Senior Vice President of Upscale Brands at Choice Hotels, Janis Cannon, and Vice President of Emerging Markets, Franchise Development and Owner Relations at Choice Hotels, John Lancaster, join ChedHER to discuss how the HERtels program is providing women with the tools and resources needed to become hotel franchise owners.

chedHER

Choice Hotels Debuts 'HERtels" Program to Empower Women in Hospitality

So I'm very pleased to be joined right now by choice Hotels. Senior Vice president of upscale brands, Janice, cannon and vice president of emerging markets, franchise development and owner relations john lancaster Janice and john such a pleasure to have both of you guys here with me Janice. I want to start with you, what's included in this hotel's program here? Well, the hotel's program is really part of choice hotels initiatives to um create pathways for emerging markets and also for underserved communities into hotel ownership. It's a program that was created by women and is designed for women. Thus the name H E R T E L S. And what's really included in the program is, it's a lot about education, but it's also even more importantly about creating pathways to actual financing because of course you can have the desire and the need, but you need to really understand how to get your financing in order to move forward with hotel investment. Absolutely! John I had mentioned that crazy statistic. One woman for every nine men hold an investment or development position in the hospitality industry. So how can we get more women into these roles and why is it so important to sort of change this right now? Look, it's, it's no secret that uh, hotel ownership is definitely a capital intensive endeavor and such as women typically have less, drastically, less better terms than what men do in the, in the industry. So to that choice has established our own financing program to break barriers on that, such as number one joint ventures where we have current owners that actually partner with new owners, making sure that the female owner has a majority of the equity stake. Number two, we actually give short term loans where we have an incentive program for women to have that cash injection so that they can create their property improvement plan. And number three, we actually have our key money incentive, which is new construction where we actually give and distribute money at different construction processes and milestones throughout that Janice. What advice do you have for our viewers out there for women in particular that are looking to break into this industry but also sort of thrive in this industry? Well, first of all, go for it, that's what I would say and be bold and um things might be improbable, but they're never impossible. It's kind of the advice that I would give and when you look at it, there's really about four different opportunities. One I would say is the investor, if you're already an investor, especially in real estate, look to the opportunities that there are in the hotel business. If you are somebody that's just coming out of college or out of university or just starting on your career pathway, think about the opportunities that there are for hotel development and for hotel ownership. And then if you're an enthusiast and what I mean by an enthusiast is somebody that just loves the industry as a whole. It's not beyond your reach And so many people to start in the hotel business, but then they never take that next step to ownership. Actually be a Liberator And being a Liberator like going for it and knowing that this is something that is achievable, especially with the support that you find through programs like hotels and choice hotels. So John Choice hotels has been extending this opportunity for hotel ownership to underrepresented groups, including women entrepreneurs for nearly 20 years now. So how is this industry, in your view, evolved over all this time? Right. As a franchisor, it is our job and our vision to make sure that we give the opportunity to live the American dream of hotel ownership and entrepreneurship. And we have been doing so, as you say it for almost 20 years, we've been doing this through our emerging markets program. And what that is, is a program that has dedicated personnel that focus is established on establishing relationships with the black and african american community, hispanic community, native american community and veterans and as such, In 2021 alone, we've dedicated and executed over 24 contracts to these underserved groups in the hotel industry. And so where does this look? 5 to 10 years from now? Based off of that based on the success that you're already having right now. 5 to 10 years from now in our conservative estimates based upon the accretion of probably 1% growth. We think that it would, the number of female owners would double in the next 5 to 10 years, which increases diversity for our ownership base and for the industry as a whole. And jen is on top of that. Choice. Hotels recently developed a program for students at historically black colleges and universities and what can these students sort of get from that? What they get from that program is what we call a management accelerator program. And so after a period of about six months, you actually move into a managerial position. And so what it does is it's a cross training program where you really learn the business firsthand across all departments and then you're ready for that step. And we really like the program because we need to attract even more talent to the hospitality industry. It's a growth industry. There's incredible opportunities, everything from ownership to leadership roles to corporate positions. This is also exciting, congratulations and all the success and all the great things that you guys are doing. That's Choice Hotels, senior vice president of upscale branch Janis Cannon and vice president of emerging markets franchise development and owner relations john Lancaster