Joining us now, mister Capiano Marriott is making his ninety day visit. How do you do it? How do you take a four hundred and thirty two dollars room and parse it down to a fourteen percent annualized return on your stock?
Well, I think we tap into the resilience of travel, and if anything, during the pandemic, the traveling public came to the conclusion maybe I didn't miss buying a handbag or a watch or another pair of shoes, but I sure missed exploring the world yep. And that that human condition that has this appetite to run around the world and explore, I think is a fabulous driver of our business.
Do you have pricing power through the Olympics into the late summer season in into Q three? Based on what I see in airfares.
So certainly into Europe broadly, we do. We had a record summer in Western Europe last summer, and our forward bookings today are up about seven percent over that number. And that's going not only into France with the Olympic benefit, but Italy, Spain, Greece, all those markets are way up here over year.
Tom.
These guys are they got free cash flow? Two and a half billion dollars a year. And it's not like they're not spending money five hundred six hundred seven hundred million dollars in capex. Where are you guys allocating your capital today? Where do you see the opportunities in your business?
So a few places.
Right now, we're going through a massive replatforming of our most important technology systems, our reservation system, our property management system, and our loyalty platform. And so we've mentioned on the earnings calls for the next couple quarters will be elevating.
How do you get people to call Marriott Direct, call a hotel direct instead of some impersonal thing like I'm going to pick on booking dot com. I go to hotels where I can book the hotel directs instead at the desk, you know, be sure they can take missus King seven, Lewis Vieuton luggages in properly. How do you get back to that personal service?
It's really through the Bontonvoy platform. It's creating a suite of benefits and making sure through the Bonvoy platform, we educate the consumer of the benefits of Booking Direct.
Okay, I'm just gonna this is what Lisa wants to talk about. So we're going there, Tony Capriano. How the Saint Regis mal Dives Voluly Resorts, it's the best points, Guy Brian says, it's the best, you know, best Saint Regis in the world. Do you link with airplanes so Lisa Matteo can get there for the one week in September? It's easy to get there. How does Lisa Matteo pack the bag a little? You know, surely have the knapsack thing and get to the mall dives? How do you do that?
She jumps on Emirates, flies straight to Mollie and then there'll be a beautiful Saint Regis boat waiting for you to.
See right to the Doc's you do?
Or if you really want a beautiful view of that destination, you get on a seaplane which flies at about two thousand feet and you get to view all those beautiful.
I've never seen her much. Colooney could walk right.
So Tony, I mean, I see a lot of demand. The Maldive's great, that's for Lisa Minteo. But I see demand for the kind of the mid range people want to take those longer term stays. I didn't know that that was a business until recently, but that really is a business where people want to take long term stays. Maybe their contract workers are something like I talked to us about that business.
Again, another interesting byproduct coming out of the pandemic this notion that folks, even if they're a little suboptimized, they can work from anywhere. There is a younger generation of nomads that wants to work from anywhere, and so the ability whether it's a traditional extended stay hotel like residents In, whether it's a more value focused extended stay product like Studio res Our new mid scale extended stay platform, or whether it's a bit longer term stay in an apartments
by Marriott Bonvoy. There is a consumer that for their travel needs, is much better served with something focused on not a one or two night transience day, but really purpose built to accommodate that longer stay.
What are you doing with New York City? The cheapest hotel in Manhattan, I think is eight hundred dollars a night. I'm kidding, But what's your plan for New York City? Well, we'll continue to grow.
This city is remarkable, and the pace at which it's recovered from a travel perspective is a terrific story. One of the great benefits of having such a broad brand portfolio across multiple quality tiers. We'll continue to grow at the luxury end we just announced, but at the same time we'll continue to grow with our new mid scale.
Our good friend David gra loves to have a Gibson at the Old King Cole. Tell me you're not ruining the Saint Regis absolutely first floor. What are you doing right now at the St. Regions Hotel. You're blowing up the first floor floor of an icon What are you going to do with it?
We're just updating it. We're making it more convenient for our guests, We're improving some of the track flow, but we are absolutely not touching that iconic king hole.
I mean, this is great and what's so great about this The restoration of the painting at the Old King Cole was like something out of the loof. Yeah, did you get the invoice on that? Somebody did? It didn't come to me, didn't come to you, you know.
Saint Regis is another brand that we just announced today. The iconic Pelican Hill Resort on Newport Coast in southern California is going to be reflagged as a Saint Regis as well.
So it's a.
Brand that is really this is a newport. Yeah, it's Don brann in the Irvine Company.
Are you calling this hotel Alrium? You know? Yeah? I mean is this like a Pimco outpost? Is that what is now?
I think they continue to be a valued client.
They'll be good, Tony. Thank you so much. Congratulations in fourteen percent per year total return that off of Marriotte stock. And thank you for the ninety day visits. Will MATTEO M A T to the mal dives. It's a I see. Tell them to get your slippers ready. Thank you so much, Tony,