The New York Times recently profiled two AAHOA Lifetime Members--Dinesh and Suresh Chawla--on their new partnership with Trump Hotels. The Chawlas signed a deal to open three budget-friendly properties under the Trump Organization’s new American Idea brand and one four-star hotel as a Scion, the company’s other new brand. Click here to read The New York Times full article and click here to view the Today's Hotelier feature on the Chawlas from September.

AAHOA will host two regional meetings next week: one on July 30 in Des Moines, IA, and the other on August 1 in Irving, TX. Congressman David Young (Iowa District 3) and Iowa Lodging Association's Craig Walter will join us in Des Moines. Special guest speakers for the North Texas event include Irving Mayor Richard Stopfer and Justin Bragiel with TH&LA. Register for these and other upcoming regional meetings here.

What did you miss this week? Check out the AAHOA Facebook page to view photos of our members doing great things! This week, we opened registration for our upcoming HR Compliance workshop, AAHOA Upper Midwest Regional Director Kalpesh Joshi hosted a successful regional meeting in Minneapolis, AAHOA Southeast Texas Regional Director Sawan Patel participated in a business roundtable, AAHOA hosted the first Today's Hotelier roundtable, and more.

Town halls are a great opportunity to build your professional network and to learn more about the AAHOA programs and resources available to help you strengthen every aspect of your business. These events are open to all hotel owners, even if you are not yet a member. Coming up soon:

 

 

Join us for the regional meeting closest to you for access to top vendors, incredible networking opportunities, and region-specific industry updates you won't see anywhere else. These events are open to all hotel owners, even if you're not already a member. Plus, Lifetime Members receive a free Nike polo shirt for attending.

 

 

SunTrust Robinson Humphrey reports, “Luxury (+4.6%) was the strongest chain scale for branded hotels; Upper Midscale was the weakest at +1.9%. Midscale (+2.2%) also underperformed the overall U.S. hotel industry average. Two weeks post-July 4th, it is possible that last week's data reflected a very small lingering benefit from the July 4th calendar shift. Group RevPAR exceeded Transient by 430 bps last week. The other major takeaway from last week's results was that Luxury continues to be the outperforming chain scale, which we attribute to the 'wealth effect.' For the month of July, we estimate that full-service branded domestic hotels (the typical Hilton [HLT, $80.49, Buy], Hyatt [H, $79.90, Hold], or Marriott [MAR, $130.02, Hold] hotel) will finish at approximately +2-3%. We estimate that the overall industry will finish approximately +0-1%." For more, read the full report.

A new report by J.D. Power pinpoints an area of improvement for the hospitality industry. Satisfaction of the hospitality industry increased from 2017 to 2018, but hotels need to focus on service offerings. The guest happiness with service is improving at a slower rate according to the report. (Source: Travel Pulse)

In an effort to combat sexual assault, hotels in Miami Beach are providing housekeepers with a panic button. The safety measure was approved unanimously by the city commission and will go into effect on August 1, 2019. (Source: Seattle Times)

Marriott International will integrate the loyalty programs of Marriott Rewards, Starwood Preferred Guest, and The Ritz-Carlton Rewards all into one platform. David Flueck, senior vice president of loyalty at Marriott International, says 70 percent of its properties will cost the same or be less expensive under the combined program. (Source: Business Traveller)