Hoteliers Say Industry Missed the Chance To Reinvent Itself
Executives Bemoan Push To Return Hotel Operations to Pre-Pandemic Norms
LOS ANGELES - The hotel industry may have missed an opportunity to significantly change its business model.
Ted Darnall, partner and CEO of lodging and technical services at HEI Hotels & Resorts, said the COVID-19 pandemic presented a rare opportunity for hotels to fundamentally change how they do business — to reinvent how they serve both guests and owners needs.
But instead of doing that, the industry rushed to return to a sense of normalcy and embraced a business-as-usual approach.
During a session focused on hotel operations at the 2023 Americas Lodging Investment Summit, Darnall said the industry at large whiffed on a once-in-a-lifetime chance for positive change.
This industry missed an opportunity to really understand the evolution of the customer, what's important to the customer, and rewrite the rules,
he said. We did what we shouldn't have done and went right back or are trying to go right back to how we did business before the pandemic when the customer has changed.
