8 minute read
Meeting... Tony Capuano
from Sleeper 99
PROFILE Tony Capuano CEO Marriott International
After 26 years at Marriott International, previously serving as Group President of Global Development, Design and Operations Services, Tony Capuano was appointed as CEO in early 2021 following the passing of Arne M. Sorenson.
During Capuano’s tenure in his former role, the company grew from 3,200 properties in 2009 to more than 7,600 properties by 2020. He was also responsible for the growth and globalisation of Marriott’s development pipeline to 498,000 rooms as of 31 December 2020, with over half representing projects outside of the USA.
Marriott now has 30 brands – split across Luxury, Premium, Select and Long Stay sectors – and a presence in 138 countries, with hotels in the US and Canada (5,670); the Caribbean and Latin America (297); Europe (645); Middle East and Africa (303); and Asia Pacific (882).
Recent Openings: St Regis Downtown, Dubai; The Reykjavik Edition; W Rome; The Ritz-Carlton, Amman; Westin London City
Upcoming Openings: The Ritz-Carlton New York, NoMad (Q1 2022); JW Marriott Madrid (Q2 2022); W Florence (2023)
As Marriott International continues to expand its global footprint, Sleeper speaks to the group’s newly appointed CEO during IHIF to discuss taking the helm, the industry at large and plans for growth.
Words: Ben Thomas
What are you hoping to bring to your new role?
I hope to continue the focus and commitment that Bill Marriott and Arne Sorenson made around our key constituents. We lead with putting our people first and the impact of the pandemic has been particularly hard on our associates around the world, so doing everything in my power to repair and nurture the company’s culture is a priority. For our guests, I want to inspire their confidence in the safety of travel and drive enthusiasm for the future, so we’re making sure we have the right products in the right locations, and are delivering the cleanliness and insurance promises that they should rightfully expect.
What’s your take on the industry at present?
I would characterise it as tempered optimism, as performance varies significantly from market to market, country to country, tier to tier. Marriott has been through conventional recessions, the Great Recession, the post-9/11 period and wars; in each of those we had a high degree of confidence in our ability to forecast, with some level of precision as to what the shape and steepness of the recovery curve might look like, but there’s not much predictable about the shape of the recovery from a global pandemic. China, which is our second largest market, recovered quickest across all three of our business segments, but even today, we can see outbreaks of the virus in a given region. Because we have visibility into real-time data, we’ll see occupancy drop from 70% to 20% overnight. The good news is that when the virus is contained, we see a spike right back up to 70%. As a result of that volatility, and with the concerns around new variants, we’ve resisted offering forecasts beyond the end of 2021. And that’s not because we don’t want to be transparent. It’s a result of the murkiness for the year ahead and the uncertainty about precisely how the pandemic may evolve. If you’re running a large multinational corporation, that makes it challenging to peer into the future. We’ve got to be a little more tactical, taking things day-to-day or week-to-week.
What lessons have you learned from the crisis?
I’m an eternal optimist, so I’ll give you a positive lesson I’ve learned. After 26 years at Marriott, I’m a deep believer in the strength and power of the company’s culture. As I’ve travelled around the world, the best learning for me is the resilience, adaptability and passion of our associates. It is hard not to be confident about the long-term future of travel and tourism when I’m out there talking to our dedicated teams worldwide.
Has the pandemic affected plans for growth? The short answer is yes, of course, and maybe there’s been more urgency created by the
pandemic, but our growth plans were well under way before it began. Our resort portfolio continues to be a priority and we have seen remarkable resilience and strength in leisure demand, so the ability to expand our leisure footprint will have a strong impact. Secondly, before the crisis took hold, we started hearing much more frequently from our guests on the desire for an all-inclusive experience due to the simplicity of pricing. So, we acquired a small, all-inclusive company on the island of Barbados and announced a 19-resort affiliation project in partnership with Canadian brand Sunway. The aim is to grow our all-inclusive portfolio not only across the Caribbean and Latin America but also on a global basis, tapping into markets in Europe and Southeast Asia. We’re bullish on the prospect of growing our Fairfield collection across Europe too, having announced plans to debut the brand along Copenhagen’s waterfront in 2023.
Which of your forthcoming openings are you most excited about and why?
We have opened 50 new hotels worldwide during the past 18 months, which is truly remarkable considering the environment. In terms of our pipeline, we have a number of high-profile projects currently under construction, including an Edition in Rome and our first W in Florence. Notwithstanding having a global portfolio approaching 8,000 hotels, there are still a few markets where we are yet to make our debut.
And what about key urban markets?
Global gateway cities hold a rich appeal and they will come back. What will be critical for hotel companies is how effectively the vaccine is being distributed, what impact that could have on a return to the office, and whether that will be a catalyst for the return of business travel. Leisure has been booming, but we expect it to moderate.
What trends have you witnessed of late?
There’s a few that come to mind. Number one is an increased familiarity, comfort and adoption of the technological tools we had already rolled out prior to the pandemic. Perhaps by necessity, more and more of our guests are using the app to check in and secure a mobile key. If they require something in their room, rather than head down to the front desk or pick up the phone, they are using the chat function. Our guests like the flexibility, so if they’re visiting for a one-day business trip, and don’t want or need to talk to anybody, they receive their mobile key and off they go. On the other hand, three weeks later, with their spouse and children, they may go on a vacation, check in at the front desk and ask for recommendations on local attractions. We have to offer that flexibility and engage with our guests in a way that they desire. I also get lots of questions about business travel – is it coming back and at what percentage? It’s hard to say. We’re optimistic based on what we hear from our guests, but we think it’ll look a little different. I’ll use myself as an example; I’ve been to this conference for a decade. Usually I’d fly in, spend a couple of nights here and fly on. I looked at this trip and thought, ‘if I’m going to Europe, I’m going for two weeks’. I’ve never taken a twoweek business trip! So two of the trends that we believe will survive well into the a post-Covid era is a blending of trip purpose and perhaps fewer trips but of a longer duration.
Are there any other areas of the industry that could pose opportunities going forward?
While Starwood was our biggest acquisition, prior to that we had a consistent cadence, whether it was buying AC Hotels in Spain, Delta Hotels in Canada or Protea Hotels in Africa. The pandemic has shone a light on some of the challenges that are facing smaller regional chains, particularly in the areas of loyalty and technology. As such, there is now a fairly significant gap between seller and buyer expectations, which is why we haven’t seen a flood of transaction volumes. Over the next several quarters, I think we’ll probably see more opportunities.
What challenges lie ahead for Marriott?
For our model, I always think about challenges and opportunities through the lens of our most important constituents, which is our owners, associates and guests. For our owners, we must put ourselves in their shoes. What can we do within the confines of our business model to support them? Whether that is delaying requirements for a scheduled renovation with their lender’s permission by a year or two, or allowing them to tap into their replacement for reserve funds to help cover some of the operating shortfalls. For our associates, it’s about driving demand recovery as we want to bring back those who have been furloughed or given a reduced workload. With 20-40% of the global employment force in travel and tourism permanently leaving, it’s incumbent on us as a leader in hospitality to increase our efforts in telling people what an amazing industry this is to build a long-term career. We’ve got to be more deliberate, pushing the narrative not just on our behalf but on behalf of the entire sector. And lastly for our guests, we must inspire confidence and be communicative in a transparent manner. When I read the guest emails, the vast majority understand that we’re working our way out of the hole that’s been created by the pandemic. What they have less patience with us on is not letting them know what to expect, so we’re doing everything we can to give them that assurance.
