Speaking as part of the opening panel at the Asian American Hotel Owners Association annual convention last week in Long Beach, Calif., Raj Trivedi, EVP and chief development officer, La Quinta Inns & Suites, offered a pragmatic take on the rising influence of OTAs and Airbnb. “It’s incumbent on hotels to own the stay and create a great guest experience once the customer walks through the door,” he said. “It doesn’t matter how they got there, it’s our collective responsibility to introduce guests to loyalty programs—to gather data and create loyalty so they come through direct channels.”
Agreeing with Trivedi’s approach, Roger Bloss, CEO of Vantage Hospitality, added that the lodging industry has to keep innovating and stay ahead. “There are dozens of channels out there that are very similar,” he said. “The thing we see is they have to be regulated, and AH&LA and AAHOA have done a really good job with that. There are always going to be innovators, but we have to make sure that we’re telling our guests this is the place you want to be.”
While hotelier’s love-hate relationship with online travel agencies is always a hot topic, the panel of industry leaders also addressed issues ranging from targeted minimum wage increases to ongoing attacks on the franchising model by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). Regarding the recent NLRB ruling on joint employers and its impact on franchisors, “This will play out over the next three to four years,” said Liam Brown, chief development officer, Marriott International. “What we should all collectively do is make sure we preserve the franchise model. It is a compelling model and we need everybody’s support.”
Geoff Ballotti, president and CEO of Wyndham Hotel Group, said that mounting a challenge to the ruling is all about advocacy. “The NLRB has had some big wins,” ” he said. “The industry needs to get the word out, talk to our Congressmen—we all need to pay close attention to it.” If the ruling is left standing, he added, a hotel franchising company would be at risk if courts decide to hold franchisors liable for the actions of its franchisees.
Regarding minimum wage, Brown said hotel owners should focus on making sure city and state governments don’t do anything extreme. “It’s all about advocacy,” Bloss added. “Most of us started as dishwashers. People [in our industry] started at minimum wage jobs and are now millionaires. It’s not where you start, but where you end up.”
