Quotes of the Week: Marriott, Wyndham, Ashford, Omni

QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“The rate cut or cuts will be enormously helpful psychologically, even if they do not move the numbers on the spreadsheets much. It will give borrowers the sense that at least rates are not getting any higher and allow them to plan for the future.” – Jan Frietag, CoStar   Read story

“For the select-service segments, we’ve been through similar situations before, and we’re confident that the select-service RevPAR will bounce back, as it always has, historically.” – Geoff Ballotti, Wyndham Hotels & Resorts   Read story

“The primary change in our full-year [RevPAR] outlook is Greater China’s updated expectation of negative RevPAR growth for the rest of the year. We expect the continuation of current weak demand and pricing trends in the region with the third quarter expected to see the most meaningful RevPAR decline, and as outbound travel accelerates during summer holidays.” – Leeny Oberg, Marriott International   Read story

“In 2019, the bulk of the key money deployed was in upper upscale and luxury and now you are seeing selectively the opportunity or need to deploy key money lower in the quality tier.” – Anthony Capuano, Marriott International   Read story

“We continue to successfully execute against our operating strategy, and I’m very pleased with the progress we have made in paying off our strategic financing. The outstanding loan balance is down almost 53% from the original balance, and between the excess proceeds from additional planned asset sales, excess proceeds from planned property refinancings, and proceeds from our non-traded preferred capital raise, we believe we have a viable path to pay off our strategic financing this year.” – Stephen Zsigray, Ashford Hospitality Trust   Read story

“We saw ourselves coming into the winter, and the slowdown was in that sort of midscale leisure market, and that proved true during the first quarter of the year… The luxury lifestyle segment is booming. There’s no resistance to price, demand, or economic indicators.” – Jolyon Bulley, IHG Hotels & Resorts   Read story

“More money is not going to miraculously appear unless there’s an ROI associated with it. We always encourage designers to come up with ideas that we couldn’t pencil and see if they can make them work because we want to be creative.” – Laura McKoy, Omni Hotels & Resorts   Read story

“This move [into third-party management] allows us to partner with independent developers and hotels, expand our presence in top-performing markets and bring our renowned service excellence to a broader audience.” – Sasa Milojevic, Tafer Hotels & Resorts   Read story

“[Leonardo Hotel Group] has a strong pipeline ahead with a few exclusivities that are being checked now. We are always looking to add more hotels/portfolios to meet our expansion targets.” -- Yaniv Amzaleg, Fattal Hotels   Read story

“Maybe we should consider repurposing one of our suburban business parks [in Singapore], which are presently emptying, to experiment with such new [wellness] concepts. New ideas are needed to bolster Singapore’s competitiveness, but we must also find ways to lower the entry risk. – Singapore hotel group CEO   Read story

“Travelers are looking for new and unique experiences to reconnect with nature in off-the-beaten-path locations. By adding these luxury outdoor camps to World of Hyatt, we are bringing more memorable travel experiences for our guests and members, Hyatt offers one of the fastest-growing luxury portfolios globally and… We continue to double down on this focus.” – Mark Vondrasek, Hyatt Hotels Corp.   Read story