Davidson Hospitality Group President and CEO Thom Geshay sees a growing disparity between performance at the company's hotels and conversations about where the hotel industry is headed.
"It's interesting because there's a little bit of a disconnect from the news headlines and what we're seeing in the performance data," he said. "What we're not seeing yet in our [profit and loss statement] is the impact of a recession, interest rates and a lot of the headlines you see. The good news is that it hasn't manifested itself yet — at least in our portfolio. We're not seeing it."
Davidson is a national operator of hotels, resorts and restaurants, with a portfolio of roughly 80 hotels and resorts and almost 200 restaurants, bars and lounges across four operating divisions.
Geshay said his company isn't "blind" to the headwinds the broader economy faces as the Federal Reserve continues to raise interest rates in an effort to tamp down inflation, especially as it leads to more corporate spending cuts.
"You look out on the horizon, you can see the storm clouds," he said. "You kind of know they're coming, and news of corporate layoffs and things like that are starting to trickle out there. We recognize that often impacts the travel side, as well. So we're cognizant that it's a threat. It's coming. But I'm feeling actually still pretty bullish on the future."
Geshay said he recognizes that the hotel industry — and his company specifically — was able to climb back to pre-pandemic performance levels while still lacking group and corporate demand. As those sources of demand continue some modest to robust recovery, it should bolster an industry that has survived based on historically strong leisure travel.
"As the other segments start to fill in, I think we've still got good running room ahead of us," he said.
For more from HNN's video with Davidson's Thom Geshay, watch the video above.