SHR Soundbites

Monika Nerger, Global CIO, with Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group, talks about trends she's seeing in terms of market mix and travel behavior, how Oriental's technology stack has supported these trends, and other changes she sees moving through the pandemic.

Dana Cariss, CRME, CHDM, VP of Revenue Strategy and Distribution at CoralTree Hospitality, coming to us from San Diego, California.

CoralTree is one of those rare instances amid the pandemic, finding themselves in a growth mode.

19 hotels in 6 different cities, with a mixture of resorts, conference centers, urban boutiques, and a couple of brands.

Key takeaways:
-One hotel was able to stay open since the beginning, with 75% re-opened.
-Best two performers are leisure properties.
-Urban core hotels are about the weekends.
-The pandemic has forced revenue managers to de-automate or re-humanize and re-establish the metrics that matter.
-Data looking at? Performance from last week, trends from last month, looking very closely at where business is coming from, rate codes and ‘what’ is being booked, more so at a micro-level, ‘where is that business coming from and what is the attractiveness.’
-Doubling down on personalization, focus on value of a direct bookings, and doing their best to stay out of a price war.
-Advice for hoteliers? Be patient and don’t panic. Create a plan. Be nimble. Prepare for the return.

MCR Development LLC buys StayNTouch.
Jacob Messina, VP of Digital Operations for MCR, joins me from New York City to break it down for us.

Key takeaways:
-MCR is a hotel management company with 96 hotels across 29 states (U.S.), mostly branded, some independents, including the very cool TWA Hotel (1962 TWA Flight Center at JFK Airport)--a must-see, Google it.
- MCR or TWA Hotel rather, started as an impressed customer of the StayNTouch PMS.
- Will keep as separate company.
- Looking to invest $10MM in first year.

Jonathan Holcomb, CHIA, Corporate Director Revenue Strategy & Distribution for Storey Hotel Management Group joins me from San Francisco, California during my day of recording at Margaritaville Lake Resort, Lake Conroe | Houston.

Storey is mostly boutiques, with a motor inn, & 255-room property opening in April.

Key takeaways:
Closed all hotels April 1 wtih one re-opening the middle of April.
The first opened property is further along than the rest with higher occupancy and more of a rate draw. As Jonathan reviews his STR comp set, he’s seeing this property outperforming most.
Data Jonathan is reviewing what he calls ‘micro event’ data: data from OTAs, conversations with fellow Revenue Managers, impact from wildfires.
November and December have never been great months but looking at drive markets and packaging live music events with a room product and food and beverage credit.
No sales staff left but partnering with a PR company while doing some marketing on their own.
Partnering with entertainers who have a strong following who promote their event along with the room packages.
Advice for hoteliers? Revenue manage everything.

Thomas Finn joins me. Director at Edwards & Finn, a revenue management recruiter, coming to us from New Castle, England.

Key takeaways:
-Competition for what jobs are out there is fierce.
-Candidates aren’t getting feedback from companies.
-Great candidates are being rejected b/c of very small differences between themselves and another fantastic candidate.
-Profile of typical hotel hiring right now? Smaller hospitality groups.
Corporate hotels seem to be behind.
-Expectation of Revenue Managers has changed drastically over the years, now a commercial role, seen in the board room, highly analytic but also able to communicate, handle objection—character traits found in their sales counterparts.

Wilhelm K. Weber, VP Global Revenue and Digital Strategy with Kempinski Hotels, joins me from Switzerland.

I had the pleasure to be recording at The Houstonian Hotel, Club & Spa.

Kempinski is a diverse portfolio of luxury and iconic hotels, both city and resort.

Key takeaways:
-Predicting the decisions of politicians proves difficult, adding to the challenge of forecasting.
-Made a cultural shift from 'efficiency driven by good forecasting and planning' to 'efficiency by acting fast to the main drivers in the market.'
-That shift prompted action, like:
Disabled decision uploads, changed the forecasting rhythm, changed the structure of the weekly meetings.
-About mid-April, stopped looking at number of cases in the weekly meeting.
-Data to look at: pickup, airline capacities, travel restrictions.
-Advice for hoteliers? Shift your mindset from planning based on forecasts to fast reactions to proven cause and effect drivers.

Kristi talks with us about group meetings and the hotels who are landing these gigs as the pandemic continues, that it's not as bad as some think--180% increase in meetings over the last 60 days, most being corporate meetings, and hotels are already seeing some good signs for 2021. More interviews like this one at https://shr.global/soundbites.

I am joined by Priya Chandnani, Vice President Revenue Management for BENCHMARK, A Global Hospitality Company, coming to us from New Jersey.

With 43 hotels, mostly independent, and primarily in North America, residing in different states, with differing governmental restrictions, the first thing Priya’s team did was, ‘accept their circumstances.’

Another amazing woman hotelier! Leanne Reddie, Cluster Director Sales & Marketing, with Rosewood Hotels & Resorts Bangkok, joins me to talk about her experience, their amazing hotel and the challenging Thailand market.