• Hotel Leaders Push for Greater Innovation   

Excerpt from CoStar

SBE Entertainment Group founder and CEO Sam Nazarian said the hotel industry must connect with Gen Z travelers or risk losing them long term to competitors such as Airbnb.

After years of driving historic levels of efficiency to cope with a unique operating environment, hoteliers are now tasked with finding innovative ways to maintain that efficiency during what feels like a return to normal.

At the 2024 Americas Lodging Summit, Russell Urban, CEO, principal and managing partner for Electra America Hospitality Group, said the big challenge is to preserve those benefits while keeping hotels from "becoming dull and boring."

"As a result, we've got to reinvigorate the hospitality and experiential aspects of our business back into hotels," he said during the "Boardroom Outlook: Leadership" session.

Sam Nazarian, founder and CEO of SBE Entertainment Group, said he's had more of a bird's-eye view after selling his company's hotel brands to Accor. SBE is launching a new lifestyle brand currently called Project HQ through a partnership with Wyndham Hotels & Resorts.

"The idea of innovation in any industry is crucial," he said. "I've been out of the hotel business for roughly three years, but kind of have a keen insight into what are the areas that are the most disruptive, the most scalable.

"And I think that's the connectivity to the next generation, the connectivity to the largest body of travelers that don't really have a brand they're connected to and understanding from some of the digital competitors like Airbnb that have really created a lot more scale in that business specifically talking to that demographic."

The key to reaching that goal might be balancing new technology with old-school hospitality, Nazarian said. 

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