AAHOA members from all around the country traveled to Washington, D.C., this week to attend the 2017 Legislative Action Summit (co-hosted with AH&LA). LAS is one of AAHOA’s largest and most important advocacy events of the year and offers unparalleled access to elected officials from many different states. We hope you could make it, but if not, check out the pictures on our Facebook page! (Pictured: AAHOA ambassadors with Regional Directors Bharat Patel – Florida; Imesh Vaidya – Southwest; and SP Patel – North Pacific)

Longtime AAHOA member, major PAC donor and CEO of Champion Hotels, Champak (Champ) Patel will open America’s first Tru by Hilton property next Thursday, May 25, in Oklahoma City. Patel, who has signed on to develop a total of 16 Tru properties, was one of several AAHOA members who advised Hilton throughout the development of the brand’s new midscale offering. Congratulations to Champ, and check out the upcoming (June) issue of Today’s Hotelier for details! 

The Americas Lodging Investment Summit (ALIS) and AAHOA will launch and co-host a session of the ALIS Summer Update’s Development Series this summer in Atlanta on July 18. The series, developed by ALIS and scheduled for four different U.S. cities, features commentary by relevant thought leaders and is expected to draw hundreds of hospitality-industry professionals from around the country.

Property taxes are a large line-item expense for most lodging properties. To make matters worse, double taxation and even triple taxation of some property components can occur, particularly with leased furniture, fixtures and equipment (FF&E). Hospitality properties can be overtaxed through the application of the wrong approach to value, the incorrect application of a correct approach to value or through the owner’s failure to prevent certain mistakes. 

The Texas House of Representatives recently passed HB 1463, a bill that would implement a 60-day notice-and-cure period for businesses to address state ADA allegations before being sued. It is now up to the Senate to pass the same measure, SB 827, for this important initiative to become law.

Today and yesterday, AAHOA and AH&LA partnered to produce the largest advocacy conference in the hospitality industry. Nearly 500 attendees participated by attending educational seminars, networking receptions and legislative meetings on Capitol Hill.

It’s time to kick off another regional season! Next Tuesday, May 23, the AAHOA North Pacific Regional Meeting will take place in South San Francisco. Held in conjunction with the California Hotel & Lodging Association, the meeting will begin at 8:00 a.m. with concurrent educational sessions until noon, followed by the trade show from 1:30-5:00 p.m. and a business meeting and dinner from 5:30-7:00 p.m. See you there!

Don’t have your CHO yet? Make plans now to attend the Certified Hotel Owner (CHO) program next month, June 12-16, in Elmhurst, Illinois! The CHO program lasts five days and covers nine modules on what every successful hotel owners needs to know about human resources, finances and more.

Millennials are collectively the youngest and largest generation in the workforce today, according to the 2016 Joint Economic Report. There are a few things you should know about the generation that will represent nearly 75 percent of the workforce by 2030. Learn from a millennial CEO about best practices to capitalize on what this generation of employees has to offer. 

Join AAHOA Upper Midwest Regional Director Kalpesh M. Joshi, CHO, and the Upper Midwest regional ambassadors for this important town hall meeting, providing information every hotelier needs to know.  

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We’ve seen many a prefab home, and even a few luxurious prefab escapes, but a prefab budget hotel? The Fairfield Inn and Suites of Folsom, California, outside Sacramento, looks exactly how you’d imagine a $117 a night suburban hotel would look: It’s clean, shiny and has adequately modern decor. It’s also the first of Marriott’s prefab hotels, and a harbinger of a major shift in the chain’s business strategy...

Hoteliers are adapting their revenue-management strategies to accommodate rising levels of last-minute leisure demand, which sources said is driven by a series of technological, economic and social factors. Many of those spontaneous, last-minute bookings are from drive-up travelers. But the rise of mobile booking apps and online travel agencies are partially responsible for the surge, having made it easier than ever for the last-minute guest.

Airbnb is unusual among privately held start-ups in that it's already profitable. The No. 1 company on the 2017 CNBC Disruptor 50 list has reportedly said it can reach $3 billion in profit by 2020. It was valued at $31 billion last year, meaning that only Marriott's $39 billion valuation is greater in the lodging industry. But after forcing the biggest changes in travel since Priceline and Expedia, it's running out of easy room to grow against the lodging companies.

It is a pleasure to address AAHOA members, vendor partners and industry professionals for the first time as AAHOA chairman. I am prouder than I can say of what AAHOA has accomplished and become in the 27 years since its founding, and it is my honor to serve as your leader in 2017. As many of you know, member engagement is and will continue to be a top priority during my term as chairman. The reason is very simple: engagement is the vehicle that drives this association.

Both how we work and play is very different now than just a few short years ago, as nearly all aspects of our lives are morphing from a technological injection. For our sector, it’s especially challenging as the hotel industry has traditionally been behind the innovation curve. Now we no longer have a choice but to embrace technology fully and fast. Because if we do not, an industry disruptor will. We already see technology radically altering how guests experience hotels and how hoteliers run them. 

Few things are as costly and disruptive as managers who kill morale. Demotivated employees underperform until their first opportunity to walk out of the door. It’s scary to consider just how prevalent a lack of motivation is. In fact, Gallup research shows that 70 percent of employees consider themselves disengaged at work. Organizations know how important it is to have motivated, engaged employees, but most fail to hold managers accountable for making it happen.