Grab More Market Share: How to Wrangle Business Away from Lazy Competitors

Demand Is Coming Back . . . and Inflation Is Tagging Along

I attended a three-day conference for a high-end hotel chain in early 2011. More than 1,000 hotel general managers were in the room as their chief executive officer laid out the company's five-year plan for growth. Without hedging, he proclaimed, “Demand is coming back stronger than we imagined, so we are committing to build 1,500 hotels over the next five years. Seventy percent of those hotels will be in the luxury category, because [people want] quality. And while our competitors may still try to discount room rates to get our business, we should to be willing to lose a few of those. We do not need to discount any longer. During the recovery we are not going to leave money on the table. Now is the time to take a stand for the luxury brand we offer. Now is the time to be profitable.”

This is an inspiring example of each industry being responsible for recognizing demand—and creating its own recovery.