Some of our best quotes of the week, including an insightful comment from Choice Hotels' Anna Scozzafava about ramping up extended-stay properties.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“Everybody wants to will the business backwards, but we don’t really see it. I gave you some sense of where we have really good forward-looking information, which is on the group segment remaining really, really strong. I mean, obviously, leisure is growing at a somewhat slower pace because of the comps, but it’s still way over the prior high-water mark. Business transient keeps grinding up and getting better – and the same with group. So, as I’m sitting here today, honestly, while we will take a macro view of later in the year because we’re not economists, we’re not seeing any signs of weaknesses.” – Chris Nassetta, Hilton Read story
“We’re in a very exciting phase two of our growth. We went on a corporatization drive and set up Worldwide Hotels in 2017 to consolidate all our hotel brands under this umbrella. We also aggressively started to invest in overseas hotels assets.” – Carolyn Choo, Worldwide Hotels Read story
“The lesson many owners learned the hard way during the pandemic is that the flexibility and adaptability of contracts are vital when market circumstances change quickly. This is not about the ability to replace a supplier, vendor or partner with a less expensive alternative but being able to engage and find workable solutions that serve the best interests of the business.” – Roger Allen, RLA Global Read story
“Yes, India has been a headache, but we might be catching it at finally the right time where the Motrin is working. What’s happened in this last five years with [Indian Prime Minister Narendra] Modi kicking down the barriers of bureaucracy, supporting huge infrastructure projects, is you see the big names like Brookfield, Blackstone and GIC investing in a significant way. While it’s still a long way from being as efficient as some western countries, it’s come a long way and is much more friendly.” – Karim Alibhai, Gencom Read story
“It sounds sexy when you say, ‘We can ramp a hotel up in the economy extended space in four months. And we have hotels open this year that have hit 80% occupancy.’ But you’ve got to have the knowledge and expertise to be able to do that.” – Anna Scozzafava, Choice Hotels Read story