One of my favorite business quotes that I always keep going back to is: "Someone is sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago."
It carries so many deep meanings and I am able to link it with people investing in themselves in terms of education, growing their social media following, helping set up their kids for success and much more.
But for today’s purposes, I am linking this quote with all what is going on in the world in terms of turmoil, to a healthy hotel segmentation, maximizing revenue growth and most important of all, reducing risk in relation to business and geographic source mix.
On February 27, 2026, the hospitality world was doing fantastic, pretty much everywhere in the world, and hopes were high for a record year, but then a day later the first bombs started falling on Iran which in its own right, wouldn’t have made such a significant impact. It is the retaliation that followed that caused a ripple effect for countries and hotels in the area the next day and as far away as Australia, The Philippines and Mauritius days and weeks later until the date of this article being published in June 2026.
Without going into the details of flight cancellations, oil pricing and scarcity, fear of intercepted missiles falling on the Gulf Cooperation Council countries and overall fear of travel that combined caused these disruptions, I want to talk about what needs to be done to minimize the impact of such incidents in the future. Not something like COVID-19 or any other global incident, rather these pockets of turmoil that can have wide reaching or even focused effects.
When comparing the economic direction between the U.S. and China, you will find many analysts who highlight the east’s ability to run extensive long-term projects with minimal interruption due to a stable and empowered regime, while in the U.S., there is a high likelihood that governments last four years where most of the work is done in the first two and the rest of the time in power is focused on trying to retain it.
Now compare this to how hotels are run in the corporate world around us. General managers get shuffled around every two to three years and directors of sales and marketing get moved or leave in an even shorter time. Even if they do stick around, everything is built around a 12-month budget, which is typically made in August and hopefully approved by October for the following year.
You might think that this is fine and that this is how all the big chains run their successful empires. But I want to draw your attention to the simple fact that developing a new source market can sometime take years, getting big meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions groups could be booked 24 months out, locking in a crew agreement or a major corporate request for proposal can also take months or even years and to change tactics and focus on quality for example to elevate a Tripadvisor rank for a larger share of direct bookings can also take many months at the very least.
What all this does is to create a major focus on now, on the budget, on the forecast and on achieving these relatively short winded key performance indicators in order to keep jobs safe and hopefully get a promotion or a raise in.
This is what is happening and what it ends up doing is a series of decisions like this:
- Why go to IMEX, its expensive and we won’t see any return on investment until next year, let’s cut that cost and protect profits.
- Why do I need to bother with this local influencer to grow my domestic reach and reputation — the rates that they pay are not great and I rather focus on international markets who drink and eat more at the hotel.
- I don’t want to take an air crew; the displacement analysis is not favorable with our current market demands.
- China is coming back with a vengeance, let’s get on that train and maximize share to overwhelm all other guests and segments in the hotel.
- I don’t want to work with local destination management companies or wholesalers, not even on dynamic pricing models because of the rate parity concerns, while online travel agencies are selling more and more B2B to the same channels that I am cutting out and are also guilty of impacting my rate integrity through the many marketing initiatives that we join alongside them, which is a fancy way of discounting our rates. And similar other strategic decisions.
These are very simplified yet highly specific example, but are totally real, they are not a figment of my imagination, and I see such direction at hotels everywhere I go to train. In Asia, the Middle East, Europe and elsewhere. At large hotels under international chains, small or medium hotels within a regional operator or even standalone properties. Absolutely everywhere, and it scares me sometimes.
Going back to the headline of this article — what is the link between successful investing and a stable, powerful and resilient hotel segmentation and performance. It all comes down to a healthy mix of bonds for long term stability at low risk, precious metals as a hedge against inflation and also risk, a varied mix of stocks for some dividends and higher appreciation potential with higher risk, perhaps something in real estate and so on. That is what smart money does to weather storms. Not if, rather when they come.
Hotel commercial leaders need to pursue a similar mindset to their business. And there is no magic formula that I nor anyone else can give you as it all depends on your location and asset type. But the rule of thumb applies just the same. Blend some long term lower rated business as base. Invest in domestic travel where possible, grow leisure channels and geo sources, bolster your events teams for greater conversion and higher incremental revenues, boost your social and online presence along with everything else that makes sense to you.
Don’t put all your eggs in one or even a few baskets. No matter how easy or appealing that may be. Push the limits, explore, trial, make some errors, adapt and keep on growing in an unstoppable way.
Tareq Bagaeen is founder of aQedina.com and a veteran hotelier with more than two and a half decades in the business. He previously worked for five different Ritz-Carlton properties, then with with Hyatt, Banyan Tree Hotels and The Rezidor Hotel Group, all in senior property and corporate leadership roles covering Asia, The Middle East & Europe.
This column is part of ISHC Global Insights, a partnership between CoStar News and the International Society of Hospitality Consultants.
The opinions expressed in this column do not necessarily reflect the opinions of CoStar News or CoStar Group and its affiliated companies. Bloggers published on this site are given the freedom to express views that may be controversial, but our goal is to provoke thought and constructive discussion within our reader community. Please feel free to contact an editor with any questions or concern.