The C Suite Update At The Lodging Conference
The Lodging Conference 2026 ran from Monday 5 October to Thursday 8 October at the JW Marriott Phoenix Desert Ridge Resort and Spa in Phoenix, Arizona. The C Suite Update Part I general session sat on the Tuesday morning at 9:00 a.m. and ran to 9:45 a.m., sponsored by Hyatt Hotels Corporation.
Rachel Humphrey, founder of the Women in Hospitality Leadership Alliance, moderated the session. The panel was Omer Acar, chief executive officer of Raffles Hotels & Resorts and Fairmont Hotels & Resorts; Greg Friedman, managing principal and chief executive officer of Peachtree Group; Justin Knight, chief executive officer of Apple Hospitality REIT, Inc.; Craig S. Smith, chief executive officer of Aimbridge Hospitality; and Shai Zelering, managing partner of the Real Estate Group at Brookfield.
Knight Opens On The Market
Knight set the tone for the hour. "While industry fundamentals are arguably the best they've been in a decade, we still have work to do," he said.
He returned to the transaction market. "There's still a lot of people who want to get transactions done," Knight said. "I think the comment earlier about urgency is a real one, especially in an environment where things are getting materially better very quickly. I think you still have a little bit of a bid-ask spread between buyers and sellers that is yet to be fully bid up."
Friedman And Zelering Read The Trading Environment
Friedman gave the moment a positive read and named talent as the gap. "I think overall, this is a great time to be in the business," he said. "It's a great time to shore up. It's a great time to build, go back and build talent, which is another thing that the industry is really lacking. So overall, we're sitting in a decent place right now."
Zelering read the year and the rate environment. "It's been a very good year, both from a transaction perspective and fundamentals," he said. "Overall, we're in a very constructive environment." He reached back over the longer record on rates. "If you look between 1970 and 1995, interest rates were much higher than they are today," Zelering said. "So, on a relative basis, relative to the past 20 years, they're higher, but they're still constructive."
Luxury Demand And The Owner-Brand Relationship
Acar answered on where luxury guests put their money. "The short answer is experience," he said. "We sell an experience, how we make that feel instead of what they get as a service. Growth and differentiation for a brand, they are not competing priorities. You can have disciplined growth, but you can also differentiate the brand."
Zelering tied the luxury line to the guest experience. "Luxury will remain there just because the high-net-worth cohort is growing, and people are seeking experiences," he said. "You don't get luxury because of the logo on the building; you really have to focus on the experience itself."
Acar turned the panel toward franchisees. "Understanding their financing issues, understanding of the performance issues, and let's look at ourselves," he said. "What can we do first before we can ask others to do? The brand was always looked at as a standards enforcer, let's be realistic. But I think owners are paying us also to find ways we can create uniqueness."
Knight said brand profitability and owner profitability have trended differently over the past decade. "Brands are coming to the table to get to where we need to be," he said. "There will be hard decisions that impact short-term profitability potentially, but drive long-term help for the business overall."
AI Holds The Largest Share Of The Hour
Smith gave AI the widest frame of the session. "It's the second greatest change in the industry in 30 years," he said. "So, digital was the first one. AI is going to be the next greatest change." He listed the ground already covered. "You can use AI in forecasts. You can use AI in models for labor management."
He moved to readiness. "Are you ready as a hotel? Do you have descriptors out there, or do you have a very boxy website that just says, 'I have a pool,'" Smith said. "The descriptors on your hotel need to be, and they can be, built with AI bots, and you've got to get them out there." He closed on the stake for operators. "The brands, the operators, and the hotel owners, we can't wait for this. We have to figure out, where does everybody put their flag down, and where do we help to win in the space?"
Acar brought a live example from his own group. Fairmont has "launched an AI concierge for all Accor properties, 6,000 hotels worldwide," he said. "We believe that once you own the guest journey, then you have a real competitive advantage." Accor announced ALL Concierge on 24 September 2026 and puts the group at more than 5,800 hotels and resorts. The tool runs in 11 languages across ALL.com, the ALL Accor app, WhatsApp and iMessage. Fairmont runs its own Travel Concierge at nine flagship properties.
Friedman tied the AI build-out to property capital. "There's so much capital flowing to AI, and as it relates to real estate, it's data centers," he said. "About a third of the new capital coming into real estate is going to data centers."
The Event Around The Session
The Lodging Conference's own FAQ states that over 3,000 hotel owners and executives attended this past year and calls the event the largest hotel development conference in the world. The same page records more than 36,000 executives across 30 years.
LODGING Magazine dates the edition as the 31st and published the session write-up on 7 October 2026. The conference agenda carries a second general session, C Suite Update Part II, at 9:50 a.m. with Glenn Haussman moderating.