PHOENIX — Christian Charnaux was no stranger to Hilton when he took the company’s executive vice president and chief development officer role in July.
He spent nearly a decade in various leadership roles at Hilton from 2009 to 2018, when he left to join Inspire Brands as its chief growth officer — hired by Paul Brown, Inspire’s co-founder and CEO who had originally hired Charnaux at Hilton back in 2009.
Now in a full-circle moment back at Hilton, which he describes as “50% bigger” today than when he left, growth again is top of his agenda.
He shared his plans for the role, what he learned about customer trends from Inspire’s portfolio of brands — including Dunkin’ Donuts and Sonic Drive-In — and about how it’s not only possible but imperative to achieve both scale and quality when growing a franchise company like Hilton around the world.
CoStar News Hotels: How is the Hilton you joined this year different from the Hilton you left in 2018?
Charnaux: “It’s 50% bigger than when I left seven years ago. If you think about potential in the category, the formation of the middle class and its propensity for travel, there’s huge growth potential. We are only 5% of the global market. Hilton has clearly established itself as a leader in the space.”
CSNH: What did you learn in the restaurant industry that gave you a different perspective on consumer trends today that might apply to the hotel industry?
Charnaux: “Restaurants gave me great sightlines into the customer experience. If you own assets, you’re doing pretty well. If you’re in the middle of the market and don’t own a lot of stock, inflation is taking a bite and wages aren’t keeping up with the pace of inflation and there’s some squeezing of that consumer in the middle. So we saw that you might skip going out, skimp a little on food away from home. An allegory for the hotel space is, people are going to travel, but they’re going to be picky about where they go.”
CSNH: As chief development officer, how do you nurture all the Hilton brands under your umbrella now?
Charnaux: “When I left Hilton, it had 12 brands. We had just launched Home2 Suites and now we have 800 Home2s and another 800 in the pipeline. The way we look at brands … requires a clear customer need, a clear owner value proposition and we have to think long term. They’re all here for the long term and they have to scale. We’re getting scale from the platform, but there’s also scale within the brands. We see a path from launch to large scale for all the brands.”