THE BULLETIN
HOTEL CONFERENCES ARE GREAT .
But something ’ s missing .
EDITORIAL David Eisen Editor In Chief
Kathakali Nandi Editorial Writer
Tatiana Valenzuela Editorial Coordinator
LinkedIn is a heckuva barometer . Sometimes you post things to it that garner no attention ; other times , something sticks .
In January , I attended , like I do most years , the Americas Lodging Investment Summit ( ALIS ) in Los Angeles . The gathering brings together the glitterati of the hotel industry , as they hobnob and schmooze along the corridors of the JW Marriott LA Live . Tinseltown is a fitting venue for the conclave .
Not unlike other of the large hotel conferences , most of the panel sessions aren ’ t what one would typically call diverse — read older white men . And they know it . Consider one panel focused on accountability and DEI matters at ALIS : four white CEOs . Finally , Geoff Ballotti , CEO of Wyndham Hotels & Resorts , spoke up about the inanity of no women or no other racial identities on the panel . “ How is that possible ?” he asked . It ’ s a question he should likely have also been asking himself .
Thing is , though still vastly outnumbered , there are black and Asian and Latino hotel executives at industry events ; there are women executives , also — the conferences just need to do a better job of incorporating them into the content program .
What prompted me to post on LinkedIn had nothing to do with that , however . I wrote : “ I have been going to hotel conferences for well over a decade now . We discuss things like the labor gap , but not one panel is filled with , wait for it , ACTUAL HOTEL WORKERS ! They , the lifeblood of the industry , are eerily unrepresented at every hotel conference . I think any operational panel would benefit with front-line hotel workers on it rather than just the CEO .”
I received an outpouring of likes from the hotel community and even from conference producers . There is no greater benefit than to hear from the actual people who deliver the service and run the quotidian tasks of a hotel . This voice is repeatedly absent from hotel conferences . Listen , on the investment side , I get it , but you can ’ t — shouldn ’ t — have an operational-focused panel without a front-line workers discussion .
Part of the problem is money . It ’ s a little like politics : those with most of the money usually win . Conferences are built on sponsorship dollars , which are raised from the likes of the lodging c-corps and private equity shops . And when they put up those big bucks , they usually get speaking slots and , invariably , put forward the C-suite to represent them ( see white men ).
How about this : If companies have the ability to elect who should speak on their behalf , these companies should make it a priority to diversify their representation . Instead of a third-party management company COO , why not hear from a front-desk manager ? Better yet , why not a panel of hourly workers sharing their experiences and giving an on-the-ground perspective ?
Hearing from the top is important , if not insipid . Hearing from the boots on the ground is real , if not necessary .
Editor In Chief
Juan Cruz del Val Designer
Contributing Writers Juliana Shallcross , Rayna Katz , Anayat Durrani , David Lund , Derek Herscovici
PUBLISHING Ali Jahangiri CEO
Brian Levine Publisher
Marie Ekberg Padilla Senior Editor
INTERNATIONAL ADVISORY BOARD Nakul Anand Executive Director , ITC Ltd ., Gurgaon , India
Stephen Bartolin President , Broadmoor Sea Island Co ., Colorado Springs , Colorado
Robert Hecker Managing Director , Horwath HTL Asia Pacific , Singapore
Ramsey Mankarious CEO , Cedar Capital Partners , London
Christopher Nassetta President and CEO , Hilton , McLean , Virginia
Monika Nerger Chief Information Officer , Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group , Atlanta
Susan Terry Vice President of Culinary and Food and Beverage Operations , Marcus Hotels & Resorts , Milwaukee , Wisconsin
Trevor Ward Managing Director , W Hospitality Group , Lagos , Nigeria
ADVERTISING Caroline de Donnea Sol Población
ADMINISTRATION Kristi Carlson Maureen Millerick
EDITORIAL AND PRODUCTION OFFICES 2151 Michelson Drive , suite 290 , Irvine , CA , 92612 info @ hotelsmag . com
Copyright Outclick Media . All rights reserved
Mar / Apr 2023 hotelsmag . com 5