7 quotes you need to read

QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“It’s an economic model that has amazing speed for scale. We should be able to build these quickly – more quickly than a traditional hotel... So, in today’s world, I think that’s really appealing to investors.” – Brian King, Marriott International, on their plans for the new City Express brand  Read story

“We’re using the most powerful medium in the world, which is music. It’s the most viral content on the planet. People follow music more than sports. It’s an international language and we can use music as a driving force for not just content but discovery.” – Robert Lavia, UMusic Hotels  Read story

“New York City continues to see strong leisure and bleisure performance. Rates and occupancies continue to climb without significant recovery from Asia and South America, and without Europe fully returning to its pre-pandemic levels.” – Evan Weiss, LW Hospitality Advisors  Read story

“This is all the more notable given this demand of the quarter was overwhelmingly driven by domestic travelers [in China], as international airlift was still less than 20% of 2019 capacity at the end of March.” – Leeny Oberg, Marriott International, on Greater China being 95% recovered to pre-pandemic levels  Read story

"Properties are likely to be forced to move towards unbundling rates where valuable elements are stripped, and individual components will need to be repurchased at a premium to reach the same original level of offering. Why? If loyalty members have access to rates that include value-add features, they will need to trust that the value they receive from these packaged components is greater than what they would have paid if they purchased these components individually." – Trevor Stuart-Hill, Revenue Matters, on Marriott’s announcement to more transparently publish rates inclusive of fees  Read story

“We have an ownership mindset. We don't have a management company mindset, which is very different. The management mindset is, how much fees can I earn from the hotel? Our mindset is, how much value can we drive for our owners and guests?” – Dillip Rajakarier, Minor International  Read story

SNEAK PEAK (see asset management story based on HAMA survey results on Monday)
“If considering a rebrand, the key point is where bookings come from. More business from direct channels boosts revenue and lowers exit cap rates.” – Chris Hague, HotelAVE