🎙️ How Tech and Strategy Fuel Growth at Choice Hotels | Anna Scozzafava – No Vacancy News

Glenn: Hey, everybody. It’s your hospitality, friend. Glenn. I am in Las Vegas today with the incredible Anna Scozzafava, Chief Strategy Officer and SVP of technology with Choice Hotels. First, I want to thank our friends over at Actabl gives you the power to profit. Check them out at actabl.com. First, I’d like to say it’s been really fun watching you grow in your career, and I think in like ten, 15 years you started at a real low level. Now you’re almost running the whole show. Almost. No. Yeah. No, but I mean, it’s pretty it’s pretty amazing to have, you know, the chief role and SVP role. So congratulations on all of that. Thank you. For our younger viewers out there, you know, what does it take to find success with a single company over such a long period of time?

Anna: Yeah, I would say make sure you take a risk, go do different things, try different things. Right. Because that’s really where you’re going to learn.

Glenn: If you get out of your comfort zone, that’s where the magic happens.

Anna: When you’re uncomfortable, that’s where the magic happens. Yeah, you’re going to grow.

Glenn: So speaking of uncomfortable technology, how do you how do you understand it? How do you relate to it? And as SVP of technology, it seems like you got your job cut out for you. I can imagine the human being in this kind of a role. 20 years ago it was kind of like this. Now it’s like what happens? Like you’re here at this conference. There’s probably already 50 new products that have been introduced. How do you. Yeah. How do you how do you even begin to put together an understanding of what technology should be for Choice Hotels?

Anna: Yeah. I mean, listen, you got to separate the noise from the signal, right? And so we’re really focused on three things, right? We’re going to drive profitability, drive operational efficiency, and make sure that we’re providing the best tools for our owners and guests. The thing that I think separates us, and it gives us a little bit of anadvantage, is that we have 650 technologists that this is what they do all day. Seriously. So we get to co-create with our owners so we know what they’re looking for. 650 what what needs to be brought.

Glenn: You need one more. My son’s looking for an internship. I send them my way. That’s. That’s pretty. That’s pretty amazing. So you aren’t. You don’t have to do that and figure it out personally. But how do you understand when you’re going to pull the trigger on a technology, what is really a fad like, you think it’s going to be a valuable thing today, but what is realistically a trend that you need to get on? But not too early, but not too late?

Anna: That’s actually pretty hard, right? I mean, so I think there’s, you know, we always try and keep up with the latest trends. We do something called mastery, and that really helps us kind of evolve our thinking around like what is truly a trend versus what is something that we actually need to jump on and make sure that it’s something that we’re putting in our repertoire that’s actually going to provide value, right? So given the amount of expertise that we have, both within our associate base, our technologists, and then the leadership team, right. You use technology every day, right? I use technology every day.

Glenn: So I find I find and this is systemic, I think of humankind that a lot of times we look at our businesses and don’t think about how we’re utilizing technology ourselves to inform us how we should be leveraging it in our companies we work with.

Anna: Yeah. Fair enough. I will say my 16 and 14 year old keep me quite humble, right? Totally right. So I get a dose of kind of what’s actually up and coming and what are the next generations using? Which I think is also really important as we think about what the future state is going to look like.

Glenn: And unfortunately, during this event, I had an opportunity to do a roundtable with Pat Pacious, CEO and yourself and some other executives, and you’ve been dealing with doing stuff with AI for five years. It’s only been in the cultural zeitgeist for like two and a half. That’s pretty. That’s pretty awesome.

Anna: Yep. I mean, look, we recognize the power of what that could actually bring to us and the value that that’s actually going to drive. I mean, whether it’s from a our choiceMax product, right, that we’ve been using for a number of years, that actually helps from a pricing and profitability standpoint. That’s what a prime example of something that we’ve been able to introduce and drive real value from.

Glenn: So how does all of the technology fold into your role as a chief strategy officer?

Anna: That’s a great question. I mean, it’s really the intersection, right? So when you think about the growth strategy of an organization, that technology and if you’re tech-forward, will enable that growth. So when you think about the resource allocation and where we want to go, how we want to power each one of our segments and make sure that we’re serving our guests in the right way, you need technology, right?  So understanding how that intersects together and how to make that actually work for you that’s that’s my role as a chief.

Glenn: So you have the perfect technology today. How do you make sure you keep an eye on it? Because technology is such a thing. Like, you know, I buy a new phone, and then the next morning they announce a brand new phone. So when you have technology, it’s moving so rapidly. I have a feeling you can’t just set it and forget it, as the cliche goes.

Anna: No, no. I mean, it’s an evolving thing. It’s a living thing. Right? And you want to make sure that you’re picking your partners really carefully, that you’re skating to where the puck is going and that you understand the capabilities that they’re going to need in the future.

Glenn: Yeah, I like the hockey reference there.

Anna: It is hockey season. Yeah, a.

Glenn: Little a little Wayne Gretzky reference over there. Anything else we need to know?

Anna: No, I mean, look, it’s the year of growth. I mean, we’ve gotten, you know, super transformational things going on, whether it’s in our upscale segment or our extended-stay segment. Technology. It’s an exciting place to be right now. Choice hotels.

Glenn: Beautiful I love it. This is Anna. I’m Glenn. Be sure to like, subscribe, share and comment on this video. Have a great day and we’ll see you next time.