World Cup Hotel Demand Reality: The 60–90 Day Booking Window

Glenn: [00:00:00] Hey, everybody. It’s your hospitality friend Glenn here at the Hunter conference. And I found my friend Ben Campbell. Hospitality America. 30 year old company. That’s kind of on the move these days. So I’m like, I got to talk to this guy over here before. Before? They’re too big to talk to me. Right. How are you doing, buddy? Good, good. It’s great to see you. So, you know, it strikes me we’re at this conference, and I’m curious as to how do you think about approaching conferences so you find success? There’s more than ever. There are serious investment but worthwhile one, but definitely an investment. So how do you think about and approach these things?

Ben: [00:00:33] For me, it’s all about getting outside of your echo chamber. Like so many of us, just like go to our own office talking to the same people here. It’s just about talking to many people as we can, figuring out what am I seeing is what you’re seeing and the rest of our peers, but extending relationships, finding new relationships, that’s all what conference is about for us.

Glenn: [00:00:51] How do you find new relationships?

Ben: [00:00:52] Yeah, talking to many people as possible. I mean, you know, before conference, I go through the list. I look at who’s coming, who’s, you know, typical hit list. But for us, you know, we’re not out there trying to talk to just anybody. We’re looking for strategic partnerships to help grow each other’s business.

Glenn: [00:01:06] Yeah, that makes a that makes a whole lot of sense. What is your favorite part about being at conferences and stuff like that?

Ben: [00:01:12] The energy man, like, I think the energy is probably the most addictive that you can have. You know, especially coming out of Covid, it just keeps getting bigger and bigger, especially here. The venue move was interesting to come to. I got here a little early just to walk around and figure out my way.

Glenn: [00:01:28] How long, how long did it take you to get comfortable.

Ben: [00:01:30] Figuring.

Glenn: [00:01:31] Out? Yeah, I am too. Hey, lots of love to the hunter people. We’re all just trying to adjust and you definitely got a great upgrade here, so thank you for that. It was actually a there’s so much is so much better. I was just even talking about the lighting here and how much better my videos are looking because it just, it doesn’t feel old. And yeah, it’s all pouring in. The cold is pouring in too, but at least it’s well lit cold. So we got that. How’s business going? How are you thinking about approaching it as expenses continue to compound? And it’s, you know, it’s not the easiest of times.

Ben: [00:01:59] No margin. Margin creep is certainly happening. You know, red bars, I would say, you know, I agree with what Chris was. Chris said, I was saying yesterday in the session that, you know, the end of last year and the first part of this year, we’re starting to see in some of our markets some real demand increasing. You know South Florida didn’t have a great year last year. We had a kind of stabilized or a flat year. Q1 we’re crushing it. Good. We’re really excited about World Cup this year. So we’ve got some some tailwinds. I believe we’ve got to take the political noise out of it sometimes. And we just got to bake in some of that insecurity that we feel. But we’re feeling we’re feeling that in the next 18 months, we’re really going to see some demand drivers.

Glenn: [00:02:41] So I know you can’t escape the political noise. You said you’re happy about World Cup. Do you feel that it’s going to be more domestic travelers or international travelers staying in your hotel?

Ben: [00:02:51] I think that’s still to be determined. Yeah. We’re hopeful. We are seeing some key indicators right now that international travel is coming, trying to make it an extended stay. You know, to the US, like here in Atlanta, we’re seeing that people might be coming up to Greenville, South Carolina. We have a hotel in Kansas City. We’re seeing some great group business there. That’s cool. So, you know, we’re hopeful might not be, you know, it’s too early in our opinion.

Glenn: [00:03:18] It’s so weird that we’re only a couple of months away, but it’s still too early and I’ve been in the business a long time. When people used to book stuff really far out, and now that’s changed so much. So when you’re dealing with like a major event, I’m sure it’s like good and bad that you’re not filled up yet because you get, you really have the opportunity to get those maximum rates. But at the same time, it must be a little nerve wracking.

Ben: [00:03:40] It’s all about when the booking window is. Yeah, right. And so early on, before everything got announced, people were out there selling $1,200 rooms or trying to sell rooms doesn’t mean that’s where the booking window was. So we’re taking some group based approach in our strategy, and we’re really feeling like the 60 day, 90 days really, when our booking window is going to be.

Glenn: [00:04:00] That makes sense, particularly if there is going to be an international audience. And when you’re talking about a ticketed event, you do need to get those tickets somewhat in advance unless you go to a concert in Vegas or something like that, and you’re probably there anyway, right? You know, what’s your biggest opportunity this year?

Ben: [00:04:14] Opportunity, I think still growth. Technology is another piece that we’ve been investing in it in the past 18 months. We’re going to continue to do that and really put fuel to the fire. We’ll see what happens with AI, but we want to make sure the hospitality. America is ready for that when that happens, which means getting our arms around all. Of our data. I think you and I have talked about it.

Glenn: [00:04:33] We definitely have talked about it. I’ve talked to a lot of other folks about that. And we’re still well, I feel like we’re in this herky jerky stage between. People are implementing it. People are still getting their arms around it. Like you said, people are still trying to figure it out. We’ll know when everything is really going smoothly when we stop talking about it in every single conversation. Right?

Ben: [00:04:54] Adoption rates still got to get there. I don’t think it’s still there yet.

Glenn: [00:04:56] Yeah, one day, one day.

Ben: [00:04:59] Maybe that’s what they say.

Glenn: [00:05:00] Yeah. Anything else you want to add?

Ben: [00:05:02] No. I mean, you know, in 30 years, you mentioned that being our anniversary this year. So, you know, it’s been a long legacy left by our founder, Chris Corrigan gifted to me and the opportunity. So we’re really looking forward to the next 30 years.

Glenn: [00:05:15] Well, keep rocking and hopefully you’ll still be in the position 30 years from now. Exactly. Well, you’ll come out.

Ben: [00:05:20] Maybe I’ll retire sometime.

Glenn: [00:05:21] I was about to say you’ll come to Shady Pines, where my kids will put me up, and we’ll do an interview over there. All right. Hey, I’ll be 85. See you later. Like. Share. Subscribe. By.