1019: SBA Loans for Hotel Owners: AAHOA Pushes From $5M To $10M

Glenn: [00:00:00] Hey, everybody, welcome to another episode of No Vacancy. Now, I think I’m calling it, I don’t know. Suzanne. Yeah. I mean, we got the little logo going on up there. All right. So we’re not, you know, as you know, we stopped doing live shows a while ago. I’m still kind of confused about everything when it comes to naming the show, but the one thing I’m not confused about is my excitement. Because AAHOA is coming up in in Philadelphia. That’s going to be pretty cool.

Suzanne: [00:00:25] I am excited. I was looking to book my flights today, so I am raring to go.

Glenn: [00:00:30] Oh, I totally forgot about that. I’m going to be taking Amtrak. So this is exciting. So I love being able to take Amtrak. I recently took it down to DC and had a fabulous experience. So I don’t think we’re going to be talking about multimodal transportation with our guests today, but we are going to be talking about what’s going on on Capitol Hill and the awesome AAHOAcon with the incredible Laura Lee Blake, president and CEO of AAHOA. How are you getting there? A carriage with horses, Maybe that’s correct.

Laura Lee: [00:01:02] Right. In the theme of, you know, the 250th anniversary of our country. Right. That would be the only way. Stagecoach I’m sure.

Glenn: [00:01:11] I love that I love that you picked up on that. That is awesome. So Laura Lee. Great timing to do an event in Philadelphia. For those of you who don’t know, my kids were born in Philadelphia, and I’m a sucker for for Philadelphia. My wife’s from Philadelphia. So what made you guys go back this year?

Laura Lee: [00:01:30] Right. Well, and it really is to celebrate the 250th anniversary of our country. Right? And it is such a perfect backdrop for a with our members, you know, the story of our members coming to the United States and living the American dream, right? Really pursuing, achieving the American dream. So what better way than to go back to Philly to, you know, celebrate the country’s anniversary and then also celebrate, you know, how our members have achieved so much and have really, you know, taken a strong position in the hotel industry. So we’re excited.

Glenn: [00:02:07] I think strong position is underplaying it, honestly. But Laura Lee, I definitely see it as maybe the greatest American success story for a diaspora that came over here for, for sure. Suzanne, you’re going to be going there this year. I am right.

Suzanne: [00:02:23] This is going to be the third year for the collegiate championship. And this is a really amazing opportunity that Laura and her team have allowed to take place, where students from a variety of different universities come to the conference and they take part in an online simulation competition, but then also get to engage with their members and have really meaningful experiences. So I’m thrilled to be able to support our students and the rest of the students coming with those folks for that experience.

Laura Lee: [00:02:53] Yes. And this I’ll just weigh in on that too. You know, as you said, this is our third year doing the collegiate championship. But what is really a highlight of it is number one meeting with these students. But number two, what’s so fascinating is at the end, as part of the competition, they do a Shark tank type style where they have judges from the industry and the students. They’re teams of two. They get up on the stage and they defend the decisions that they made about their hotel, which was a struggling hotel. And these students are so incredibly impressive, right? We sit in the audience and we look at each other like, really? This is a college student who is, you know, speaking and making these types of decisions. So just a fascinating and, you know, wonderful opportunity all around.

Glenn: [00:03:43] And it really just goes to show the the overall breadth and spread that you folks have during a week over there. For those of you who don’t know, I’ll once again be the official podcast of Hohocon. So come by and check out our space. I’ll be doing interviews there, particularly with members of the community. Love to hear your stories. But Laura Lee, what I love is that it really is just like not just a coming together of a community, but really an underscoring of where we are in the hotel business and a great place for people to learn, interact and to make sure their hotels have all the goods and services they need to.

Laura Lee: [00:04:19] Yes. So our theme this year is really most of our sessions, including our general session speakers as well as our educational sessions, are really focused on protecting and advancing profitability. Right. We know that our members right now are struggling right, with, you know, it’s reported that expenses are up 7 to 10%. Revenues are flat. How can we work? How can we focus on profitability and really learning some lessons there and giving our giving our members, you know, tips on what to do next? So we’ve got a, you know, an amazing lineup of keynote speakers as well as education sessions to really help with with these aspects.

Glenn: [00:05:04] Yeah, that should be that should be exciting. Of course, the the trade show I think might be one of the largest in the industry. Definitely on the lodging side, if not the tech side of things. Suzanne, what are you looking forward to most other than the.

Speaker 4: [00:05:17] Actually, I’m looking forward to the education.

Suzanne: [00:05:19] Sessions. I have the amazing honor of doing one of them focused on AI in terms of revenue management and looking at how you can redefine pricing. So that alone is exciting. And in addition, there’s a lot happening. I think that’s the great piece with being in an amazing conference with individuals that are so dedicated to advancing their craft and in a great city. So I’m really looking forward to it.

Laura Lee: [00:05:43] All right. Well, well go ahead, Glenn.

Glenn: [00:05:46] No, no. You first.

Laura Lee: [00:05:47] I was just going to weigh into that you know, in addition to the education, we’re so excited that she’s able to join us this year. But, you know, one of our top keynote speakers this year is Paul Brown, and he’s the co-founder and CEO of Inspire Brands, which is in the restaurant area. So it’s Arby’s, Baskin-Robbins, you know, Buffalo Wild Wings, Dunkin Donuts, Jimmy John’s and Sonic, I believe. But they have 30, 32.6 billion in global sales, right? Approximately 60 locations globally and more than 30 33,000 restaurants. So he’s coming in really to talk. You know, they’re one of our newest club members and coming in to really kind of talk about, you know, leadership and what this means and and dealing with, you know, competition in the industry and, you know, and again, profitability. So excited to and he’s just an excellent speaker. So excited to have him on our main stage.

Glenn: [00:06:55] I look forward to seeing and hearing about that, because I know personally some of your members that also happen to own Arby’s, for example. So it’s a real nice overlap, and it’s great to see the hospitality industry kind of looking to other segments to kind of combine different powers. And Laura Lee, that’s something that becomes more critical than ever, particularly when you’re thinking about politics and going up to Capitol Hill. And I know you folks are planning a trip up there the very, this very week as we’re recording this.

Laura Lee: [00:07:27] Yes. We have a team that’s going up to Capitol Hill and one of the one of the highlights. And I’ve said this before, even from the main stage, but, you know, we just celebrated our 35th anniversary about a year or two ago. And, you know, for the first time ever, Ahoa is largely responsible for introducing legislation in D.C., and this is critical legislation. It is to increase SBA loan limits for small business owners from 5 million to $10 million. As we all know, costs for doing anything with hotels has increased significantly. And so we have 50 or 50 like coalition leaders, other organizations that have joined us, you know, including all the hotel brands, have kind of, you know, approved moving forward with this, as well as a lot of the state associations, because they see the true benefit this would be for the industry. So we’re going up to continue to meet with members of Congress to kind of see what we can do to continue to advance this. Just for the benefit of the entire industry.

Glenn: [00:08:41] Yeah. I don’t see any reason why something like this wouldn’t go through. To me, it feels like this is more of an educational issue than anything else, because quite frankly, it’s as we just said, it’s very expensive to build. But why? From 5 to 10 million? Why not to 15? Why not have like a strategy where it goes up every year. What’s the thought process behind going into something like that?

Laura Lee: [00:09:05] Well, and part of it is, after speaking with a lot of members of Congress, they said if we asked for 15, right, at this point, it might be too much. So it’s kind of the idea of let’s be reasonable, let’s be somewhat conservative here. I mean, even 5 to 10 would make a very big difference for our members. So we thought that would be an easier pill to swallow, right? For members to vote it, to vote for it. So and then we can reconsider as things move forward. But right now that was the thought.

Glenn: [00:09:36] Right. Laura Lee I totally think that makes perfect sense. I’m thinking from the point of view that it’s as your members continue to expand throughout the hospitality industry and take advantage of some of these products that are in more in the upscale, upper upscale categories and stuff like that. Those are obviously more expensive to build. So I was curious to see what kind of connection there might be between the two things, right? Yes. Yeah. Suzanne.

Suzanne: [00:10:04] I think when we think about all of those different expenses that are coming around, that becomes key. Are your members still looking to continue to expand their portfolios in these types of loans, so that we can continue to meet the needs of travelers in the US?

Laura Lee: [00:10:22] Yes, and that is really one thing I love about our members, right? And I’ve seen it over the many years that I’ve worked with them, is they are very shrewd business people. Right. And they recognize that, yes, this economy is a challenge right now. But at the same time, they’re always bullish on the hospitality industry. They’re always looking to expand their hotels, looking to expand their portfolios. And so yes we see a couple variances here and there. You’ll hear now there’s a lot of conversions going on. Because to do a new build is really out of the picture under these circumstances. But yes, our members currently own more than 60% of all hotels in the United States, and that number just keeps growing. So we’re you know, it’s an exciting time to see how they rise up to these challenges. Right. The some of the innovative ideas that they have, which, you know, as mentioned, we will be highlighting at a hohocon, but really to support each other, to support the community and really to continue to grow in the industry. So it’s an amazing story and it’s so exciting to be celebrating it.

Glenn: [00:11:35] Yeah, it sure is. And if you want to learn more about why the industry is focused on conversions and stuff like that, check out our piece with Bruce Swartz, Vice President of Lodging Econometrics, where we dig into that. Laura Lee before we wrap up, any advice on where to get the best cheesesteak while we’re in Philly?

Laura Lee: [00:11:54] I’m sure it’s at a hohocon. I’m sure we’re offering cheesesteaks somewhere.

Glenn: [00:11:59] All right.

Laura Lee: [00:12:00] I’ll get that food truck ordered just for you, Glenn.

Glenn: [00:12:03] I don’t yeah. Thank you. It’s going to take. Honestly, though, it’s going to take a lot to get me away from the the Indian buffet, because, you know, I think it’s the best food that scales up for what, 6000 plus people? 500 vendors in the church?

Laura Lee: [00:12:16] Yes. And actually, this year we anticipate more than 500 vendors. I think this will be one of our largest trade shows ever. It just continues to grow. So, you know, excited to see that.

Glenn: [00:12:28] Yeah, I know, Suzanne, a little factoid. One of the reasons why in past years they haven’t grown as quickly, not because of them, not enough space in the building. So they’ve had that they’ve had that issue before, which is pretty crazy. Thank you. If you all want to register, I guess go to a concert, would that be it?

Laura Lee: [00:12:47] Yes, yes. Or you can just go to a.com as well. And there’s registration there. And just as a quick side note, we recently launched the new app. So if you want to go to your app store and launch the new app, you can register through that as well. So there’s many ways to register.

Glenn: [00:13:08] Awesome. Really, anything else that you want to add?

Laura Lee: [00:13:10] Just excited to see everyone there and looking forward to, you know, seeing you there, Glenn, and doing your podcast live at the con. You know, it’s something you don’t want to miss.

Glenn: [00:13:22] No, it’s we’re going to have a great time doing that. And I think we better wrap this up. I got to go buy a ticket for that Amtrak take down there. Laura Lee, thanks so much. Really appreciate you. We’ll see you later. And we’ll see you guys later. Any final saying? We still got another 30s.

Suzanne: [00:13:39] Listen, I’m really excited, and I’m going to put you in charge of finding the Philly steaks.

Glenn: [00:13:44] All right. Yeah, well, I’m on it, don’t you worry. See me on the show floor. Let’s get some cheesesteaks. Lots of great content. Remember, you’ve got one life. So blaze on and.

Suzanne: [00:13:56] Follow your passion.

Glenn: [00:13:57] See you later, everybody.