Marriott CEO: Virtual Meetings and Remote Work Won't Hurt Hotels Permanently

The chief executive of the world’s largest hotel company doesn’t expect coronavirus to forever upend the hotel industry. Marriott President and CEO Arne Sorenson hasn’t disguised his thoughts on how negative the ongoing pandemic has been for hotels. He has repeatedly claimed the coronavirus impact on the hotel industry is worse than the 9/11 terrorist attacks and 2008 financial crisis combined. But Sorenson thinks analyst talk of coronavirus forever upending the hotel business model is overblown. “I don’t think it will look that much different afterwards than it did before [coronavirus],” Sorenson said Monday during the Goldman Sachs Travel and Leisure Conference. “I just think the last three crises I’ve experienced with my relationship with Marriott…In every one, we’ve heard there are some aspects of your business that will never come back.”