The Modern Hotelier #255: How AHLA Supports the Hospitality Industry | with Rosanna Maietta, President & CEO of AHLA
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David Millili: Steve, who do we have on the program today?
Steve Carran: Yeah, David, excited about today's conversation. We have Rosanna Maietta, the CEO of American Hotel Lodging and Association on with us today. Thanks for joining us, Rosanna. How you doing today?
Rosanna Maietta: Good. Hi Steve. Hi David. Thanks for having me.
David Millili: No problem. Alright, so before we jump in, we're gonna go through a lightning round. We're gonna get to know you better. We're gonna ask you some industry questions. Sound good?
Rosanna Maietta: Sure.
David Millili: All right. So what did you want to be when you were growing up?
Rosanna Maietta: I always wanted to be a writer, writer, journalism, so kind of got there.
David Millili: Alright. What's something that you wish you were better at?
Rosanna Maietta: Any sport.
David Millili: Okay. Alright. What's a luxury you can't live without?
Rosanna Maietta: My cell phone, I guess.
David Millili: Okay. Who's a person, dead or alive, who you'd like to take to lunch?
Rosanna Maietta: Nelson Mandela.
David Millili: All right. If you could have a superpower, what superpower would you want to have?
Rosanna Maietta: Crossing the speed of light
David Millili: All right. Last one. What's something that's on your bucket list?
Rosanna Maietta: Traveling in Asia more.
David Millili: Hmm. That's a good one.
Steve Carran: Very good bucket list. So Rosanna, now we're gonna dive into a little bit more about you and your background. So Rosanna, where did you grow up? You have a pretty clean digital profile as I was doing my research on you.
Rosanna Maietta: I grew up in Toronto, Canada, so spent my time growing up in an Italian Canadian community.
Steve Carran: Sure. How did growing up in Toronto shape you into who you are today?
Rosanna Maietta: Great question. You know, we culture is so much a part of who I am. My parents were both Italian immigrants. My dad was a small business owner. So that has always been a big part of who I am, that sort of, you know, that drive you get as the daughter of immigrants. You have to do more and better than your parents and their family. But family was also really important to us. So big, loud, boisterous, family, a lot of passion, you know, my kids joke now that you can never tell if we're happy, angry, or sad. It's always the same tone.
Steve Carran: I love that.
David Millili: That's funny. So what led you to get your degree in journalism from Ryerson University?
Rosanna Maietta: Well, as I said in the lightning round, I always wanted to be a writer. I read a lot growing up, all sorts of, you know, all different kinds of books and sort of that idea of journey and traveling and I thought I could find that in journalism, being in different places and hearing stories. I loved what journalism helped shape in me, was that just that curiosity, that desire to hear from other people? I think that really translates to the role I'm in now.
Steve Carran: I love that. I love that. And you mentioned your Italian, you know, kind of that second generation, you actually got to study abroad in Italy as well. What was that experience like? And was there kind of one takeaway when you think about on that trip being like, wow, really happy I had to have that experience because I got to learn X, Y, Z.
Rosanna Maietta: Sure. It was actually after graduation, so I went there with the hope and desire of trying to find a job. Been finding roots and sort of living there. And so, eventually it worked out right? If you're determined enough, and so I did end up staying there and working there for about seven years, and that experience really was. I mean, there was so many meaningful takeaways, but I think one of them is just that desire to meet people from around the world that openness, that curiosity that you get when you're in Europe, it's so easy to travel, it's a lot less expensive.
You know, a student or someone just getting out of, out of college, you know, you don't have endless funds. I didn't have endless funds, so being able to get on a train and let see within two to five hours on a train ride, you're in a different country or you know, getting on a ship and crossing the Adriatic and now you're on a different coast. And so that was really, really cool and created that constant desire of wanting to see the world.
Steve Carran: So cool. Very nice. So now we're gonna dive into your career, how you got to be the CEO of a AHLA, like you mentioned, you started on the journalism side, you started out as a reporter then working for Newsweek, then you became the senior vice president at Fleischman Hillard. What did those early days teach you in kind of the reporting media side that you still take with you today at AHLA?
Rosanna Maietta: Sure. Deep background in public relations and communications and crisis communications, you know, I spent almost 20 years in public affairs and here in DC and so I worked with a lot of clients who were looking for media visibility or just visibility in general, brand reputation and a lot of crisis work. And so with that comes a full view of Washington politics, what's happening in Washington. It was constantly sort of the through line around everything that I did. And eventually ended up at AHLA through a client, a crisis client that I had met in at another trade association. So I did do a lot of work in the trade association space, which has all of those elements that are part of PR and crisis comms and that kind of background. So it was a natural fit, but it was also a lot of good luck and being in the right place at the right time.
David Millili: That's great. And so you were EVP of Communications and Public Relations at AHLA and then president and CEO of AHLA foundation. What was your biggest takeaway that you had from the first time you were with AHLA?
Rosanna Maietta: Sure. My first, I call it my first stint before my sabbatical, and then coming back so many things happened in the first sort of eight years that I was here. And a lot of that was seeing how the industry was coming together through a trade association, really recognizing the power of unity. We were able to create a lot of important programs at that time, whether it was our leadership and around human trafficking prevention with our new No Room for Trafficking campaign or our five star Promise. When all of the major brands came together with the ownership community to recognize the need to provide employee safety devices to housekeepers and people who were in vulnerable positions working night shifts or what have you to some of the wonderful work around advancing women in hospitality through our forward program. But all of that, the real theme there was that unity and coming together with one voice under AHLA, and really helping to under previous leadership, bring that to greater visibility and showing impact. It was also at the height of, before I left, I helped during that very difficult time during COVID when the industry shut down, the world, shut down virtually overnight. And then helping to find that support for the industry and our employees was, was really meaningful work and always stayed with me even when I left for that brief period.
Steve Carran: Sure. And kind of during that, that sabbatical period, you were the Chief Communications officer and senior counsel to the CEO for America Clean Power Association. Now you return back to AHLA as their CEO. What was one of those main reasons that you came back to be CEO of AHLA?
Rosanna Maietta: Oh, I missed hospitality. There is no industry like it. And I think you both get to see that day in, and day out with the people that you speak with. There's something that stays with you in hospitality. It really is that service attitude that everyone you work with has. And that heart the stories of the people that you meet who have been in this industry for decades and who are either in their same role because they love their role so much, or those who started in entry level and now are running some of our global companies. I mean, that is really, it meaningful and powerful and I really miss that. And you know, to be able to come back in this role is just, it's such a privilege.
David Millili: For those who are watching our listening, can you tell us more about AHLA?
Rosanna Maietta: Sure. We are the largest and single voice representing all segments of the industry, and that is everyone from the brands to the beds and breakfasts. And everyone in between who touches the industry, whether it's the management companies, the ownership groups, but also the multitude of partners and supporters and the vendor community, it is a massive ecosystem and HLA represents all of those voices, and every day our focus is on promoting and protecting the industry at the federal, state, and local level.
Steve Carran: Very nice, very nice. So this is what I'm really excited about this part. The conversation where we talk about industry thoughts. AHLA is so involved with hospitality, not only on the legislative level, but you know, across all hotels in America. So really excited to get your insight on this. So as we head into 2026, how would you describe the overall state of hospitality?
Rosanna Maietta: So I think, I would say in one word it's mixed. There are reasons for optimism, right? When we look ahead to the year, there are all these celebrations around America, two 50 in the FIFA World Cup games. And so I think the industry is sort of looking at those as potential opportunities to increase travel, whether that's domestic travel or inbound travel. I think there's a narrow forecast for growth this year over last year, but like just by 0.5%. So not a tremendous amount, but that does translate into tens of millions of dollars. So it's not nothing. So I think we're for sure seeing that as, um, some green shoots. You know, we expect hotel guest spending to reach over $805 billion. So that's a one that if that holds true, that would be a sort of a 1.7% increase over last year. And I think it's important to note that guest spending, that's the money that goes back into the communities through supporting local services and emergency providers and whatnot.
So, the more guests spend we have, the better it is for local communities. But at the same time, you know, challenges are persisting. We have seen over the last several years on the ownership side in particular operating costs, outpacing revenue, and some of that for sure is regional. Right? And that depends on, you know, how is your travel demand going, places like LA where demand is, still way below pre pandemic levels owners there are experiencing some really tight margins, especially because labor costs are, are increasing a lot faster than revenue. So, those are some of the challenges that we're still seeing, and that's creating a little bit of tension in the forecast for this year.
Steve Carran: I appreciate that. And I kinda have a follow-up question on this and just because I read an article today that said labor shortage is now just gonna be a permanent issue in our industry. It's 'cause we've been talking about it for years and every year, it's labor shortages. Is this just a permanent issue in our industry now or do we see an upside coming over the next couple years?
Rosanna Maietta: It's certainly something that we are concerned with. And I would add to that. I recently was talking to a number of our owners and board members who were especially concerned about the aging population of hotel workers right now. And who is replacing that, right? If you think about it, hospitality. It used to be the ser service sector jobs had a certain allure to them, a certain humility to them. But there was pride in those roles. And I think you're starting to see even, I mean, there's so many factors, right? When you think about college kids, it used to be the place that college kids would get the summer job or teachers who would end their semesters or their terms, and then would take a summer job working in hotels as all of those things have shifted, college kids are looking for internships and they're building their resumes. They're not looking for those, you know, shorter jobs. So the whole cycle of full-time to those part-time roles is, there's a lot of pressure there. We're seeing declines in hospitality schools and so how do we encourage people to find and stay in the industry, that's something that our AHLA foundation is focused on every day, really thinking about how do we start promoting hospitality jobs in high schools? You have to start getting younger and younger. We were very focused on that college level age group, and now thinking about going one layer deeper into that, at the same time. We're looking at other options, right? That there's a H-2B Visa program where we hire the legal guest worker program, and that's something that we're working on every day with congress. I have one of our resort committees is coming to town just this week to talk to members of Congress about the importance of that program. And not only maintaining the cap and getting the extra 66,000 visas from international workers every year, but modernizing that program and reflecting that we need more than 66,000 every year, and those aren't going necessarily just to our industry. So we're sharing that with every other industry.
Steve Carran: Awesome. Well said. Well said.
David Millili: It's good. So with a number of major events coming up this year, and it seems like the amount of events in hospitality just keeps growing and growing. How does AHLA position hospitality as an essential infrastructure for travel, tourism and these major events?
Rosanna Maietta: Oh, it's so important. We talk about it every chance we get  with the administration at the federal level and with members of Congress because they are all looking to celebrate America two 50 in their districts and we are telling them to do that, at a hotel, especially a historic hotel or resort property. But we're also making it really, really clear in all of our conversations that in order to ensure that. International travel comes to the us we have to make sure that we have both a secure and a seamless process, that means making it easier to get visas, but making sure the information of how to get visas and when you need to apply is clear to all those who are trying to come to our country, and that more importantly.
We have a welcome message that we ensure that people who come here feel and know that they will be welcomed, that they're gonna have a terrific guest experience, and we know our hotels are ready to provide that.
Steve Carran: That's great. That's great. So when you're talking to your members, or maybe when you're at events like we just were talking about, what are you hearing from your members right now about their needs and their concerns in hospitality?
Rosanna Maietta: Well, I would elaborate on a couple of things that we already touched upon, right? It's staffing shortages, it's operating costs, and it's labor local labor mandates around the country that, you know, make it really challenging to navigate. I touched on Los Angeles and that's just one of many markets where wages are rising faster than the ability for hoteliers to pay them, they just don't have that much demand to cover those costs. I think what I'm really proud of is that as an industry, we pay well above the minimum wage by and large around the country. And in some markets like Los Angeles, we have the highest wage there. But you know, making sure that as we're thinking about. Increasing wages that it's also in line with where demand is and where, you know, a lot, we can't forget, 78% of our hotels are, are franchise businesses, they're mom and they're not big operating companies, they're middle class, folks who are running family businesses. And so making sure that they, you know, can stay in business and keep providing jobs is really what we're focused on.
Steve Carran: I have a follow up question on this, just because we talk about AI so much and one of the concerns. We had with AI was that it's taking people's jobs in our industry, we need more people. How do you feel AI kind of working, or how do you feel living in a hospitality ecosystem with hotels that, I believe it's 60% of hotels have a staffing shortage?
Rosanna Maietta: Yeah, it's a great question and for sure AI is always the, you know, any new technology brings with it concerns about whether it will impact jobs, right? We saw this with the advent of the internet and everything thereafter. I think that there's a lot of opportunity actually with AI in our industry, right? At the end of the day, we're people serving people and we're always gonna be people serving people. So hospitality, we our differentiator is that there's a face and a person who's there to provide support and assistance and make sure that your experience is exceptional, that's not gonna be taken away by AI.
But boy, if AI can figure out how to do scheduling around demand cycle, well now that, that's really cool, and that takes a lot of attention out of how you manage that from an operational side. So I actually think that there's a lot of upside to AI coming in and providing some efficiencies that we don't have now. But I don't think it will ever take away the role of people because that's what makes us our industry.
Steve Carran: I agree. Dynamic scheduling. We haven't heard that one on this podcast yet, but I love that idea.
David Millili: Yeah, that was great feedback.
Steve Carran: It's a good idea.
David Millili: They will be after this podcast, that's for sure. So, what are the top legislative or policy priorities that AHLA is focused on for this year?
Rosanna Maietta: So, you know, we have a multitude of priorities at the federal, state, and local level. And I think I would sum them up in a couple of sort of key things. One is we are gonna be focused on anything that is promoting our industry or protecting our industry, right? Whether that's, you know, joint employer type legislation at the federal side, or these patchwork of labor mandates that are impeding an owner's ability to manage his staff and his schedule based on demand bolstering our reputation as an industry, right? I still think that there are misperceptions about the good paying jobs, the quality of our jobs, the career pathways in our jobs, in our industry, and so wanting to make sure that always thinking about how do we ensure the industry's reputation is safeguarded, and then relentlessly telling our story around the country. We have such an incredible story to tell as an industry that is there to provide joy in shelter and everything in between, whether it's disaster relief and how we care for our people, our communities, and giving back.
And so telling our story to every legislator, lawmaker, and regulator is one of our top priorities. And through that, building a champion of networks because we need to have friends and not just when we need them. And so making sure that we're doing that at every level of government is so important.
Steve Carran: I love that. Well said. I feel like in the hospitality industry, we always hear about kind of the negative things like labor shortages and all that, but we don't talk about a lot of the great things that are going on in our industry right now. What are things happening in our industry right now that cause you to be really optimistic?
Rosanna Maietta: Oh, so many And I'll start with um, just a story I was recently, we spent a week of advocacy in, we have an advocacy week in Hawaii every year, not a bad place to be. But because Hawaii is so unique, right? They're so far from the mainland, they feel often sort of as their kind of own island, they are multiple islands, but their land is so special. Tourism is their main industry, and yet there's that tension between having more tourism and doing it well and doing it right, and what I saw there was our hoteliers, our general managers, owners of hotels are so invested in making sure that they are giving back to the community, that they're protecting the environment, that they're really working hand in glove with lawmakers there to make sure that we're doing smart tourism.
I also heard while I was there, so many stories of resilience around the time of the Maui fires just a couple of years ago, and how hoteliers came to support the families of their own employees by housing. All of them, especially those whose own homes had burned down, but also providing support to the community. They didn't wait to be asked. They didn't wait for the government to say, Hey, can you take this on? They were there. They just moved into action. And you see that time and time again around the country in stories big and small. And I think that's what gives me so much optimism and hope for our industry because at the end of the day, our hotels are anchors to every community. We're there to serve the local businesses and the local people. We provide a link to International travel to be sure, but we're really supporting our community. We give back with countless hours in donation and community service. And I think those are the things that you often, you don't read about in the headlines, but that's happening every day.
Steve Carran: Love that.
David Millili: Yeah. You hit on so many great points, but what's an overlooked story within the hotel industry or at AHLA that you think people should be talking about or more people should know about? 
Rosanna Maietta: Again, will go back to this theme of the American Dream, right? Because it is still the case that in our industry you can find the American dream by owning a hotel. You don't have to be a billionaire to do that. There's so many mom and pop stories and so many incredible stories of first generation immigrants who came to this country and bought a hotel, and they didn't know if it was gonna work, and then it did, and then they bought another one. But it's also that case for people who work in the industry. And I think those stories need to be told more. And if we do our job well at AHLA, I think that's how you're gonna fill that staffing shortage and you're gonna get more people invested in our industry because it does provide so much opportunity.
Steve Carran: I love that and I feel like you're almost living the American dream, right? You started as a reporter, now you're a CEO of one of the largest Hotel associations in America. So I think that's really cool. And kind of on that note, I would love to hear some advice from you that you might have to somebody from the younger generation who's looking to be maybe a C-level executive or a leader in hospitality.
Rosanna Maietta: Thank you for saying that. I certainly do pinch myself every day. I have the best job, and I love my job, and I think, like anything in life, you have to work hard. So I would say for sure there's blood, sweat, and tears in anything you do, especially if you wanna get ahead. But I think that in this industry there's so much opportunity and it's really just about curiosity. If take any hotel, there's endless jobs in one small hotel and so you could certainly start somewhere and end up somewhere else. And I think it's reminding people to say yes more say yes to that opportunity whether you are sure about it or not. Like sometimes we can overthink and close ourselves off to something that might be really fantastic.
Steve Carran: Great advice. Great advice. So we've been asking you questions this whole time, so now we're gonna turn the tables Rosanna and let you ask David and I.
Rosanna Maietta: I love it. I love asking questions. Okay. Question for both of you would be, you both get to talk to a lot of people in this industry. What do you think we're doing well and what do you think we could do better?
Steve Carran: I'll jump in. I think what we're doing well is that we're trying everybody is trying to take that next step and proceed. And I think everyone in hospitality is in hospitality for a reason. They wanna deal with people, they wanna make people feel comfortable.
David Millili: I think what we need to continue to do is to some of the things you touched on, make it more of a career, make sure people understand that it can be a career. And then also the adoption of technology and not fearing technology 'cause we tend to be an industry that is very, very slow on adoption of new technology that actually helps those people who are looking at hospitality as a career. So for me, I think making sure that people know it is a career, as you said, and also making sure that we're leveraging technology in the right way.
Steve Carran: David, I wish you would've just went with one of those, but that's all right. I'm right on the same page with David on this one. One thing I think we do well is I don't think we've lost our roots as far. As what hospitality is right? Even though technology changes, the internet has come along. We still know hospitality is based in human-to-human communication. But to David's point, I think there are things that can improve the guest experience that do correlate with new technologies that have come out. So I think kind of having that open mind of, hey, maybe we can use technology to increase the guest experience but not lose that human touch and be a little bit more, more open to that and that's kinda my 2 cents. So, David, I agree with you on that one, 
Rosanna Maietta: I love that you said sort of our roots in hospitality and we haven't lost that, and I think that's so important.
Steve Carran: Agree. Agree a hundred percent. So, Rosanna, this has been awesome, really great conversation. Our producer, Jon has been listening this whole time, so we're gonna kick it over to him for one last question before we get you outta here. 
Jon Bumhoffer: One of the things that you talked about that I love was the focus on community and how hotels are a part of their community and impact that. And I'm curious, what have you been seeing, um, now that you're back at AHLA and your time previous there and basically your whole experience that. What are hotels doing well, or what are some things that certain hotels are doing well within their communities that maybe we can all share around and others should adopt?
Rosanna Maietta: Sure. That's a great question. I mean, a couple of things, right? One, it's finding those partnership experiences, you know, the travel trend these days is an experience. You're seeing a lot more hotels looking within their community to find, you know, local musicians, local organic farmers, all of that. Business, smaller business to link back to their hotel and not just like in the menus they serve, but to bring them in and actually have tastings and doing things very creatively. So I think you're seeing a lot of that, and then the giving back, and I think there's a lot of charity happening that whether that is charity. Giving not just money and time, but looking for those partnerships with different organizations, you know, a group in Florida was connecting to the Boys and Girls Club and trying to find internships. And so linkages back to that sort of staffing and, you know, job shadows and those kinds of things where you are really introducing all these other groups to the hospitality as a potential place of work, I think is really interesting and giving back at the same time. So I think there you're seeing a lot of creativity, but partnering always with, you know, what's in front of them and what's right next door to them.
David Millili: That's great. Well, that does it for another episode of The Modern Hotelier. This is where you get to let people know how they can reach out to you and how they can find out more about AHLA? 
Rosanna Maietta: ahla.com for more information on the organization or ahlafoundation.org for more information on our website. And through those, you'll be able to find a way to connect with me directly.
David Millili: Alright. That's great. Well, that does it for another episode of The Modern Hotelier, the Most engaged podcast in hospitality. Whether you're watching or listening, we appreciate you and hope to be again with you soon. Thank you so much for joining us.
Steve Carran: Thank you.