44th Annual NYU International Hospitality Industry Investment Conference Agenda

Fifth Floor, Westside Ballroom
Enjoy a great breakfast with reunited colleagues as you prepare for an enlightening day that will focus on changes and trends in the industry.

Sixth Floor, Broadway Ballroom

Sixth Floor, Broadway Ballroom
There are owners, there are brands, and there are owners who own their brands; each brings a unique perspective to the table. To these leaders, who have successfully steered their various organizations through the acute phase of the pandemic, we ask: what now?  Join these thought leaders for a thought-provoking discussion.

Sixth Floor, Broadway Ballroom
Is technology leveling the playing field so that participants 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 major chains control a large number of brands? The OTA stable has shrunk through M&A to two powerful mega-providers: how is this impacting the hotel business? Savvy leaders share their innovative thinking.

Sixth Floor, Broadway Ballroom
In this tumultuous business environment, what are the smart leaders thinking about?  Which of the pandemic-induced changes in customer behaviors and business and meeting travel patterns are permanent and which are temporary?  Is the opportunity for lodging brand proliferation infinite or bounded, and are we getting close to a limit? With new technology at every level of every lodging enterprise, which will be part of every traveler’s life 5 years from now? Join these cutting-edge industry leaders as they share their perspectives on current industry conditions. 

Fifth Floor and Sixth Floor Foyers
Meet Conference sponsors, as well as other industry leaders. Network as you reenergize with refreshments in the Exhibitor Areas.

Sixth Floor, Broadway Ballroom
The Industry Real Estate Finance Advisory Council (IREFAC), annually presents an award to an individual in the hospitality community who has shown remarkable business acumen in leading their organization to new levels of financial success.

Sixth Floor, Broadway Ballroom
IREFAC is a highly respected organization, operating under the American Hotel & Lodging Association umbrella. Its members convene twice a year to discuss the latest deals, industry occurrences, and trends.  In addition, many IREFAC participant firms provide the funding that enables deals to come to fruition.  This session affords Conference attendees an “inside look” at an IREFAC meeting. The latest (and greatest) from IREFAC.

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.

Fifth Floor, Belasco and Broadhurst in the Juilliard Complex
It is well-established that the kind of successful service-profit chain that creates growth and profitability for an enterprise starts with employee satisfaction.  But how do you recruit and motivate service employees to achieve satisfaction in a world where remote work has become a preference, and in an industry where some of the fundamental job requirements – such as showing up to a workplace, or dealing with ill-behaved customers, or cleaning bathrooms  - are perceived as intrinsically unappealing?  And with labor in such short supply, how does an organization even begin to focus on its ESG-related goals? If part of the answer lies in technology such as robotics or AI, how do you integrate these to be useful, cost-effective, and not intrusive?  Or perhaps we need to think in terms of a fundamental paradigm shift, where the lodging industry will need to create alternative labor models and forms of employee ownership.  Join these industry experts for a thought-provoking discussion centering around these top-of-mind issues.

Fourth Floor, Wilder
“Things are more like they are now than they ever were before“  and the “now” is that today’s travelers can come with… complications.  The trend towards leisure travel means that one and the same customer wants services and amenities that are both business- and leisure-oriented.  Is adding services unavoidable? And to what extent are travelers in this segment willing or able to absorb the higher costs that result?  With travel still not back to pre-pandemic levels in many locations, can profitability be preserved enough to sustain value?  The experts, the brands, and the owners share their real-time experiences about exactly how the upscale and upper upscale segments are responding. 

Fourth Floor, Odets
Maximizing operating results and asset value of a hotel investment are among hotel owners’ highest objectives. But broad industry trends provide little actionable guidance for improved results. This panel will address the data sources and evaluative processes that are used by today’s industry-leading firms that specialize in identifying and unlocking opportunities for enhanced performance. The respected professionals on this panel will offer an inside view into many of the “tips & tricks” to seeing past day-to-day issues to identify and implement important value drivers.

Fourth Floor, Ziegfeld
As the hotel industry continues to recover, budgets tend to be lighter to make renovation improvements possible.  Panelists will explore tricks of the trade to create memorable, inspiring designs on a small budget.

Fifth Floor, Salon 4 in the Lyceum Complex
Deal structures come and go over time.  Tax laws are modified.  Development incentives are offered or retired. The cost and availability of different types of financing, from different types of lenders, changes. And the type of players who are active in the market, and the needs of these players, also morph.  Join these experts for a spirited discussion of what they are seeing in the current environment. What structures are investors favoring in the here and now?  How are these facilitating deal consummation? And what structural changes can we expect in the future?

Fifth Floor, Salon 2 in the Juilliard Complex
A hotel whose trades are encumbered by its management and brand, is a fundamentally different animal than one that trades free and clear. Since any new buyer will have to live within the existing contract terms, the asset’s perceived upside in income–producing potential is directly impacted, in terms of both the opportunity to increase revenues and to contain costs.  Capex requirements, the amount, nature and requirements of available new debt, and the constituency of the universe of potential bidders also impact price  - from the cap rate side. The time for strategic thinking therefore is when a management contact is first structured. The issues are many, and complex.  Join these expert panelists as they share strategies for structuring the management agreement to optimize the hotel‘s underlying value.

Fifth Floor, Booth and Edison in the Lyceum Complex 
We can all see how the office sector is being impacted as co-work and remote work come of age, but the impact on the lodging sector is more varied and subtle.  Hospitality enterprises are buying co-working businesses. Hotels are offering daily, or pop-up office rentals.  Some are converting meeting space to co-work space.  Experts are starting to study how hotel demand patterns are being impacted by the new, “flex” work force.  What, specifically, are the revenue- and income- generating opportunities in the hospitality industry? Join these panelists as they discuss these issues and trends, what they are seeing, and what we all need to learn.

Sixth Floor, Broadway Ballroom

Sixth Floor, Broadway Ballroom
From multi-billion dollar acquisitions in Las Vegas to 7-digit transfers of economy hotels in Maryland, it is clear that the extreme industry disruption of the past 2 years has not quelled the investment market’s appetite for lodging assets.  But who’s dining?  Join these experts as they share who is sitting at the table today, what motivates them, how they are doing the math, and where they’re getting the money.