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CoStar News Hotels' experienced, award-winning journalists bring diverse perspectives and voices to the news. From exclusive interviews with CEOs, to conference news from around the world, to coverage of public hotel companies, our stories are accessible for free 24/7 to inform your business today and in the future.
CoStar News Hotels is part of the global CoStar News team, which reports commercial real estate news from all over the United States, Canada and the U.K.
Hi, everyone. This is CoStar News Hotels news air, Sean McCracken. This episode of the podcast was recorded live at the Americas Lodging Investment Summit in Los Angeles. Visit us at costar.com/hotelnews for the video version of this podcast along with all of our ALICE coverage.
Speaker 2:Hi. I'm Brian Roden, senior reporter with CoStar News Hotels. I'm sitting here with my colleague, Natalie Harmes, reporter. Natalie, this is your first time attending Alice. You've been with us for a little over a year now, but this is first time here in Los Angeles for the, America's Lodging Investment Summit.
Speaker 2:So hit the ground running. What are your impressions from your your first day here?
Speaker 3:Yeah. It's my first Alice, but I was heavily warned by you and everybody else that it was going to be an optimistic bunch. So I had that expectation going in. Maybe I had too high of an optimism expectation because I felt like everyone seemed a little bit, more realistic. I know, I was curious how that would affect how last year 2025 and the kind of disappointing performance hotel performance metrics, would would it kind of bring down that optimism?
Speaker 3:I don't know. You'll have to tell me the year over year comparison, but I felt like the conversations were pretty realistic. What about you?
Speaker 2:Yeah. I I'd say, you know, one of the things that we'd like about coming to this conference is that, you know, it's been several months since the last industry conference. Things tend to slow down at the end of the year, new year, fresh start kind of thing, and it's really a good way to kinda just gauge the the mood of the industry starting things off. And last year, lots of optimism, lots of expectations for a lot of just generally a a more business friendly environment. And that optimism carried over for a few months.
Speaker 2:And then I think by Hunter and definitely by NYU Mhmm. That optimism was much more muted. But, you know, things progressed through the year and by the end of '25, I'd I'd say things started picking up again. And then this year, I agree a 100% people are that favorite phrase we have is cautiously optimistic. There's a lot going into '25 that, you know, they have to look forward to.
Speaker 2:Just all of the World Cup matches that are being played across, you know, The US along with, you know, America two fifty with all the events and celebrations that are going on with that. So lots of things going on this year that they expect will be significant drivers of of demand. But Mhmm. To your point, yeah, there's there's definitely I'm trying to think of the right word for it, but it it it's not overly
Speaker 3:Mhmm. Optimistic. Well and you mentioned the World Cup. We have heard a lot about the World Cup as a demand driver for 2026. We've also heard a lot about artificial intelligence, which I feel like has firmly moved out of a breakout session topic and is a main stage topic.
Speaker 3:It kicked off conversations today of the on the main stage talking about AI, and I I think we're only gonna hear more and more about AI. I think that trend will continue, but I also think we might start to see some more conversations about, you know, this technology implementation and actually being used in the industry on a larger and larger scale. So that was interesting to hear and I think that's coming from hoteliers as well as online travel agencies, you know, both both seats at the table are looking at AI more and more.
Speaker 2:Yeah. And that came up one of the panel discussions today, how travelers are turning to things like ChatGPT to help them plan out their their booking and that's gonna be a a major shift in how hotels figure out their their distribution strategy as far as well. Where are they where are they finding us and are they able to find us?
Speaker 3:Yeah. And the the conversation for that too was they're looking, they're using the tools, but they're not booking yet. So there's there's still that market share to grow, of of capturing the actual booking through AI.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Well, I can't wait to see what, we have in store for us on day two. How about you?
Speaker 3:Yeah. I'm excited. Well,
Speaker 2:thanks everyone for checking us out and stick with CoStar News Hotels for further coverage from Dallas.
Speaker 4:Hello. I'm Luke Haines, people newsletter editor, CoStar News, and the host of Top Credentials, a monthly podcast exploring the colorful careers of those working at the top of UK commercial real estate. In the episodes, we discover the valuable lessons influencing the daily decision making of sector leaders and hear about the aspects of their job that make it a little easier to get out of bed each morning. We'll also ask for their views on the latest news and policies shaping our constantly evolving industry and even get them to share a famous quote or song title they think defines their career or the profession. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 1:This episode of the CoStar News Hotels podcast was recorded on 01/27/2026 and filmed by Meredith Sheridan. It was edited for audio by Sean McCracken. Visit us at costar.com/hotelnews for more coverage and find all of our podcasts on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, or your platform of choice.