Top 25 Hotels in the World, Ritz Carlton Super Yacht, Construction Pipeline, & Business Travel Demand

The Modern Hotelier #70: Top 25 Hotels in the World, Ritz Carlton Super Yacht, Construction Pipeline, & Business Travel Demand === Steve Carran: Welcome to Hospitality Hot Topics by Modern Hotelier. I'm your co host, Steve carran. David Millili: I'm your host David Steve Carran: David, today we have five topics that we're going to go over. Some of the latest things that have happened this past May in the hospitality industry. So let's dive into it right away. The first one is the construction pipeline in the U.S Dallas. currently leads, with the largest construction pipeline with 185 [00:01:00] hotels. Number two is Atlanta with 153 hotels. Three is Nashville with 127. Number four is Phoenix, your neck of the woods, with 123. And number five. The Inland Empire, david, do you know what the Inland Empire is? David Millili: I don't, but I'm sure you do. Steve Carran: So I didn't either. I actually looked it up. It's like the part of California where Joshua Tree is, the desert area Palm Springs where ILC was recently. Number five in the nation as far as development goes. What does that tell you as far as I guess, trends in America, hotel trends, hotel building trends. What are you seeing here? David Millili: Well, I would assume that's probably based off experiences and people looking to do more of the kind of the outdoorsy or be away from, these big cities. So I'm surprised it's number five, but I'm not surprised it's on the list Steve Carran: I agree with you. And you know, we're seeing these [00:02:00] at Dallas, honestly, did surprise me a little bit being on top of the list. But you know, we're seeing in these Texas cities, like Austin is blowing up, Dallas has this huge boom, and atlanta as well. I was honestly shocked to not see New York on that list. David Millili: Well, I think one of the things is that if you look at what happened during COVID a lot of people moved out of places like California. They went to arizona, texas, florida. So I think when you look at dallas, that's got to play a factor in it. And the same thing with Phoenix. I mean, I was getting my oil changed today and talking to the guy and he's, a long time, phoenix guy. And he was just telling me how, it's so different here than it was. You know, even just 10 years ago, the population and how in his neighborhood, it's almost 60 of the people have moved there from California. Steve Carran: Wow. Wow. Have you noticed in the city, just hotels seem to be popping up all over? David Millili: it's tough to tell, but I see when I'm downtown, there's just a lot of construction. And I [00:03:00] know there's like the VAI resort, which is huge out by the. Arizona cardinals Stadium. there's a bunch of stuff going on out here and, you know, it's also, an easy place to work. There's no real bad weather out here. So, the one thing, not only is there a lot of development going on here, the development goes quick. Steve Carran: I believe it. I believe it. David Millili: What do we think about these higher luxury travel prices? It seems to be that now everything is getting expensive and what's getting really expensive is luxury travel. Steve Carran: Yeah, I was reading this article that, you know, there's higher expectations now than pre COVID. Since prices are going higher, expectations are also rising. And the younger travelers, Gen-Z millennial, they are booking, as we've said, I mean, I feel like we say this every episode, you said it earlier, we're booking around experiences. Guests are booking a location just to go to a restaurant and then they're picking that hotel and they want that luxury experience. But what they do want, if they're going to [00:04:00] pay that much, your customer service better be great. You know, know your name and have those amenities to really create a great experience. It's not just for a hotel anymore. David Millili: Yeah. And I think, everyone's more sensitive now. Cause if you think of what happened coming out of COVID. you've got, limited housekeeping, you got limited staff, and then everybody was trying, the revenge travel, everyone was trying to get out. And so prices like in places like New york. ADRs were things that nobody would have ever guessed you're gonna spend a thousand dollars a night for a three star hotel. In times Square the first two weeks of December. So I think, that's got to put even more pressure on luxury because if you're selling a two, three star for a thousand, what's that, four or five star going for? So I think it's going to level off, but it's definitely, you can definitely tell when you start looking. I've been looking for some fall travel and the, prices are expensive for hotels Steve Carran: So speaking of [00:05:00] travel, one thing that we're seeing is a stronger demand for business travel. In 2024, percent of business travelers anticipate traveling the same amount or more this year. percent of business travelers are planning on traveling for BLEASURE, which is also, I feel like, going to raise this number. What do you think about this? And, you know, have you been doing a lot of business travel this year, David? David Millili: Yeah, it's definitely gonna pick up for me. We're kind of, you know, in our industry right now we're kind of getting into kind of a lot of the big conferences, high tech's coming up, the commercial strategy conference, Hotel Data conference in nashville is coming up, and I think a lot of it is just people want to interact more and from businesses, the best way to get business done as you and I know is to be face to face with somebody and, and now you don't have the offices. So a lot of companies have cut down on other expenses where they can afford to travel. So if you don't have this big, you know, 9, 000 square foot office that you're paying, whatever per square foot, [00:06:00] you've got a little bit more budget. And, uh, as we know, most people now are remote. So I think that's got to contribute to it. but I'm hoping I'm traveling more Steve Carran: There you go. Same. I also think, how people are conducting business. You know, when I started this, it was a lot of cold calling emails. Now there's just, you know, I can't imagine how many emails these hoteliers are getting trying to get sold technology, right? So these more in person meetings mean a lot more now. And I think almost that it's shifting back from telecommunicating or doing something over the phone or over the internet now to doing it in person more and actually having that human to human interaction. David Millili: Yeah, I'm going to be cheating on you. I'm going to be doing a, uh, podcast. Uh, I got invited to where they're going to be, uh, talking about how to prepare for trade shows. So a little bit different, but the whole idea of how do you take that business and what does it really mean to attend a trade show? What are the kind of [00:07:00] like, do's and don'ts and best practices. So I think that's part of it. The business travel, as you know, in our space, that there's no slowing down or there's no lack of availability of conferences or shows to go to. Steve Carran: Right, right. And since you're going on somebody else's podcast, this one's done. So just kidding. David Millili: All right. So we got, So the hotel magazine, top 25 hotels of the world, just pulling up here so we can scroll through it. So, when you look at that list, what are your, some of your first thoughts? Steve Carran: my bucket list for hotels has, definitely expanded, just looking at all of these. I mean, they are incredible. the one that stuck out for me, it has been one of my bucket list hotels for years. it's the beverly Hills Hotel. I have wanted to stay at this hotel for i, can't tell you how long. I'm also a Justin Bieber fan and he performed on top of the roof one year. So that was kind of the cherry on top that I wanted to go too But I mean, all these hotels just look absolutely incredible. Have [00:08:00] you been to any on this list? David Millili: I haven't really been, I mean, I've been to the mark in new york city. but to your point, I mean, the one thing that's amazing when you look at a list like this, it's just how beautiful these hotels are and it's, it's like, you know, they're almost like magical. You look at them, I mean, and there's a lot of the names, that sometimes surprise you, some that don't. So rosewood has a property on there, there's a Park hyatt in there, there's some other brands that, you know. that you may or may not suspect would be on this list. I'm looking at the mark again, which is great. And what was cool about it is there were all sorts. There were some that were really classic, really, you know, and then there was some of these really hip, cool, modern or futuristic properties, but it's, it's an awesome Steve Carran: It is an awesome list. It is awesome. So yeah, I agree. I did really like that they did such a variety of hotels and it's not just one type. You had like the W, I believe it was a W in Barcelona, and then you have, I don't know, I can't remember the name of the one in greece that, you know, boutique hotel, [00:09:00] independent, but just has this amazing view so, I thought it was a great list, and definitely a list to check out if you're into hotels. this came out and I'm super excited about this and I want to know if this is the future of hotels, maybe? Ritz-Carlton is launching a super yacht 790 feet and it has 224 rooms that can carry just shy of 450 passengers. Are we gonna see more luxury hotels, do things like this, different ac, different accommodation types for this space? David Millili: Well, it's pretty interesting because if you look at what our list, even for this, this episode, you've got the higher luxury travel prices. You've got, you know, These beautiful hotels around the world. And then you have this, we talked about it, the experience. Yeah, it just makes sense because if you can go and hit a couple, you know, incredible destinations versus being stuck in one [00:10:00] city and not have to worry about the airport and all that stuff, which we all know as much as we love to travel. It's always a pain in the you know what to get through the airport. So this to me just makes sense. I was surprised how many suites, so it says yacht. And to me, I didn't think you could fit 224 suites on a yacht. but apparently you can up to 448 people on there. But again, this is one of those people want luxury, people want an experience, and this just seems like it's all rolled up into one, which is pretty cool. Steve Carran: Yeah, absolutely. And it's kind of a funny story back in the day when I was working in hotel technology, I actually talked to them about technology for this yacht. And it is crazy, the difference in hotel technology when you're dealing with a hotel in one location compared to a yacht where you're going to be in Various different international waters, the regulations that go into this, it's a whole different ballgame. but I do gotta ask, David, are you a [00:11:00] cruise guy? Have you been on a cruise? Are you a fan of cruises? David Millili: I got a free cruise. My ex, uh, my college roommate's ex girlfriend worked for, I won't name the brand, but there was an inaugural cruise where they invited travel agents and, I got invited on that cruise that left from new york city and all I can tell you, it's not a really good idea when you're just out of college and you get a all inclusive free cruise where you can be drinking at, nine o'clock in the morning, um, and all day long. So I really kind of indulged myself a little too much on that cruise, but no, I'm not a real big cruise guy. Just haven't, done it. Steve Carran: I bet you the other passengers loved, loved you and your friends on that cruise and you guys were the life of the party. David Millili: Yeah. I mean, if you can think about travel agents in the early 90s, it was a cruise full of travel agents. and it was, interesting. They made sure to get all the shrimp they could eat. Steve Carran: Yep. Yep. [00:12:00] Absolutely. that's fantastic. You want David Millili: That does it for another episode of The modern Hotelier. This was hospitality Hot topics. We will put all of the article links in the description below. Take care.