CGOs talk about their roles, growth at ALIS

LOS ANGELES – ALIS 2026 featured two Forward sessions, spotlighting women in leadership roles who are paving the way forward for future women leaders in the hotel investment community.

Mary Beth Cutshall of Vision Hospitality, Kathleen Hollis of First Hospitality and Liz Perkins of Apple REIT all sit in chief growth officer roles and talked about subjects proffered by moderator Kevin Carey of the AH&LA ranging from the evolution of their roles, current demand generators and where they are looking for growth.

Cutshall is coming up on her first anniversary at Vision Hospitality, brought in to spearhead the next chapter of growth for the company.

We’re optimistic that we’ll continue to see slow and steady growth, but I think it will be different than it was pre-COVID. Large corporations versus small- to medium-sized accounts may look different. And, I think that is sector based mainly.

Liz Perkins

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“I’m able to think about not just the short term, but very long term from a real estate perspective for our portfolio – 10 to 20 years down the road,” Cutshall explained. “Which properties are legacy properties? Which properties will we want to sell at some point? Mitch [Patel] has an analogy that many may have heard. He calls it beer and wine, and we’re really assessing the ‘beer and wine,’ and establishing that next growth trajectory because the deals were getting bigger, the checks were getting bigger, and the initiatives was getting bigger. So, it was also about having one person accountable and leading that strategy, strategic partnerships, institutional capital. How can we maximize the properties that we have from a revenue perspective?”

Hollis said her mandate was to focus on growth in the third-party management space in three ways – new hotel developments, hotel acquisitions and via management changes. “At the end of the day, it boils down to the team’s ability to convince sophisticated, smart hotel owners that First Hospitality can add value to the bottom line, either at an asset that the investor currently owns or is thinking of buying,” she said.

Perkins said responsibility for longer-term growth at Apple REIT is focused on being best-in-class asset managers and operators with our third-party management teams and adding value that way.

“Our entire executive team knows the marching orders of growth. It’s not just property count. It’s earnings per share and growth for our investors,” Perkins expanded. “We can do that in many and one thing that I love about Apple REIT, and one of the reasons I’ve been able to sort of wear different hats and evolve into different roles is because we’re so integrated. Everyone is working toward a common goal focused on how we can drive incremental value better than we did last year because that’s going to put us in the best position and have the best ability to grow from an asset count perspective.”

Carey turned the conversation to demand and how the panelists feel about the big picture in 2026.

Perkins said that COVID proved how resilient travel is, but admitted administration policy has chipped away at the periphery. “But when you look at underlying occupancy for the industry, it’s strong,” she said. “Performance is really good. Universally, we’d love to see more growth as we enter the year, given some of the demand impacts from last year. We’re optimistic that disruption will lapse, particularly on the government business side of things. But we’ll have to see.”

We’re even more excited about corporate groups. Our group pace for 2026 is up 9%.

Mary Beth Cutshall

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Perkins added that with midterm elections, the World Cup and the 250th anniversary in the U.S., “there’s a lot to potentially be excited about from an incremental demand perspective.”

When asked about corporate travel, Perkins said business travel was close to pre-COVID levels when DOGE and Liberation Day hit demand. Now, she said Apple REIT is seeing continual and steady improvement with occupancies and corporate demand.

“We’re optimistic that we’ll continue to see slow and steady growth, but I think it will be different than it was pre-COVID,” Perkins said. “Large corporations versus small- to medium-sized accounts may look different. And, I think that is sector based mainly.”

Cutshall said Vision has seen a 7% increase year-to-date in business transient for the month of January, which gives them some conviction and strength of corporate travel for the rest of the year. “We’re even more excited about corporate groups,” she said. “Our group pace for 2026 is up 9%.”

Cutshall, who encouragingly said length of stay for groups and corporate is extending, added that Vision is trying to be creative about how they play with groups to maximize revenue. “We’re focused on pattern management in markets where BT is strong on Tuesday and Wednesday, and you shift your groups to Monday and Thursday,” she explained. “Some [group] members are rightfully constrained with the ADR that they’re able to pay. And maybe that’s ok. Maybe we can get creative beverage minimums and find a way and maximize holistic revenue, rather than just being totally focused on group. So, as a RevPAR growth driver this year, group will play an important part.”

Hollis referenced one thing that First has been having fun with in larger full-service hotels with multiple food and beverage outlets: on slower days when some restaurant space isn’t very active, with minimal expense, revamp them to make it more flexible and, for example, open the bar to a corporate group, or offer a buyout to a group to have an alternative meeting space versus the traditional ballroom.

“Thinking about the hotel as a holistic revenue maximization opportunity, rather than rooms or simple F&B has been kind of fun,” Hollis said.

When asked about growing with brands versus independents – Vision has both – Cutshall said they will be sticking with the brands and do more soft brands. “We’re going to stick with our bread and butter when it comes to brands,” she said. “When it comes to geographical expansion, we’ve been very thoughtful about where we go. We’re going to stay in the smile states in the southeast. We’re open to the Midwest and having some conversations out west. It’s going to be a case-by-case situation on the opportunity, the potential and partnerships.”

Vision would also like to find some value-add, according to Cutshall. “But in today’s market, we’re not seeing a lot of things that excite us. To be frank, we’re not really interested in properties that are a little long in the tooth.”