Why Industry Executives are Optimistic

By:Mede Nix

Posted on: 14 June 2023

Editor’s note: This report accompanies an article, Forecast Sunny for Hotels, first published in the June 2023 Special Edition of Beyond the Meeting Room, ALHI’s printed magazine, a luxury lifestyle publication focused on sharing compelling, inspirational and educational stories from beyond the four walls of a meeting room.

Travel demand remains closely tied to the confidence and economic outlook of our customers. Given the strong employment environment and moderating inflation, we expect demand strength will continue for the foreseeable future. We have seen investment continue to strengthen despite economic concerns. Aside from pockets of concern, primarily in the financial, technology and professional services sectors, we believe the outlook remains positive. Small and medium businesses are driving the recovery.

Alex Cabañas, President of Pyramid Global Hospitality

I’m very confident in the industry; we’re right there. We’ve had such tremendous growth. Coming out of COVID, we were growing. Rate of growth is slowing down; we’re growing at a much slower pace than when we were coming out of the pandemic.

Michael Dominguez, President and CEO of Associated Luxury Hotels International

We are very optimistic about the future of MGM Resorts for multiple reasons. We continue to enjoy record results in Las Vegas, our domestic properties outside of Vegas continue to show consistent growth, we’re benefitting from a rapid and significant recovery at MGM China, and BetMGM continues to grow and will turn toward profitability later this year.

Bill Hornbuckle, CEO and President of MGM Resorts International

We are optimistic about the hotel industry’s future. Our industry is getting stronger, but to keep growing we need to hire more than 100,000 people around the country. Fortunately, with average hotel wages at near-record levels, better benefits than ever before, and unprecedented opportunity to move up the ranks, there’s never been a better time to start a hotel career.

Chip Rogers, President and CEO of American Hotel and Lodging Association

We are optimistic because Omni Hotels & Resorts is a family owned and operated company and has been for over 60 years. We can invest and do what’s needed to set our own brand standards and deploy capitol into the business.

Peter Strebel, President of Omni Hotels and Resorts