Suite Spot host, Ryan Embree, breaks down the key takeaways from the 2025 Hunter Hotel Investment Conference, which took place in Atlanta, Georgia, from March 17-19. This prestigious annual industry event provided valuable insights, numerous panels, and notable speakers from all across the hotel industry.

Learn what critical factors are shaping hospitality in 2025 and beyond by tuning in now.

Ryan Embree:

Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check in, and we check out what’s trending in hotel marketing. I’m your host, Ryan Embree. Hello everyone. Welcome to another episode of The Suite Spot. This is your host, Ryan Embree, fresh off our trip of covering the 36 Hunter Hotel Investment Conference. So excited to be, first of all, covering the event. It was an incredible couple days up in Atlanta, Georgia. Some exciting announcements, which we’re gonna talk about that on this podcast. Some industry trends, insights, interviews. We brought it all to you. We came jam packed back with content, and really excited to share some of the key takeaways and issues that were raised. You know, we’ve talked about this before on the podcast. Love attending these events where we get all types of brands, owners, developers, hotel owners, individual GMs at these events, because all the ideas, topics, really important topics in our industry really float to the top. And, you know, you get a really fresh perspective about how everything, how everyone’s feeling about our industry and this year maybe a little bit darker clouds than we hear in your years past, but also just how amazing our industry is. And, and, you know, I’m gonna start with my first takeaway. The theme, we talked about it on the episode with Sarah Moss, was Elevate your game. Love some of the programming that was involved. Molly Bloom, the poker princess who ran high stake poker games. The theme was incredible. Jesse Cole of the Savannah Bananas, everybody was wearing jerseys. He’d certainly brought the energy. If you’ve, if you’ve ever seen one of those games, there’s a wait list now for a, a long amount of time to try to get tickets to those. But I think the, you know, there were, there were some receptions all around that, you know, gaming style and theme. But really, you know, my takeaway was that we’re at a place where hotels really have to elevate their game too, and we’re seeing it which is the really, really cool part. Hotels are getting creative with their f and b experiences, right? Utilizing different things sourcing because the cost has risen, the operational costs, the margins are becoming very thin for hoteliers right now. Whether it’s the price of, of goods, whether it’s the prices of wages right now hoteliers are elevating their game to get creative. They’re getting creative to get deals done right? And it’s events like Hunter and these investment conferences where you’re in the room, so to speak, shaking hands, that really can be the difference between a deal getting over the finish line and not certainly a lot of talk about AI technology. You know, looking back on last year’s takeaways and reading and, and listening to kind of some of my thoughts, I felt like we’re in a much more comfortable place than we were a year ago. I still think our industry is still trying to figure out the best way to use ai, but I think what’s happened is now our grand illusions of the transformation that AI can bring to our business, the expectations of those have maybe been just reeled in a little bit. And we’re starting to take those baby steps in AI technology, and we’re looking for things like operational efficiency to empower our employees, and even AI used by guests and travelers are becoming more frequent and prevalent. And really what that speaks to is the importance of a IO, right? And the what type of content about your hotel is out there. That’s why UGC user generated content is so critical. It’s so important because travelers are using this information on other sources. Maybe that was crazy to think 10 years ago that travelers wouldn’t be necessarily using Google first. Now, it might be social media now, it might be chat, GBT or other AI technologies to essentially create an entire itinerary for you without taking one look at any of your digital marketing. It’s a scary place to be in if you don’t know what’s out there and what is being said. And I think hotels are hotel owners, brands are starting to embrace that. They’re starting to look for ways that they can leverage that, right? We’re always looking for a leg up on competition, but it’s that operational efficiency that we’re, we’re seeing with ai, little use cases here and there that I think those baby steps, everyone feels a lot more comfortable. There was a little bit of, and I’ve talked about this before on this podcast of that fomo of saying, I’m not utilizing AI to the fullest potential right now in my business. And where that might be the case. I think a lot more people are comfortable with the little places that they’ve implemented ai, they’re getting used to using AI in their business. It, it’s just becoming a little bit more natural to them. So, one of the things that I was very excited about not hearing as much as that I’ve looked back on my notes was staffing, right? So we’ve talked about this in this podcast at nausea, really, we’ve had a whole series dedicated it in our hospitality campus crawl series, but staffing really wasn’t as prevalent as a topic as it was in years past. Now, whether that’s because the priority list is a little bit different this year, I’ve got issues with trying to sell assets or capital, and I’m not so much worried about my filling my front desk agent role. Who knows, right? there might be bigger problems than staffing right now, but it was refreshing to kind of go to one of these conferences and not talk about the workforce as much, which hopefully means that we’re getting in a place a plateau of stability when it comes to hospitality, staffing. Something that, again, we’ve been talking so much about on this podcast. But, you know, second takeaway, again, looking back on my notes, the cautious optimism that was last year to say, well just wait until 2025 this year. A little bit more cautious, a little bit less optimism. And I think that the, the phrase now becomes just wait until 25 to wait and see through 2025. I feel like we’ve been talking about this the past couple years waiting for that recession that has never come. I call it a recession again, dot, dot again, but, you know, there’s other markets. It, it was very reminded to us that, that even tough times right now in order to make a deal, there are still markets that have great opportunity. We talked with Jeff Crabiel from Castle Rock Asset Management, who’s got a lot of assets, including the Bobby and Nashville. You know, there’s some exciting things happening in that market. He, he’s bullish on, on the Nashville market right now. You’ve got the World Cup that Titans are building a brand new stadium. There were a lot of things in that market that he liked that maybe a year ago, Nashville, the Nashville market had a little bit of softening because it was running so hot during Covid. So it really just depends. There’s ebb and flows, and I think we need to be mindful of that, is that every market is different in hospitality, there’s different polls. There’s different levers and polls and so many aspects that impact occupancy a DR including variables like natural disasters and how those play a role. You know, we talked to a couple brand leaders that were at extended day ho extended stay hotels, and they were, they were talking about, you know, obviously never want a natural disaster to happen, but that has impact, has a major impact on occupancy. Are some of those California fires, hurricanes, and where we are in the state of Florida, those extended stay hotels are getting occupancy from, from these types of events. So there’s a lot of variables wi within these markets as well. There was a lot of talk about how international travel will be affected by these geopolitical forces and outside factors that are happening right now. Does that have an, an impact? We’ve seen such a return revenge travel of the international travel, excited to come and spend their money in the us. Does that change in 2025? What happens if if corporate travel and leisure pull back in fear of a recession, right? Those are all different aspects. So again, I wouldn’t say stormy clouds ahead, I would just say a little less optimism and a little more cautious, when we talk about that co cautious optimism. But, you know, hunter also did a great job of talking and, and breaking it out by segments right now, just like different markets, different segments are performing very differently. The luxury, you know, the rise of the $1,000 rate. How many times have we, you know, kind of seen that news article and talking about how there are, there is a market where people are paying $1,000 a night or more to stay at a hotel, probably something that was unfathomable maybe 25 years ago. But there’s a bigger segment of travelers that are doing now. Now, what that means is, obviously with the rise in these rates or the rise of guest expectations, you know, the margins might be become a little different on the p and l, but the margins for the guest experience become very, very small. When you’re paying that much for a rate, the expectations, the guest expectations, which have already soared to an all time high, when you’re, when you’re staying at a place like that, even the smallest, the smallest little road bump in your stay can make a huge, huge deal. Those luxury, ultra luxury hotels certainly need to be mindful of that and do everything that they can to meet those expectations and set those expectations properly. We’ve talked about that on this podcast, right? There’s also some three stay things that we can do on our social media review. Response is a big place to kind of set the expectation, educate our guests before they arrive on, on site, so they’re not having any of those unwanted surprises, as we like to say in our industry. We always like the nice surprises, right? The surprise and delight out there. However, on the, the other end of the spectrum is economy and, and the economy segment, which has been hurt. It’s hurting right now. It’s, there are a lot of travelers where inflation has certainly take its toll and is impacting those economy, that economy segment a little bit more than it has with the luxury and ultra luxury. So what does that look like in 25? Will your economy traveler, you know, see any relief, and again, be encouraged to continue to travel right now because that segment is hurting. So it’s not just about markets, it’s also about segments. It’s also about, you know, supply and demand right now with, we talked about the rising construction costs that there are, it might not be the best time to build, right? I, I, I kinda labeled this takeaway as to build or not to build, you know, that’s really the question. We, we obviously have a, a, a supply problem in our industry. We’re underdeveloped, but right now, does it make sense to build new, that that’s where a lot of panelists and to topics, or a lot of panelists and sessions were talking about where that rise in construction cost, what it takes to develop now. But brands are hearing this and they’ve really been prepping for this for a long time. We spoke to a couple global brand leader heads, one at IHG. We actually had the opportunity at the sweet spot, so make sure you subscribe and follow us on YouTube and on social media. So you can see all these interviews that I’m talking to you about in this episode to head down to the IHG Design Center in Atlanta to see what they were working on. And we spoke to a representative from Hotel Indigo and walk us through some of the things that they’re doing to combat that. They have a preferred designer program, which really helps the speed to opening to make sure that that opening date is on time, which obviously with construction, you have a lot of variables there. And, and every day that that hotel is not open is costing you, they’re doing things to certainly help these owners become more efficient. And not only the building process, but also the prototypes. You know, we talked to the global brand leader at Homewood Suites who introduced a new prototype that they’ve been working on, which was able to get them a few more suites. And what that means, a couple more nights per day over the course of a year or years. That means all the difference for an owner. So trying to look for efficiencies, we’ve seen that by brands, but seeing that was really cool. And, and for those that are building, they’re, you’re seeing a lot more personalization in the building. They want the owner’s insights. They want the owner’s touch to it. Passion projects. Will you, it’s really, really cool to see, you know, with Hotel Indigo, they call it a story. And each property starts with a story where they break down what the neighborhood looks like, and they incorporate these little, you know, Easter eggs into the design of the property, which I absolutely love to see. Being that I lived in Atlanta for a couple years, they kind of had they had a room that was split down the middle with two different neighborhoods in Atlanta, and you could see the flavor and taste and the designs of each one. It was really, really cool to see. I am sold on Hotel Indigo. I definitely want to visit one now and saying that, and, you know, my final takeaway at the 36 Hunter Hotel Investment Conference was just the energy of this event. Specifically. It was just bursting at the seams. So much so that really excited to announce one of the most exciting, really evolutions of this show, getting kind of a history of it in a long time, which was the fact that they are gonna be moving venues to the Signia by Hilton Atlanta in 2026. Very excited. It was a major announcement. Funny enough, the Sweet Spot was actually on site at the Signia by Hilton Atlanta as the announcement was going on. It was really cool to see. We’ve got a spotlight on our, our Sweet Spot Spotlight series. We’ll be releasing that episode in a couple weeks. Beautiful property, incredible, space. So versatile. Talk about a story. I mean, from everything from the rooms to the, to the conference rooms, the restaurants, everything has a story in that building. It’s a new build. It’s the, the first ever new Build Signia brand. It was so cool to see. Want to give a shout out to the team over there for welcoming us and hosting us, and, and we did know that announcement was coming, but so happy to hear that. And, you know, got a little bit of a sneak peek of what 2026 Hunter is going to look like. And it is exciting. It’s, it is a network, first style. The old trade show floor is, is, you know, is evolving. And, and this is just the perfect property to do that. I’m so excited to bring that to you. And, just honored to be at the, the Hunter Show. The Hunter team did a fan, fantastic job, a fabulous job of putting on this event. Saw so many individuals that we work with here at Travel Media Group, hotel partners that we work with as, as well as people that I’ve met personally along the line doing these interviews. So thank you, hunter and, and your team, the, the Hunter team for, for inviting us and hosting us. We cannot wait for 2026 at the Beautiful Signia by Hilton Atlanta. Thank you all for listening, and we’ll talk to you next time on The Sweet Spot to join our loyalty program. Be sure to subscribe and give us a five star rating on iTunes. Suite Spot is produced by Travel Media Group. Our editor is Brandon Bell, with Cover Art by Bary Gordon. I’m your host Ryan Embree, and we hope you enjoyed your stay.