Hotel Chief Financial Officers Shift Attention to Localized Demand
Lower Profitability Threshold Also an Encouraging Trend
Hotel brands and companies with a global growth strategy have been compelled during the COVID-19 pandemic to rein in that focus, and tend to their portfolios on a more local level.
Hotel brands and companies with a global growth strategy have been compelled during the COVID-19 pandemic to rein in that focus, and tend to their portfolios on a more local level.
During the 33rd Deloitte European Hotel Industry Conference, which was held virtually, two chief financial officers spoke about the trends and challenges their companies' portfolios have experienced since the start of the pandemic.
“The pandemic has made the hotel world much smaller," said Cameron Read, CFO of Europe, the Middle East and Africa at Marriott International. "A whole bundle of stuff around localization has come out of this, and I think that has to be a good thing. It will change things for the better."
He said Europe’s overreliance on inbound U.S. travelers might not be ideal in the long term.
“We have not tended to our own backyards, and we paid a pretty serious price for that,” Read said.