Mike Gelfond has more than two decades of expertise in digital marketing and advertising, with careers at iXL, Creative Digital Group, LBi and Mastermind. An expert in social media, digital strategy, mobile, ecommerce, reputation/crisis management, analytics, CRM and lead generation with key industry verticals.
Mike is a graduate of the University of Georgia, a frequent speaker and contributor to TV, radio and print, and a recipient of Atlanta Business Chronicle’s 40 Under 40 award in 2010.
Mike Gelfond
Mastermind Marketing
Lodging Econometrics has tracked the hotel industry since 1998. Its global database includes new-hotel pipelines as well as renovations and brand conversions. Hotel franchisers once eager to launch new brands are focused on converting existing hotels because it’s a faster way to recover revenue lost to the COVID-19 pandemic than through new construction. In Episode 346, Lodging Leaders explores the increasing number of conversions in the U.S. hotel industry and what owners and operators need to consider before repositioning an asset.
In the first few months of the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S., financiers anticipated a swell of distressed hotel businesses. Some raised rescue funds to respond to what they thought was a pending crisis. Though there are financial rescues taking place, the level of such activity is far below what industry advisers and fund managers expected. Commercial real estate investors positioned to act in the early days of the pandemic held off and are now just beginning to unleash their cash hoards totaling billions of dollars. Episode 345 of Lodging Leaders podcast explores the state of capital investment in the hotel industry.