When the COVID-19 pandemic arrived in early 2020, leisure travel came to a near stop. Essential travel continued, but vacations were canceled, and plans were postponed indefinitely. Charles Corbin had never seen anything like it, even during hurricane season. He watched—and helped—as Hilton Grand Vacations temporarily closed its timeshare properties for the safety of staff […]
Features Hospitality
Caroline Miller Oyler – Papa John’s International
She wishes the company’s recent growth wasn’t partially the result of a pandemic that’s closed so many sit-down restaurants, but the market for takeout pizza has been especially productive for Papa John’s International. The now Louisville- and Atlanta-headquartered delivery restaurant chain hired more than 20,000 new employees last year and had a record 2020 in […]
Alexandra Kleiman – The Alinea Group
Scrumptious truffle ravioli served on a spoon and meant to be eaten in one bite. Cold fish stew boiling over with dry ice vapor. Rabbit, honeycomb morel fungi, leafy sorrel and fiddleheads arranged on glass rectangles atop redwood pieces to make it seem as if you’re foraging a whimsical forest. And a Jackson Pollock-esque dessert, […]
Ricardo Palacios – Playa Hotels & Resorts
Make you own beer? Swim with the dolphins? Endless drinks in an infinity pool? An ambitious tourist could make a full day of recreating at Playa Hotels & Resorts in Mexico now, even during the COVID-19 pandemic—but not a few months ago. The pandemic hit the tourist industry hard last spring—and Mexico was no exception. […]
Manuel Suárez Ortiz – OYO Hotels, Mexico
Think of the industries most battered by COVID-19 and hospitality comes to mind. Worldwide, hotels have been closing or suspending operations. Some of the luckier ones have been sustaining themselves on borrowed time with significantly reduced occupancy. Among those most vulnerable have been the smaller, independent hotels that cater to the budget-conscious tourist or businessperson, […]
Roberto “R.C.” Rondero De Mosier – The Guild
There are times when his employer gets swept into local controversies over short-term rentals—the kind that have embroiled online lodging giant Airbnb and led to a broader discussion about the current U.S. housing crisis. But as Roberto Rondero De Mosier—just call him R.C.—patiently explains, it’s essentially an apples-versus-oranges comparison. “There’s a big difference in the […]
Jorge Gómez-Möller – Driftwood Acquisitions & Development
It’s an exciting time, says Jorge Gomez-Moller, to be at the center of what he refers to as the democratization of commercial real estate investment. As the general counsel of the hospitality private equity group Driftwood Acquisitions & Development [DAD] tells Vanguard, as recently as a couple of years ago, opportunities were limited for middle-class […]
