Arne Sorenson, I’m sorry. You probably thought you were going to get away from a room filled with journalists during a media briefing of your company, Marriott International, held during the 36th annual New York University International Hospitality Industry Investment Conference earlier this week.
You dutifully answered us scribes’ questions about such topics as measures the United States can take to encourage inbound global tourism; the rollout of Marriott’s AC Hotels brand in the U.S.; and the future of roomservice.
Your session with this group of hotel hacks was about to end, when I raised my hand and asked my stupid question. You’re the president and CEO of a massive company, so you probably remember what I asked. But just in case, I asked what your thoughts are on Curio—A Collection by Hilton, a brand that will comprise 4- and 5-star independent hotels and bears a striking resemblance to your company’s own Autograph Collection.
The last thing I’m sure you wanted to do was publicly state your feelings on a competitor’s brand that you had just found out about a few hours before. But my job description requires me to ask awkward, difficult questions to important people, and in this case I’m glad I did because you had some enlightening things to say.
In fact, your answer was solid from the start when you said, “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.” I’m assuming you were referencing Autograph, which recently reached 60 hotels in the portfolio in less than three years.
You could have stopped there, and we all would have gone on our merry NYU way. But instead, my question thankfully inspired you to share more nuggets of wisdom.
You mentioned that Marriott had an advantage in launching Autograph during a downturn, when independent hotel owners might be more inclined to seek help from a big brand’s reservation system.
By contrast, Hilton’s brand debuts during one of the most optimistic times in the industry in recent memory. Will owners be as eager to seek out Curio?
“Maybe a little less so,” you said.
Hilton’s advantage? You said the success of Autograph proves there is demand for this type of brand.
I feel awful about all of this. If it makes you feel any better, my flight home from NYU was cancelled, so I guess the hotel gods decided a little karma was in order for my transgression.
Given that we got your flash takeaway of Curio, though, I’ll gladly take an extra night in New York.
Tweet of the week
You might have heard the NYU Investment Conference took place this week. If you weren’t able to attend in person, you should check out our dedicated landing page for all NYU-related content. We’ll be adding to the page during the course of the next couple weeks, so please stop by frequently to check for fresh content.
As you can see from this week’s tweet of the week, there were a lot of interesting panels—and interesting comments—to cover this year.
One word to take out of your vocabulary: feasibility - interesting that it is coming from a consultant ;) #nyuhospitality — Jan D. Freitag (@jan_freitag) June 3, 2014
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