About Benjamin Tisch
In April 2021, Tisch described the recovery in the lodging industry as "a bit uneven," noting that resorts and high-end luxury properties were performing well while business travel, meetings, and international travel remained "problematic." He stated that Loews Hotels was "strongly encouraging" team members to get vaccinated and that the company was offering an extra day off as an incentive for those who became fully vaccinated. Tisch also said he was "very much pro-vaccination" and had received his first shot in December 2020. He mentioned that the company was in discussions with the Biden administration about reopening borders and avoiding mixed messaging, citing a discrepancy between State Department and CDC travel advisories.
By November 2021, Tisch said the business was "coming back" with strong numbers in most markets, though he noted it would take time to return to 2019 levels. He attributed hiring difficulties to factors including the "Amazon effect" in some markets, where fulfillment centers offered higher wages, and said the company was offering incentives such as benefits for referring family members. Tisch stated that wages were rising on a market-driven basis and that the company was raising room rates where demand allowed. He expressed optimism about the return of business travel, citing JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon's view that it would resume, and said that while the timeline was uncertain, the industry would eventually return to accustomed levels.
Source: AI-verified profile updated from Benjamin Tisch's recent appearances.
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Transcript (8 segments)
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Benjamin Tisch0:11
It was going to be more abundant for decades to come. The Amazon effect in many markets where we have hotels, as do our competitors, Amazon comes in with a fulfillment center, they're paying people a lot of money. Everything that you can think of is making it difficult for us to hire people, but we try to make it easier. We give incentives to team members that are part of our group already. If you bring in a family member, we give the ability to have great benefits. So we're trying in a lot of markets. It's a challenge, and what we're also seeing is it's difficult on middle managers and senior managers of our hotels and organization because we're asking them to do more, and it's a lot of pressure. But we're going to work our way through this. The business is coming back. We're seeing strong numbers. It will take some time to get back to 2019 levels, but we're getting there.
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Interviewer1:14
In terms of wages, how much are they having to go up right now?
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Benjamin Tisch1:18
It depends on the market. Everything is competitive, everything is market driven. But they are going up, and we're trying to keep an eye on things, but we also need to get back to fuller staffing levels.
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Interviewer1:29
And in terms of being able to pass those costs on to customers?
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Benjamin Tisch1:32
The pricing on our overnight room these days has gone up as well. What we're seeing, Andrew, is five-star, four-star, five-star resorts are very strong in terms of the ability to raise prices. The competitive nature of less business travel in central business district hotels during the week is not allowing that.
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Interviewer2:11
And what's your sense long term, if you know, a year from now, in terms of what business travel looks like? Is it back to 2019 levels? I remember Bill Gates about a year ago saying the pandemic's changed everything to the point where business travel is going to be cut in half.
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Benjamin Tisch2:25
Well, you mentioned the NYU conference, which will start Sunday night and Monday morning CEO panel. That is moderated by your colleague Sarah Eisen. At lunch on Monday, I'm having a conversation with Jamie Dimon. Jamie Dimon feels differently. Jamie Dimon feels that business travel is going to resume. We are optimistic. Will it be a year, two years? Can't really tell, but people are more comfortable. Our hotels are busy. I was at Loews Miami Beach Hotel yesterday for a meeting. We had a conference in-house. It was full. People were doing business.
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Shepard Smith3:11
Shepard Smith here. Thanks for watching CNBC on YouTube.
