NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Without a doubt, the COVID-19 pandemic caused chaos. But as hard as it is, hoteliers are seeing it as an opportunity to change old habits.

"We're trying to do that in every way, shape or form at all of our properties," said Michael Blank, principal of Bethesda, Maryland-based acquisition and asset management company Woodmont Lodging, on a panel titled "Flexible Arrangement: Reevaluating Relationships Post-Pandemic" at the Hotel Data Conference.

Alex Cisneros, senior vice president of revenue generation and analytics at New Albany, Ohio-based hotel chain Red Roof, said COVID-19 allowed his company to relook at things such as operations, supply chain, human resources and revenue management.

"What we really learned is that this gives us an opportunity to step back, look at some of the trends, the data and being able to build that bridge with other functions that were not there before. We started to listen to [our franchisees] very closely and really hear their pain points, because it was changing so much," he said.

Elie Khoury, executive vice president of operations at Plano, Texas-based third-party management company Aimbridge Hospitality, said he took advantage of three opportunities that came about this past year: improving innovation at his hotels, building better relationships with brands and rightsizing offerings.

Khoury said while margins are improving, the brands still are concerned. The opt-in model for stayover cleaning, for example, has helped with profitability. But now the question is whether that will be sustainable in the future.

"This is the best opportunity in our industry to involve our owners and say, 'Let's rightsize this breakfast offering, let's rightsize the cleaning process, let's give the power to the guest to choose.' Sustaining the profitability is very important but let's not erode it completely," he said.

Some owners propose eliminating stayover service all together, but Khoury warned that's not the right solution. When giving the guest a choice, he anticipates most will opt out, but that choice still needs to be there.

Leveraging Aimbridge's scale has been helpful for maneuvering through challenges, he said. But he said at the onset of the pandemic, there was a lag in getting direction from brand partners.

"We had to learn to use our own data, our own resources to be more nimble," he said.

Blank said the recovery is like a tale of two cities: Urban hotels might not recover until 2024, and on the other hand, resort properties are having their best years, beating 2019's profit levels.

The momentum is there, but owners must now get creative, he added.

"The challenge for us as an owner ... is making sure we sustain profitability for the long term, not just the short term," he said.

One of Woodmont Lodging's hotels wanted to bring daily breakfast back, but Blank advised the general manager not to. Instead, the hotel is providing breakfast to guests who are staying on the weekends and paying higher rates.

After experimenting with that strategy, his team observed that satisfaction scores haven't declined.

"We are not losing any customer loyalty ... I took a risk in doing that, but I figured that's the only way I can get through," he said.

However, if hotels strip all amenities, Blank said, "You're not going to get the rate. At some point you're going to shoot yourself in the foot."

The alternative-accommodation model is also something to look at. While there are glaring limitations for the business travelers staying in alternative accommodations, such as paying up front, and less flexibility for check-in and check-out times, it's forcing hotels to think more broadly.

"It adds another layer of how should we be designed so that [hotels] stay competitive to alternative accommodations but still [allow] an owner to be profitable," Blank said.

Cisneros said brands are tasked with understanding what the customers want. Some hotels, even pre-COVID-19, were offering services and amenities that not every customer wanted in order to remain competitive.

"You feel it's right from a customer perspective but what I think is going to happen is we need to try to find a happy medium, knowing that some of the bigger brands are going to bring back some of the services that have been discontinued, therefore setting the expectations higher," he said. "That's where the problem starts, that we are trying to outperform the others, and we increase costs. I think there's a better way."

He said conversations with franchisees have shifted. Much of it centers on educating teams on how to look at profit-and-loss statements.

"It's not just about how we maximize revenue and how we do it better than 2019, but am I as profitable as I was in 2019?" he said.

Relationships between brands, owners, operators and franchisees have improved, resulting in greater collaboration, Khoury said.

Pre-pandemic, some brand standards were almost too much, and owners couldn't push back because the value of the brand was most important for revenue generation.

Today, the brands changed completely because of the pandemic, speakers said.

"They have done a lot of restructuring; we've seen it a lot on the revenue side, where the top brands out there have changed their models completely. That gave us an opportunity for us to be more collaborative ... [the brands] are willing to listen, they're willing to do more today than they have done in the past," he said.

Khoury said the brands are turning to his company for solutions and best practices. The brands also are allowing Aimbridge to open hotels a little differently and with less-strict brand standards.

Brands are "learning from us as much as we're learning from them. It's going both ways, which is really a unique situation that's never happened in the past," he said.

There's talking and there's listening, Blank said. Owners always have talked but brands and management companies might not always have listened.

"There's a situation today where they have to listen. If [revenue per available room] is back to 2019 levels, I don't know if they're going to listen as well. But right now, they have to listen," he said.

Cisneros said the way Red Roof approached the conversation of brand standards with its franchisees was by discussing which services and amenities could not be taken away for the few who were still traveling at the onset of the pandemic.

Red Roof gave franchisees flexibility on brand standards, and once hotels became profitable again and reached a certain level of occupancy, they agreed together which amenities would return.

In the past, Cisneros' team didn't always pay much attention to what his franchisees' pain points were, he said.

"We already had empathy at Red Roof, we understood they have the hardest job; they have to operate a hotel. But there are little details and challenges that we can be a better partner [on] and help them solve those problems," he added.

• Khoury: "Keep in mind that operators in hotels have a lot of strain and pressure from the pandemic. We're seeing heavy turnover. General managers and operators are working around the clock. Be sensitive to that ... as we try to find solutions."
• Cisneros: "We can work together with franchisees, operators in ways that we can take care of our associates. Feedback is a gift. Sometimes we don't get enough from our franchisees. Through COVID, we are getting more feedback. Make sure that if you pick up the phone or send an email, share that feedback — only together we can turn the page and move to the next chapter."
• Blank: "Feedback is really critical. Don't reach out just in distress or need. If you have that conversation early on [such as with lenders or brands] the response is going to be much more positive."