La Quinta Is Making a Big Play for Business Travelers

Editor’s Note: This is one of a series of video interviews from the Skift Take Studio, presented by KDS, that were filmed at this year’s Skift Global Forum.

During the 2017 Skift Global Forum in September in New York City, we heard from a host of the travel industry’s top leaders from across every sector.

And after first speaking to them on stage in front of an audience of more than 1,100, we took another few minutes with them to get more insight in our backstage Skift Take Studio.

In our behind-the-scenes conversation, Julie Cary, executive vice president and chief marketing officer at La Quinta Inns & Suites, shared her thoughts about meeting the needs of business travelers, keeping hotel apps relevant, and the challenges facing modern CMOs.

"Based upon consumer habits changing, we're seeing consumers searching more often, searching more generically," she said. "And then we're also seeing their media habits switch, so trying to reach them where they are — knowing that they're consuming media in different formats — and really trying to make sure we're getting our message where they are is a bit challenging, because it continues to change and shift."

La Quinta is also trying to evolve to better cater to business travelers. Cary said the company is focusing marketing dollars on capturing more road warriors and keeping those travelers in mind with updates to the hotel app, loyalty program, booking experience, and room design.

"The business traveler is far more digitally aligned," she said. "They prefer to use apps more."

Watch all the Skift Take Studio videos here.