Hot Type: The Highland Group, SH Hotels & Resorts, The Ascott Ltd.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“It [upscale-upper midscale boutique hotels] doesn’t look so great [in this report]. Part of that is because Tapestry [by Hilton] bumped up in class. So, it left a vacant seat. But there’s been a lot of brands introduced in that category… There’s been some more affordable boutique products introduced in this class that I would expect are going to increase in number. They are well located and well put together, and they stay true to the boutique. I don’t see any reason why that class and that price point wouldn’t increase and do better as the year goes on and as the next several years go on.” – Kim Bardoul, The Highland Group  Read story

“It's logical that other U.S. cities will follow suit by regulating short-term rentals in a similar manner to NYC, especially as Airbnb’s failed lawsuit cited federal laws like section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which the judge dismissed, providing a clear pathway to regulation throughout the U.S.” – Murray Cox, Inside Airbnb  Read story

“In the short and medium term some of this will be offset by construction, government, FEMA and others. However, long term, Maui will lose not just to other Hawaii islands but to competitive markets like Mexico.” – Benjamin Rafter, Springboard Hospitality  Read story

“I don't think about getting rid of people that are going to be your front-facing representation to save maybe half a point on GOP because it’s going to hurt you in the long run. One thing for sure that I’ve seen post-COVID is people still want as much face-to-face interaction as possible. We have apps and text messaging and everything else. But when they have a real issue, they still want a real person.” – Raul Leal, SH Hotels & Resorts  Read story

“This is truly amazing that [The Plantation Inn sign in Lahaina, Maui] could sit there [undamaged] like that through this entire town burning down. It just really is a tragedy what has occurred. Two thousand homes were lost, and 115 lives were lost at this point. But we’re going to rebuild the town. We’ve got to figure out how to do it. It’s going to take a long time, but it’s something that I think, when I saw this, one of our employees actually went in and was able to take this picture. It said to me, we have to rebuild this hotel, and we need to rebuild this town.” – Jeff Wagoner, Outrigger Hospitality Group  Read story

“We have to go back to the table and work with the developer and say ‘we understand you need a better return, we understand you need a higher rent.’ Then we need to look at how that impacts the entire stakeholder network and structure responsible deals whereby we can get cash flow and activate the value in that local community. That right location that brings about the returns for our owners and, more importantly, impacts our ability to grow the network and grow our brands.” – David Mansfield, The Ascott Ltd., Australia  Read story