Ed Brock is an award-winning journalist who has worked for various U.S. newspapers and magazines, including with American City & County magazine, a national publication based in Atlanta focused on city and county government issues. He is currently assistant editor at Asian Hospitality magazine, the top U.S. publication for Asian American hoteliers.
Originally from Mobile, Alabama, Ed began his career in journalism in the early 1990s as a reporter for a chain of weekly newspapers in Baldwin County, Alabama. After a stint teaching English in Japan, Ed returned to the U.S. and moved to the Atlanta area where he returned to journalism, coming to work at Asian Hospitality in 2016.
HUNDREDS OF RED Roof franchisees gathered for the company’s 2021 regional meeting in Dallas. It was part of a “Look & Listen” tour for Red Roof’s newly appointed President George Limbert, and it provided a snapshot of the company’s future.
Limbert and other company executives addressed the crowd of hotel owners during the conference at the Gaylord Texan Resort & Convention Center. Topics included updates on the company’s new HomeTowne Studios prototype, launched in August during the 2021 AAHOA Convention & Trade Show, that the company said is more cost-effective to develop with improved operational efficiency.
For Limbert, who was appointed in August, it was another opportunity to meet the people he serves in order to chart Red Roof’s course in the post pandemic hospitality marketplace.
Look & Listen
Limbert said he went to 11 properties during a visit to Atlanta for the Red Roof regional meeting there the week before the Dallas event. He planned to visit 12 more during his time in Texas.
“I'm a people person. I love people. I love learning their stories. I love hearing their origins stories, I love hearing about franchisees,” Limbert said. “We've got such resilient franchisees. We started outperforming 2019 numbers in April of 2021. So, our recovery wasn't now, it wasn't the summer, it was in April, so our brand is resilient, our brand is doing great.”
The company’s operations team has reached out to 95 percent of the more than 660 properties in the Red Roof system to check on owners’ needs. However, Limbert said he needs to see their status first hand.
“I'm a professor at Ohio State's law school, and I teach franchise law. The first thing I tell my students is you have to listen to your franchisees,” Limbert said.
Limbert has no intention of letting the company rest on the laurels of its strong pandemic performance.
“We want to grow RevPAR in 2022, to over 2021 numbers,” he said. “The recovery has already happened for us. Now, it's about where do we go as a brand? And how do we move this thing forward? And what do we do to continue to help our customers and their experience and help our franchisees?”
The Look & Listen tour has already given Limbert an idea of what franchisees want to see happen with the company.
“It's about growth, it's about distribution,” he said. “Red Roof, and Hometown Studios has a ton of green space, all throughout the country, just a ton of territories open. And, and so growing the core Red Roof Inn brand is a key piece to our strategy. But, of course, this new construction Hometown Studios prototype, the extended stay market is, is really great. It's been great. It was great during COVID. It's been great during 2020 21. And we expect it to do really well in 2022. So those two growth levers are going to be huge for us.”
The new Hometown Studios prototype also was a hot topic during the Dallas conference. It is a concept born from lessons learned during the recent economic shutdown.
Fitting it in the box
Redesigning the company’s extended-stay brand came about after Red Roof, like the rest of the industry, saw the need to make a shift to compensate for increases in supplies and labor costs for new builds, said Matt Hostetler, Red Roof’s chief development officer.
“We as leaders, including our board, took a look at the prototype and said, ‘We need to think inside the box. And we needed to make some changes to the prototype to make it a little more efficient, more cost effective, and bringing the per key costs down so we can continue the growth of the brand,” Hostetler said.
The team went into detail with the new design, said Michael Sharp, vice president of design and construction
“Instead of thinking outside the box, we had to think inside the box,” Sharp said. “What can we do to this prototype? How can we cut construction costs? What can we do? Basically, if it's not income generating square footage, when needed for operations, we took it out. We went back and revised all of the engineering inside and out to say, what do we do to this prototype to make it pencil out? You know, is it feasible to build is the return on your investment?”
They included input from the owners of the 67 Hometown Studios already in operation.
“I talked to those folks that are in there operating Hometown Studios,” Sharp said. “Then we went out and we hired a design build team, that are folks that are out there actually drawing and building extended-stay properties. We reverse engineered, we value engineered it and said this is where we need to build this per key.”
They winnowed the development cost down to around $65,000 a key. The first two properties using the new design are expected to open in Florida in the first quarter of 2023. The first five sites are all identified in Florida.
For Limbert, one of the best things he’d seen at the Dallas show and on his tour was the rise of the second generation of Asian American hoteliers.
The next generation
He was particularly happy to see long-time Red Roof franchisee Asvin Patel, owner of AA Hospitality in Bellmawr, New Jersey, had brought his daughter Mayuri to the Dallas meeting.
“Red Roof has always prided itself on being a brand that women can come and own and operate in,” Limbert said. “Seeing the second generation, the daughters come to the table, with their ideas, with their thoughts, that's just been so gratifying and so interesting for me to hear and learn.”
The younger generation will do things differently, Limbert said.
"Of course, the next generation is more about embracing technology,” he said. “And, seeing what kind of things we can do as a brand, to help them operate their hotels, they want to see their property on their iPhone, they want to see the performance, they want to change rates, they want to do all that.”
Asvin began bringing Mayuri and her brother, Alpesh, into the business when Mayuri was 18.
Long-time Red Roof franchisee Asvin Patel, owner of AA Hospitality in Bellmawr, New Jersey, brought his daughter Mayuri to the Dallas meeting. Mayuri and her brother, Alpesh Patel, will take over the business in December after their father retires.
I told her and my son once or twice a week I want you to run the front desk,” he said. “My son asked why, and I said, here are three reasons why. If something happens to me, your mother will need help. If something happens to your mother, I get another wife and you're out forever. Third thing, the worst thing is, if something happens to both of us, my partners will eat you alive. So, you should know what's coming.”
The family received their CHA certifications together. Now Mayuri and Alpesh are poised to take over the business full time by December. They have two hotels now but are planning to expand.
“I've been working in the background as the CFO for one of the other brands that we own,” she said. “So, we're taking over, but I have had years of experience just in the background.”
Things will be done a little differently, Mayuri said.
“Because of my financial background, I'm able to optimize things,” she said. “And I speak several languages that are necessary. So, whereas they have difficulty communicating with the housekeeping staff, which is predominantly Hispanic, I went in and I had a whole meeting with them in Spanish.”
THE HOSPITALITY WOMEN’S Innovation Council recently joined as the 34th member of the Women in Hospitality Leadership Alliance to support women and underserved communities across the industry. The council will encourage women to take part in the messaging, programs and initiatives shared by all WHLA groups.
WHLA was founded in 2021 as a consortium of organizations working to advance women in hospitality.
“The alliance is the flagship organization promoting women across the hotel industry, and the council is thrilled to join their ranks as the latest group helping to build bridges across the hospitality tech landscape,” said Georgine Muntz, Visual Matrix’s CEO. “Through collaboration and ongoing contact, the council has helped create a groundswell of support for women’s growth and development across hospitality tech, and alongside the alliance, we plan to continue escalating the conversation until our industry is as innovative and efficient as we all know it can be.”
HWIC, formed in 2023 with support from Visual Matrix, addresses hotel challenges and promotes collaboration across tech roles and stakeholders, the duo said in a statement. The council includes executives from hotel companies, technology developers, AHLA’s ForWard members and others.
Rachel Humphrey, WHLA’s founder and chair, said they have actively participated in the rapid development of the Women’s Innovation Council.
“We are excited to formally welcome them to the alliance, help amplify their efforts, and foster collaboration among all the organizations,” she said. “Together, we are stronger, and the entire hotel industry benefits.”
WHLA and CJ Media Solutions will offer quarterly media training for participating organizations, led by media and PR professionals across interviews, videos, podcasts, and panels. In August, WHLA launched an interactive speaker directory featuring over 700 senior-level women experts.
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GENDER EQUALITY REMAINS a distant goal, with full parity projected to take approximately 134 years to achieve worldwide, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s latest report. Despite increased female workforce participation, women hold only 32 percent of senior leadership roles globally.
White men continue to hold the highest-paying jobs in the U.S., while women occupy just 10 percent of top corporate roles like CEO, COO, and CFO, the report said. The share of women directors in S&P 500 companies reached a record 34 percent last year, but progress in U.S. board representation slowed. In S&P 100 companies, C-suite women fell to 11.8 percent in 2023 from 12.2 percent in 2022.
Women are buying homes at more than twice the rate of men, yet employed women in the U.S. earned just 83 cents for every dollar men made last year, JPMorgan Chase said, citing unadjusted Payscale data.
The report found that the U.S. gender pay gap widens with age. Among workers aged 16 to 24, women earn about 8 percent less than men. The gap expands to 16 percent for prime-age workers. The pay gap widens further to 22 percent for women aged 55 to 64 and 27 percent for those 65 and older.
Despite some progress, the global gender gap across 146 countries remains largely unchanged in 2024, with 68.5 percent closed, factoring in economic and political participation, education, and health, the report said.
Closing the global gender gap by 2030 will require $360 billion in annual investment, JPMorgan Chase said, citing U.N. estimates.
The report noted that the persistent gender pay gap highlights systemic inequalities and the need for ongoing efforts toward pay equity. At the current pace, global gender equality won’t be achieved until the 22nd century, meaning a girl born today would wait until her 97th birthday, surpassing life expectancy in every country, to see full parity.
However, some trends are positive, with prime-age female labor force participation rising to 65.7 percent, surpassing pre-pandemic levels, and women in the U.S. job market reaching a record high.
JPMorgan Chase also noted that women are making “significant strides” in homeownership, with single women buying homes at more than twice the rate of single men despite facing higher mortgage rejection rates.
In September, Belvera Partner found that women make up only 15.6 percent of leaders in the B2B travel technology sector, based on an analysis of top CEOs and industry figures.
Mary Beth Cutshall is the new chief growth officer at Vision Hospitality Group. In this role, she will oversee the expansion of the company’s U.S. hotel portfolio.
“With 35 years of hospitality experience across sales, marketing, acquisitions, and business growth, Mary Beth is the perfect candidate to lead Vision’s growth into new markets and segments with new partners,” said Patel. “She has worked at all levels of the industry—from property-level sales to C-suite positions with major hotel management companies—providing her with invaluable industry insights and meaningful relationships with brands, owners, operators, and virtually every other hotel stakeholder. Mary Beth shares Vision’s purpose-driven mentality, and we have no doubt she will help us achieve our expansion goals.”
Most recently, Cutshall was managing partner and founder of Amara Capital Group, a hospitality and multifamily real estate consultancy and investment firm operating in the U.S. and Europe, Vision said in a statement. Before that, she held multiple corporate roles at Hospitality Ventures Management Group, rising to executive vice president and chief development officer. In that role, she led expansion efforts, overseeing acquisitions, new development and third-party management relationships.
Cutshall said she was immediately drawn to Vision’s values and goals.
“Having known or worked with many of the team members in the past, this was an obvious choice for me,” she said. “As I develop and foster new strategic partnerships to help Vision achieve its growth objectives, I also look forward to mentoring the next generation of talent as they take their next career steps.”
Additionally, Cutshall was corporate director of business development at Hotel Equities, Inc. and held sales and marketing roles at Hotel Investors Trust and Marriott International. A founding member and vice chair of the Castell Project board, she now serves on Marriott’s Women Serving Women council and AHLA’s ForWARD: Advancing Women in Hospitality.
In January, AHLA named Mitch Patel its 2025 board chairman and Anu Saxena, Hilton Supply Management president and global head, chair of the AHLA Foundation Board of Trustees.
Who Is Marissa Mayer, Hilton’s New 2025 Board Member?
MARISSA MAYER, FORMER Yahoo! president and CEO, has been nominated to Hilton Worldwide Holdings' board. If elected, she will succeed longtime director Judith McHale, who plans to retire at this year’s annual meeting in May.
She is currently CEO of Sunshine Products, a startup she co-founded in 2018 that develops consumer apps for automating daily tasks, Hilton said in a statement.
“Hilton’s board of directors has long benefitted from a seasoned team with the right background and experiences to help continue driving the company forward,” said Jon Gray, Hilton’s chairman of the board of directors. “We look forward to welcoming Marissa Mayer given her extensive consumer and technology expertise in a time when new technologies are presenting a wide array of opportunities for companies to grow.”
Gray said Marissa’s track record as a technology innovator, entrepreneur and Fortune 500 CEO makes her well-suited to support Hilton in its next chapter of growth.
Before Yahoo, Mayer, a software engineer by training, was a top Google executive leading Google Search and Google Maps, the statement said. She led Yahoo! from 2012 to 2017, overseeing acquisitions and a corporate downsizing before stepping down after Verizon's acquisition of its core internet business. She also serves on the boards of AT&T, Walmart and Nextdoor Holdings.
McHale, 77, is a former Discovery Communications CEO and served as under secretary of state for public diplomacy and public affairs from 2009 to 2011 under President Obama, the statement said. A Hilton board member since 2013, she has chaired its compensation committee since 2018.
Gray called McHale an exemplary board member during her nearly 12 years with Hilton.
“She has been a steady voice and strong leader on the Audit and Compensation committees, and we are grateful for her many contributions,” Gray said.
Hilton, with more than 8,400 properties in 140 countries, reported $505 million in fourth-quarter 2024 net income and $1.54 billion for the year, with systemwide comparable RevPAR up 3.5 percent on higher occupancy and ADR.
Amanda Hite Honored with 2025 Shatterproof Hospitality Hero Award at ALIS
Amanda Hite, STR president, recently won the 2025 Shatterproof Hospitality Hero Award at the Americas Lodging Investment Summit in Los Angeles for her efforts to raise awareness of substance use disorder and end addiction stigma. She is the seventh recipient and the first woman to receive the award.
Meanwhile, more than 70 hospitality companies raised $2.1 million to support Shatterproof’s efforts to improve substance use disorder treatment in healthcare, Shatterproof said in a statement.
“I am honored to receive this award, but more importantly, to help raise critical support for Shatterproof and the transformational work they are doing,” Hite said. “STR is proud to collaborate with Shatterproof as they lead the way in advocating for people with substance use disorder, their families and the communities this disease impacts.”
STR, a CoStar Group firm, tracks hotel performance metrics and helps industry leaders analyze market trends.
After the reception, Hite joined industry leaders, including Geoff Ballotti, Wyndham Hotels & Resorts' president and CEO; Paul Daly, Hyatt Hotels Corp.'s global head of franchise and owner relations; Julienne Smith, IHG Hotels & Resorts' chief development officer; and Gary Mendell, Shatterproof's founder and CEO, for a panel on next steps for the industry.
Hite announced an annual partnership with Shatterproof, Ballotti named Shatterproof a featured charity at the 2025 Wyndham Global Conference, Daly reaffirmed Hyatt’s commitment to a safe environment for those recovering from addiction and Smith announced the rollout of Shatterproof’s Just Five educational platform later this year. Smith closed the panel with a personal donation.
Mendell, former HEI Hotels & Resorts chairman and co-founder, lost his son Brian to addiction in 2011 and said he is inspired by the hospitality industry's support.
“Substance use disorder is a largely preventable disease, and it is through the generous support and awareness efforts of the hospitality industry that we will be able to reduce stigma and increase the number of policy changes and treatment resources to end this crisis,” he said. “They are the first industry that has really moved the needle as an industry with regard to Shatterproof. Each year, they get more involved and are going beyond sponsoring the event—they are working to educate and provide resources to their employees, customers, and communities.”
According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration, restaurant and hotel employees have the highest substance use rates in the U.S. workforce. Substance use disorders impact not just employees and their families but also cost businesses billions annually in healthcare, absenteeism, and lost productivity.
Since 2016, the hospitality industry has raised more than $9.6 million for Shatterproof at ALIS events, the statement said. This year, top hospitality brands pledged to adopt Shatterproof’s Just Five employee education program. Industry partners also support Shatterproof’s Walks to End Addiction Stigma, the nation’s largest event series for substance use disorder.
The 2025 Shatterproof Hospitality Heroes Committee includes:
James Burba and Jeff Higley, Burba Hotel Network
Paul Whetsell, CapStar Hotel Company's chairman
Clark Hanrattie, Anthony Rutledge, and Greg Mendell, HEI Hotels & Resorts' managing directors
Chris Nassetta, Hilton's president and CEO
Dan Lesser, LW Hospitality Advisors' president and CEO
Bill Reynolds, Marcus Hotels' president
Joel Eisemann, Noble Investment Group's chief investment officer
Mark Woodworth, Woodworth Core Group's principal
Robert Alter, Seaview Investors' president
Stacy Silver, Silver Hospitality Group's president
Gary Mendell, Shatterproof's founder and CEO
Thomas Corcoran, TCOR Hotel Partners' founder
Patrick Campbell, Tim Hodes, and Merrick Kleeman, Wheelock Street Capital's managing partners
Geoff Ballotti, Wyndham Hotels & Resorts' president and CEO
Last year, Shatterproof honored Hyatt's Hoplamazian at its seventh Hospitality Heroes Reception during ALIS in Los Angeles.