136 – Check In with Kevin Carey, Interim President & CEO of the AHLA

Suite Spot: A Hotel Marketing Podcast

Interim President & CEO of the American Hotel and Lodging Association, Kevin Carey, joins the Suite Spot in the very first episode of Check-In with Kevin Carey!

Get the latest news, updates, and information on the hotel industry in this series, and find out what efforts the AHLA is getting involved in to impact hoteliers and hospitality at scale. From policy legislation to industry events and the rebranding of the Hospitality Show, this episode is full of content!

Episode Transcript

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Ryan Embree:
Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check-in, and we check out what’s trending in hotel marketing. I’m your host, Ryan Embree. Hello everyone, and welcome to another episode of The Suite Spot. This is your host, Ryan Embree, with a very special episode today. We have a first-time guest, but I’m sure, widely recognized by the entire industry, Kevin Carey, interim president and CEO of the American Hotel and Lodging Association. Kevin, thank you so much for joining me on the Suite Spot.

Kevin Carey :
Good morning. Happy to be with you.

Ryan Embree:
We’re gonna cover a lot today, Kevin, so let’s jump into it. Speaking of being busy, we are about to enter a busy summer travel season. I’m sure all the hoteliers listening to this podcast, wherever they’re watching or listening from, are excited about that or reaching the halfway point of the year, which is crazy to say. I was there to witness live your keynote at the Hunter Hotel Investment Conference back in March in Atlanta. You shared some really great accomplishments so far, year to date that AHLA has been able to achieve. Could you share with our audience a little bit about some of the efforts and wins so far in 2024?

Kevin Carey :
Well, I’d be happy to and, I think your assessment is, is right on the mark. Uh, it has been a busy first four months of the year. Certainly, you hear that through, uh, we’re in earning seasons now. You’re hearing a lot of our member companies report out. Uh, so you’ll hear some of the things happening across their scope of their operations in our environment representing the industry. It has been a very significant and busy first four months of the year, whether that’s here in Washington, working with the Congress and the administration in so many state capitals, with the legislatures in session, and really across the scope of our activities whether that’s, uh, the support we provide to our members through our many committees or events or, or the great work our foundation is, is doing a few key accomplishments. I point to one of real significance was the defeat of the, the joint employer rule. And that was significant, not only with action that the House took but the Senate as well as a favorable court ruling, in the Eastern District Court in Texas, blocking the implementation of that rule, because that posed some real challenges for the industry, and in particular the franchise operating model, and would’ve created complexities and uncertainty there in this environment. We also, a month ago, announced the rollout of our collaboration with the Hotel Association of Canada and our launch, uh, of the Green Key Global Initiative. And then finally, uh, we rebranded our, our very successful regional set of events as the Hospitality show supporting, uh, our trade show and conference, uh, which will take place in San Antonio this year, October 28th to the 30th. Uh, and we’ve got a number of those events planned over the coming weeks, uh, alongside the seven that we’ve held thus far this year. So it’s been busy, as you said.

Ryan Embree:
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Super busy. And we’re gonna talk about some of those things that you mentioned. I wanna go back to Green Key Global rather. Uh, we just celebrated Earth Day. All of these conferences, whether it be the Hospitality Show, we talk about the Hunter Hotel Investment Conference, one of those trending issues that continues to pick up steam, sustainability and green travel. It’s, it’s so critical for hoteliers. Guests are being more cognizant of it, corporations and businesses are looking more into that. Talk to us about this collaboration with Green Key Global and why it was a priority for you and AHLA.

Kevin Carey :
Sure. I’d be delighted to, we’ve been observing, the momentum behind sustainability, and you cited whether that’s leisure travelers who are increasingly looking and making decisions, in their journey, in their search for properties for sustainable practices. Corporations, uh, and also group travel organizations are building those requirements, including for a third party verification into their RFPs, uh, and where they have their corporate travelers, uh, or groups contract, uh, at a property level. We’ve been in a dialogue with the Hotel Association of Canada for about a year and a half. Uh, we’ve had a long standing, uh, very close working relationship, uh, with the team there. And they’ve operated the Green Key business, uh, in North America for over 20 years. So through that collaboration, the momentum we see behind sustainability in the industry and our member companies and in the operating environment with Travelers as part of our broader Responsible Stay initiative, we felt this was the right next step in creating a strong member value and service, but also bringing something to the marketplace, uh, that could help properties, uh, across the spectrum. Whether you’re the largest brands and, and many are participating already, Marriott Choice, Accor, Hyatt, IHG management companies as well have already signed up with Green Key Global. So we’re seeing that momentum and it’s certainly something that we wanna bring to the marketplace and offer as a strong member value to our companies as well.

Ryan Embree:
Yeah, it’s so great. I’ve talked about this in the past, issues like sustainability. When you see different brands all on one page about an issue, that means something right there. There’s, there’s clearly some momentum there. And it’s just so great to be a part of industry that is, is prioritizing that because we know, again, how important it is for decision making, booking decisions, but also is just a win-win for everyone, it feels like. So really exciting partnership there. Excited to see how that continues to grow. You talked about the rebrand of the Hospitality Show. I had the pleasure of attending the inaugural hospitality show, but now, we’re rebranding some of these localized events, which in regional events, which is really exciting. First off, wanna ask you if you had the opportunity to attend one of these, or several of these, and then for those hoteliers that may have seen this in the news and know it’s in their local area or regional area, walk us through maybe what one of these events looks like just to, to put it in their shoes.

Kevin Carey :
I’d be happy to. So we launched this initiative, at the end of 2021. Uh, and then over the last two years, um, we’ve scaled up the number of events, in this year have planned 18 events that we’re going to conduct across the US in key markets. We’ve already had seven year to date. Uh, we’ve got four more, uh, over the coming 30 days between now and Memorial Day. But really stepping back, the purpose was we saw these as a terrific opportunity to engage the industry at a local level in market to collaborate with our state lodging association partners and to create an opportunity of high value where local hoteliers, general managers, owners, directors of sales, property level key employees can engage with their peer set network, connect with vendors, but also hear about the significant issues that the industry is facing on a public policy basis, not only at a federal level, but also in their home states and key markets. So, we’ve had a terrific response. The participation numbers, have grown over this period of time. Um, to your question, uh, I was just recently in Columbus, Ohio, where we had a terrific group who joined, and had several hours of conversation. The environment and the enthusiasm. The room was terrific. You could see the networking happening, and we had a number of key local not only elected officials, but state level representatives join us as well to talk about the key issues. So we’re thrilled with the series of events and the rebranding was a recognition that our national event in partnership with Questex, which launched last year in Las Vegas, and I’ll be in San Antonio this year. This was just a way to build the, the equity and the visibility and awareness around the Hospitality Show brand, and to have these work together in concert, to engage the industry locally, and on a national level.

Ryan Embree:
Yeah, it’s a brilliant plan and like you said, all leading up to that second annual hospitality show here in San Antonio and in October, which I know has the potential for some record breaking numbers there. I’ve heard a lot of excitement. There’s already some buzz and some news about the agenda kind of being outlined. So really exciting there, but so important to, to have that regional, that networking aspect to these, these localized events. But promoting awareness for maybe issues that are impacting the entire hospitality industry right now. One that has just keeps reverberating through our industry right now is staffing, right? Especially, I’m sure hotel owners, GMs, everyone looking at occupancy numbers over the next couple months as we start to ramp up for the summer season and start to say, what am I gonna do about staffing? We’ve seen, we’ve talked about on this podcast, there’s been some impressive wage growth in hospitality, which is fantastic. Some really creative solutions to staffing that I’ve been hearing over the course of talking to third party management companies and brands of them trying to instill maybe flexible schedules, flexible pay, all of that creative solution problem solving. What do you think is gonna be a turning point here with staffing when it comes to hospitality? And I know AHLA is doing a lot of work on the advocacy side to help resolve the issue. Talk to us a little bit about that.

Kevin Carey :
Lemme put a couple things in context or provide some perspectives. So first we have seen improvement, to your point, that the industry has been able to attract and retain workers. But frankly, it’s not fast enough. Uh, and, and to meet the demand that we see and to continue to drive the customer experience that, that, that’s required, we need to attract more people to this outstanding industry. Uh, and I’m glad to hear you cite some of the, the wage and benefit gains that have been implemented over the last several years. On a broader US basis, there are still over 8 million job openings and only about six and a half million workers available to fill those jobs. Yes, the lodging industry has recovered and closed the gap in terms of positions lost, we’re still about 200,000 positions short of what would be needed and what is posted externally. So our member companies, are active on this front and creating a number of creative solutions to attract, develop, and retain employees. But we have a role to play here as well on behalf of the industry. And we’re approaching that on several levels. On one level, from a public policy standpoint here in Washington, we’re working to promote legislation and to work with the Department of Homeland Security to expand the number of H2-B seasonal worker visas. That’s an important program. Uh, and, and now that that legislation passed with the appropriation bill to work with the department to make those positions available rapidly and to look to re-engineer that program, so there’s less friction around it over time. We’re also working to encourage the Congress to move forward on legislation focused on asylum seekers, uh, and looking at other means to enable more workers to come into the industry. Our foundation the AHLA foundation also has a several programs, which are focused squarely on this front, whether it’s scholarships, employment, youth programs, working with Department of Labor around apprenticeships. So we’ve got a broad number of strategies that we’re advancing both from an advocacy, but also through the terrific work of our foundation. And we just need to keep after it, frankly, uh, Ryan on, on all these fronts to continue to do our part on behalf of the industry, to tell the story of this industry tracked workers at multiple levels to come into the industry where they can have outstanding careers.

Ryan Embree:
Thank you for everything you’re saying there, Kevin. Because I really believe the work we’re doing today because of this, and, you know, always try to find a silver lining in something, right? But the, the staffing challenges that we have had over the last couple years has really made our industry think outside of the box about creative solutions. So I think that the foundation that you and your team are doing over at AHLA right now, mixed with some of the things that we’re doing, doing is really setting a great cornerstone for us moving forward so that we hear more stories about people saying, I didn’t just fall into hospitality. Right? And how many times have we heard that in our industry? I’ve interviewed so many key individuals that said, you know, I didn’t really think of hospitality as a career. I just kind of fell into it and fell in love with it. But I think the work that we’re doing right now today, and the work that you and your team are doing are setting up a foundation for people saying, I’m getting into hospitality as a career path. I see advancement there. And anything that benefits that I am all for. Because we work in a wonderful, wonderful industry. And one of the ways I think every individual is continuing to share their hospitality journey and story, because every single one of them is, is so special and unique. I’m sure you see these stories all the time with the AHLA foundation that you were mentioning at the top of the episode. Would love to hear, I know you’ve probably got hundreds, maybe thousands of stories, but anyone in particular that pops out to you that you could share with our audience? This is a bit of inspiration with those stories.

Kevin Carey :
Yeah, first, just just to look back, to last week mentioned I was in Orlando and had an opportunity to join both, Davidson Hospitality Group, but also Hotel Equities and I can tell you the energy in and around those conferences, the focus on growth culture opportunities for people was really a strong takeaway that I had in both those opportunities to join those conferences. So, you know, you can see the enthusiasm, and really what that translates into in terms of career opportunity. But to your question, there’s so many programs, that our AHLA foundation, is instrumental in and advancing on behalf of the industry. We opened the year in January in Los Angeles with our annual Night of a Thousand Stars Awards. And the individual awards and some of the compelling stories motivational and inspirational stories that we hear each year really set the tone for the year. I touched on some of the programs that the foundation is advancing around the employment youth program, bringing entry level youth into the industry. It’s trained more than a thousand people and brought them into the workforce. Our apprenticeship program, as I referenced with the Department of Labor, has brought, has had over 1400 apprentices to date participate in that program. So whether it’s the roughly a million dollars a year we distribute through the foundation for scholarships, the employment training around human trafficking that we do, all of these elements are really tell the story and also are inspirational in terms of the great work that our foundation and the association overall are doing.

Ryan Embree:
Yeah, I’m sure incredibly rewarding. And again, like I said, with the sustainability issue, to see all, a lot of brands come together for a common cause, something’s clicking there and there’s something, right. So I would encourage you, if you’re listening to this, definitely find out some more information about the AHLA foundation, how you can join that very important cause there. Now, there’s never a time when AHLA is not hard at work advocating for hoteliers. You mentioned there’s always a hot topic, right? Trending issue. What are some of the issues you and your team are currently working on, and how can hoteliers that might be listening to this get involved?

Kevin Carey :
You’re absolutely right on that front whether it’s here in Washington, if it’s at a state level and the great work our team does with our partner state lodging associations, or even expanding to look at cross border issues that have impact on the industry as a whole. You know, there are a lot of positive metrics, that we’re seeing, in the industry as we’ve touched on many. But the reality is we’re still in recovery mode. If you talk to owners, there’s certainly pressure on profitability in the current environment. So our focus is gonna be squarely on regardless of, of level, ensuring that there’s responsible public policies, and that we’re working to ensure elected officials and policy makers understand the implications of initiatives that they’re thinking about legislation that they’re introducing. And so it doesn’t create an onerous burden, create complexity in our operating environment. So some of the initiatives I touched on, whether it’s joint employer at a federal level, the overtime rule that was made public last week, and the implications that has on operating costs and on jobs going forward. And at a state and local level, we’ll continue to work aggressively to defeat legislation in New Jersey that would put the franchise model at risk. We’re certainly very mindful of the fact that our member companies have seen improvement over the last several years. But there’s a number of aggressive regulatory and legislative efforts that pose risks, in the current environment. And, and we need to have a strong voice on those as an industry. And that’s our job number one to represent this terrific industry.

Ryan Embree:
Well, I’m sure, hoteliers all over the country, very appreciative of all the work you and your team are doing, staying vigilant on the issues and keeping those at the forefront to make sure that our industry remains healthy, remains in positive standing, moving forward. So as we wrap up here, you know, we are a digital marketing podcast and we preach all the time on this podcast about the importance of social media and leveraging it as a way to drive awareness, whether it’s an individual hotelier driving awareness of their property, a brand driving awareness or AHLA driving awareness on some of these top issues that you talked about. Can you speak to the importance of a channel like social media and how that can amplify the voice of the American Hotel Lodging Association and get more awareness to issues that we just talked about?

Kevin Carey :
Yeah, if you really think about the role, AHLA plays, certainly we’re known for the advocacy, that we do on behalf of the industry. The way that we serve as a convening entity bringing all segments of the industry, the owners and brands and management companies, independent hotels and vendors together. But one area that is of vital importance is promoting this industry to stakeholders and to policymakers. So we’re very conscious and deliberate about our communications, and our social media channels and how we’re focusing on our member companies, what this industry represents in job creating power and the mobility. And so we continuously are looking at how our communications can enhance the reputation and understanding of the industry across all these stakeholders. So we encourage everyone to interact with us via our social media channels, certainly our website and also our events as well. So, across all of those platforms, we’re eager to have those, we’re interested in the industry and our members interact with us.

Ryan Embree:
Yeah. And certainly a very powerful way to share some of those amazing stories that you shared with us today, Kevin. So thank you so much. I know this was your first time on the Suite Spot. We appreciate it. We appreciate everything you and your team are doing over there. And, I wanna thank you for joining the Suite Spot, Kevin.

Kevin Carey :
Awesome. Enjoyed it. Have a good day. Thank you.

Ryan Embree:
To join our loyalty program, be sure to subscribe and give us a five-star rating on iTunes. Suite Spot is produced by Travel Media Group. Our editor is Brandon Bell, with Cover Art by Bary Gordon. I’m your host Ryan Embree, and we hope you enjoyed your stay.