Latest / Suite Spot: A Hotel Marketing Podcast / 195 – 2026 Hotel Equities Leadership Conference (Pt. 1)
Transcript
- Ryan Embree: Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check in, and we check out what's trending in hotel marketing. I'm your host, Ryan Embree. Hello everyone. Ryan Embree here from the Sweet Spot for a very special episode where we head out to Las Vegas, Nevada for the 2026 Hotel Equities Leadership Conference. There we had the opportunity to sit down with several key team members from the hotel equities team. In this episode, we talk to Greg Osteen, chief Development Officer, who talks about the strategic growth of hotel equities and where they see opportunity. Becky Ley with commercial and strategy tips and trends that she's seeing right now within the portfolio. And Maria Parla, who is focused on that Kala region, the Caribbean and Latin America, uh, region, which hotel equity has been growing is so excited about Can't Wait to Bring It all to you in these next three episodes in our special Hotel equity episodes, part One. Hello everyone. Welcome to another episode of the Sweet Spot. This is the host Ryan Embry here at the RA Resort and Casino Las Vegas at the 2026 Hotel Equities Leadership Conference. I'm here with Greg Osteen, chief Development Officer. Greg, thank you so much for joining me here at the conference. Greg O'Stean: Thank you for having me. Ryan Embree: We just talked about it, almost 800 or almost a thousand attendees about to file through here. We're right next to registration. Uh, this is your first Hotel Equities Leadership. Greg O'Stean: It is. Ryan Embree: What are you excited about? What do you hope to take away from these next couple days? Greg O'Stean: So, as you said, my first, I joined April of last year, so I just missed last year's conference. Very excited about this one. Very excited to talk about all the things that have happened in the last year. More importantly, talk about where we're going Sure. As we are transforming together and as we're changing, you know, what is a great company today and making it even better. So I'm excited about that. I'm excited about meeting all the folks who make it happen every day. Yeah. Because most of the people coming here today are the leaders from our hotels, from the properties. It shouldn't be a surprise to you there. At the headquarters where I work, there are no cash registers. Right. <laugh>, we, we, we don't make any money at the headquarters. We spend money. Yeah. But, but the company lives and dies by what happens in the field. Yeah. And those people are here, and I'm excited about that. Ryan Embree: It's so cool. And there's something magical when you get those onsite property Yeah. People all together, because we're gonna talk about it here in a second, but, uh, you start to hear patterns, trends Yeah. Things bubbling up that, you know, you have properties all over the country. We do. But it could be a property, you know, that shares that struggle across the country. That's right. And then be able to discuss those issues and, and challenges that, uh, hospitality right now, you know, continues to phase, but also all the, all the great trends that are on the horizon. Greg O'Stean: A hundred percent. And we're growing across Canada and Latin America as well, but just in the US. Each state is a little different. You talked about being from Texas, very different from Georgia, very different from California. But there are patterns across, yeah. Right. And so when someone from Oregon says to someone from Florida, uh, here's what I'm experiencing. And they go, oh yeah. Have you considered this? Or, here's what we're doing. Or, here's a new tool, or, here's what I tried. Sure. Right. And you take the best of the best and share those best practices. That's, that's what makes a company great. That's what makes a team great. Otherwise, we're just a collection of individuals sitting out at properties with no real vision and no real teamwork. Yeah. Ryan Embree: Well, absolutely. And again, it's, it's, it's times like this, places like this that, that make that special happen. Now, Greg, you said you've been here, uh, you know, just less than a year coming up on a year. Um, tell us about, you know, obviously, uh, chief Development Officer always looking for new opportunities for the business. But tell, talk to us a little bit about your role, um, with, within Ho Hotel equities. Greg O'Stean: So, so my role is really the, it's the intersection of the type of owners that we want to have, but people that actually own the hotels that we manage. Uh, because today we have largely one type of owner profile, and there's really five or six out there, more institutional owners, more private equity groups, more family offices. Each owner profile has a different, you know, different, uh, goals, different hold periods, different things that they're looking for. And so we wanna diversify our owner base. We also want to diversify our geographic base. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. Grow into markets where we're not. Um, we want to expand in the markets where we are. 'cause there's synergies with that. But we also want to change. Really, if you look at where we are today, there's a, we're a company that consists largely of smaller hotels. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. A lot of select service hotels. Sure. Lot of independent hotels today. Now, because of the Springboard acquisition, um, and some larger, you know, 200, 250 keys, we're gonna move that average up. We're gonna give more full service hotels. We're gonna give more luxury, more resorts. Not to abandon what built us, but to just diversify and have more to, to grow, not just for the sake of growth Yeah. But to grow strategically. Ryan Embree: Yeah, absolutely. And you know, I was really looking for this conversation because I think you have some really unique insights we talked about, about the insights that you can glean from when you get a bunch of hotels together, but also when you're talking to owners and investors constantly, I think some common trends and themes also start to percolate a little bit. They do. And you get to have to, you have the, the firsthand experience of being able to see those and hear those stories and insights from multiple people. What are you hearing right now when it comes to owners, investors, and, and a climate right now that it, again, it's a little challenging right now. Greg O'Stean: It's a challenging environment, no doubt. And that's what we hear from the owners, right? It's, you know, with labor costs going up, materials costs going up, inflation, but your top line is really not growing. Top line is flat at best, right? Yeah. So your margins are shrinking. Sure. So, and, and a lot of investment is reconsidering whether or not they still wanna be invested in hotels. Right. Because your typical institutional investor or real estate investor doesn't have to invest in hotels that can choose, you know, to invest in a data center or multifamily or whatever. Yeah. So a lot of them were questioning like, well, what do I do now? Like in the past I could buy or sell or refi. It's hard to do all of those right now. So the next best thing you can do, or the best thing you can do in a challenging environment is revisit your relationship with your manager. Right. If, if you can't sell it for the price that you want and you can't refinance it for the, for the proceeds that you need, and you can't change the flag, because most of the time it's a long-term agreement. Right. Then what can you do to make a difference? Reconsider your relationship with your manager. Yeah. And that's the opportunity for us. Ryan Embree: No, absolutely. And, and especially with a portfolio, the size of yours, the sheer experience Yeah. That the organization has and the history that it hangs its hat on. Um, you know, what, what have any of these conversations kind of influenced the opportunities that you're choosing to pursue? And I think all as equally important not to pursue right now. Greg O'Stean: Sometimes the best deals are the ones you don't do. Ryan Embree: I've heard that before. Greg O'Stean: Yeah. And I learned something at my last, well, two companies ago, um, and this was actually a client who told us this bigger is not better, better is better. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. Right? And there's a lesson in there just growing for the sake of growth, just to be bigger, just to be the fastest growing. We don't want that. That's, that's not what we're about. We're talking about strategically growing, which means the right owners, the right markets, the right types of hotels, uh, and, and really aligning our vision with the owner's vision. Right. Why, why are they hiring us and making sure we've got the right relationship. It's hard to turn deals down, but sometimes again, the best deals are the ones you don't do sometimes. Ryan Embree: Yeah. I, I, I love that. And, and strategic growth, what you're talking about. How do you, uh, you know, without giving any maybe secrets away of, of the trade, like what, what do those conversations sound like to differentiate hotel equities? Um, because it feels like, along with, uh, obviously a new brand popping up, there's also another ho hotel management company around the corner. Greg O'Stean: Yeah. Everybody, when we talk to them, everybody wants to know what makes hotel equities better, special or different, right? Because it's easy to put all third party management companies into a, a bucket and say, you're all a commodity, you're all about the same. So what is it that we do that's better special or different? And the answer is really in the performance of the hotels, right? We, we have to be able to tell stories that relate to that specific owner. So if that owner has a 200 room hotel in Orlando, we need to be able to show them, well, here's three other hotels in Orlando. Here's what it looked like when we took it over and here's where it is today. We can do that for you. That's what resonates with the owners. Ryan Embree: Well, and you got a lot of stories to choose from. Yeah. Um, on the, on the, when you kind of look at the landscape right now, are there any, you talked about geography, are there, are there any places you think that there are opportunity asset types? Uh, you mentioned. Greg O'Stean: We definitely want to do, uh, more luxury, more upper upscale, larger hotels. We're not, we don't have much of a presence in the Northeast, so there's a lot of opportunity for us up there. We should have a larger presence in places like Florida and Texas. So we're working on that. We just expanded some in Texas, but Texas, as you know, is a big state. Massive. So there's a lot of room, a lot of room there. A lot of room in Florida. Um, so, and really we, we will follow where our investors are going. The smart investors, the institutional ones are saying, okay, maybe we're done with Nashville for now. We're done with Austin for now because they're renovating the convention center. Sure. Where are we going next? And we help them find those markets. We help them go to the next place. Ryan Embree: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, some of these can look, these locations, markets look very different. You know, Nashville, Austin running really, really hot right now. Yeah. Um, and again, with the expertise to be able to kind of guide those ownership and investors to say, Hey, this is, this is a good opportunity. Greg O'Stean: And that's what they look to us for, right? Yeah. That is a sign of a good management company. You're not just managing their hotels, you're helping them manage their company by showing them, this is where we think the puck is going. Right? This is where we think the next opportunities for your company will be, are in Kalispell, Montana. Right. Wherever they may not be thinking because they're so focused on, okay, what's happening in my portfolio today? We can help them see, well, this is where you wanna be in two years, three years, five years. Ryan Embree: You know, a lot of these conferences, uh, that I attend, investment conferences around the country, uh, relationships, whether it's the brand and the property, whether it's a management company and an owner investor, those are always dissected during these, uh, yeah. These types of events. Uh, you know, hotel equity is known for being very owner aligned. What does that mean to you on the business development side? Greg O'Stean: Well, so the, the main reason that we are in business is to deliver better returns for the owners, the people who have entrusted us with their hotels. And a lot of our owners, the, the cash that we return to them is what's feeding their families and sending their kids to school. Right? Yeah. So if you're not aligned with that owner, you're not gonna have a very long relationship. Right. It's very different from an institutional owner that might have 200 hotels and you miss the numbers one quarter on one or two of them, you'll have some conversations. Yeah. And, and you'll make some adjustments. But when you're dealing with an owner whose family is depending on the cash flow from that hotel or the next generation of that family, they need to know that they trust you. They are entrusting you with their lives, not just their investment. Right. Yeah. So it's understanding what we're in business for, who we're in business for. Ryan Embree: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I guess especially again, with this climate, that, that's another thing that they talk about is, is, you know, where profit profit margins are really, really tight right now. You need those trusted experts. 'cause hospitality is such a wide ranging space. You can't be an expert at anything. So leaning on those industry experts in the places that you need them, recognizing that one you need. Greg O'Stean: And answering the phone when they call. And having the right person that when they say, Hey, I have an issue, and they say, I'll get right on it. Yeah. Right. And that gets harder and harder the, the larger you become mm-hmm <affirmative>. Because you could become more layered and more structured and they say, oh, well, I used to deal with Ryan, but now Ryan is often another thing. Now I don't know this person. It's not the person that I had the relationship with. That's, that's why you have to balance growth with your relationships and, and where you're going because you, you can't lose that trust that you built. Ryan Embree: Awesome. Well, another thing that we love to do at these events, especially in hospitality, is try to predict the future, right? Yeah. Try to look into that crystal ball and see, uh, what, what do you see 12 to 18 months or even maybe hearing from owners and investors right now about what, what they want to see out there other than returns, of course. Right? Greg O'Stean: Yeah. So, so we get our opportunities really from three main areas. Someone builds a hotel, someone buys a hotel, or someone changes the manager of that hotel. Um, it's very difficult to build a hotel right now because costs and returns, and in the short term, it's just not, uh, economic to build a hotel costs too much to build Sure. For the term that you'll, that you'll get as far as buying a hotel. The last two year, the, the last really good year, high activity year was 2019. Yeah. Then you had COVID, the, the, the entire pandemic and the recovery from that for the last few years has been a bid ask gap between what, uh, sellers are willing to, to accept and what buyers are willing to pay. Yeah, I've heard that that's, that gap is closing. So this year you'll see more activity than last year. You'll see. And I'm not making that, I mean, the brokers will tell you the same thing, but the brokers are always optima. If you ask, if you ask a broker, they're always gonna, its always a good time to make a deal. Next year is better. It's a great time to do a deal <laugh>, but, but they are, they are all saying that. But I also, in talking to the buyers and the sellers, and they have pent up demand where they've got to put the money to work. Right? Yeah. Especially when you're in the institutional arena. So I'm looking for more activity on the buy sell side. I'm looking for less activity on the build side, unless it's just a really unique opportunity. Um, and I'm looking for more activity from people changing managers because there's less options available to them. But also I think people are generally more optimistic than they were six months ago. Yeah. Um, almost like chaos is the new norm. Ryan Embree: I've heard that. We've heard that a lot from industry leaders. Yeah. Yeah. Well, we'll continue to look, um, but, you know, a stable ship here with hotel equities and Greg, thank you so much. We hope you enjoy, you've got an incredible two and a half days planned here, you and your team, looking forward. Congratulations. Forward. Uh, thank you for sitting out with me. Greg O'Stean: Thank you. I enjoyed it very much. Ryan Embree: Thanks. Awesome. Ryan Embree: Hello everyone, Ryan Embee here with the Suite Spot Podcast. We are live here at the Hotel Equities Leadership Conference 2026. I'm here with Becky Vealey, SVP of Sales, Full Service & Lifestyle Division. Thank you so much for being with me, Becky. Becky Vealey: Oh, thank you for having me, Ryan. Ryan Embree: This is exciting. I know the energy is all around. You guys have almost a thousand attendees. I heard. We do. Incredible. Next couple days full of education panels, connections, hospitality is all about. What are you most excited about for these next couple days? Becky Vealey: Oh, without question, the collaboration between all of our peers. Um, I think it's great when you can get everyone together and, you know, some of these people we've never even met. Yeah. So it's an amazing time to have everybody in one place collaborate, you know, um, just peer to peer, you know, collaboration. Ryan Embree: Absolutely. A lot of newcomers here. And first timer, we've been seeing those on the, on the badges, which is really cool. Before we get too much into it, since this is your first time on the sweet spot, tell us a little bit about your role here at Hotel Equities and maybe give us a little background on your hospitality journey. Becky Vealey: So I've been in the hospitality industry for about 30 years. Um, I joined Hotel Equities in 2022 as part of the Greenwood Hospitality strategic partner. And so I became the, uh, senior Vice President of sales for Lifestyle and full Service divisions. And so I oversee the sales initiatives for a multi-brand, uh, portfolio, Ryan Embree: And we're gonna talk about that because this sales and commercial strategy has been through a ton of transformation. Mm-hmm. In fact, uh, the, the leadership conference, the whole theme is around transforming together. Yes, yes. And I think that segues great into this question. Mm-hmm. How has that commercial strategy and sales really transformed over the last couple years? Yeah, Becky Vealey: I, I think a lot of ways, I mean, and you're gonna hear me repeat this probably numerous times, but that, that, uh, relationship between sales, revenue management, marketing, and operations is key. And making sure that that's the solid foundation for any commercial strategies. Um, that hasn't changed. You know, regardless of pre pandemic, post pandemic, that is a killer. Right. Um, and then just making sure that we're creating a commercial strategies for the properties and being very detailed in what the property needs. Not doing a broad brush stroke Yeah. Of strategies. It's, it's not a one size fits all anymore. Ryan Embree: No, no. It's, I mean, especially in a portfolio where we just, you know, was talking about postcard cabins that could look very, very different from, of course, full service. And, and we're gonna talk about that here in a minute about those differences, um, and similarities between those commercial strategies. Um, where do you think that the industry still has to improve on commercial strategy right now? Becky Vealey: Absolutely, Ryan. So I think the commercial, um, strategies have to be tailored to the property. It cannot be a playbook that, you know, is brush striped across all the properties. And then again, strong alignment between commercial sales, revenue management, marketing, and operations. Ryan Embree: I think this is a great place for that. So it's not so siloed. You can actually hear some of the challenges that maybe a revenue manager is having in one part of the country, very similar to the other one, and how to kind of combat that. So there's that exchange of ideas that happen at a time like this that I think is really, really cool to see. Um, especially in a portfolio, a growing portfolio like yours. Now, uh, every property here wants to grow its market share, right? That's the ultimate goal. But how do you do that without, uh, sacrificing long-term positioning? Becky Vealey: That's a great question. So I think understanding the asset and the guest and the market is key to this for long-term growth. And then making sure that our rate positioning is where it needs that we have price integrity, and that we consistently execute, I think are the key things. Ryan Embree: And we have so much data right now, more than ever before, to kind of pull these levers and for you to get to know your guests. So, uh, absolutely knowing your guests app is gonna be critical and, and key, uh, to that. Now, we talked at the top of the episode, uh, about your title, uh, overseeing both the pool service and the lifestyle division. Uh, you talked about with lifestyle hotels, a lot of storytelling involved there Exactly. Grow, uh, that brand. Um, how is there comparisons between the two segments so you see it, Becky, and maybe some differences? Becky Vealey: Yeah, it's really interesting. Uh, full service hotels, of course, lean in on various revenue streams. You've got transient group food and beverage banqueting, and a host of other ancillary revenue streams. And the sell cycle, of course, is much longer. And the segmentation can be a little more specific. And then on the lifestyle size, it goes back to what you mentioned. It is really the brand storytelling, the experiences, and then the activations on property are key to drive demand in the lifestyle division, you know, strategically. Um, the two may be different, but those foundational pillars of growing commercial are the same in both. Ryan Embree: It's really cool to see, uh, the creativity right now in lifestyle hotels. It's kind of having its moment right now, the activations, like see some of the programming that these properties put on, and I'm like, it's so impressed and it's really cool. It goes back to your point though, if you can do that in the correct way, and your guess is now the ambassador of that brand, whether it be social media reviews, um, it, it's so important and could really be a key driver or success. Um, so where do you see kind of commercial strategies breakdown at the property level and, and what do you kind of put in place to prevent that, Becky? Becky Vealey: Yeah, I think lack of communication. I mean, that's number one. Um, two, I think that there, when there is like a lack of shared accountability that always creates a breakdown and then just inconsistent execution. You know, if everybody's not, you know, doing the same thing from the same playbook, that creates issues. Ryan Embree: Yeah, absolutely. And, uh, you never wanna see that, uh, obviously happen and, and not knowing who your segment is, I think that's what you're talking about, uh, of kind of keeping staying in the dark. We talked about it. There's more data out there than ever lean into that, make sure you know who you're trying to attract and, and get to your property. Uh, we had Greg Osteen on talking about, uh, growing and diversifying the portfolio. Super exciting. How do you make sure you do that without kind of losing, uh, your vision and, and as you continue to grow and diversify Hotel Equities? Becky Vealey: Yeah, I, I think it goes back to the foundations, right? You know, you have to have that strong, and again, I've kind of a broken record here, that strong collaboration between sales, marketing, revenue management, and, uh, operations is key. Um, and then I think just always looking forward and ensuring that the messaging is correct, that we have rate integrity, and that our positioning is correct. Ryan Embree: Awesome. Well, thank you so much for taking the time. Uh, wishing you a very successful next couple days. Really excited to hear about all the insights you and your team are gonna glean from this. Becky Vealey: Thank you, Ryan. Ryan Embree: Thank you for joining me. Ryan Embree: Hello everyone. Ryan Embree here with the Suite Spot. We're at the 2026 Hotel Equities Leadership Conference. I'm here with Marilia Pergola, VP of Ops, Caribbean, and Latin America. Thank you so much, uh, for joining me today. Marilia Pergola: Thank you for having me. Ryan Embree: We're here. It's, uh, middle of the conference right now. Exciting. There's an energy buzzing around people all around. How's it going for you? And, you know, what is something that when you're done with the conference, you hope to have a, a, a good takeaway of, Marilia Pergola: I don't even have a year with hotel equity and for me, just be here with almost what, 700 people that I think, uh, they said, uh, it's incredible. Just to see so many new faces for me and still share all these experiences for me is, is very exciting. Yeah. And also shared the experience from us in the color region as well with the team here in the us. It's Ryan Embree: One of the most exciting pieces of hotel equities. And we're gonna talk all about that, but I want to get a little bit about your specific role and maybe a little bit about your hospitality background that led you to hotel equities ultimately. Marilia Pergola: So I have 26 years working in hospitality, and I have been in different roles. I have been working my career actually started at Hilton and I have been in sales revenue management, also general manager. And, uh, and now I have the opportunity to be with hotel equities and working with different brands and, uh, learning more and more every, every day, you know, so when I think my, my role at the, with the hotel equities and the hotels we operate today is really making sure that the properties, they have the support on day to day to make sure that they comply what they have to comply in terms of not just the agreement, but also with the brand, the standards, and make sure that the owners, they're happy with the results and they're satisfied with our, what, what we are doing at their hotels. Yeah. So this is my, my day to day Ryan Embree: <laugh>, I'm sure. And a lot of nuances, you know, being in that region. We're gonna talk about it. You know, we had Greg Oste on, uh, on this interview and was talking about long-term goals of hotel equities to grow in this Cala region. Um, what, how does, how do you make that, how do you and your team make that a reality? Marilia Pergola: I think we go back also to operations know if we don't have, uh, the right team on board. And I think for us, the most important thing is our team. Yeah. It's people. If we don't have the right people on board with us in this, uh, adventure of growing hotel equities in the color region, this is not going to work. Yeah. So for us, it's a long term always with the, with the owners. This is what they expect. And also the brands, when you work with brands, you need to have this long-term relationship, and this is what we are working for. So we are setting up a good team in terms of operations, because if we have, uh, uh, the strategy is just to give us all, like this direction and the operational excellence, I think is the key for, for that to happen. Ryan Embree: And a, a key, uh, component of your strategy was to keep, uh, the, a local in-market team, uh, for that. Why is that critical? And and why was that a priority? Marilia Pergola: Yeah, that is critical. It's not even negotiable, I would say. Uh, we need to make sure that, uh, it, it, that is a lot of nuances. No. And just the local, uh, labor laws, the taxes. If you don't understand that, if you have a team that don't understand that or just operating the hotel from far, uh, you're gonna be reacting instead of leading. So this is not going to work. And also the owners, they need to feel that to trust us that they know what we are doing. And there's so many things that we can do. And in the color region, you have so many countries and it's so different. It can be so diverse that, uh, we need to understand that and not just even talking about also the, the language. You need to speak the language to communicate properly, not just with the hotel team, but also with the ownership group. Make sure that we are all aligned and we are talking all the same language, you know, and, uh, in a good way. Ryan Embree: Yeah. I mean, and, and that can, uh, you know, we talked about it, so many nuances there, uh, between different countries, I'm sure developing. Um, you already have several projects, which is really exciting. Um, any, any projects, upcoming projects that you're excited about or even maybe a project that you feel like fits the strategy and vision of what you're, what you're trying to look for? Marilia Pergola: Yeah. We opened the first hotel that we opened the color region was the Hampton in Saint Thomas, USVI. And, uh, it's doing very, very well. It's a very nice product and a very good location owners, uh, happy as well with the results. Good. The, the Normalist Arenas, it's an autograph collection. Dominican Republic, it's an also a very nice project we just opened in November last year and is also doing very well. So I think all these projects they talk about hotel equity is growing in color region and we are super excited. Next week actually, we are opening the CITAs Resort in HaCo in Costa Rica. I'm flying from here to Costa Rica to open the hotel. And, uh, we are very excited that there's so many other projects to, to come in the pipeline and different islands in the Caribbean and also Mexico and the Dominican Republic. Ryan Embree: No shortage of, uh, bucket list vacations, uh, for you and your team, uh, let's switch to an owner's perspective. Uh, what you think excites an owner, uh, about operating in this collar region? Marilia Pergola: I think, well, well their focus is rent profitability, right? Yeah. That is the first one. And this is what they all they want, uh, they want, right? Uh, but I think what they're excited and what they expect from us is that knowledge in terms of the culture and everything that we just mentioned about all the challenges. And I think nowadays, globally, we are all facing a lot of challenges. Now. It's not just the Caribbean, Latin America. Uh, I used, we used to always here in this conferences with the hotel business, US was never a country that was facing so many challenges like it's facing now. We are used to that in the Caribbean, Latin America region. Unfortunately, it's our reality day to day. Uh, so I think the owners, when they know that people that know everything that is happening understand all these challenges, they feel that we are valuable. And I think this is a very important thing for these owners. Ryan Embree: Yeah. It's, it's what you said, it goes from being, you know, reactive to leading. Uh, like you said, I I, I love that point. Marilia Pergola: And also having the, the team in field to help. Yeah. Not operating from far right. This is, I think it's key and having the right team in place Ryan Embree: Yeah. Feet on the ground for sure. Definitely helps. Um, you know, the whole theme of this conference of Sears transform together, right? Uh, we talked about, you know, this is a different region with different nuances, a lot of diversity there. How do you stay true to that region but also not feel disconnected from the hotel equities as a whole? Marilia Pergola: Now we work as a team. What is good is that the hotel equities in the color region, we have, uh, the empowerment to make all the decisions in the, in each market. So we can do that. But we are part of all this, the entire system. No, not just the distribution system, but also the support in terms of the commercial, the distribution, revenue management, shared services. So we work all together, uh, the development team when they need help as well. Our team is also helping. So we are all working together, marketing, revenue management. Uh, we are part of hotel equities at the end, but what is important that hotel equities in the color region, we can make the decisions for the market in the market to the owners that we have the relationship. Ryan Embree: Yeah. I'm sure that's a great selling point to owners and investors thinking about, you know, taking on, uh, what the bot, Marilia Pergola: It's a peace of mind for them because they know that they're dealing with people, they understand what they're talking about and not just trying to explain to someone that doesn't leave that reality. Ryan Embree: Yeah, absolutely. So, um, you know, another thing at these conferences I've talked about before is we always like to try to look into the crystal ball, predict the future, so to speak. Um, you know, in 2026 and maybe beyond, what's your vision, uh, for the collar region and, and how it continues to grow within hotel equities? Marilia Pergola: Yeah, I think first thing, we need to make sure that we are providing the support to the hotels that are under operation. Now. We need to make sure that we are not, uh, paying attention to them. Uh, but we are also working with the team to make sure that we are scaling our team to, to grow. Uh, as I mentioned too, we have our hotels under construction now. Yeah. Uh, in the pipeline. And what, it's interesting that we have different, uh, brand tiers now from select service brand to full service lifestyle, luxury hotels. So we are working with the hotels under, uh, there are under construction, but we also always prepare to any deal that can just show up like a quick conversion. Sure. We are always ready for that. So the team, it's all on board to, to be prepared for any quick conversion so we can step in and take the over the operation and do the best, what we do every day. Awesome. Ryan Embree: Well exciting times, uh, in your region and, and congratulations to you and your team. Uh, we'll be on the lookout for all these new projects coming up. Thank you. Thank you so much. We'll talk to you next time. To join our loyalty program. Be sure to subscribe and give us a five star reading on iTunes. Suite Spot is produced by Travel Media Group. Our editor is Brandon Bell with Cover Art by Bary Gordon. I'm your host Ryan Embree, and we hope you enjoyed your stay.