Lodging Leaders

Marijuana consumption in America has lost its stigma, and it is on track to become a $23 billion U.S. market over the next couple years.

Hotels in states that have legalized recreational and medicinal marijuana are just beginning to think about how to incorporate the trend into their businesses. The laws can be confusing. Cannabis use is not legal in every state. Each state where it is allowed has its own regulations. And marijuana use and distribution are still outlawed by the federal government.

But the landscape is rapidly evolving on many fronts. And hoteliers and hotel developers in legalized states are figuring out how to navigate and stake a claim in the new frontier of weed.

In this episode, we talk with two hoteliers who are invested in the market. Beej Das of Troca Hotels in Massachusetts has opened a boutique property to users, and Roger Bloss of Alternative Hospitality is developing a portfolio of cannabis friendly hotels – first in California and the next in Nevada.

We also talk with Kenny Dickerson, a builder who owns EcoMaster Corporation and a partner with Bloss in the California project.

For the businessmen, enabling customers to use marijuana is not about getting high, it’s about wellness – for their guests as well as their business’s bottom lines.

Harry Javer is founder of The Lodging Conference, one of the hospitality industry’s must-do events. This year, The Lodging Conference will mark its 25th anniversary.

Lodging Leaders talks with Harry about the genesis of The Lodging Conference, what it offers industry leaders, as well as newcomers to the hotel business, and how attendees can make any conference an experience worth the time and money.

Resources and Links

Vanessa Van Edward, Science of People

The Lodging Conference

Harry Javer is founder of The Lodging Conference, one of the hospitality industry’s must-do events. This year, The Lodging Conference will mark its 25th anniversary.

Lodging Leaders talks with Harry about the genesis of The Lodging Conference, what it offers industry leaders, as well as newcomers to the hotel business, and how attendees can make any conference an experience worth the time and money.

This episode of Lodging Leaders explores why women in business often don’t negotiate and why they don’t win at the negotiating table as often as their male counterparts.

We identify some fundamental stumbling blocks and barriers to women’s ability to get what they want. And we offer experts’ advice on how to craft a negotiation strategy that works.

We talk to Nancy Medoff, a former leader in sales and marketing at Marriott International, and now founder of AthenaWise Strategic Solutions, a sales and marketing consulting firm. She is also on the faculty at the School of Hospitality Administration at Boston University.

We hear from Denise Reyes, a doctoral student at Rice University in Houston, who studies industrial and organizational psychology; and from Taylor Peyton, founder of Valencore Consulting. She is a professor at Boston University’s hospitality school, teaching leadership, organizational behavior and human resources.

Resources and Links

4 Key Strategies Women Need To Negotiate A Higher Salary, Kim Elsesser, Forbes, April 24, 2018.

Women and Negotiation: Narrowing the Gender Gap in Negotiation, Katie Shonk, Harvard Law School, Program on Negotiation, April 16, 2019.

Free report on salary negotiations from Harvard Law School.

Women Don’t Ask, by Laura Babcock and Sara Laschever; Publisher: Bantam

Sheryl Sandberg’s Best Negotiating Advice for Women, article and video, by Jessica Stillman, Inc., Oct. 24, 2017.

This episode of Lodging Leaders explores why women in business often don’t negotiate and why they don’t win at the negotiating table as often as their male counterparts.

We identify some fundamental stumbling blocks and barriers to women’s ability to get what they want. And we offer experts’ advice on how to craft a negotiation strategy that works.

We talk to Nancy Medoff, a former leader in sales and marketing at Marriott International, and now founder of AthenaWise Strategic Solutions, a sales and marketing consulting firm. She is also on the faculty at the School of Hospitality Administration at Boston University.

We hear from Denise Reyes, a doctoral student at Rice University in Houston, who studies industrial and organizational psychology; and from Taylor Peyton, founder of Valencore Consulting. She is a professor at Boston University’s hospitality school, teaching leadership, organizational behavior and human resources.

Nashville, Tennessee, is home to the country’s first tri-branded Marriott hotel.

Developed by North Point Hospitality Group, the 470-room limited-service property consists of transient brands AC Hotel and SpringHill Suites, and Residence Inn, an extended-stay hotel.

Located in downtown’s SoBro neighborhood where government offices are located, the $140 million complex is also across from Music City Center, a six-year-old facility with more than 2 million square feet of event space. Since it opened, the hotel has been at near capacity every day.

In this episode, you’ll hear from executives and managers at North Point Hospitality and First Hospitality Group of Chicago, which each opened a tri-branded hotel in the past 12 months. They share the state of the tri-brand business so far, including some unforeseen challenges; how convention and tourism officials grasp the multi-flag concept; and how guests react when they realize there are three different hotels under one roof.

Resources and Links

North Point Hospitality Group

Marriott tri-brand website

First Hospitality Group

Dual Branding: A case study of Wyndham

Video: Bill Duncan, Hilton all-suites division, at Chicago opening, Asian Hospitality

Nashville, Tennessee, is home to the country’s first tri-branded Marriott hotel.

Developed by North Point Hospitality Group, the 470-room limited-service property consists of transient brands AC Hotel and SpringHill Suites, and Residence Inn, an extended-stay hotel.

Located in downtown’s SoBro neighborhood where government offices are located, the $140 million complex is also across from Music City Center, a six-year-old facility with more than 2 million square feet of event space. Since it opened, the hotel has been at near capacity every day.

In this episode, you’ll hear from executives and managers at North Point Hospitality and First Hospitality Group of Chicago, which each opened a tri-branded hotel in the past 12 months. They share the state of the tri-brand business so far, including some unforeseen challenges; how convention and tourism officials grasp the multi-flag concept; and how guests react when they realize there are three different hotels under one roof.

African American travel is a $63 billion industry.

That’s how much black leisure travelers generated for the U.S. travel and tourism economy in 2018, reports Mandala Research.

The December report is a follow-up to Mandala Research’s 2010 study on the same topic. The new information shows a $25 billion increase in travel spend by African Americans in the U.S. in less than a decade.

The researcher surveyed 1,700 African Americans and learned the majority travel for cultural enrichment, including heritage tours.

African Americans also frequently travel to attend family reunions in destination markets.

Understanding the dynamic of this travel demographic is key for those whose goal is to recruit more African Americans to invest in the U.S. hospitality industry, a $2.5 trillion sector.

Spotlighting business and career opportunities in the hotel industry is the sole focus of the National Association of Black Hotel Owners Operators and Developers or NABHOOD.

Lodging Leaders talks with Andy Ingraham, founder, president and CEO of NABHOOD about their upcoming conference, as well as the association’s goal to grow the level of investment by African Americans in the hospitality industry.

Resources and Links

Andy Ingraham on LinkedIn

* For information about NABHOOD and its upcoming conference July 24-26 in Miami, click here.

* For information about the International Multicultural & Heritage Tourism Network and its summit that immediately follows NABHOOD’s event in Miami, click here.

* In addition, the Latino Hotel Association’s convention takes place earlier that week in Miami. For information, click here.

African American travel is a $63 billion industry.

That’s how much black leisure travelers generated for the U.S. travel and tourism economy in 2018, reports Mandala Research.

The December report is a follow-up to Mandala Research’s 2010 study on the same topic. The new information shows a $25 billion increase in travel spend by African Americans in the U.S. in less than a decade.

The researcher surveyed 1,700 African Americans and learned the majority travel for cultural enrichment, including heritage tours.

African Americans also frequently travel to attend family reunions in destination markets.

Understanding the dynamic of this travel demographic is key for those whose goal is to recruit more African Americans to invest in the U.S. hospitality industry, a $2.5 trillion sector.

Spotlighting business and career opportunities in the hotel industry is the sole focus of the National Association of Black Hotel Owners Operators and Developers or NABHOOD.

Lodging Leaders talks with Andy Ingraham, founder, president and CEO of NABHOOD about their upcoming conference, as well as the association’s goal to grow the level of investment by African Americans in the hospitality industry.

“These stories can only be told by us.”

Those words are written by Bharat Shah, an American hotelier and an immigrant from India, in his autobiography “America My Destiny.”

Bharat’s son, Mit, is founder and CEO of Noble Investment Group, which has $3 billion of private equity invested in hotels throughout the country.

Together, father and son decided to share Bharat Shah’s story with the world. They did that in 2014, in front of a packed auditorium in the Rialto Theater on the campus of Georgia State University in Atlanta.

Since then, The Bharat Shah Leadership Speaker Series has grown into an endeavor that has introduced thousands of aspiring leaders to top executives in the U.S. hospitality industry: Chris Nassetta, Arne Sorenson, Tom Baltimore, Mark Elliott, and Mark Hoplamazian.

Mit shares the beginning of his storytelling journey and what he’s learned about business, leadership and himself while prepping for and conducting the interviews. We also feature segments of the recorded interviews with all of the guests.

Featured in today’s episode are …

Mit Shah, founder and CEO of Noble Investment Group

Bharat Shah, founder of the Bharat Shah Leadership Speaker Series

Debby Cannon, director of the Cecil B. Day School of Hospitality and Administration at the Robinson School of Business at Georgia State University

Arne Sorenson, CEO of Marriott Hotels

Tom Baltimore, chairman, president and CEO of Parks Hotels & Resorts

Mark Elliott, president of Hodges Ward Elliott

Mark Hoplamazian, president and CEO of Hyatt Hotels

To view the first five installments of the speaker series, visit:

* www.bharatmshah.com

* robinson.gsu.edu/academic-departments/hospitality/about/bharat-shah/