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THE AMERICAN HOTEL & Lodging Association and the Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International Americas have formed a partnership that will more closely align the two associations to benefit their respective members and advance the hospitality industry, AHLA said in a statement. Also, AHLA and its technology committee, HTNG, announced the inaugural AHLA Technology Acceleration Award, a new program to recognize companies that are advancing innovation in hospitality technology. According to the statement, the partnership will create linkages to the industry's sales, marketing, and revenue optimization professionals for AHLA, while expanding HSMAI's organizational reach by aligning it with America's largest hotel association. Under the new agreement, effective April 25, AHLA will provide HSMAI with opportunities to participate in AHLA's On the Road events, and HSMAI will promote the events to its members and local chapters. AHLA and HSMAI will also promote each other's events, campaigns, and education and certification programs, and have reciprocal participation in distribution-focused committees. As per the agreement, AHLA and HSMAI will further explore opportunities to align the work of both organizations' foundations to address industry-wide initiatives on workforce and promoting Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. AHLA and HSMAI leadership will meet regularly to discuss and coordinate key strategic industry issues and shared objectives, the agreement noted. AHLA said the AHLA-HSMAI partnership expands upon a relationship the two organizations started early last year, when HSMAI became a content partner for AHLA's On The Road state hotel conference series, offering innovative and exclusive revenue generation insights at On The Road events.

Matthew Hostetler, chief development officer at Red Roof, has been operating outside his wheelhouse for about 18 years now. In this installment of Asian Hospitality's Leadership Series, he explains how he does it all with a smile on his face. Hostetler was at the Hunter Hotel Conference in March in Atlanta when he took time to talk about his history in the hotel business along with the current status of Red Roof. Topics also included AAHOA's 12 Points of Fair Franchising, the company's preparations for possible economic headwinds this year and the success of Red Roof's newest brand. Same job, different industry In 2002, Hostetler was recruited by Cendant Hotel Group, which is now Wyndham Hotel Group, to conduct franchise sales under Phil Hugh, who was at that time senior vice president for franchise sales. That was when he stepped out of his comfort zone. "I said yes to an opportunity that was way, in sales was not outside of my wheelhouse, but outside of my industry," Hostetler said. "I was in transportation for 15 years before that. So yeah, that definitely outside the wheelhouse." In 2014, he joined Red Roof as the senior vice president of development, again working under Hugh. In 2020, when Hugh left the company, Hostetler became chief development officer. Now he's settled into the job. "I love the hotel business. I love hospitality. I love the people in this business, how they are so entrepreneurial," Hostetler said. But there's also so people oriented as well. That's what attracts talent so much right? Hospitality. Everyone has a smile on their face most of the time."

REFORMS TO THE distribution of Small Business Administration loans, a new H2-C visa program and expansion of the Earned Income Tax Credit to benefit hotels were the main topics discussed at AAHOA's recent Fall National Advocacy Conference with legislators in Washington. Days later, AAHOA leadership met with Federal Trade Commission Commissioner Alvaro Bedoya to discuss fair franchising concerns. A day of advocacy AAHOA board members and representatives met with more than 100 agency heads and 40 U.S. senators and representatives in Washington to advocate for these and other causes for the hospitality industry.

IT'S BEEN A tough year for women in the hospitality industry, but progress has been made as more female executives took leadership roles, according to an annual report from the Castell Project, a nonprofit focused on promoting women in the industry. The next challenge, according to the project, is getting more women in hospitality education programs. Castell Project founder and chairwoman Peggy Berg released the 2022 Women in Hospitality Industry Leadership report during the Americas Lodging Investment Summit in Los Angeles earlier this week. During the conference, Berg received the ISHC Pioneer Award for her work in the industry, and she told a story during her acceptance speech that encapsulates where women are coming from in the industry. When she was in college, Berg said, the Equal Employment Opportunity Act lifted the restrictions on women working. So, she walked into a large firm looking for a job. "The partner in charge of the office, Jerry, he took one look at me and said 'Well, this will never work.' And then because of the EEOA, he said, 'I will give you a job if you promise not to get pregnant for two years,'" Berg said. "Jerry thought this was impossible. I thought Jerry didn't understand the law. Mostly I thought, if that's the barrier to success, the best vertical I have to cross, I can run this company. And a few years later, 140 men found themselves with a female partner."

The Best Western Plus Orlando East-UCF Area in Orlando opened May 3. It is owned by PRM Hotels led by Ishwar Naran as president and CEO. The newly renovated 70-room hotel is near the University of Central Florida and other local colleges, including Strayer University Orlando East Campus and Valencia College East Campus. Other local attractions include Central Florida Research Park, Orange County Convention Center, Addition Financial Arena and UCF's Bounce House. Amenities include an outdoor pool as well as a 400-square-foot boardroom and 600-square-foot conference room that can accommodate up to 10 and 50 people. "The Best Western Plus Orlando East-UCF Area is ideally situated for business and leisure travelers alike, conveniently located near many popular local attractions," said Ishwar Naran, president and CEO of PRM Hotels. "Our newest hotel also offers a host of amenities and provides the perfect location for families visiting students at UCF and other local colleges. We look forward to welcoming guests to our newly-renovated property in East Orlando and providing our visitors with the unmatched value and comfort they've come to expect with Best Western."

THE MAJOR CHALLENGES faced by U.S. hotels are labor, the return of corporate, group and conference travel, the impact of inflation on cost lines and the energy crisis, said Michael Grove, COO of HotStats, in a recent presentation. In the same session at the International Hospitality Investment Forum, panelists debated the best metric by which to measure industry performance. While speaking during a panel session at IHIF titled "Decoding the Data", Grove said that the most pressing issue is fixed costs are being replaced by oncoming growth in the variable areas which changes the dynamic of the cost base. "One of the key items around the average rate growth is what's going to happen when the full business mix returns," Grove said. "We still have a lot more of the lower-rated business to come back-the tours and groups and the other segments. We need to look at the impact on the cost lines themselves, the expense items around the P&L and what impact inflation is having on those, what impact the labor challenge is having.

THE REVPAR OF U.S. hotels is expected to surpass 2019 levels this year, according to the upgraded forecast by STR and Tourism Economics. Still, full recovery may be a couple of years away. ADR and RevPAR for U.S. hotels are forecasted at $14 and $6 higher in 2022 respectively, when compared to 2019, the report presented at the 44th annual NYU International Hospitality Industry Investment Conference stated. However, occupancy in this year is projected to come in under the pre-pandemic comparable. Earlier, the forecast projected nominal RevPAR recovery in 2023. According to the forecast, the major factor in the revised timeline was a plus $11 adjustment in 2022 ADR. But, when adjusted for inflation, full recovery of ADR and RevPAR are not projected until 2024. The report added that central business districts and the top 25 markets are not expected to reach full RevPAR recovery until after 2024.

THE AMERICAN HOTEL & Lodging Association formed a new partnership with the AHLA Foundation, and the International Council on Hotel, Restaurant, and Institutional Education to grow the future workforce of the hotel and hospitality industry. As part of the collaboration, which came into effect on June 13, ICHRIE will distribute AHLA Foundation materials and facilitate access to its membership and communication channels. Besides, they will explore future opportunities to engage hospitality management faculty and students, an AHLA statement said. AHLA will also recruit a larger workforce and promote hospitality career opportunities. "We are thrilled to partner with ICHRIE and its outstanding deans, directors, program leaders and members of the major hospitality universities and schools, and work together on our shared mission to strengthen the hotel industry's talent pipeline," said Chip Rogers, president and CEO of AHLA. "As the global leader in hospitality and tourism education and research, ICHRIE will help maximize our reach to students and educators across the nation. Together, AHLA, the AHLA Foundation, and ICHRIE will ensure that all Americans preparing to the enter the workforce are aware of the multitude of great hospitality career opportunities available to them." AHLA's chief operating officer will serve on ICHRIE's new Industry Council to help facilitate relationships, and both AHLA and the AHLA Foundation will participate in ICHRIE's 75th Anniversary Conference this August in Washington, D.C.

ON JUNE 6, MIT Shah, founder and CEO of Noble Investment Group, will be recognized by UJA Federation of New York for his professional and philanthropic achievements. Also, Jenifer Eager has joined Noble as vice president of fund and corporate accounting. Shah will receive the award at the federation's annual Hospitality Division reception and NYU Investment Conference to be held at Marriot Marquis in New York. "We are so pleased to honor Mit this year," commented Jonathan Tisch, executive chairman of Loews Hotels and chair of UJA's Hospitality Division. "His leadership and history of giving back to the industry and community make him the perfect honoree." Shah said the UJA Federation's recognition is the realization of generations of work. "As the eldest child of immigrant parents in search of the American dream, I am honored to be recognized by my friend, Jon, and the incredible stewards of the UJA Federation," he said. "The UJA Federation inspires us to lead lives that matter and to help support those in need. It continues to have an immeasurable impact on humanity." UJA has been funding hundreds of organizations that are responding to ongoing challenges and emerging issues worldwide.

THE U.S. TRAVEL ASSOCIATION wants the federal government to replace pandemic-era restrictions with endemic-focused policies to enable full and free travel. That was one of several subjects Roger Dow, USTA's outgoing president and CEO, discussed at the Hunter Hotel Conference in Atlanta in March. In a letter to incoming White House COVID-19 Response Coordinator Ashish Jha, USTA asked to immediately remove the pre-departure testing requirement for all fully vaccinated inbound international arrivals. "Despite declining hospitalizations and infections, increased vaccination rates and immunity, and a more robust public health infrastructure to manage the virus, the vast majority of pandemic-driven federal travel policies are still in place," the letter said. "While the public health benefits of these policies have now greatly diminished, the economic consequences continue to grow,"

IN MARCH, THE U.S. celebrated the achievements and history of women as part of Women's History Month. In recognition of the month, some hotel companies introduced or continued programs aimed at increasing women's role in the industry. In line with the Women's History Month theme this year "Celebrating Women Who Tell Our Stories," Choice Hotels International kicked off its "HERtels at Choice Development Seminar" with nearly 40 franchise owners, general managers, and hotel associates in attendance. At the same time, Wyndham Hotels & Resorts' "Women Own the Room" initiative has signed over 30 hotels across the U.S. and Canada in the first year of its launch. Also, California hotelier and philanthropist Sunil "Sunny" Tolani issued a special message for the month. HERtels by Choice Choice Hotels took the recently held Hunter Hotel Conference in Atlanta as a launch pad for its inaugural HERtels seminar. The event was held next door to the Marriott Marquis Atlanta, Hunter's venue, and is an enhancement of Choice's HERtels program that was launched in 2021. "While industry-wide parity is improving, with more female investors, directors, and leaders in hospitality than ever before, women entrepreneurs still face significant economic and societal barriers when it comes to hotel ownership and development. As an industry, we owe it to the next generation of hoteliers to change this statistic," said John Lancaster, vice president for emerging markets, franchise development and owner relationships, Choice Hotels International. "This initiative and the invaluable resources it provides is a natural extension of our industry-leading emerging markets program and our enduring commitment to helping growth-minded entrepreneurs further their unique ownership journey."

ATLANTA-BASED BANYAN Investment Group, led by Rakesh Chauhan and Andy Chopra as managing partners, is rebranding as Satori Collective, an investment management firm focusing primarily on hotel property investment. Its subsidiary Banyan Tree Management also has become Aperture Hotels. Satori and Aperture will work independently of one another. The awakening Satori focuses on investment into select-service, upper select-service extended-stay and lifestyle hotel properties, according to the company. It concentrates on investment in growth corridors located in top MSAs across the U.S. which have established hotel demand generators such as tourism, corporate group travel, state capitals, conference universities, healthcare, heavy manufacturing and military. "Satori is a Buddhist term meaning 'awakening and deep understanding,' which is how our team approaches commercial real estate investment," Chopra said. "With more than 140 years of combined investment experience in virtually all markets and segments, our team has an unparalleled understanding of both the environment and the marketplace. We realized that our true, core business is real estate investment, so we have renewed and doubled our focus on raising and deploying capital in pursuit of consistent, risk adjusted returns while allowing our former management platform to stand on its own and pursue additional third-party management business opportunities."

Mit Shah today is CEO of Atlanta-based Noble Investment Group, a multi-million dollar company founded in his lifetime of experience growing up in the hotel business. It's a story he shares with many Indian American hoteliers, but he said it's a story that bears repeating, a story of the American dream. Shah retells his story here for Asian Hospitality's Leadership Series, the first episode for 2024. Along with his family history, he also discussed Nobel's investment practices, the economy in general and lessons learned from hosting interviews with industry leaders for the Bharat Shah Leadership Speaker Series, named after his father, at the Hunter Hotel Conference in Atlanta. "My parents were immigrants to the United States. In the 1960s they came here for a better life and education. As they were doing that, they had friends that found themselves in this industry and buying small properties throughout the country," Shah said, adding that his parents bought their first hotel, the Winkler Motor Inn in Winston Salem, North Carolina in 1979. "I was 10 years old at the time, my younger brother was six years old at the time and that was the family business, a very common story that we hear throughout our industry. It's an important story to continue to tell because it's deeply rooted in the American dream."

U.S. HOTEL PERFORMANCE improved in the second week of May compared to the previous week, with positive year-over-year comparisons, according to CoStar. Key metrics such as occupancy, RevPAR, and ADR all increased week-over-week. Occupancy rose to 66.1 percent for the week ending May 11, up from 64.4 percent the previous week, representing a 2.1 percent year-over-year increase. ADR increased to $162.14 from $159.97, a 4.4 percent rise compared to last year. RevPAR reached $107.24, up from $103.09 the prior week, showing a 6.6 percent increase compared to the same period in 2023. Among the top 25 markets, San Francisco reported the highest year-over-year increases in each of the three key performance metrics: occupancy increased by 20.6 percent to 79.3 percent, ADR rose by 54.5 percent to $313.13, and RevPAR increased by 86.3 percent to $248.28. The market's performance was boosted by the RSA Conference.

WYNDHAM HOTELS & RESORTS recently launched Wyndham Connect, a new guest engagement platform by Canary Technologies, in North America. The platform, first announced at the company's 2023 global conference, is available at no additional cost to owners, with nearly 2,000 North American hotels already using it, Wyndham said in a statement. "We always put our franchisees first, and investing in innovative technology like AI sets them apart from the competition," said Scott Strickland, Wyndham's chief commercial officer. "With access to powerful solutions like Wyndham Connect, our franchisees can manage their businesses more efficiently and curate guest experiences to help make stays more meaningful than ever. The result? Happier guests, higher chances for repeat business and money in franchisees' pockets."

WITH 67 PROJECTS and 7,772 rooms in its construction pipeline, Charlotte, North Carolina, ranks 15th among the top 25 U.S. markets by project count, according to Lodging Econometrics. LE predicts continued growth in the city's future. Hotels under construction in the city total 11 projects and 1,435 rooms at the end of the first quarter, with 31 projects and 3,466 rooms set to begin construction in the next 12 months, and 25 projects totaling 2,871 rooms in early planning. LE's first quarter hotel development data for Charlotte, released ahead of the Hospitality Industry Technology Exposition and Conference, showed that more than 65 percent of the projects are upscale and upper-midscale brands, totaling 44 projects and 5,007 rooms combined.

NEW YORK LEADS the top 50 U.S. markets in hotel construction with 47 projects and 7,655 rooms currently underway, according to Lodging Econometrics. The city has a total of 78 projects and 13,549 rooms in its hotel construction pipeline, the 10th largest in the U.S. Projects set to start in the next 12 months include eight projects with 1,079 rooms, while early planning includes 23 projects with 4,815 rooms, according to LE's Q1 2024 Market Trend Report for New York, released before the NYU International Hospitality Industry Investment Conference. Within the New York market, the three submarkets with the largest hotel construction pipelines are the New York City area (including Brooklyn East, the Bronx, and Staten Island) with 25 projects and 2,096 rooms, the report said. Similarly, the Midtown South area features 11 projects and 2,535 rooms, while the Midtown West/Times Square area has 10 projects and 4,131 rooms. Combined, these submarkets account for 59 percent of the projects and 65 percent of the rooms in the market's total construction pipeline.

In town to promote Asia's Next Top Model, the latest adaptation of the 38-year-old's successful franchise, we had a chance to get up close and personal with the California-born celebrity - without getting starstruck. And here's how we did it.

PINAL PATEL WAS elected secretary of AAHOA in the culmination of 2024 AAHOA Convention & Trade Show held this week in Orlando. New members of the association's board of directors also were elected and new industry partners were announced. Pinal, of Goodlettsville, Tennessee, defeated H.K. "Hare Krishna" Patel for the secretary position. He was born in Bardoli, India, and his family moved to the U.S. in 1984 when he was 2, according to AAHOA. They lived in Nashville, Tennessee, Pinal said his parents did not speak any English when they brought him and his 1-year-old brother to America. Pinal's parents bought their first independent hotel in 1991, and he is a second-generation hotelier even after graduating flight school at Embry Riddle in Daytona Beach, Florida, before buying his first franchise property. Previously, he has served as an AAHOA ambassador and as AAHOA's director at large Eastern Division. "Hard work definitely pays off," Patel said. "I'm going to make sure we do what's right for the association and for the members. I promise to all my supporters, my family, and my fellow members that I will not let you down. I will do what's best for the association's interests."