Marriott And MGM Resorts International On Monday, it announced a partnership to connect its loyalty programs and give customers more options to take advantage of.

Under the deal, MGM guests in the US can earn Marriott Bonvoy Rewards points and Bonvoy members, in turn, will have access to 17 MGM properties when they spend their points.

The 40,000 rooms MGM offers will increase Marriott’s global portfolio by 2.4%.

The partnership seeks to take advantage of frequent or business travelers, who can be fiercely loyal to certain hotel brands in an effort to cash in on the rewards. These loyalty programs are driving businesses and helping to differentiate themselves from competitors at a time when travel continues to recover from a pandemic shutdown.

“The value is in the quantity and quality of the customer,” MGM CEO Bill Hornbuckle told CNBC in an interview Monday.

Bonvoy has more than 180 million members. If members want to use their rewards points for stays on the Las Vegas Strip, currently, their only hotel option is Hotel Cosmopolitan, which MGM bought in 2022.

When the new partnership launches this fall, Bonvoy members will be able to redeem their rewards at 12 more resorts in the strip and five more MGM resorts nationwide.

Marriott CEO Tony Capuano said MGM Resorts brings a wealth of intellectual property to the portfolio in addition to entertainment, upscale culinary options and other one-of-a-kind experiences.

“It is really an exciting opportunity for our members,” said Capuano.

Capuano said last month that the global hotel chain raised its revenue per available room forecast based on a 26% increase in group business this year.

The convention business has yet to fully recover from the lows of the Covid-19 pandemic. However, the conference calendar is packed, and there is optimism that teamwork, along with increased international visits, may push the results even higher.

Las Vegas is one of the top destinations in the United States for conferences, conventions, and meetings.

When asked if the Bonvoy program would give MGM a competitive edge in the syndicated business against competitors such as CaesarHornbuckle said, “The answer is unequivocally yes.”

Meanwhile, casinos face tough year-over-year comparisons in the second half of 2023, and a partnership with Marriott could give MGM a competitive edge in sports betting business BetMGM, which is jointly owned. get.

MGM sportsbook customers will earn Bonvoy points on certain transactions, and Bonvoy members will see marketing of MGM sportsbooks on the Marriott website.

Adam Greenblatt, CEO of BetMGM, stated in a press release announcing the deal that it would create “a truly powerful rewards program that connects our players and Marriott guests to the comprehensive omnichannel BetMGM experience.”

— CNBC’s Don Gil, Jessica Golden and Casey O’Brien contributed to this report.

under shield Wed said he hired Marriott International President Stephanie Lennartz will take over as the next CEO, capping a seven-month search for a new boss the company hopes to grow its digital business.

Lennartz, who has been with Marriott since 1997, was one of 60 candidates considered for the position. While activewear represents a huge leap in hospitality, it was chosen because of its digital prowess and success in transforming the hotel chain’s online presence, Under Armor founder and CEO Kevin Plank told CNBC.

“She’s really educated,” Blank said. “She has this intellectual curiosity and she brings a point of view like a professional.” He said the company is leaning back on its priorities of “digitization, product and brand” after a transition period of five or six years.

Lennartz, who got her start as a financial analyst at Marriott in 1997, will start her new job on February 3rd. 27.

Colin Brown has been serving as interim CEO since June after Patrick Frisk, former Armor CEO, unexpectedly resigned in May. The company said in a press release that Brown will resume his position as chief operating officer.

Blank said the company isn’t looking for a major change in direction and that he “really” likes the strategy that’s currently in place, but he conceded that the brand is “not growing as much as we’d like.”

Under Armor seeks to build its e-commerce operations, increase profits and compete with competing brands Nike And the lululemon As it struggles with low margins, costly litigation and a subdued fiscal year outlook.

The company draws on Lennartz’s experience leading the multi-billion dollar digital transformation of Marriott to accelerate Under Armour’s online initiatives.

During her tenure at Marriott, Lennartz grew the Bonvoy loyalty program to 173 million members and forayed into the world of sports when she developed multi-year partnerships with the NFL, the NCAA and the Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team.

In a statement released Wednesday, Marriott CEO Anthony Capuano praised Lennarts, calling him an “incredible CEO.” Will leave the company Feb. 24, three days before starting in Under Armor.

“It was one of the most important and best experiences of my life building a career at Marriott,” Lennarts said in the statement.

She is also a member of the Home Depot Board of Directors. Blank said she would be able to bring this retail background and insight to the position.

Blank said he will remain brand president and CEO, and will continue to be “involved in the business in a significant way.”

“It’s going to be a partnership,” Blanc said. “She and I are going to be partners. We’re not hiding from that.”

Under Armor began with humble roots in 1996. Blank, a former football player, developed the prototype for the brand’s signature moisture-wicking jersey while a student at the University of Maryland and later perfected designs from his grandmother’s basement in Georgetown.

By 2005, he floated the Baltimore-based company, and on the first day of trading, its value had doubled.

Five years later, Under Armor had quadrupled its revenue and passed $1 billion.

Most recently, the company reported sales of $1.57 billion in its fiscal second quarter, up 2% from a year earlier, along with net income of $87 million.

Talking about summer travel is definitely not what it used to be.

Instead of sun, sand and surf, many travel discussions now focus on inflation, rising fuel costs and flight cancellations, a situation that could derail the much-needed return of summer travel in 2022.

Travel conversations on Twitter fell 75% from April to May, while discussions about gas prices and travel — half negative — rose 680% on the site from the winter months through spring, according to social media analytics firm Sprout Social.

However, despite potential problems ahead, the outlook for summer travel remains strong, industry insiders said, with many travelers saying they are concerned but unwilling about their upcoming plans.

No, said James Thornton, CEO of Intrepid Travel, a Melbourne-based travel company focused on small group adventure vacations around the world.

He said the company has not seen higher cancellation rates this summer.

“In the past few months, global concerns about shortages, sanctions and rising costs have prompted economists to sound the alarm,” Thornton said. “Despite the higher costs, travel bookings doubled.”

Higher prices will not deter travelers this summer, especially in parts of the world that have recently reopened, such as the Asia Pacific region, said David Mann, chief economist at the Mastercard Institute of Economics.

“Literally think of it like a pressure cooker where you lift the lid and the steam comes out hot,” he told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia” in May. Inflation “is important, but that’s only after we have some of that released from pent-up demand.”

A new survey suggests that Singaporeans, for example, are not willing to sacrifice their summer travel plans in the face of rising costs. Although 77% said they were either “extremely” or “extremely” concerned about rising costs, nearly 40% of people are planning to travel this summer compared to last year, according to Tripadvisor’s Travel Index released in May.

Nearly two out of three Singaporeans said they would like to spend less on eating out and clothes to finance their travel as well.

Conversely, travel elasticity may be less robust in places where pent-up demand has dissipated some, such as Europe and North America.

According to a survey published in March in the State’s Financial Security Index Report, nearly a quarter (23%) of Americans have indicated plans to cancel or postpone travel plans in response to inflation.

However, Americans are expected to travel in droves this summer. More than half (55%) said they travel for the Fourth of July holiday, according to a survey by travel website The Vacationer — an 8% increase from last year’s survey, the company said.

“More people are focusing on their plans to absorb price hikes and additional costs, rather than canceling [travel] Eric Bamberger, senior vice president of hospitality at marketing technology company Zeta Global said.

Demand for “pampering” travel, such as spas, is on the rise, while interest in “educational” travel to museums and national parks has fallen by more than 50%, according to a representative of Zeta Global.

Car rents are on the decline, with rental rates dropping as fast as they can in the United States in places where gas prices are rising, such as California, Oregon and Washington, according to Zeta Global.

“Hotels are burning,” Bamberger said however. “Occupancy rates at some hotels in Las Vegas are as high as 95%, and this past Memorial Day was the best day ever recorded – in terms of revenue – for many of the top hotel chains in the US”

Higher costs are affecting travel expenses this summer, as 74% of American consumers are actively looking for ways to save on travel, according to Zeta Global. Nearly one in four say they are looking for cheaper transportation, hotels or vacation destinations, according to the company.

But Expedia CEO Peter Kern told CNBC that other travelers are willing to spend more to travel.

“We all know there is a lot of pent-up savings and underspending during Covid on services and travel,” he said. “So far it seems to be impressive, that people are interested in spending – and if anything, spending more.”

When asked about Reporting that people are choosing cheaper vacations, he said, “We haven’t done that yet…especially at the middle and upper end of the market.”

Kern said that if inflation began to affect travelers, he agreed that they would likely change their plans, but not eliminate them.

“If anything, travelers might give up a little bit about their ambition – where to go or what they’ve been staying at – but they’re still traveling,” he said.

Marriott CEO Anthony Capuano said the company, which operates in nearly 140 countries according to its website, is now seeing strong demand not only from leisure travelers, but also from group and business travelers.

“We think it’s going to be a gangster summer,” he said in an interview with CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street” in May. “We feel good about this summer.”

After two consecutive months of negative demand, interest in business travel in the United States increased 365% in May, according to Zeta Global, which tracks website usage as well as location and transaction data from credit card and loyalty program purchases.

The company said interest in international travel from Americans also rose in May, with interest in going to Asia, Europe and South America up more than 200% from the previous month, according to the company.

That was before the Biden administration dropped pre-departure Covid testing requirements to enter the US, a move expected to begin travel to and from the US

“Removing the testing requirement eliminates a source of stress for travelers that may have been holding them back,” said Melanie Fish, head of global public relations at Expedia Group. “We expect demand to only grow from here.“

The Milwaukee Bucks, in their quest to repeat as the NBA champions, will begin this weekend playing the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference semifinals. Out of court, the team is seeking $4 million annually to acquire rights to its yard within Deer County, a 30-acre property located outside their yard.

In an interview with CNBC, Bucks President Peter Feigin described the origin of the naming rights as acquiring the keys to “a city we built within Wisconsin.” The deer area is part of the foreign economic development plan, to which taxpayers have contributed $250 million. The project also earned Bucks Square more than $500 million, which opened in 2018.

The Bucks property group includes prominent investors Mark Lasry, Wes Edens and Jamie Dinan. The consortium bought the franchise for $550 million in 2014. It’s now worth $1.9 billion, up slightly from $1.62 billion in 2020, according to Forbes.

The Bucks rely on the Deer Zone to help generate more revenue outside of the NBA.

“What professional teams understand now is — you build the mother ship and fuel it by a successful NBA team, and then raise the water level around you,” said Feigin, who is also chair of the governing plaza, Fiserv Forum.

Over the years, more and more professional sports clubs have added revenue from real estate to increase the popularity of their brands.

Golden State Warriors operates Chase towers and commercial and residential buildings outside the Chase Center. That helped boost its value to $5.6 billion, compared to more than $3 billion before the pandemic. Los Angeles Clippers owner and former Microsoft CEO Steve Baller is moving his team to Inglewood and will leverage real estate around the $1.2 billion Intuit Dome. This can enhance the value of clippers.

In Major League Baseball, the Atlanta Braves created The Battery Atlanta, a recreational and residential district. The Ricketts family, who owns the Chicago Cubs, owns the properties surrounding historic Wrigley Field. Jerry Jones, owner of the NFL team, created “The Star” – a 91-acre mixed-use development in Frisco, Texas, where the Cowboys practice.

The team’s real estate projects are cities within cities, where people live, work and play, said Jesse Sanchez, senior vice president of sports consultancy and appraisal firm Playfly Premier Partnerships. The company advised the Atlanta Falcons for the naming rights around the Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

Sanchez said the owners are looking to make more money from people who want to be around live sporting events, even if they’re not inside the arenas. “They are real estate developers now,” he said. “They are no longer just a sports team.”

Sanchez compared the Deer area to the Cubs’ recreation area, “Gallager Road.” The MLB team sold the benefit designation rights to global insurer Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. which is traded on the New York Stock Exchange.

Feigin, Bucks CEO, said his team would “take advantage of opportunities to generate more revenue” with tenants, including a supermarket, pharmacy and gym. High-end apartments are part of the plan, and Marriott has committed to creating a hotel due to open in 2023.

“We are in full swing in development,” Feigin said. “We have a hotel in a third way. We are thinking of other principles. We will have people working there and more people living there.”

Sanchez said the price Bucks is asking for naming rights could align with the market, depending on the exposure package. The terms of the proposed deal would have to be at least 10 years, as he expected sponsors to take half that time to build on the rights.

Businesses added by Sanchez receive “multiple touch points” because small towns attract more sports consumers but “health and wellness” [consumer] To someone who loves to entertain.”

Another selling point for the Bucks is the number of times they appear on national television. Deer District appeared on Disney’s ABC network during the finals. The show “is equal to the impression and the value,” Vigen said, pointing to the more than 60,000 people who have occupied the Deere area to watch NBA games outside.

But the dollars will need to keep winning to make this asset attractive. In the NBA, winning dynasties attract top business. This is why the Warriors, who are back in their title-fighting ways, are on the cusp of becoming the top franchise in the NBA, having crossed $700 million in revenue in 2022. The Bucks have assets that will help them last over the years, Also: 27-year-old Giannis Antetokounmpo, the MVP of the regular season twice, was named MVP last year.

“This is what a championship team and organization look like,” Feigin said. “We’re improving on what our narrative is and what our findings are.”

He said the Bucks had seen a slight increase in commercial inquiries since July 2021, a month after they won the championship, but they did not discuss the details. The team added Motorola as its jersey partner after that company split from the Brooklyn Nets, which the Celtics just swept away.

“You want the win to be your major accelerator,” Feigin said. “These are the moments to take advantage of.”

The Bucks play the Celtics on Sunday in a game of one of their best out of 7.