Cornell Chronicle: Hotels thrive even in the age of Airbnb

Arthur Adler ’78, chair of the Americas division of Jones Lang LaSalle’s (JLL) Hotels & Hospitality Group, gave the keynote address at the Cornell Hospitality Research Summit hosted by the School of Hotel Administration and the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business on October 5–7.

In his address on how disruption drives innovation in the hospitality, Adler said companies, such Airbnb, hotels.com, and WeWork, are forcing the hospitality industry to rethink their business models.

The result has been adaption and innovation, he said. New products have entered the marketplace and many hotel operators have changed the way they do business. Some, for example, have eliminated food service and entered into licensing agreements with pizza places or coffee bars to operate on their properties while others have significantly enlivened their public spaces with amenities like rooftop bars or common areas where people can work, read, and collaborate, with 24-hour Internet access and coffee service.

“Owners with a profit motive and a value-enhancement motive are helping hotel companies think about what is the right model for their real estate,” said Adler. “That has been a healthy outside influence on these industries.”

Adler also predicted that the next 25 years would be a “golden age” for the lodging, travel, and hospitality sectors. He pointed to baby boomers with discretionary income who are traveling more—alone and with their families—and said that as the developing economies in China and India and other countries continue to expand, their middle classes will also travel more.

The fourth annual summit, which was held in Statler Hall, brought together industry representatives and academics to talk about research on opportunities in the era of disruption, with in-depth presentations from scholars and practitioners.

Read the full article about Arthur Adler’s address at the Cornell Hospitality Research Summit in the Cornell Chronicle.