Over the course of 20 years in the industry, I’ve had the chance to meet and communicate with hundreds of franchisees, owners, developers, and corporate managers. I’m excited to launch this Blog with the goal of stimulating some interesting, compelling—at times, even controversial—conversation around hotel franchising. I currently serve as Executive Vice President and Chief Development Officer at La Quinta Inns & Suites, based in Dallas, Texas. My interests and involvements spa...

Yesterday, I had a follow-up phone conversation with Mike Garcia, CFO and senior vice president of acquisitions and development for Omni Hotels & Resorts, to discuss the Irving, Texas-based company’s big announcements on Tuesday. On that day, Omni made two major acquisition and development announcements. First, the company announced it was the successful bidder for the r...

So here I am, suddenly a blogger as I struggle to understand the incredible pace and complexity of this new digital world that surrounds us. Is a blogger someone who just wants to talk or do they really have something to say? I guess we will find out. Who is Bill? I started working when I was about 9 or 10, delivering morning newspapers when they were the primary means of real information. A couple of years getting up at 4 a.m., zero degrees outside, plenty of wind drifted snow and customers that...