NASHVILLE, Tennessee — Hotel revenue managers have a lot to feel proud of even amid a difficult demand environment, said Sage Hospitality Group Senior Vice President of Sales, Revenue and Distribution Strategy Priya Chandnani.
Speaking on the CoStar News Hotels podcast live from the Hotel Data Conference, Chandnani said she's glad the pandemic and the more recent demand softness haven't led to the bad pricing habits of the past.
"I think my favorite takeaway from today — and I think we should all do this in hospitality, we've learned this a number of times before — is to continue to hold on that pricing," she said. "Continue to hold on rate. We've seen this movie before. We've read this book before. Dropping rate does not trigger demand."
However, there are some bad actors in pockets of hospitality who have a habit of cutting rates quickly, she said.
"We, I think, did a fantastic job holding" during the pandemic, she said. "There wasn't that much demand out there. So I think that really helped, too. ... But we have seen certain we call them pirates, or certain, you know, detractors, who will go and start driving down the market. Thankfully, we're seeing less and less of that lately, which I think is great."
The U.S. hotel industry is still only scratching the surface in terms of the potential for artificial intelligence, Chandnani said. While companies like Sage are actively working to uncover AI's potential, the biggest leaps are likely to come from the hotel industry's biggest players.
"What I do find interesting is when you look at OpenAI-integrated platforms, Expedia is already on it, right? Booking.com is already on it. We're working with the brands right now to be like, how do we get on it, or how do we start engaging with them?" she said.
"So I don't want to say we're usually slow to adopt technology, but we're usually slow to adopt technology with hospitality, and I understand why," she continued. "We invest in our people. We're still a people-oriented industry, and we invest in training and development, but technology is one part where I do think having AI as an option levels the playing ground in terms of investment for a lot of us."
For the rest of CoStar News Hotels' conversation with Sage Hospitality Group's Priya Chandnani, listen to the podcast above.