Hospitality Outlook 2021

Cindy Estis Green’s career began in corporate marketing and senior operations roles for Hilton International. After founding the data mining consultancy Driving Revenue and selling it to Pegasus Solutions, Ms. Green spent 12 years as managing partner of The Estis Group. Co-author of several groundbreaking studies, including the 2017 “Demystifying the Digital Marketplace,” and a series of special reports profiling the brand-driven Book Direct campaigns and the Groups & Meetings market, Ms. Green has been honored as one of the 25 Extraordinary Minds in Sales and Marketing by HSMAI, was inducted into the prestigious Hospitality Technology Hall of Fame, and was named as one of Cornell University’s 90 Influential Hotelies. In 2014, she launched the AH&LA Consumer Innovation Forum and is invited to speak at many global forums on topics related to hotel distribution and the digital marketplace. 

In 2012 Ms. Estis founded Kalibri Labs, a firm providing a next-generation revenue strategy and benchmarking platform to evaluate and predict hotel revenue performance. Using innovative big data techniques, Kalibri Labs helps hotel owners and operators optimize profit contribution. Ms. Green holds a B.S. degree from Cornell University and an MBA from the American University.

Dave Roberts retired from Marriott in 2019, after 23 years with the company. Most recently, he was the Senior Vice President of Revenue Strategy and Solutions; in this role, he was responsible for revenue management strategy and execution for around 7,000 hotels worldwide. He also led revenue analytics, providing top-line analysis for the company, as well as sales systems, providing strategy, development, and deployment of technology to manage meeting and event business. Prior to this role, he led consumer insights, providing consumer research and analytics for regional and corporate stakeholders. Mr. Roberts has also been Regional Vice President of Market Strategy for Marriott’s Eastern Region as well as Vice President of Global Pricing, in addition to several other roles in the company.

Prior to Marriott, Mr. Roberts was a manager in the Finance Department at American Airlines, working on airplane purchases and route economics. He was also a technical consultant on missile defense for the U.S. Department of Defense, as part of the “Star Wars” initiative. Mr. Roberts has a B.S. and an M.S. in Operations Research from Cornell University, as well as an MBA with majors in Finance and Economics from Northwestern’s Kellogg School. He holds a U.S. patent on a software product (a “data matching” algorithm) and has published several academic papers on such topics as forecasting, options pricing, and customer choice modeling. Mr. Roberts was on IBM’s Business Analytics Advisory Board for six years and on Cornell’s Center for Hospitality Research Advisory Board for five years. He has been a frequent speaker at industry events as well as several top universities. In his spare time, Mr. Roberts enjoys martial arts and astronomy.

Jess Petitt is the Vice President of Analytics at Hilton and the founding leader of its global analytics center. Mr. Petitt has also spearheaded the hospitality company’s enterprise performance measurement process and business intelligence strategy and supported key strategic initiatives including Hilton’s IPO and spinoffs. Prior to Hilton, he spent five years at HEI Hotels & Resorts as the corporate director of marketing and sales. A second-generation hotelier, Mr. Petitt is a graduate of the Cornell University School of Hotel Administration and earned his MBA from the Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland.

As CBRE’s Head of Hotels Research and Data Analysis, Rachael Rothman, CFA, is responsible for data analysis, thought leadership, and leveraging CBRE’s proprietary Trends® database, Hotel Horizons® Forecasts, and best-in-class brokerage and capital markets expertise to help hotel owners, brands, and management companies maximize profits while minimizing risks. Ms. Rothman joined CBRE in March 2021 after a 20-year career as a public hotel company executive and equity analyst following the hospitality industry. Her executive experience spans work as Chief Financial Officer at Apple Hospitality REIT in 2019 and as Head of Corporate Strategy and Investor Relations at Playa Hotels & Resorts from 2018 to 2019. Prior to that, Ms. Rothman worked for 18 years as a leading equity analyst following the hospitality industry — in particular, the hotel, restaurant, cruise line, and gaming sectors — for Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, and Susquehanna International Group.