Hilton Celebrating 100 Years

Welcome Address
Christopher J. Nassetta, President and Chief Executive Officer, Hilton
Eight Floor, Broadway Lounge

Join us as we open the 2019 NYU International Hospitality Industry Investment Conference and celebrate Hilton’s 100 Years! Meet, mingle, and network with the professionals who drive this stimulating, evolving, and fascinating industry. (Dress is business casual.)

Fifth Floor, Westside Ballroom

Enjoy a hearty breakfast with colleagues, as you prepare for an enlightening day that will focus on changes and trends in the industry.

Sixth Floor, Broadway Ballroom

Nicolas Graf, PhD, the associate dean of the NYU School of Professional Studies Jonathan M. Tisch Center for Hospitality, will provide opening remarks to kick off the first day of the Conference, which is packed with high-energy panels and informative breakout sessions.

Sixth Floor, Broadway Ballroom

Learn about all that is happening in the industry, why the Conference is important, and how it is structured to provide the most relevant and timely information.

Jonathan M. Tisch, Chairman and CEO of Loews Hotels & Co. and Co-Chairman of the Board of Loews Corporation

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Chip Rogers, President and Chief Executive Officer, AHLA

Sixth Floor, Broadway Ballroom

Learn from top hospitality executives about the evolving investment landscape and the changing consumer base, as well as the ways in which the competition is pressing these CEOs to lead their brands and to differentiate their companies.

Sixth Floor, Broadway Ballroom

The leadership of some of the most important US lodging REIT’s will discuss the exigencies of their business model based upon current economic indicators and what lies ahead. What is capturing their attention: asset acquisitions/dispositions, M&A, new technology…or all of the above? What do they expect from managers? How are evolving distribution models changing their relationships with the brands?  What will smart owners and investors look for moving forward?

Sixth Floor, Broadway Ballroom

Last year, Google surpassed Kayak in flight referrals to airline websites. Expedia also announced the launch of the Expedia Action for the Google Assistant, providing customers with the ability to book and manage itineraries through hands-free voice commands. Forty-four percent of US consumers indicated they would book travel on Amazon if the service was available. There are new announcements daily regarding the ways in which technology is changing how customers purchase travel.  Where is distribution and travel planning headed? What are the implications for hotels? Learn the answers to these critical questions.

Sixth Floor, Broadway Ballroom

Data is a critical factor in the hospitality industry for planning, growth, expansion, and taking advantage of new and emerging opportunities. Learn from two of the top industry research and consultation specialists about current trends, and hear their forecasts for the future.

Fifth Floor, Westside Ballroom

Meet Conference patrons and sponsors, as well as other industry leaders. Network as you reenergize with refreshments in the Patron and Sponsor Expo Café.

The Conference’s concurrent workshops focus on specialized topics of interest, allowing attendees to customize their experience, while gaining critical industry information from interactive panel discussions.

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Given where we are in the cycle, where is private equity looking for investment returns in the lodging space today? M&A? Property acquisitions? Brand acquisitions? Tighter asset management? Bold technological moves? Hear how these smart private equity investors are creating ROI through selective investing, sound structuring, and educated opportunism.  

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Owners are constantly looking for ways to increase a property’s revenue. At times, it is important to think inside the box (within the hotel footprint) to uncover hidden returns on investment. Panelists will explore a variety of creative options for turning underperforming areas into revenue generators.

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Interest in the luxury segment remains robust for investors and travel customers. This panel will focus on the most current thinking regarding luxury brands, high-end traveler demands, how expectations are met in this competitive space, and why investors still strive to own in this segment.

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Owners, operators, and brand companies will share their views on franchising, including important issues to consider, the role that each party plays in a franchised deal, and keys to success.

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The future of work, the future of smart. Managing risk, promoting transparency, allocating capital, nurturing talent, and building stakeholder confidence. When machines become workers, what is the human role? Assimilating and analyzing data to make financial decisions in more complex and scalable ways. This workshop will offer a focus on future mindset and what you need to know now in order to successfully lead your organization forward.

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Data collection and interpretation are considered to be the keys to understanding customer behavior and penetrating markets. Which new data collection technologies will the smart hotel owner or investor pay for and do we know the ROI’s on those investments? How can data be translated into actionable items for staying on top of the competition?

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No one opens a new independent hotel anymore—they open the first hotel in a new brand. We are not only seeing a proliferation of new brands from the big guys, but also a proliferation of micro-brands—that include less than 5 or 10 hotels—from start-ups and entrepreneurs. What, actually is considered a brand in today’s lodging space? Does calling something a “brand” mean it is one?  Why should owners pay anyone for a brand if they can put an interesting word on a marquee and create one themselves, perhaps paying third parties for distribution systems? What are the strategic differences between the big hotel companies that are buying existing brands and those creating new ones from scratch?

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Equity investments in hotels come from a diverse group of investor types. Each has its special needs, considerations, motivations, rationale, and outlook. This fascinating panel will highlight commonalities and differences among some of the most dominant types of capital sources for hospitality properties.

Meet Conference patrons and sponsors, as well as other industry leaders. Network as you reenergize with refreshments in the Patron and Sponsor Expo Café.

Sixth Floor, Broadway Ballroom

Meet Conference patrons and sponsors, as well as other industry leaders. Network as you reenergize with refreshments in the Patron and Sponsor Expo Café.

WELCOME

HOTEL NEWS NOW STEPHEN W. BRENER SILVER PLATE AWARD

RECIPIENT:

COPRESENTERS:

Sixth Floor, Broadway Ballroom

INTERVIEW GUEST:

INTERVIEW MODERATOR:

The major gaming firms are re-designing themselves in this new economy, venturing into non-gaming markets, diversifying horizontally within gaming, internationalizing, and using numerous other strategies to monetize their brands and grow. Hear from the top how these major players are designing and executing their exciting new future selves.

Fifth Floor, Westside Ballroom

Meet Conference patrons and sponsors, as well as other industry leaders. Network as you reenergize with refreshments in the Patron and Sponsor Expo Café.

The Conference’s concurrent workshops focus on specialized topics of interest, allowing attendees to customize their experience, while gaining critical industry information from interactive panel discussions.

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Investors, lenders, owners and brands continue to exhibit high degrees of attraction to this segment, which comprises a substantial portion of the current US construction pipeline. What are the distinguishing characteristics of this property type and what makes it so enduringly popular? What’s the secret sauce?

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An evolving trend from breakfast to bedtime, hotels are delivering new solutions to support guests in becoming healthier, eating more wisely, sleeping well, and even “getting smarter,” by using everything from biometrics to functional medicine. What are the challenges, opportunities, and ROS in this sphere, and what innovations come next?

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Whether it is a property transaction, a portfolio sale, or M&A activity, dealmakers play a critical role in making the match between buyers and sellers, but also in escorting the deal through to execution. Hear from some of the industry’s top dealmakers regarding the most frequent sticking points of the dealmaking process, how buyers and sellers perceive the market differently from one another (or not), and where deal capital—equity and debt—is coming from now.

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With the increasing proliferation of third-party “partners” that hotel managers align with to outsource previously on-site managerial functions, and with the increasing complexity of technology and distribution, what are the top hotel asset managers focusing on to drive ROI for their owners?  Can good asset management really make a difference during the development process?  Top hotel asset managers will share their observations and strategies.

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Recent data reveals that a growing number of travelers are seeking out ecotourism experiences and are traveling around the world to do so.  How can hotel companies adapt to meet demands? Systems to manage energy, water, and waste are now standard features in most major hotels and resorts, but what can they do outside of their own walls to capitalize more effectively on the ecotourism trend?

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The goal is a “360-degree view of the customer,” or a comprehensive data environment filled with customer preferences that can be leveraged at different points of the customer journey to map the experience and simultaneously drive revenue growth. How far away is this vision from reality? Where is progress being made? Is investment in this vision mandatory for brands that want to remain competitive? Is there an adjacent industry that does this well, which could be a source of inspiration?

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With “new economy” investment options, how is Wall Street playing to win in today’s hospitality industry? What’s the road map for the investment thesis?  Is lodging still seen as a hedge for inflationary pressures, or a likely victim of higher prices for goods and labor? Does technology change the answer?

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Resort projects today are often characterized by a mix of property types—the pure hotel, hotel condo, timeshare, and private homes or villas, not to mention the recreational/entertainment amenities. Is this, ultimately, what customers want or is it simply the only way these types of projects can be financed?  What is the next trend and when (and where) can we expect to see it?

Eighth Floor, Broadway Lounge

Puerto Rico Tourism Company will host the Grand Networking Reception on Monday evening. Enjoy your favorite beverages and savor tasty selections, specially prepared by Marriott culinarians. It’s the perfect way to begin your evening as you mingle with friends and colleagues.

Fifth Floor, Westside Ballroom

Enjoy a tasty breakfast with colleagues, as you prepare for an enlightening day that will focus on changes and trends in the industry.

Sixth Floor, Broadway Ballroom

Accomplished industry leaders will share their perspectives on the current trends and events that are shaping the future of the travel and hospitality industries. Will brand proliferation continue or is there some finite limit to the number of brands? Are we close to reaching it? Will it be robotics, AI, or some other emerging new technology that will be part of every traveler’s daily life five years from now? What are the smart leaders doing to be ready and to capitalize on these trends?

Sixth Floor, Broadway Ballroom

Is technology leveling the playing field so that entities of any size can compete, or is it making scale more important than ever? With the “big guys” getting bigger and a lot of little start-ups in our industry, are we headed towards a future where a handful of very big players control a large number of brands? The OTA stable has already shrunk through M&A. Will it boil down to one or two powerful mega-providers, and what would this mean for the hotel business? Building on the themes discussed in past sessions, these savvy leaders will share their innovative thinking.