January/February 2021

have to adhere to what’s
happening right outside of
the hotel, in terms of the
changes in those jurisdictions
[and how they impact] how
we operate the business, how
we operate food and beverage
and how we make sure that
we are an ongoing business
through this crisis. From our
perspective, it’s just keeping
up with all of those changes,
which are literally happening
on a day-to-day basis.
AT: We have a global council
and we meet on a weekly
basis to make sure we’ve got
some consistency across the
board. One of the things that
is challenging, and we’re
seeing it more in the luxury
hotels, is that the guest is
actually wanting those touches
— they’re coming to the
luxury hotel, paying a lot of
money and wanting rabbits
out of hats. That really is a
challenge for us, globally.
SS: We have 5,900 hotels
around the world and they’re
all mainly represented by
small, individually owned
businesses, so there’s a really
big challenge for these owners
in light of the crisis. Revenue
has dropped to historic lows
and yet we have to invest all
of this money and resources
and training into making
sure that they’re brought up
to speed — it’s a lot to ask of
them and we’ve really had
to stand beside them. At the
peak of it all, we had 1,000
hotels closed during the crisis
and, through a tremendous
amount of support, we’re
now down to just 200. We’ve
really had to hold their hand
through all of this re-training
and education. One of the
priorities, and I’ll speak to
Canada specifically for a real
example, is about keeping
costs down while maintaining
that consistency.
RC: Since COVID-19 hit,
hotels have had to spend
a huge amount of money
on additional protocols
and measures to combat
this pandemic. How
sustainable is that for
the long term?
LP: Marriott’s point of view
is everything we can do to
instill confi dence so that
people can travel again is
imperative to our business.
We’ve all learned a tremendous
amount over the last
several months and continue
to evolve the protocols
and do it better and align
ourselves with experts and
suppliers and partners that
can help us do that. But, we
believe it’s just an essential
part of our service — the
cleanliness, the safety
precautions, everything that
we’re doing — so we haven’t
been charging an additional
cost for that because it’s part
of doing business.
VC: We need to have this
right now — you’ve got to be
at the forefront of cleanliness
and safety. Sure, there’s some
additional costs, but we’re
working with our operators
to offset some of those costs
right now. Do we think it’s
around for the long haul?
Absolutely. It’s going to be
around for a while, certainly
what we’re living through
right now isn’t going to go
away tomorrow, even with
the vaccine. We’re going to
support our franchisees from
that perspective and the
customer will continue to
have that confidence longterm
to continue to come
back and stay.
AB: Which segments
do you feel are
best equipped to
handle operating in a
post-COVID-19 world?
BL: The majority of our
hotels are limited service, so,
by the nature of the assets,
have fewer touch points and
we think that’s what a lot of
guests are looking for right
now. These types of properties
are also better equipped
to be able to operate really
efficiently at lower occupancies
and that’s probably why
the vast majority of our hotels
have been able to stay open
through the pandemic. Part of
it is location related, because
we know it’s a lot of a major
urban markets that have been
hit the worst. But, some of it
is asset based as well; just look
at how efficiently you can run
a 70- or 80-room limited-service
property as opposed to a
full-service property that has
a whole lot of amenities that
need to be open irrespective
of what occupancy you may
have. Clearly, none of us are
immune to the overall devastation
that has hit our industry,
but I think our hotels have
absorbed the impact with a
little bit more resilience.
LP: Our select-service
brands have been pivoting
very quickly in order
to meet the needs of our
transiting customers. Our
Residence Inn has done a
marvelous job, just by virtue
of that style of hotel, it’s
able to step up. Our suite
product is going to continue
to be a really important
amenity in order to manage
all of the different safety
requirements and the ability
to social distance. When
I talk about the meeting
space, in our convention
business, struggle isn’t the
right word. I would say it’s a
very comprehensive job that
needs to be done to instill
confi dence, to demonstrate
the expertise we have to be
able to manage large groups
and make people understand
our capabilities — how
to handle that customer
from the time they arrive
through to their trade show
or through food-and-beverage
needs. But, candidly, we
need to do the same thing
with our government stakeholders
so that they can see
how comprehensive a job
we’ve done, how thoughtful
our work is. We’ve aligned
ourselves with the best
in the business and we’ve
thought through fl oor plans
and technology and the
path of the customer and all
of that. I would say there’s
more work to be done in
that regard.
SS: Mainstream and extended-stay
travel has fared better
than some of our other
segments. And, thankfully,
70 per cent of our open hotels
are in our mainstream brands,
Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn
Express. We’ve seen that those
brands, as well as our extended-stay
brands like Staybridge
Suites and Candlewood, have
been faring much better for
longer length of stay, projectstyle
and essential-work
business. So, we’ve been well
positioned there and I think
that will continue throughout
the first and maybe second
quarter of 2021. But, what
Laura was touching on is a
really important point to
make, which is advocating to
our government bodies to help
our hotels get through this on
a bigger scale. ◆
You can watch the entire webinar,
Hotel Safety Protocols in the
COVID-19 Era, HERE.
hoteliermagazine.com JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2021 | 37