Latest / Suite Spot: A Hotel Marketing Podcast / 169 – NYU IHIF 2025: Key Takeaways
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 with the Suite Spot. We are back here at our Travel Media Group headquarters in Maitland, Florida. Fresh off an incredible 2025 NYU IHIF. Uh, the conference theme was engagement drives returns. There was a ton of engagement. It was everything as advertised. And more. 2200 delegates, 400 plus investors, 20% of those being new investors. Almost every single brand, uh, major hospitality brand represented there, uh, with C-Suite leadership. It was an incredible couple days up in New York City. It was our first time covering the event. We got some incredible, amazing footage, exclusive interviews and insights, uh, and we're gonna share it all with you today. So, uh, thank you for joining me here on the Suite Spot for our five key takeaways. Uh, like I said, it was just an incredible couple days up in New York and really gave some perspective on how hotels are performing almost at the midway point of 2025, and what we have to look forward to. And that's really kind of my first takeaway, uh, is, you know, is is it really as bad as advertised out there? You know, one of the key sessions and, um, interviews that we spoke to was STR President, Amanda Het, uh, who, who really, uh, her message to the, the crowd out there in New York was, um, really don't read into the headlines as much as, uh, it's being said. Uh, you know, o obviously there are some, some, uh, outside major factors that are having some impact on our industry and, uh, will continue to impact the industry. But really year over year, there isn't too much of a difference there. Um, international travel did dip, uh, but there is a, a lot of, uh, positive sentiment that that seems to be returning. And hopefully in the future, those bookings will, will return here. 'cause that's obviously a major, major part of our, uh, domestic, uh, hospitality inventory and demand. Um, obviously there's also a lot of dependence on what market you're in, right? Amanda shared some incredible insights in our interviews of which markets are performing really, really well. She was talking about, um, San Francisco being one of those, uh, markets that little bit slower to recover last year. We've seen some headlines there, uh, but it seems to be, uh, really popping this year in 2025 up in the northeast. Some major bumps in New Orleans, obviously with the Super Bowl, uh, will continue to have to watch it, those big events as people can con continue to prioritize travel. But there is this bifurcation of demand between segments right now, and I think that speaks to maybe those headlines that of, of what's happening, um, tariffs, inflation, things of that nature, really impacting, uh, the economy and lower, um, lower middle class. Uh, maybe they are, uh, keeping their tight, their wallets a little bit tighter this year as far as travel goes, but the luxury, the ultra luxury segments are really, uh, enjoying those thousand dollar rates as we, we talked about, um, earlier in the year. Um, they're continuing to see growth. They're continuing to see, uh, incredible demand for their product, um, which is, which is fantastic. Now, hopefully, again, we can get a little bit, uh, more clarity and what our economic situation looks like so that people continue to prioritize travel. Um, but really, again, it, it's, it's not, it might not be as bad as it's made out to be right now. Supply continues to be a challenge, right? Construction costs, um, are at an all time high. Buyers and sellers seem to be kind of stuck in this, uh, uh, in this weird mix, um, where they both think, um, that they should be getting, um, better returns on, on both, uh, sides, on both sides. And, and that's continuing to make things harder for, uh, deals to get done. That's why these events are so important. Um, so much networking, um, so much deal making going on in that lobby, uh, that we saw at, at, uh, the Marriott Marquee and New York City. Um, the next takeaway is talking about gen ai. And obviously that is, you can't go to a hospitality, you can't go to really any conference anymore without talking about AI and the impact that it's having. But this more than any other conference, hospitality conference that I've been to, um, the narrative is starting to change. The, the ushering of a new era is here, we're at this kind of fork in the road where, um, you know, they were talking about which of these AI technologies is going to take hold. And, and what got me thinking is, um, about Uber, about Airbnb, these disruptors, but over, but really became overnight sensations where, you know, maybe just a couple of your high tech friends maybe were, were playing with these things like Uber and Airbnb. And the next thing you know, you're talking to, um, your, uh, uh, uh, uh, your grandparents, and they had booked an Uber for themselves or an Airbnb for themselves. They understood the technology and they were wielding that power, right? And that's when a tipping point happens, um, with these disruptors is when, uh, it really, everyone across the board starts to use it. And, and that's what we're going to continue to see with Gen ai, whether Gchat Chat, GPT Perplexity, or one of these other vendors, you know, once that, that starts to take hold. Um, you know, I, one of the common phrases that was thrown around at this conference was, it will be the biggest disruption since the internet. Um, which to try to put that in, uh, context is very, very difficult because we haven't had a disruption like that, um, in decades. So it'll be very interesting to see, uh, you know, it, it, it's just as feeling different because people are at different phases of, of rollouts with ai. Um, obviously the low hanging fruit out there was, we talked about on this podcast is to look for efficiencies, operational efficiencies, um, places that you can empower your employees. I think sometimes we like to jump a couple steps ahead of where we think we should be with this technology, but before we know it, six months a year, 18 months down the line, all of a sudden you could look down an AI could be in almost every single one of our processes, our hospitality processes, which for the most part, as we've talked about, the hospitality is really slow to, uh, really adopt these, these tech changes. So hopefully with ai it's a different story. Um, but it, it does bring up a, a really, um, interesting question and that I think, you know, as hoteliers we're going to have to face, and we've talked, we've discussed on this podcast before of, you know, where is the line of, of technology and service? And, you know, we've visited, we did a site visit for, uh, our Suite Spot road trip series recently. And, and as we were touring the property, had multiple people stop us and have conversations with us about how well their stay was going. Um, the GM of the property was with me, was following up, uh, with a, a situation that had happened with someone's car not starting, following up, making sure that, that that guest was okay, they had everything that they needed. Um, these are the type of touch points in hospitality that make or break an experience. And when implementing technology, now all of a sudden that experience goes from very hands-on, high touch, uh, to, could be cold behind a phone, um, you know, messaging, not a real person, an AI agent. And how, as consumers, as guests, as travelers, how, uh, much of an appetite do we have for that? Uh, right? I think back to when, um, we're on the phone with some of these bots, uh, whether it be for, for a large company, customer service, um, you know, electric bills, your phone bill, and all you wanna do is just talk to a person, right? Um, zero, zero operator, operator, real person, real person, clicking buttons, saying phrases to try to trigger that real human touch and interaction. And then at the same time, if you do go ahead and go through everything with a bot, uh, finding a real person and have to explain everything over again, again, there's gonna be a level of appetite where we're as consumers, as travelers think, Hey, this is really cool technology, and I understand this is a learning process. Um, but where will that line be drawn and where it has a negative impact? And I think that's something, um, that we're gonna have to battle here in the next couple years as we implement more and more technology. And, and we're in this, and we're in this space where, think about the, the recent phenomenon, white lotus, right? They visit this ultra luxury resort in Thailand. And, and what was one of the perks? One of the things, uh, one of the aspects of this guest experience, this hotel experience, uh, that they offered to their guests was no technology, right? Zero cell phones. So we're at this fork in the road where, where is ultra luxury going to lean into? Is it going to lean into the high tech, um, ai, everything is personalized personalization, um, or is it going to go the opposite way where we are trying to further you distance you from, um, AI so that you can make connections, right? Whether it be with the staff, whether it be with the people that you're traveling with, whether it be with fellow travelers. So it's an interesting fork in the road, but it was certainly, um, it, it, gen AI is making some noise out there. And, uh, it, yeah, I do not see it slowing down and, and really am, am frankly interested in the conferences that we have leading up to see how this conversation evolves, uh, with brands, management companies and individual hotels as well as travelers. Um, you know, I think another, uh, another key takeaway is that travel is here to stay. You know, I I think a lot of hoteliers can take a lot of solace, uh, listening to this, knowing that travel is still a top discretionary spending priority across multiple countries. Um, booking.com shared some really great insight into this, uh, is that when surveying, um, people in what they want to use that extra or discretionary income on, um, near the top is always travel. And, you know, there are things that we look at over these last couple of years and that, that will continue to see the effects of, um, that will, that have shaped because of what happened in 2020. And I think this is one of them. I think a lot of people had travel ripped away from them, and they had extra income, and they started spending on products and things and ma materialistic items, and it didn't give them the same fulfillment as traveling. And I think this younger generation is also really looking forward to experiences. They're seeing experiences on social media every single day. You know, before social media, before the internet, you know, the place that you would hear about people's trips, uh, were at dinner parties, the weekends when you'd visit family, when you'd, uh, when you'd talk to your friends. Um, and were able to do that now. Anyone can be sitting behind their desk on a Tuesday morning at 9:00 AM scroll through their social media feed and see these amazing, incredible places that people are visiting every single day, inspiring them to travel. This is the power of social media that we've preached so much, but I think it's impacted that travel is here to stay. And you know, right now we are at a time of great uncertainty for our industry, but I think hoteliers can hoteliers, um, owners, brands, investors can all sleep at night knowing that this will be the last thing that people pull back on, um, when it comes to discretionary income, because people love to travel. And my final, uh, takeaway is really to keep it simple. You know, again, I, I know I started at the top of this about not trusting the headlines, but there are headlines to be said out there. There is a lot of uncertainty. One of the, uh, quotes that really stuck with me was Mitch Patel from Vision Hospitality, who said, our industry is so transparent through reviews, um, social media, you have to focus on the fundamentals in service right now. And I think that goes back to the control what you can control. And it's really going to be hoteliers that in this time of uncertainty, put their heads down and focus solely on the guests. The booking window has shortened travelers are making quicker decisions because of that uncertainty about the future, right? What's, what's my job gonna look like in six, nine months, 18 months down the line? Um, maybe I'll get one more trip in before something happens, right? Uh, the booking window has shortened. We've seen that in the STR data. Think about how reviews in social media, a topic that we talk about all the time, are factoring into those booking, those shortened booking windows. The information that's out there for travelers is growing, uh, more and more user generated feedback. More and more places to review, uh, your hotel, word of mouth. It is really going to be the hotels that keep it simple, focus on the fundamentals of service and servicing the guests that are gonna weather this storm, whether there is one or not. And I think that's, that's, uh, prudent advice. Again, whether we see, um, that economic downturn, um, or whether we weather this storm and come out of it on the other side. Uh, if you keep the guests at the center, uh, your, your business is gonna continue to thrive right now. Um, and, and we'll see what, what role AI starts to play in the booking journey, right? Um, you know, this, this is, we talked about it on this podcast. Uh, it's not only going to shape the operational side of our business, but also how guests are consuming, um, data, how guests are looking at your property, and really could start shifting the way that brands, um, hotels and management companies, uh, start, start prioritizing content, um, instead of going for SEO/AIO. Um, and, and that's, that's gonna be one of my key takeaways, uh, as we move forward into the last half of 2025. Um, how many of those travelers right now are not opening up that Google, uh, and, and searching hotels in Orlando anymore? They're opening up that chat GPT app and, and searching, where's the best pla place to stay in Orlando, and what's the information that's coming up for your property? All interesting questions, all interesting topics at an incredible event that we had the pleasure of covering. I hope you'll follow us on LinkedIn. You'll check out our YouTube video. We have, um, some amazing insights from some hospitality professionals, uh, that we had the, the pleasure of interviewing up at NYU IHIF, uh, Ryan Embry signing off with the Suite Spot. We'll talk to you next time. Thanks for listening 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.