The Capitalizing on Shifting Travel Trends panel , from left : Pat Pacious , president & CEO of Choice Hotels International .; Danielle Bozarth , senior partner at McKinsey ; Jim Merkel , CEO of Rockbridge ; Sloan Dean , president & CEO of Remington Hotels , and Elie Maalouf , CEO Americas of IHG Hotels & Resorts .
Last year , Choice acquired Radisson Americas , which allowed Choice to push further into the upscale segment , supplementing its Cambria brand . Also , the 450 Country Inns & Suites “ slot in nice between Comfort and Cambria ,” Pacious said
Elie Maalouf , CEO Americas , IHG Hotels & Resorts , described the “ irreplaceability ” of travel amid what he called an incoming era of “ acceleration ” after COVID . “ Travel is at the top of discretionary spend ,” he said . “ Business travel is coming back ,” he said confidently , noting airline CEOs who say they are flying full planes .
Joining in the optimism was Sloan Dean , president & CEO of
Remington Hotels , a third-party management company , who called group business “ better than ever ,” noting group revenue up over double-digit percentage in 2022 . He added that the increase in group is helping offset the decrease in corporate transient travel . He added that Remington ’ s revenues are fully back to 2019 , but he is still waiting and adamant to get profit back to 2019 levels and beyond . Part of the issue has been the rise in expenses , from wages to utilities , that hoteliers are still coping with .
The one non-hotel exec on stage was Danielle Bozarth , senior partner at McKinsey & Co . Her company is known to record loads of air miles , meeting with clients across the globe . She said her company is still traveling , but it looks a bit different than before . “ It ’ s the lifeblood of our business ,” she said , though noting that travel on a per consultant basis is dropping , especially as McKinsey seeks to meet its sustainability goals . She said while recruitment in the past was done in person , now it ’ s typically done remote .
BRAND BANTER At one point in the discussion , moderator Frank Nardozza , CEO
TO BE AN OWNER , YOU HAVE TO BE OPTIMISTIC . TRAVEL IS A GROWTH INDUSTRY . THERE ARE AND WILL BE SHOCKS , BUT THERE IS MORE DEMAND FOR HOTELS IN THE FUTURE .
- JIM MERKEL , CEO , ROCKBRIDGE of REH Capital Partners , asked the panel plainly if there were too many brands in the market , to which the brands on stage denied , while the one owner on the panel said there was certainly some confusion . “ There is definitely blur and overlap in the brands ,” said Jim Merkel , CEO of Rockbridge . Still , he ’ s pro-brand . “ They are a risk mitigator for the owner , but some brands are better than others .”
Merkel added that from an investment perspective , what COVID did was defer dollars that otherwise would have been put back into capital improvements for hotels . And now it ’ s catching up . “ There are lots of undercapitalized hotels and owners out there ,” he said . “ The dollars were not going into the assets during COVID , they were going to survival .”
The optimism that abounded on stage was summed up by Merkel . “ To be an owner , you have to be optimistic . Travel is a growth industry . There are and will be shocks , but there is more demand for hotels in the future . They are places where people want to be .”
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