Hotel Management Agreements are one of the hot topics on this week's In Focus as we are joined by guest Karen Friebe of Bird & Bird, while Julie Rey-Gore is in conversation with Alexi Khajavi to cover the top stories from this week. One of those being Blackstone and Starwood's acquisition of Extended Stay America.
"This story has all the ingredients to be the story of the year in the hospitality sector." Extended Stay has been the brightspot of the pandemic and we have previously reported on this success as seen from groups such as Wyndham & Choice. This is truly a comeback story for the extended stay segment. Will we see this segment takeover from the midscale hotel segment? Or will it serve the corporate traveller, incorporating both leisure and business? Eiher way this is good news for the industry as we see further opportunities opening up there.
Friebe shares her insight and expertise in the areas of Hotel Management Agreements: is there an opportunity to evolve these agreements in a way that aligns the Owner - Operator - Lender relationship for overall profitability?
And we review the progress of WiH's first global, industry-wide survey, which has been created by WiH in collaboration with Questex Travel & Hospitality. "We started out with 20 women at our first breakfast at IHIF a number of years ago and in 2019 we had 120 women turn up with 20 more knocking on the door" said Friebe. Hence the launch of WiH Global. It is both inspiring and exciting to be witnessing this change but there is more we can all do. Please share your views on women's representation in the hospitality industry.