How M&R’s Hotels Are Strategizing for the Near and Long Term
As autumn approaches, the hospitality industry already is looking ahead to 2025, with hotels across the M&R portfolio refining their sales strategies to capitalize on future opportunities.
According to industry market reports, New York City's hospitality sector is expected to fully recover from the COVID-19 pandemic by mid-2025, thanks to growing tourism, business travelers and international visitors.
Demand is forecast to grow, especially in the group segment. Several M&R sales leaders shared their insights for capitalizing on revenue opportunities.
Dayle Nuzzolese, senior business transient sales manager at the Fairfield New York/Manhattan Central Park, said group bookings continue to grow, adding, they are “not quite at pre-pandemic levels but are coming back and trending in a great direction.”
Among his successful sales initiatives, Dayle forged a relationship with New York’s Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts that led to an exclusive hotel partnership targeting performance and theater attendees. Thanks to Dayle’s efforts, the hotel’s logo appeared on Lincoln Center’s programs, merchandise and website promoting the center’s Summer for the City event and BAAND Together Dance Festival.
Leveraging affiliations and building relationships is key, he said. In addition to networking at Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association International and Global Business Travel Association events, he interacts with clients at the hotel’s Wine Down Wednesdays and other themed events, which he credits with helping to build relationships.
Attending events helps ensure that clients “know who you are” and “keep you in the back of their minds,” he said. “Those are the kinds of things that really go a long way with people. It’s important to be aggressive, but not too aggressive. Just be yourself.”
M&R veteran Richard Keating, director of sales at the Holiday Inn New York City – Times Square and adjunct instructor at New York University’s Jonathan M. Tisch Center of Hospitality, said the city is poised for continued success, due in large part to the expected return of international travelers in greater numbers next year and beyond.
One reason is the FIFA World Cup 26, billed as the “world's premier international football competition” – soccer to Americans -- which will be hosted by New York along with 15 other cities in Canada, Mexico, and the United States. The World Cup is expected to bring a surge in hotel bookings and international travelers.
“I think 2025 will be a good year,” said Richard, “New York is an international destination, and everybody wants to come here. None of us have a crystal ball, but for all intents and purposes, 2025 seems to be projected as the year where we gain parity with 2019, and perhaps surpass it, because the international traveler will be that extra additive that will push us over.”
Chevelle Campbell, director of sales & marketing for the past five years at the Hilton Garden Inn New York Times Square South, expressed cautious optimism, saying, “The overall outlook for the hotel sector in the coming year is one of modest but steady growth with rates softening a little bit. We’re leveling off for 2025, which I think we'll be on pace or at par with 2024.”
In addition to participating in seasonal travel promotions with New York City Tourism + Conventions (formerly NYC & Company), Chevelle keeps a close eye on daily news and happenings that might impact business, from weather reports and airline news to companies newly locating in the city.
Four years later, New York hotels are still rebuilding their businesses in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, which “did a number on the market,” she said. Some travel partners are gone and new players have come into the picture, she said, adding, “It’s important to maintain close relationships with existing clients as well as generating new leads and contacts.”
Ciera Bush, sales manager at the Comfort Inn Prospect Park – Brooklyn, stressed the importance of measuring “how different actions will affect your numbers, so you can choose the right path forward to hit your goal.”
Ciera checks in with groups that stayed at the same time in previous years. “This gives you a lead way because these groups are already familiar with your hotel, which can make the sale even smoother,” she said, adding that it’s important to leverage the hotel’s CRM system to boost productivity and efficiency.
“I believe NYC will always be a place people will never stop visiting,” Ciera said. “I do see the business coming back slowly but surely. “We just have to keep promoting our great city!”
