Spotlight On: Jonathan Horowitz, President, Greater Houston Hospitality & Tourism Alliance
May 2024 — Jonathan Horowitz, president of the Greater Houston Hospitality & Tourism Alliance, sat down with Invest: to discuss the state of Houston’s hospitality industry, how he expects the sector to evolve as the city catches the eye of investors and families, technology’s role in hospitality going forward and more.
How has the Houston Hospitality Alliance (HHA) evolved in the past year?
The Houston Hospitality Alliance formerly was the Greater Houston Convention and Visitors Bureau. After 60 years as the CVB, the organization rebranded and re-launched as the HHA in 2023. The HHA is a membership-based, nonprofit trade association. It aims to connect, educate, promote, and advocate for the hospitality sector, including restaurants, hotels, bars, breweries, venues, attractions, and museums. Operating independently from city funding, the HHA now relies on memberships, partnerships, and sponsorships for its revenue.
2023 was a transition year for us, marking a period of determining our operational, funding, and leadership structure, as well as establishing our value proposition, messaging, and programming. We are spending a lot of time looking forward to what we will be able to accomplish as a new association with a rich 60-year history. The aim is to enhance visitors’ experiences in Houston by promoting and advocating for our members’ businesses.
What is the state of the hospitality industry in Houston?
We are extremely fortunate to be in Houston and Texas in general, particularly coming out of the COVID years where we were in a much better economic position than many other parts of the country. The hospitality industry is still dealing with and recovering from challenges that include debts incurred over the past few years and a slowdown in consumer spending. Costs have gone up dramatically amidst economic uncertainties. Labor costs, rent and more have gotten more expensive. On the other end, there has been a tremendous amount of growth in Houston over the past few years. The hospitality industry specifically has gotten so much well-deserved exposure and recognition, particularly in our restaurant scene. Houston just hosted the college football championships, FIFA’s World Cup is coming in 2026 and the Republican National Convention is coming in 2028. In addition to Houston’s booming business activity, the hospitality industry has grown dramatically. We are optimistic and excited about everything happening in the Houston hospitality sector with the understanding that our industry members are still facing challenges.
How have consumer habits evolved in recent years?
Consumer habits certainly have changed after COVID’s impact, particularly with regard to restaurants and travel. Technology plays a part in this through third-party delivery services and convenience factors. Customers are not only looking for great value, but convenience and speed. There is a higher emphasis on the overall experience of dining out in restaurants. We now are seeing more activity in hotels and lodging, primarily driven through business travel, conventions, large events, and having one of the largest medical centers in the country.
How is technology transforming the industry?
Generally in the industry, we have seen a forced generational leap forward during the COVID years. A generation’s worth of change in technology occurred in the hospitality business in such a short amount of time. This has created a lot more convenience for the consumer, and now the consumer has a much different expectation of the overall dining experience. Remote check-ins at hotels, third-party deliveries for ordering takeout at restaurants, and everything we can accomplish through our phones has really impacted the industry.
That has other implications. For example, it has changed the way we design restaurants. Now, they are designed in such a way that many restaurants have pick-up and delivery sections for to-go food. Some restaurants are creating separate parts of the kitchen just to prepare those orders. We did not consider that 10 years ago. It has changed the way the industry thinks about consumer activity and what they want. We will continue to see growth in the fast casual arena as a result.
Notwithstanding the challenges we do face, we are so optimistic about the growth Houston continues to see. We are seeing a tremendous number of restaurants opening around town; it seems like a handful are announcing their openings each day, many of which are high-end. People are coming from all over the country to open their restaurants here since our recognition as a foodie town has grown nationally. Many hotels are being built right now, as well. They are not only going up downtown; we are seeing the growth across the city.
Once people get here, they realize it is a fantastic and incredibly diverse, cosmopolitan city. Houston is a great place to live, work and start businesses. We are still seeing continued growth. The hospitality industry needs to commit to matching that growth and continue to provide services for people who are not just coming for a visit, but also coming to live here permanently. There is still a lot of opportunity in Houston for the hospitality industry, as there continues to be such high demand for our services.
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