An interview with William “Chip” Rogers, former president and CEO of the American Hotel and Lodging Association (AHLA) HM Learn about the global travel outlook and the challenges facing U.S. hotels.
William ‘Chip’ Rogers is a well-known figure in the US hotel industry. He is a former Republican member of the Georgia Senate and has held important leadership positions in major US hotel associations for the past 15 years.
Rogers announced his resignation in early March after a decade at the Asian American Hotel Owners Association (AAHOA), the world’s largest hotel owners association, and most recently as president and CEO of the American Hotel and Lodging Association (AHLA).
Rogers recently visited Sydney to give a keynote address at the Ted Technology Conference. He was interviewed by HM Learn about life after AHLA and key developments in the United States.
Chip, you recently announced your resignation from AHLA. What made you leave? What are your plans for the future?
When I joined the association, we were largely a federal advocacy team. We didn’t have a lot of influence in states and cities, if at all. My goal was to grow our foundation—we’ve tripled the size of our foundation—and to create a global campaign against human trafficking in hotels. And then, to grow our team so that we could effectively advocate for hotels, not only at the federal level, but at the state and local level. When I came, we had about 42 employees, and today, I think, 93 employees. We were able to do all of that, and we also created a significant events team. Last year, we had our first major hotel conference—it was the third largest first-year conference in the United States in 2023. We had a lot of success, and everything was firing on all cylinders, but the most important thing for me was my travel schedule. Last year I spent 240 nights on the road; the year before, I played over 200. Now it was starting to take its toll on me physically, and it was starting to take its toll on me and the team. The team that I built was doing everything that was possible, so I felt like it was a great time.
Do you plan to continue working in the hospitality industry? What are your next steps?
I would definitely take some time off. I loved that my first trip out of retirement was to Australia, which was amazing. I’ve had a few opportunities. I’m certainly not opposed to returning to the hospitality industry – I love it, I think it’s the best industry in the world – but I can’t 100% guarantee that I would come back.
[Editor note: since this interview, Rogers has commenced a role as Special Advisor at consulting and government relations firm, Ervin Graves Strategy Group.]
What is the biggest challenge facing the U.S. hotel industry right now?
The biggest challenge continues to be labor—there simply isn’t enough of it. Unfortunately, for years, the U.S. economy has had millions more job openings than job seekers, and this imbalance has had two consequences. First, it has created a situation where hotels don’t have enough staff to operate at 100% efficiency, as they did before the pandemic. Second, because there are so many job openings, wages have risen dramatically, especially in the hotel industry, where they’ve been rising much faster than in other parts of the economy. Rising wages have really hurt the bottom line for many hoteliers.
How will AHLA address the workforce shortage?
This problem has been going on for many years. Even before the pandemic, there were hundreds of thousands of job openings, so I think this is the most important way to find people who wouldn’t normally be in the workforce. A lot of employers are really focused on recruiting nonviolent offenders who are coming out of prison. They’re looking for work opportunities, and hospitality – especially back-of-house jobs in hotels and restaurants – are often a good starting point for them to rebuild their lives. AHLA has a program called Opportunity Youth that targets young people ages 18 to 24 who are unemployed but have good hospitality skills. There are also efforts to urge Congress to allow more legal immigration into the United States to increase the legal workforce.
What travel trends are you seeing in the U.S.? Are hotels impacted by the slow return of tourists from China and other parts of Asia?
It is true that, especially on the West Coast of the United States, Asian tourism has not yet recovered to its previous levels. Even places like Hawaii, which traditionally gets a significant portion of its annual visitors from Japan, have not seen a recovery in Asian tourism. Everyone hopes that it will one day, but it seems far away. The East Coast is usually dominated by European tourism, but the strong dollar has made it much cheaper for Americans to go to Europe than for Europeans to go to the United States.
What are the biggest trends you see in hospitality development?
The biggest trend in the U.S. is the proliferation of extended-stay hotels, which has really driven the rise of bleisure travel. Brands are constantly launching different products, and sometimes it’s hard to differentiate one from the other. Brands are getting better at understanding the needs of specific types of guests and tailoring their products to those guests.
This interview originally appeared in the June issue of HM magazine.
