Quotes of the Week: Hilton, Hotels Association of New York, STR, Hyatt

QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“We think we will globally see growth in all segments. It’ll be very low in leisure transient, but positive, a little bit higher on business transient side and very, very strong on meetings and events.” – Chris Nassetta, Hilton   Read story

“Operational bloat resulting from this includes mandatory 24/7 security coverage for any hotel over 100 rooms, which amounts to approximately $500,000 a year. That is a death knell for many small hotels, many of whom have yearly revenues in the $10-$15 million range.” – Vijay Dandapani, Hotel Association of New York City   Read story

“When you look at total U.S. numbers, there’s not as much opportunity for boom for the rest of this year… I’m not worried about the downside of demand. It’s more about the rate.” – Amanda Hite, STR   Read story

“What’s happened in the last 12 months is that capital is available, but people thought instead of investing in equity, they should do debt, and that didn’t pan out because fewer transactions happened.” – Mehul Patel, NewcrestImage   Read story

“Recent growth in larger transactions has been partly fueled by a rise in CMBS/SASB issuance which increased 3.3x relative to last year. Expect this capital to gravitate to assets in high barrier-to-entry markets that cater to a diverse customer mix.” – JLL Hotels & Hospitality   Read story

“In the short-term vicinity, July was extraordinarily strong in terms of total bookings. The bookings that we’re getting are not just filling rooms at compromise rates. We are realizing great ADRs… We also have a swelling of tentative business that is really striking.” – Mark Hoplamazian, Hyatt Hotels Corp.   Read story

“We celebrated 126 hotel openings in the half and the signing of a record-breaking 384 properties, equivalent to more than two a day. These included the first six openings and 118 signings from the Novum Hospitality agreement, which doubles our presence in the important and attractive German market. After growth of +7% in Q1, a very busy Q2 saw +23% more signings year‑on‑year or a more than doubling when including Novum, and this keeps us on track for net system size growth expectations.” – Elie Maalouf, IHG Hotels & Resorts   Read story

“We’re very comfortable with how our consumers are behaving... We think what happened this quarter was that the high-end leisure travelers went abroad... We believe this is a moment in time and the pendulum will swing back.” – Jim Risoleo, Host Hotels & Resorts   Read story

“We just signed a new project in Fulton Market in Chicago, and that's going to be a renovation of a former Schwinn Bicycle factory. That one's about two years away from delivery. And then we're actively looking again in the Southeast as well as looking in the San Francisco area, kind of around wine country… We have two more projects in Southern California, though I can't announce the locations for those yet; we'll be delivering those within the next two to four years.” – Philip Bates, TMC Hospitality   Read story