LAS VEGAS—During this year’s convention, members of Wyndham Hotel Group’s executive team sat down with members of the media to discuss the company and industry trends. Here, they give their opinions on supply growth, Cuba and much more. Be sure to check out the October 7 issue of Hotel Business for more coverage.
Geoff Ballotti, president and CEO, on new construction: “Supply is beginning to tick up, but it’s still way below historic norms. Especially in the economy and midscale space, supply growth has been much lower than in the upper-mid, upscale and upper-upscale space. A lot of these properties are at end of life and the best and most encouraging thing for us is that 70% of our pipeline is new construction. A lot of that new construction is coming in to markets where owners are buying properties that are at their end of life and building new prototypes. We’re seeing tremendous demand in new construction for all of our brands and we’re going to continue to focus heavily as we take our capital expenses and resources into the prototype development.”
Bob Loewen, EVP and COO, on Cuba: “We’re working on opportunities there. Our teams have been there, we have partners we’re talking to and we will be looking to bring some of our brands there. We’ve talked to both people who want the upscale side and some who really see the need for a good, solid economy hotel, so I think you’ll probably see both. [The biggest challenge] is anywhere outside of maybe Havana, the utilities aren’t there yet. So it’s really working on getting the utilities, infrastructure—the government has a lot of work to do down there, but it will be a great location.”
Lisa Checchio, VP, brand marketing and insights, on the democratization of travel: “Everyone deserves to have a special moment. Regardless of your price point, it’s your choice how you travel. You should be able to have an experience you want to share or that makes you feel good. What we’re doing [with the new branding initiatives like localized art, text messaging services, etc.]is so unique in economy/midscale. Because 90% of our rooms fit into economy/midscale, no other hotel company can match what we’re trying to do, which is bringing these special, thoughtful moments, by brand, to them. This is happening in higher [segments]of hotels, but it should be happening at all levels, regardless of price point.”
Noah Brodsky, SVP, worldwide loyalty and customer engagement, on Millennials: “Millennial travelers outside of the East and West coast are everyday travelers. They’re exactly the demographic that’s staying all the time in our properties. So many of our competitors talk about Millennial travelers as consultants and bankers and first-class fliers. That is a very small percentage of Millennial travelers across the country. So many Millennial travelers are not that and so much of what we’re doing on the brand side is applicable to them.”
Josh Lesnick, EVP and CMO, on innovation: “We’ve really changed the way we go about innovating and building our brands. Instead of coming up with something and saying it’s everywhere, we’re in a constant mode of piloting now across the brands. At the end of the day, I look at it as a system of 8,000 guest experience labs where we can take five or 10 hotels in each brand and say we’ll try something different. Let’s see what really connects with the guest, what’s profitable for the owner to operate—and it always has to reinforce those brand promises. What’s next is just taking all of this framework to put it out there in a smart, intelligent, strategic way, and keep evolving our brands and expanding our standards.”
—Nicole Carlino