Hotelier/ Billionaire Philanthropist Jonathan Tisch: What A Hospitality Recovery Requires

Few could have a better read on the hospitality and travel industry’s current state and future prospects than Jonathan Tisch, the chairman and CEO of Loews Hotels & Co., a 27-property group of luxury hotels in North America.

Tisch, a mensch-about-town from a famously philanthropic New York family, is the architect of Loew’s Good Neighbor Policy, a community outreach program that “addresses issues ranging from hunger relief and literacy to green practices and the arts” on a hotel-by-hotel, community by community basis.

Tisch’s involvement in issues affecting hospitality industry extends well outside of his position at Loews, as chairman emeritus of the United States Travel Association and, in the post-9/11 era, as chairman of New York Rising, which was dedicated to rebooting New York tourism. Tisch, who also co-owns the New York Giants, is the co-author of three books on topics ranging from hospitality principles to community involvement.  

Micah Solomon, senior contributor, Forbes; customer service and hospitality consultant and author: Clearly the situation is changing by the hour, but is it possible to predict when daylight might be seen in your industry?

Jonathan Tisch, chairman and CEO, Loews Hotels & Co: Our industry continues to face a very difficult moment in our history. Our sector has never seen such damage, for such an extended period of time, to the underpinning of what we do for a living. In that sense, it’s worse than the aftermath of 9/11, the fiscal downturn in ’07/’08, the various storms… There is no business travel. There is no international travel. There are no group meetings. All of this makes it difficult for anybody to say that business will be better by such and such a date.

The economic pain is dragging down small businesses as well as large.

Solomon: And from what I’m seeing, it’s dragging down all sizes of operation; even when there’s a marquee name on the sign above the front door, the actual owner could be a local businessperson or family.

Tisch: Exactly. Many of the hotels and smaller lodging operations are owned, not by the biggest names in corporate America, but by mom and pops, by small businesses, and they’re having a very difficult time keeping up with their interest payments, paying the property taxes; paying the energy costs; paying other expenses related to a hotel.  

Solomon: I know you didn’t give me a date for recovery, but can you give me some kind of “if X happens then Y” timeline?

Tisch: Our sense is that if we can get the [Covid] numbers under control, if the distribution of a vaccine is done in an efficient manner to all 50 states, and if there are liability protections put in through our elected officials, we think that by next summer, by Q2 or Q3, things should start to improve.

Looking to “Amtrak Joe” [Biden]’s administration to support science, infrastructure, and business travel.

Solomon: What’s the role of government in all this?  Certainly not you, but other hotel owners and hoteliers whom I’ve encountered over the years, seem to enjoy railing against government intervention–“don’t make us pay sick leave, don’t this, don’t that”–– but the current situation certainly seems to call for some centralized assistance and coordination… 

Tisch: First off, science: At a national level, the hope is that the Biden administration will certainly understand the science side of this. Second, stimulus: They will understand that we need more stimulus to help the men and women in our industry. They will understand that eventually we are going to need a path forward to stimulate travel, and that might be done through the tax code, of putting in a tax credit for traveling, of increasing the amount of the business meal deduction to stimulate travel. And then there’s infrastructure: Remember that our president’s nickname is Amtrak Joe.

Here’s an individual [Biden] who understands the rail system, and the rail system is just one piece of infrastructure. And from everything that we’re hearing, this president-elect and this incoming administration will focus on infrastructure, and infrastructure means rebuilding the rail system. Infrastructure means rebuilding highways. Infrastructure means rebuilding airports. And that’s good for the travel industry.

Can luxury touches survive “touchless hospitality”?

Solomon: I wrote a book called The Heart of Hospitality with assists from hospitality legends like Herve Humler [the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company], Isadore Sharp [Four Seasons–the hotels, not the landscaping outfit!], Danny Meyer [Union Square Hospitality Group]. (And I’m hoping for your contributions to Edition II.)  

And a lot of what we go into involves literally or figuratively adding additional touches. And now we’re in a situation where people are understandably skeeved out about any touches–handshakes, sharing the same air, etc. Do you have any thoughts on luxury hospitality and the concept, which seems maybe contradictory to it, of “no-touch hospitality “–are the two in fact contradictory, and, if so, what are we going to do about that?

Tisch: At the heart of hospitality is the notion of making people feel comfortable, making people feel welcome and keeping them safe and secure. There are ways to make comfortable in this pandemic world that we live in. To make people feel safe and secure, you can make them feel comfortable with fewer touch points. And what you’re seeing is that most hospitality companies are going to touchless experiences, through check-in checkout, through opening the door to your room, to ordering room service. That’s all evolving, but it is still all about the experience–whatever the hotel of the future ultimately looks like. I believe that it’s still going to be a space where people feel comfortable, certainly where they feel safe and where our team members are always available and there to be asking, “Is there anything I can get you? Thank you for visiting. Please get home safely.”