NEW YORK — Hotel executives came out of the gate with strong messages of optimism at the 43rd NYU International Hospitality Industry Investment Conference here this week, the first held in person since 2019.

News headlines including the opening of U.S. borders to inbound international travel, the passage of a major piece of infrastructure legislation and more favorable monthly employment numbers underscored that optimism for hoteliers looking ahead to a recovery perhaps ahead of expected pace.

Conference chairman Jonathan Tisch, who is also chairman and CEO of Loews Hotels & Co. and co-chairman of the board of the Loews Corp., outlined three major concerns facing the industry as it continues recovery in the U.S.: How and when full business travel will return, the role travel plays in overall economic recovery, and how the industry will embrace corporate social responsibility and equity issues long-term.

Speakers including CEOs from major global hotel brand companies and real estate investment trusts told the crowd of more than 1,000 attendees that they are pleased with recovery to date and are having some measure of luck rehiring employees lost to furlough and layoffs, though that remains the industry’s top concern.

What everyone agrees on, however, is that the hotel industry is at a turning point and will need to address external changes — such as leisure and business guests with different travel behaviors and demands — and internal ones, as diversity, equity and inclusion finally become a top priority.

“We’re at the cusp of a golden age of travel. This will be a period of time where travel will look very different and we need to tackle this together. This nexus of strategy, product types, brands, technology, experiences — all of this is happening in real time. Can we as an industry move this fast? Can we figure it out before others figure it out for us?”
—Mit Shah, CEO of Noble Investment Group, on his concerns that the hotel industry collectively may be too slow to fully take advantage of the travel opportunities being presented.

“I don't think government is ready to do it. I don't think airports are prepared to do it. Anybody that's been traveling, like we have, most recently will tell you that there are basic challenges right now without the increase in travel coming over from abroad. I just came back from just Canada, and it was a bit of a nightmare. So, I think a lot of work needs to be done in that regard.”
—Ken Greene, president and CEO of Asian American Hotel Owners Association, on the readiness of the U.S. to welcome back international travelers.

Better-than-expected average daily rate performance at U.S. hotels are driving STR’s improved U.S. forecast. STR is CoStar’s data analytics firm.

I am so pleased to hear hoteliers at the very highest ranks sharing meaningful company data and initiatives around diversity, equity and inclusion. All the major brands appear to have metrics in place now, tying performance initiatives to compensation for those at high levels of the organization. For the first time, I truly feel these leaders are putting their money where their mouths are on this front.

Marriott International CEO Tony Capuano put it this way: “We’re in this fight for labor. The next generation of labor looks around when they decide what company they want and they ask if there’s someone there that looks like them. It’s so important for our industry to push and push and push.”
—Stephanie Ricca, editorial director
@HNN_Steph

The last industry conference I attended was the Americas Lodging Investment Summit in Los Angeles at the end of July. Heading into the conference, hoteliers were riding high, relatively speaking, as summer leisure demand was even better than in 2020 thanks to rising COVID-19 vaccination rates. Then the Los Angeles county government implemented an indoor mask mandate in response to rising cases in the area because of the delta variant. The mood of the conference was still optimistic, but the overall spirit was definitely dampened from what it would have been. It was a reminder the U.S. hotel industry, and the country overall, wasn’t done with the pandemic.

This time around, the NYU International Hospitality Industry Investment Conference is starting off on more positive footing. While attendees shared feeling some conference fatigue, they were much more optimistic about the industry’s near-term future thanks to the recently passed infrastructure bill, kids ages 5 to 11 becoming eligible for COVID-19 vaccinations starting last week, the U.S. opening up its borders to international travelers who are fully vaccinated, and continued strength in leisure demand and recovering business travel demand. Additionally, attendees learned today that STR, CoStar’s hospitality analytics firm, revised its forecast to show average-daily-rate recovery moving up a year to 2022.

The hoteliers I spoke with Sunday night and during the first day were visibly more upbeat. They certainly recognize that challenges remain for the industry — the labor shortage, whether airports and hotels can handle the increase in demand from international arrivals, budget shortfalls when property-improvement plans return — but they are certainly feeling some sense of relief that the gains the industry has made this past year haven’t been erased and that the latest developments are actually positive.
—Bryan Wroten, senior reporter
@HNN_Bryan

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