Specialist
Senior executive at Pyramid Hotel Group LP
Agenda
- Trends and developments in the lodging industry, highlighting potential post-coronavirus scenarios
- Competitive landscape – Marriott (NASDAQ: MAR) vs Hilton Worldwide (NYSE: HLT) and others
- RevPAR (revenue per available room) recovery trends across geographies and demographics
- Medium-to-long-term outlook, including hotel development and conversion trends
Questions
1.
What are your expectations for the lodging industry over the next 12-18 months?
2.
Which secular pre-pandemic trends do you consider most at risk, other than the impact on business travel from the uptake of platforms such as Zoom which you outlined? Do you find some of these potential shifts as net positive or negative?
3.
Do you think consumers are more forgiving if they have a bad experience with Airbnb, given the company’s model and the understanding that it provides an experience subject to the host?
4.
Where is the industry on the recovery curve across different segments vs 2019 levels?
5.
What might the road to recovery be for leisure, individual business and group business? When is the earliest volumes can recover and stabilize close to pre-pandemic levels?
6.
What are your thoughts on the supply dynamics in the industry? Is it oversupplied?
7.
Do you think supply could potentially flood the market in H2 2021 and into 2022?
8.
You mentioned a few markets were already oversupplied. Which markets do you think are most at risk and which you find more favourably positioned?
9.
What are your expectations for forward bookings across different segments?
10.
What are your thoughts on pricing investments and potential discounting and incentives to drive bookings?
11.
Has labour been a pain point for operators, given the labour headwinds that a lot of industry players are facing in part due to government stimulus?
12.
It seems some players are shifting their models to rely less on labour. Hilton announced it is making daily housekeeping optional. Do you think that’s the right move, or is it more damaging to the product than the company might think?
13.
What are your thoughts on Marriott-operated properties and their ADRs [average daily rates] and occupancy rates vs 2019 levels relative to its peers?
14.
Are you concerned about Marriott’s ability to drive US occupancy growth?
15.
What are your expectations for non-occupancy revenues, such as F&B [food and beverage] and the attachment rates to conventions of that revenue stream?
16.
What is your outlook for Marriott’s road to RevPAR [revenue per available room] recovery? When might Marriott’s North American RevPAR return to close to 100% of pre-pandemic levels?
17.
Marriott reports next week. What are your Q2 2021 RevPAR expectations for the company? Why might it lag, lead or be in line with the industry’s Q2 drop of about 22% vs 2019 levels, as reported from STR’s market data?
18.
Were there any surprises from Hilton management’s commentary or reporting on the back of its earnings release?
19.
What is your outlook for resort or amenity fees? Anecdotally, it seems a big pain point for consumers in Vegas. How might operators assess these?
20.
What are your thoughts around Marriott’s road to restoring EBITDA to pre-pandemic levels? What are the levers for achieving this?
21.
How might higher wages impact margins in 2022?
22.
To what extent do you think property ownership groups such as Park Hotels or Pebblebrook’s margins will take the impact of labour in 2022?
23.
What are the best ways to track the corporate transient segment return after Labor Day? Should we still be thinking about midweek vs weekend trends or something else?
24.
Could you outline Marriott’s vs Hilton’s positioning?
25.
How would you rate the loyalty programmes across different hotel brands? Is there a clear winner here? Does Marriott stand out because of how it rewards loyal customers?
26.
What are your thoughts on the conversion of any of Marriott’s properties with competitors, or properties potentially exiting the Marriott system?
27.
Who is benefiting vs losing from reflagging?
28.
To what extent are hotel conversions or reflags contributing to net unit growth?
29.
What are your expectations for hotel development? What happened to construction delays over the pandemic? Are they back on track or still significantly behind?
