The 3-in-1 Conundrum of Analyst Questions

I’ve listened in on many publicly listed hotel company breaking news and quarterly earnings conference calls, but the recent conference call with analysts on the planned Marriott/Starwood merger was a new type of first for me.
 
It was for an American company, as opposed to a European one, but in their wisdom the two companies wanted to break the news perhaps before Wall Street opened. Thus the world first heard about this stunning development at, if I remember clearly (it was a long day), approximately 11 a.m. Greenwich Mean Time.
 
I am in London. My colleagues are in Cleveland, and though they are hardworking to a person, that would mean the Marriott/Starwood news dropped at 6 a.m. Eastern Standard Time.
 
Deep in the third-quarter 2015 earnings season, we’ve all had long draughts of the watered-down Kool-Aid, our earnings energy elixir, and we are ready for anything.
 
I called in to the Marriott/Starwood conference, listened to Arne Sorenson, Marriott International’s CEO, and Bruce W. Duncan, chairman of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, and waited for the analysts to ask their pithy questions.
 
This was where the surprise came in.
 
American analysts only asked one question. Then they let someone else ask one.
 
The British have always had a reputation for being a generally polite lot—well, until it comes to watching soccer. But in the United Kingdom, I have become slowly inured to the fact that British analysts always ask three questions. In fact, I do not remember any asking only two questions, let alone a single one.
 
They all seem to be a very nice bunch, but when they get the mic, off they go. One, two, three. 
 
“Yes, good morning, err, three questions if I may…”
 
And then you hear the executives hastily scribbling the gist of each question, because when the analyst conference has started at 8 or 9 a.m.—AccorHotels’ often start at 8 a.m., but 8 a.m. French time, which means a very early start if you’re on this side of The Channel—they’ve probably been up for a few hours already and understandably are not at the top of their games, despite being at the top of the totem pole.
 
“Thanks, _____ ____ from __________ here. Three questions from me, too…”
 
And it’s not just analysts doing this.
 
At the recent Mediterranean Resort & Hotel Real Estate Forum in Madrid, an audience member, a student from a hotel school, asked the panel a set of three questions, too.
 
Russell Kett, chairman of HVS London, was the moderator at that panel and an experienced stagehand who was having none of that, thank you.
 
Three questions were asked, but only one was answered, so there is hope.
 
And another problem of this triple play is that if 10 analysts all ask three questions each, that’s 30 questions already, so if you happen to be analyst No. 11, chances are your question already has been answered. But to show that their fingers are firmly on the pulse of big business, each analyst worth his or her salt has to ask an original question—or make that three, and so it goes on.
 
Well, by that time my colleagues would all be up and in the office, and at least we can discuss all the salient points together.
 
Email Terence Baker or find him on Twitter.
 
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