THE INTERVIEW : ARNE SORENSON
Bathroom suite at The Ritz-Carlton Hong Kong growth phenomenon with high-income households growing by leaps and bounds in places like China and India , and that discerning traveler is going to want luxury experiences . We were so tickled a few years ago by the fact we had six Ritz-Carltons open or under construction in China . Today we have eight or nine open there , with six or seven under construction and another six or seven in negotiations . That is just China and one brand . Ritz-Carlton has enormous growth momentum across the globe and we are thrilled with the power of the brand .
H : Will we see some additional new brands from Marriott ?
AS : We added two in the last two years with Autograph Collection and AC Hoteles , which we acquired in Spain . I suspect over time there are additional brands we will either start or acquire . I have nothing to announce today .
H : What is the industry doing right and wrong with the guest experience ?
AS : One of the biggest frustrations for guests still is to check in to a hotel that does not have adequate , simpleto-use , high-speed wireless access . The industry is getting much better , but there are too many hotels where it is too hard to find a signal or the connection is too slow . That is a huge problem , and Marriott has enormous work
underway . Our system will be fully installed in the first quarter of 2012 with high-speed wireless .
Even though it has taken too long , I am gratified that the industry is finally well coordinated in its effort to communicate the need to make it easier to visit the U . S . President Obama ’ s announcement in January from Orlando ( an initiative focusing on improving travel facilitation ) was a great next step . We had about 1 million visitors from China in 2011 , and that is significant growth from about 500,000 in 2010 . The potential visitation from that one country is 10 times what we experienced in 2011 . To get from 1 million to 10 million — not to mention all the other countries with potential , like Brazil and India — we have to get not to the point where we are targeting faster visa processing , but a different way of processing visas .
H : What do you see as the biggest potential impact of our increasingly mobile society on the hotel business ?
AS : The thing that is most obvious is people have access to enormous amounts of information , so when planning a trip they can find out anything they want about a hotel . As they experience a trip they can use technology to communicate about their experience , and there is a real sub-data and feedback loop , which is powerful . At the same time , we will have something that is counterintuitive — people will still look for a quality , old-fashioned experience when staying in a hotel , including a great night ’ s sleep and food to eat , and genuine service . While aspects of the travel experience will be automated , there will still be a powerful desire by customers to expect a genuine welcome . H : What is your message to hoteliers ? AS : We all need to continue to be advocates for the importance of travel . Travel is about as big a contributor to global GDP as any industry . It has tended not to be taken as seriously as I think it should be , in part because I don ’ t think we have been deliberately focused on advocating the importance of the industry . To a certain extent it suffers from an instinct that asks if it is really important to talk about people ’ s vacations .
Vacations become more and more important to people when they have the resources to no longer have to worry about the essentials . What they move to quickly is how to collect the experiences that create the lifetime memories . Beyond the vacation , it is about bringing people together across borders and cultures , and that is something we as an industry can continue to advocate for forcefully to make sure the industry gets the recognition it deserves .
40 HOTELS March 2012 www . hotelsmag . com