PHOENIX — Hotel executives on the second day of the Lodging Conference admitted hospitality isn't a glorified industry — but it could be.

• For coverage of the first day of the conference, click here.

As David Kong, president and CEO of BWH Hotel Group, previously said in August during a video interview with HNN, "The truth is, it's really hard to work in the hotel business now." Since that interview in August, Kong has announced his retirement after 20 years with the company and shared with HNN's Sean McCracken his advice for his successor.

Executives on the Lodging Conference main stage for Wednesday's "Leaders in Hospitality" panel said hoteliers must sell the story to prospective employees that hospitality is a rewarding and fulfilling career with a growth path.

But hotel companies searching for talent are up against corporate giants such as Amazon.

"As an industry, we've failed over the last 10 to 15 years. I've got two kids, it's not like they grow up and say ['I'm going to be'] a hotelier. It's, 'I'm going to be a doctor or an engineer' ... [hospitality] is not a glorified industry," Vinay Patel, chairman of the Asian American Hotel Owners Association, said during the panel.

He said the industry needs to do a better job of communicating to people at an earlier age, like high school and college students, that this industry has a lot of opportunities, whether it's in accounting, maintenance, marketing or technology.

At Marriott International, 70% of general managers have come from jobs that were lower-ranked, said Liam Brown, the company's group president for the U.S. and Canada.

"We all have to be passionate evangelists for this business," he said.

“Americans have rediscovered America. If there’s something cool and unique about your home market, there’s a way to lure travelers to that market.”
— Allison Reid, chief development officer, Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants

“We need people vaccinated and wearing masks and traveling.”
— Brian Quinn, chief development officer, Sonesta International Hotels Corporation

"[To achieve] our 94-year history of growth and opportunity and development, our founder had a very simple statement. He said if you take care of your people, they take care of the guests, the guests will come back, and we make money."
— Liam Brown, group president, U.S. and Canada, Marriott International

All eyes were on whether there would be distressed pricing, or "COVID discounts," over the past year and a half. But during the second day of the Lodginng Conference, I've heard mixed feelings about this. Some said they have found those opportunities, while others say "it really hasn't come."

Overall, deals in the hotel industry will pick up, according to Jim Chu, executive vice president of global franchise and development at Hyatt Hotels Corp., but expectations on returns must be updated.

"The deals are happening, and it's been an adjustment on what the expectation on what the return on capital has been," he said. "Also, there's been a return on lending."

Greg Friedman, managing principal and chief executive officer of Peachtree Hotel Group, said deals are becoming more active on the equity side.

— Dana Miller, Senior Reporter
@HNN_Dana

I met with a hotelier today who said very frankly to me, “Everyone is talking about business travel coming back, but I think they’re just being optimistic and hoping it will happen.”

Recovery clearly remains very much a work in progress, and the return of significant business and group travel is still on the horizon. Hoteliers are frustrated that return-to-office policies at some major employers and in major markets keep getting pushed back, because they know that as people return to the office, there will be a return to business travel that just hasn’t materialized yet.

And as we hear more and more with every conference we attend, hoteliers are outright sick of the summer leisure travelers who wreaked havoc on their hotel rooms. Jonathan Bogatay, CEO of third-party hotel management company North Central Group, put it this way: “The guests we’re seeing are much more angry, difficult and challenging. They are harder on the property and harder on team members.”

That is tough to deal with in a labor-strained industry, but judging by some of the breakout sessions I attended, hoteliers absolutely continue to get creative when it comes to finding solutions. The hotel industry is resilient, and this week I’ve seen people hungrier for solutions and sharing best practices more than ever before.

— Stephanie Ricca, Editorial Director
@HNN_Steph