The Modern Hotelier is a dynamic podcast that explores the latest trends, challenges, and innovations in the hospitality industry. Hosted by Steve Carran and David Millili and featuring expert guest hosts, this show delivers insightful discussions on hot topics affecting hoteliers and travel professionals.
In this episode, "August Hospitality Hot Topics," Steve and David is joined by guest host Jasmine Seliga from Affixify and regular contributor David Millili.
In this episode, you'll learn:
- The resurgence of group business in the hospitality sector
- Projections for the hotel industry in 2025 and beyond
- Potential impacts of hotel worker strikes
- Innovative marketing through hotel-curated Spotify playlists
- Luxury car brands entering the hospitality space
- A surprising list of top boutique hotels in the United States
Tune in monthly for the latest hospitality hot topics and expert perspectives.
Join the conversation on today's episode on The Modern Hotelier LinkedIn page.
The Modern Hotelier is produced, edited, and published by Make More Media: https://makemore.media/
Episode Links
Links:
USA Today 10 Best Boutique Hotels
David Millili
Steve Carran
Steve on LinkedIn
The Modern Hotelier
Transcript
Automatic Transcription - please excuse any errors
Steve Carran: Welcome to another episode of The Modern Hotelier. Today's episode is August, Hospitality Hot Topics. And as our guest host, we have Jasmine Seliga from Affixify. Welcome to the show, Jasmine.
Jasmine Seliga: Thrilled to be here. I have been looking forward to this all month.
Steve Carran: Awesome. Well, we're happy to have you. So, to kick things off, the first topic is group business, has seen seven consecutive quarters of growth, it's overall health shows it's at 500. 5 percent year over year, and 22 of the top 25 U. S. markets have achieved A hundred percent or more in overall performance compared to the same time in 2023. Jasmine, starting to you first, what are we thinking here about group business going up?
Jasmine Seliga: Oh my gosh. Well, first, I mean, I think what stating the obvious, anyone reading this is excited because post pandemic, it's like, okay, conferences are back, right? No more online conference situations. also, you know, I think it's interesting, like seven quarters.
So we're, we could really just say we've almost hit two years of growth. Gotta say. Some of those locations were intriguing. I mean, Vegas being the top, could see that, but like Detroit being in there, I thought that was really great. Uh, David, what do you think?
David Millili: Yeah, same here. So for me, you know, obviously, you're going to expect Vegas to be on the list. But, you know, you look at Seattle being number two, I was just in Nashville, that didn't surprise me. But cities like Houston, Philadelphia, Tampa, which, you know, and Orlando was not on the 10, which was surprising. So I thought it was, uh, it's encouraging it looks like things are, to your point, are moving in the right direction.
And so going with that, I just got back from HDC and Nashville and CoStar put out the looking ahead at 2025. Strong numbers. we haven't overbuilt, so there will be more construction coming in and it looks like. You know, the, the alternative accommodation methods like Airbnb are not really affecting hotels. So what do you see, Steve? What do you hear when you're talking to hotels about 2025?
Steve Carran: so one of the interesting things is more companies are requiring, we're requiring their employees to come back to the office. So I think we're going to see an increase in, you know, People going to see potential clients, so increased business travel, like we kind of talked about previously. I also think we're going to see a big increase in rev par. David, how often do we talk about experiences on this podcast? I feel like Every week, pretty much. So we're going to see the experiences, uh, drive up those RevPAR. And then I'm looking ahead even to 2026 here. we got FIFA coming in 2026, so we're going to see a ton of international travel, I think, going out into Europe more, but also a lot of international travel coming into the U.S Jasmine, what do you think?
Jasmine Seliga: first of all, I was like, Oh, 2026 is going to be great, especially for those of us here in Texas. So interestingly, you know, I noticed the article talked about the experience culture, and I'm like, that's really where we're at right now. from a transient perspective, making sure that hotels are competing with Airbnb, there's a lot to the experience side. I also thought the article was interesting, and I agree with this, that the corporate traveler is probably not going anywhere from the, you know, they're not gonna stay in an Airbnb, or at least I wouldn't.
I think we can see a positive outlook for next year on, as, offices reopen, office leasing increases, as the article said, right? Like, business travel is going to increase, and that can only help our industry. I don't personally see a bunch of us going to book Airbnbs when we're going to our corporate meetings, not a chance. Not a chance. Yeah, not for me. okay, so I, 10, 000 hotel workers could be going on strike. This could be, you know, incredibly, uh, impactful to those of us who travel all of the time. So Steve, what do you think of that? What did you think of that?
Steve Carran: so what I read was around 66 hotels and it varies. I mean, it's from Boston to Hawaii are going to be affected by this. workers want better standard. It's ranging from housekeepers to really everybody in the hotel. and I think, I feel like guests are almost going to have to temper their expectations again, like they almost did during COVID, right? We're going to have Probably more limited service amenities, limited service for housekeeping, the experiences that these hotels maybe normally do with hyper local experiences, things like that. Maybe we won't have that guide to go on that guided brewery tour or something like that. So, I think we're going to have to kind of expect almost what we did during COVID for these certain hotels. David, what do you think?
David Millili: we've touched on it a couple of times over the past couple of months that, you know, we're, we're back to pre COVID numbers and in some cases, exceeding them. And You know, it's really a question of the industry waking up and really kind of making sure that the wages are correct and they're having, figuring out ways to attract, not only in the house, housekeeping staff, making sure that people know, and we asked this question, you know, if you're going to, on the podcast, if you're going to get into hospitality, what's some advice and making it a career for people.
So I think, you know, when you read the article, you can look at some of the cities, a lot of them in California, a very strict union type, you know, properties, but. You know, let's hope that ownership and management companies can come together and make sure that they, do whatever they can to solve this issue and even start to use some technology that can help solve the issue. So speaking of hotels and interesting things, hotels are now getting into creating Spotify playlists. So whether it's the bartender giving you something or you're out by the pool, Yeah, I think this is pretty cool. And it's a way to discover new music. Have you seen this or experienced it? Or what do you think, Jasmine?
Jasmine Seliga: Okay, I haven't experienced it on the music side, but when I think about this, I'm like, what smart marketing to touch on the five senses? I know we stayed at a resort in Mexico 10 years ago, and we still talk about the smell of that lobby being so amazing if we could like, bottle it up. So I think this goes along with that. If you can, Get to the five senses and, you know, so hearing a song, what a wonderful way to stay in the mind of your guest after they leave.
I know we talk a lot about how do we get guests back in the door and percentages can be somewhat low because especially when you're, you know, traveler, traveling for personal reasons, you want to go to different places. But if you have that playlist and you're listening all the time, you're like, Oh, maybe I should go back there because, you know, as the article said, right, like that's a vibe, I feel a little old to say that. But I think it's. really intriguing to me, and as someone who prefers experiences over things, I'm like, I'm all about that. So, I think we should even take it to the next step and like, start selling your lobby scent to your guests, you know? My opinion. I don't know, what do you
Steve Carran: I love that. No, I love it. I love it. And when I read this, I was just like, that has definitely happened to me. Like, I went to Vegas for a music festival, and whenever I hear certain songs from electronic DJs, I am brought back to that moment where I am just listening to Hardwell. at MGM in Vegas.
So, like, I love this. I think, you know, if I go on a tropical vacation and I'm listening to that playlist, if I'm having a bad day, I'm putting that playlist back on, and I am going to that tropical mindset, you know? So, I am all about it. I think it brings that feeling, that connection, back home with the guests, and they get to bring it back from vacation. So, I'm all about it. I love it. David, do you have anything extra on this one? Have you ever experienced it?
David Millili: no, I haven't yet. I've, I've heard a lot about it. the one thing I equated to is, you know, whenever I get in an Uber and they asked me, what do you want to listen to? And I said, whatever you want to listen to, because then I kind of can just get like a unique perspective. Cause I could just say what I like, but what's the fun in that? If I can get something new, and different and get exposed to that, I think that's a pretty cool way to do it.
Steve Carran: Yeah, absolutely. All right, so this is a fun one. Mercedes Benz is opening up their own skyscraper. It's gonna be 67 stories, mixed use luxury tower with condos, offices, wellness spaces, hotels, and other amenities. Bentley is also looking to build another tower in Miami with 62 floors. Is this going to be a new topic? I heard the Bentley one, you're going to be able to drive your hotel into an elevator and it will take your whole car up to your room. We're all about experiences. Are we going to see more of companies like Mercedes and Bentley and, you know, these bigger companies get into the hotel business and creating these unique experiences? David, what do you think?
David Millili: Yeah, well, Jasmine's going to like it because apparently they're going to have the new car smell in the lobby. So when you walk in, it's going to smell just like a brand new Mercedes. yeah, look, this is, uh, this is smart stuff. People like to buy what they know. And when you have a brand like Mercedes, you think of elegance and, you know, you think expensive. And so this is a smart move.
I mean, there's been a lot of players who've tried to associate, and we won't get into politics, but names of people and, and brands and things of that nature. And, I can't wait to see it, and see how it's different from others. But I think that will be the key. What do they do? That's unique, from just, you know, putting the Mercedes name on it and being another kind of high end luxury hotel. So I'm, I'm, I'm looking forward to seeing what they do, Jasmine.
Jasmine Seliga: Yeah, I think any time a brand that's so good at something, right, so Mercedes, they make cars and they make beautiful cars, veers into another area, there's a lot of expectation from consumers to be sure that this is gonna meet, standard. Reading about it, I think it sounds phenomenal. I think, you know, bringing in both, the apartment style living, but also luxury hotel and all of the amenities, especially in that market. I think it's smart. I do think they just have a high expectation to meet being Mercedes, right? You don't just slap that logo on anything.
And so I do think it will be cool. That will definitely make my list. Cannot say that the Bentley car elevator would make my list. That sounds possibly like something I would hate, but it sounds, you know, I think it's intriguing and I think that Mercedes is probably going to do it very well. Or hopefully they've partnered with, you know, companies that will help them do this. Very, very well.
So, I think, so, kind of moving from Mercedes, right, like a huge luxury tower to boutique hotels, smaller boutique hotels in our space. This article that we're going to end on today talks about the top ten boutique hotels in the United States. My first thought was, these are not the properties I would expect in the best way. I actually Loved kind of reading the take in this article on, I mean, you know, for me as a business traveler, a lot of these sound great, but like as a personal traveler, I'm like 24 seven Butler, that sounds awesome. Property in Utah, free breakfast. That sounds awesome. So I learned so much from this article and I think it's, unique and intriguing that this actually brought up properties that we may not read about every day in the news. what did you think, Steve?
Steve Carran: I loved it. the number one hotel was a hotel in Florence, Alabama, and it was a 10 room hotel. Like, I read about the experts, they had like 15 experts, but these experts must have, like, done a lot of research on this. But I love the variety of hotels. You had the, the one in Alabama, and then you had one in North Carolina that was number two that looked like high end on the water, and then number three. I gotta give a shout out to State Pineapple. Their Chicago location was number three, so shout out Dena Bellin, but I gotta say the number one that I wanna stay at on this list came in at number eight, aside from State Pineapple, but the Compass Rose Lodge in Utah just like looks really rustic, and it seems like my kind of place to stay. What about you, David? What'd you think of the list? Yeah.
David Millili: because that would have been a pretty cool assignment going around to these places. but I think, you know, what was amazing, like both of you, the first thing I thought was like, I went back to, after I started reading it, I went back to make sure that I read the title of the article correctly, where it wasn't like, you know, 10 top best hotels in sec or in strange places or places you've never heard of or never been to. And so for me, this is just, it's great exposure for those boutique properties because we've talked about it a lot, but people are looking post COVID for just the uniqueness, whether it be, you know, the glamping stuff, which we're going to be covering soon, or, or just, you know, high end luxury, like we just talked about Mercedes, people are looking for these unique experiences. And so. You know, if you've got, and I didn't check rates, but you know, why wouldn't you want to stay at one of these boutique hotels rather than staying at a, you know, I won't say the brand, a branded, you know, roadside property. So I thought it was pretty awesome. It was pretty cool.
Steve Carran: I agree. David, we gotta do The Modern Hotelier Top 10 Hotels, and then we can just, that'll be our excuse to travel around the country.
David Millili: Yeah, I agree. All right, great. Well, that does it for another episode of the, uh, we'll, we'll, we'll make sure we have an extra seat for you.
So that does it for another episode of The Modern Hotelier, hospitality, hot topics. Thank you, Jasmine, for being our guest host, and we will see everybody again next month.