Interview: Loews Hotels CEO Jonathan Tisch

BTN this month inducted Loews Hotels CEO Jonathan Tisch into the Business Travel Hall of Fame, not only for his stewardship of the hotel chain but also, more importantly, for his advocacy for the travel industry. Tisch recently spoke with BTN's David Meyer as part of BTN's Vision: 2020 project about the hotel industry and the consequences of neglecting U.S. travel infrastructure. An edited transcript follows.

What would be the consequence if we don't improve our travel infrastructure by 2020?

The consequence of us not working through public-private partnerships with the industry and government will be loss of revenue to many cities and destinations in the United States and consequently a loss of jobs. The Partnership for New York City did a study of congestion and delays currently at the three New York City airports, [which] cost the economy in the region $2.6 billion. Cumulatively, if we take this out to 2025, the estimates are a loss of $79 billion, which would mean 5,600 full-time jobs that would not be created. The connection between our industry still being a vehicle for job creation and economic development due to increased travel and the ability to attract more inbound international travel and create jobs is a very strong link.

The corollary to that is if we continue to have airports and roadways that cause business not to be done or frustrate travelers from coming to the country in the first place, then we will not create jobs.

Where do you start?

Look at what other countries are doing. In addition to spending hundreds of millions of dollars on advertising, marketing and public relations, they are building new airports and high-speed links from the airports to their central business districts. And it's effective. Unfortunately, we're not doing that. If we're going to stay competitive, as an international destination, we have to work on public-private partnerships to improve the infrastructure.

We should acknowledge that progress is being made in lots of areas. We are working with the State Department on speeding up the turnaround time on a visa application if a traveler is coming from a country that is not part of the Visa Waiver Program. We are adding to the number of countries in the Visa Waiver Program. Through Brand USA, we are starting to spend some dollars to educate travelers that the United States is a great destination. And the global travel marketplace continues to expand. There are more first-time travelers than ever before, and we have to be ready for them in how we greet them, and what happens to them once they are in this country so that when they go home they've had a seamless, frictionless travel experience.

Do you think there is the political will to spend the large amount of money needed?

Once we can get through the current partisan conversations that are taking place, I do think that there's hope. People are acknowledging that the government isn't going to write this check by themselves. We have to create true public-private partnerships to accomplish these lofty goals.

In New York City, the Port Authority is spending lots of money with private-sector partners, and we're rebuilding the terminals at LaGuardia. In Chicago, Mayor Rahm Emanuel has a $7 billion program including private capital to “rebuild Chicago.”

That's the model that needs to be used.

When you look at changes in technology with mobile leading the way, what do you expect to see?

The one change that as hoteliers we need to always monitor is what will happen to group business. The group side of our industry has not returned as robustly as transient travel. Certainly on the transient side, all signs are positive. Our industry has a history of overbuilding when business is strong. Currently it appears we are not adding oversupply; demand is keeping up with supply.

Meanwhile, will you find ways to use the new technology to your advantage?

As a smaller competitor, we have to decide how much to invest in new technologies that are changing so rapidly. By this time next year we'll have 21 hotels, but it's hard for us to see where the big technology changes are and spend a lot of money, and then in a year or two there's a new way of doing business or a new technology that usurps what we've invested in.

Will travel agencies become more or less important as hotel product distributors?

Certainly there are always going to be new ways technologically for companies to distribute their product, but travel managers will always play a role and travel agents will always play a role. Maybe even more so. Maybe there's too much information and access through the Internet and people will want help in making decisions and in negotiating. That's why I do believe that third parties who can assist in the travel experience are going to be needed in the future.

This report originally appeared in the Dec. 16, 2013, edition of Business Travel News.