There is a great deal of pent-up demand for travel as Americans are flocking to beaches, theme parks, and other popular destinations this summer. However, business and group travel has not yet started to come back, but it might be close at hand. In this Motley Fool Live video clip, recorded on July 16, Fool.com contributor Matt Frankel, CFP, and Chief Growth Officer Anand Chokkavelu discuss why Ryman Hospitality Properties (RHP +0.12%) could be a big winner in the recovery.
Anand Chokkavelu: I was close to buying Ryman with you back during the pandemic where it's an obvious -- sorry, Matt?
Matt Frankel: You should have.
Chokkavelu: No, yeah. I should have. Yeah. Absolutely should have. Because it was just, oh, OK, you got the regular thesis and then, will meetings come back? Do they have enough of a pipeline and all that kind of thing in the properties? As you said, you talked about National Harbor, that Gaylord is in that National Harbor area, and just a fantastic venue and those premium properties. But yeah, I know a lot of these are interesting. I mean, we'll see in the rankings. They definitely suffered for me for being in the not-as-interested bucket. Don't know as much about them. Frankly, I won't say that they are complex, but maybe too hard for me based on just being able to quickly ascertain whether it's any better than 20 other REIT companies.
Frankel: Sure. A couple of points. First on Ryman, I would actually argue that the trend toward remote work in the remote-first environment a lot of companies are adopting is actually good for its business. In-person meetings become more valuable when you don't see each other all the time. I mean, how much weight do we place on the full writers' conferences when they were a thing? It's because the writers never see each other. That's why those are so valuable. I mean, when everybody's working remote, the conferences and in-person meetings are just going to be that much more valuable. I would actually argue that there could be a long-term tailwind from the remote-work trend for Ryman.
Chokkavelu: Totally can agree with that. I was talking more about the price because it's priced pre-pandemic now.
Frankel: It is. It has made back all of its losses.
