and Hoplamazian — all recently launched new brands in the midscale extended-stay space .
Calling it a $ 300-billion market , “ There is enough for all of us ,” Nassetta said .
Extended-stay has hit it out of the ballpark during and after the pandemic as the workplace changes , with reduced office footprints and the workforce becoming more mobile than ever before . Hilton ’ s new offering , called Project H3 currently , will be very hybrid — two-thirds apartment style and one-third normal hotel . Expect similar for Marriott ’ s new Project MidX Studios and Hyatt Studios .
“ It ’ s a high-margin business ,” Nassetta said —“ cheap to operate .”
He noted that the brand grew out of the success of Home2 Suites , an uppermidscale extended-stay brand from Hilton that “ grew up ” and became more expensive . “ Now we have a lower price point ,” Nassetta said .
“ This space of midscale and extended stay , it ’ s ripe for development and a byproduct of the pandemic and working remotely ,” Capuano said .
RATES ARE THROUGH THE ROOF AND STAYING THERE . THE FUTURE NEVER HAS BEEN AS STRONG — STRONGER THAN PRE-PANDEMIC , EVEN
– SÉBASTIEN BAZIN , CHAIRMAN AND CEO , ACCOR
10 hotelsmag . com Jul / Aug 2023