Obviously, my first impulse for this week's column was to dive into the top takeaways from this year's Americas Lodging Investment Summit, which happened at the start of the week.
Some of the most interesting stuff actually happened outside the hotel this week.
So much of the discussion was about how rainy it was in Los Angeles, but there are two things I'd point out in that regard:
- Coming from snowy Cleveland, dealing with a little bit of rain didn't seem so bad.
- Any dreary feelings people my have derived from the rain are probably unfounded, since the last time we had a really rainy ALIS was — to the best of my recollection — 2017. That turned out to be a pretty good year.
The other big thing that was hard not to notice was the continued union presence both outside the JW Marriott LA Live, where a few protests focused on Aimbridge, and the Hotel Figueroa, where line-level workers continued to rally for a new contract.
I know a lot of the hoteliers in attendance tended to regard the Unite Here workers as a nuisance or misguided, but I'll take a moment to remind you all that the one thing that brings out the best for the hotel industry is empathy and understanding. Even if you don't agree with the union from a dollars-and-cents standpoint, we'd all do well to remember that even the people we disagree with are coming from a place of doing what they authentically believe is the right thing to do.
My other less serious takeaways from the show include: Cookie Monster-themed treat tables need to become a staple of the conference. The food truck lunch on Tuesday remains the high bar of hotel conference food and beverage, and I even heard some people commenting in the hallways that it's the No. 1 reason they attend.
And one last thing before I go: I want to apologize to everyone I interacted with at the first day of ALIS this year who asked me how I was doing.
I almost universally responded with "Not so great," then launched into a monologue about how the Buffalo Bills broke my heart the day before. You all deserved better than that.
Let me know what you think on Twitter, LinkedIn or via email.
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