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IHIF: Hoteliers must adapt, make long-term investments

Column: industry Tag: IHIF,Hoteliers Published: 2017-03-08 11:44 Source: Author:

General overall optimism with a slight edginess about the future fueled the discussions during the opening day of the 20th annual International Hotel Investment Forum.

More than 2,000 attendees crowded the Hotel InterContinental Berlin to take in a program of all general sessions that looked back on the past two decades in the industry and pushed the 26 speakers on the docket to gaze into their crystal balls for the next 20 years.

As key metrics—revenue per available room, hotel transactions volumes and yield—all tighten slightly, at least in Western markets, hoteliers and investors were urged to understand the multifaceted nature of the industry and to provide new groups of consumers what they demand. Those new travelers might be Chinese, they might have disabilities, they could still be baby boomers with seemingly unlimited disposable incomes, but whoever they are, the hotel industry contains sufficient opportunities and products to cater to emerging revenue generators.

During a panel session titled “Hotel investment today,” Andreas Scriven, international managing director and managing director at business consultancy Christie & Company, underlined that a key trend in the industry is, “is the adaptability of the sector, how it reinvents itself, (and) its ability to repurpose is very impressive.”

At another panel, titled “The next 20 years: A collective look at the hospitality investment landscape,” Cody Bradshaw, SVP and head of European hotels at Starwood Capital Group, said that for the future “investment strategy requires knowing the consumer group that you most think will stay with you over the long term.”

Quotes of the Day
“In an industry that has elements that want to commoditize the brands, it’s important that we have brands that mean something.”
—Richard Solomons, CEO, InterContinental Hotels Group

“You have to continue to invest through the cycle. The worst outcome is to stop and wait a couple of years. What will happen then is everybody will race past you.”
—Alison Brittain, chief executive of Whitbread.

“(The Marriott buy of Starwood) is a starting point for something we have to build. … rather like President Obama receiving the Nobel Peace Prize in his first year in office, a promise of hope, rather than an active achievement.”
—Arne Sorenson, president and CEO of Marriott International, speaking about Marriott’s purchase of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide as he collected the IHIF Lifetime Achievement Award on the first day of the 2017 edition of the conference.

“The fad is millennial travel, but arguably that group is the least compelling. They are earning about 10% less than their parents and have far higher student debt. So if you are going into developing something for millennials, you have to go in knowing they will probably have less spending power.”
—Cody Bradshaw, SVP and head of European hotels, Starwood Capital Group.

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