Using the Labor Data from Hotel Effectiveness to Minimize Costs and Turnover
Adam and Larry Mogelonsky | January 11th, 2023
Four Creatively Destructive Forces for the Hotel Industry
Larry and Adam Mogelonsky | July 13th, 2022
Cautious Optimism in India’s Hotel Performance Recovery
STR | February 22, 2023
India’s hotel industry turned in a stellar 2022 with revenue per available room (RevPAR) 100% recovered to pre-pandemic levels even with a devastating start to the year caused by a surge in the Omicron variant. Steeper declines, sharper inclines Recovery of RevPAR was more driven by average daily rate (ADR), which indexed at 108 when compared with 2019 levels. However, occupancy recovery was strong as well with an index of 93. Overall, the full recovery of RevPAR means indexing won’t be needed much longer as year-over-year percentage changes become actionable again once the calendar is beyond the Omicron comparables. ...
Greater Houston Lodging Market: On the Mend
Bunmi Adeboye | February 20, 2023
By Bunmi Oyinloye The oil and gas industry remains Greater Houston’s primary economic anchor, defining the market’s business cycle and the area’s economic growth path. The hotel market began to stabilize in 2019 following declines in lodging demand as a result of the volatility of the oil and gas markets, and Greater Houston experienced a steep decline in lodging demand in 2020 given the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Recent data illustrate a steady return to pre-pandemic levels, supported by increasing business relocations, ongoing economic development, and the market’s reputation as a global hub for energy, health care, and aero...
Resurgence and Transformation of the Canadian Niagara Falls Hotel Market
Luc Espaillard | February 17, 2023
The Niagara Falls lodging market is rapidly recovering after the devastating pandemic-induced RevPAR decline of 72.9% in 2020. The market-wide RevPAR has reached 98% of the 2019 level in 2022 and is projected to reach 110% in 2023. ADR growth is leading the recovery. The cityscape is also poised for transformation over the next ten to twenty years through the addition of high-rise upper-upscale and luxury hotels, many as part of mixed-use developments. This article describes the proposed hotel supply tracked by HVS and discusses the changing demand patterns affecting the RevPAR performance of the Niagara Falls lodging market in the post-pande...
Beijing Set to Become World’s Largest Travel & Tourism City Destination Says WTTC
WTTC | February 16, 2023
Cities Economic Impact Report analysed 82 cities around the world including four major Chinese metropolises London, UK: Research by the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) has revealed that within the next decade, Beijing will overtake Paris to become the world’s largest Travel & Tourism city destination. The report, sponsored by Visa and researched in partnership with Oxford Economics, ana-lysed key indicators such as Travel & Tourism’s contribution to GDP, employment and trav-eller spend. But while long term the outlook for a number of Chinese cities looks positive, prolonged travel restrictions and border closur...
Travel & Tourism Sector in Key European Capitals Strongly Recovering Says WTTC
WTTC | February 15, 2023
London, UK: A new report from the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) has revealed strong signs of recovery of the economic impact from Travel & Tourism in the five city ‘powerhouses’ of Western Europe. The Cities Economic Impact Report, sponsored by Visa and researched in partnership with Oxford Economics, analysed key indicators such as Travel & Tourism’s contribution to GDP, employment and traveller spend. The study examined the impact of the sector in London, Paris, Berlin, Rome, and Madrid. The report from the global tourism body shows that in 2019, the Travel & Tourism sector contributed over $83.5BN to th...
Manhattan Lodging Index: Q4 2022
PwC’s Manhattan lodging index | February 14, 2023
Manhattan Lodging Overview Increases in occupancy, ADR and revenue per available room (“RevPAR”) continued to accelerate across Manhattan during the second half of 2022. Q4 RevPAR experienced a year-over-year increase of 54.2 percent, with the strongest gains in October - up 85.8 percent. Q3 RevPAR increased 75.1 percent from the same period in 2021. “RevPAR exceeded pre-pandemic levels at Manhattan hotels for the first time in 2H 2022, driven by outsized growth in average daily room rates. Hotels continue to struggle with replacing staff lost during the pandemic. With supply growth expected to be muted over the next several years, ...
U.S. Mayors Call on Biden Administration to Reduce Excessive Visitor Visa Wait Times
U.S. Travel Association | February 14, 2023
A bipartisan group of 44 mayors and officials representing American cities and counties came together to send Secretary of State Antony Blinken a letter urging immediate action to reduce visitor visa interview wait times, which persistently remain above 400 days for would-be travelers from key international inbound markets. The joint letter states: “As a lingering result of the pandemic’s peak, a severe backlog in the processing of U.S. visitor visas is now delaying—in some instances well over a year—the visitation of foreign travelers from key markets who provide much-needed economic and diplomatic benefits to the nation.” ...
Caribbean Hotel Industry a “Comeback Kid”
STR | February 6, 2023
Led by a robust leisure market, the Caribbean experienced strong hotel performance in 2022 as almost all travel restrictions were lifted after being a large hindrance for some countries throughout 2021. Full-year occupancy came in at 60.7%, which was up 36.7% year over year, and down just slightly from 2019 (-3.2%). The region’s lowest occupancy occurred in September (48.9%)—a typical calendar occurrence in the midst of Hurricane season—but peaked recently in December (66.1%) because of holiday travel. Among key countries in the region, Curacao (70.7%), Turks & Caicos (70.3%), and Puerto Rico (69%) ...
Tourism Tidbits: Reviewing Some of the Travel & Tourism Industry’s Basic Principles – Part Two of a Two-Part Series
Dr. Peter E. Tarlow | February 6, 2023
Dr. Peter Tarlow We began the year by reviewing some of the fundamental principles of a successful tourism business or industry. Tourism is multifaceted and despite the fact that there is no one form of tourism many of the industry’s basic principles hold true no matter in which aspect of the travel and tourism industry one works. Despite our cultural, linguistic, religious, and geographic differences human beings are basically the same around the world and the best principles of good tourism transcend cultures, languages, nations, and religious affiliations. Due to tourism’s unique ability to bring people together if used pro...
Recent Trends in Washington, D.C.’s Luxury Hotel Market
Caroline Dioso | February 2, 2023
By Caroline Dioso, Chelsey Leffet Historical Luxury Market Performance According to data compiled by STR, in recent years, the luxury segment has fallen 2–5% behind the Washington, D.C. market average in occupancy, while luxury rates have paced roughly $150 to $200 above average. This rate difference is largely due to a few luxury hotels that perform at a higher rate threshold than the remainder of the luxury class, including the Four Seasons, the Waldorf Astoria, both Ritz-Carlton properties, the Hay Adams, and the St. Regis. These higher-rated hotels make up 15% of the total luxury room supply in the District. The 2022 mar...
Restrictions, Lack of Inbound Travel Have Limited Southeast Asia’s Hotel Performance
STR | February 1, 2023
Southeast Asia sits at the lower end of recovery compared to other STR-defined subcontinents, exceeding only the gains of Northeastern Asia in terms of occupancy and average daily rate (ADR) in 2022. This was due to strict and long-lasting COVID mitigation strategies and the region’s reliance on international travel, particularly from China, which has been slower to resume international flight capacity. According to OAG data, Southeast Asia was still missing 35% of flight seat capacity during the last week of January 2023 (compared to the same week in 2019). While that was better than the 50% gap of six months prior, it shows ...
Global Business Travel Forecast 2023: Bookings, Spending and Optimism on the Upswing, GBTA Poll Shows
GBTA | January 31, 2023
New research points to continued industry recovery, easing of supplier staffing constraints, and mixed outlook on China travel Global business travel is forecast to see an uptick in 2023 versus 2022. Companies are expected to send more employees on trips and travel suppliers anticipate an increase in corporate travel spending. Sectors such as finance, insurance, professional services, and consulting are showing stronger signs of growth in business travel spending. Despite potential economic challenges and uncertainty surrounding the post-COVID return of China−the world’s largest business travel market–the industry remains optimistic ...
What to Expect in the Hospitality Industry in 2023
Mark D. Podgainy | January 30, 2023
By Mark D. Podgainy Last year was a year of dramatic recovery for the hospitality industry. What’s ahead for 2023? Definitely clouds, but the question is whether the clouds will pass over or they will result in a storm. What’s Ahead High labor costs will persist. While many workers have come back to the hospitality industry after leaving during the Covid-19 pandemic, the industry is still short of employees. This supply-demand imbalance will continue to keep labor costs high and impact margins. As the economy slows the supply of employees will grow (layoff announcements in the news have been increasing), but it is unkno...
REPORT: Hotels Continue to Recover in 2023 as Industry Begins New Era of Operations
AHLA | January 30, 2023
2023 AHLA State of the Industry forecasts opportunities, challenges Download the report Here WASHINGTON (Jan. 30, 2023) – The hotel industry in 2023 is projected to surpass pre-pandemic levels of demand, nominal room revenue and state and local tax revenue, while inching closer to other key 2019 performance metrics, according to the American Hotel & Lodging Association’s 2023 State of the Hotel Industry Report. The report, which forecasts that operational challenges such as staffing shortages and economic factors will replace COVID as hoteliers’ top concerns, is based on data and analysis from Oxford Economics and was cr...
New York City’s Comeback and Luxury Destinations Highlighted U.S. Hotel Performance Recovery in 2022
STR | January 25, 2023
Top-line performance recovery was aplenty around the U.S. in 2022 as record-breaking levels of demand were combined with strong pricing power in an inflationary setting. Among the recovery highlights, New York City made a phenomenal comeback to grab the nation’s top spot in revenue per available room (RevPAR), while smaller hotel destinations with a primary focus on high-end travelers also found significant levels of success for the year. Overall, New York City’s nominal RevPAR (non-inflation adjusted) for 2022 led the Top 25 Markets at $215. That level was down $4 from 2019 but up 72% year over year. Rounding out the Top 25 ...
With So Many Headwinds, Why Are People Still Traveling?
STR | January 24, 2023
At the end of 2022, data and insights from STR showed the hospitality industry at substantial levels of performance recovery around the globe with no signs of demand significantly slowing. So, with rising inflation, record-high travel prices, flight disruptions and short-staffed hotels, why are people still traveling? This piece from STR provides some answers based on consumer research of more than 1,000 travelers at the end of November 2022. Rising inflation? No problem, travelers expect to spend more on travel. It appears that travelers are taking rising prices in stride. When asked about their expected spend in five maj...
HVS Outlook 2023: Beyond the Recovery
Anne R. Lloyd-Jones | January 23, 2023
By Anne R. Lloyd-Jones, McKenna Luke Despite persistent high inflation, an active Fed, and accelerating recessionary concerns, the lodging industry sustained the strong growth recorded in Q2 and Q3 of 2022 through the balance of the year. Transient demand continued to lead the recovery, surpassing 2019 levels in 19 of the past 21 months. The leisure segment remains a dominant influence, with business demand returning at a slower pace, although increasing levels of “bleisure” demand are blurring the distinction between these two sectors. Group demand rebounded to roughly 80% of 2019 levels; after the initial return of small to medium-si...
Tourism Set to Return to Pre-Pandemic Levels in Some Regions in 2023
UNWTO | January 17, 2023
Based on UNWTO's forward-looking scenarios for 2023, global international tourist arrivals could reach 80% to 95% of pre-pandemic levels this year, depending on the extent of the economic slowdown, the ongoing recovery of travel in Asia and the Pacific and the evolution of the Russian offensive in Ukraine, among other factors. All regions bouncing back UNWTO anticipates a strong year for the sector even in the face of diverse challenges including the economic situation and continued geopolitical uncertainty According to new data UNWTO, more than 900 million tourists travelled internationally in 2022 – double the number recorded in 20...
Using the Labor Data from Hotel Effectiveness to Minimize Costs and Turnover
Adam and Larry Mogelonsky | January 11, 2023
By Adam and Larry Mogelonsky While the pent-up demand from 2022’s travel recovery has now normalized, hotels are still mired by inflationary wages and high turnover. This presents a sweeping, existential issue for the industry on multiple fronts, with labor issues at the forefront of discussion heading into this year’s ALIS (American Lodging Investment Summit), happening January 23-25 in Los Angeles. For owners and investors, increasing labor costs mean less going to the bottom line which can disincentivize capex and product innovation. For operations, staying within budget can mean cutting corners elsewhere, ultimately impacting se...
Indian Hospitality Sector – Crystal Gazing Into 2023
Mandeep S. Lamba | January 6, 2023
By Mandeep S. Lamba, Dipti Mohan The Indian hospitality sector is expected to see accelerated growth in 2023, in spite of ongoing global headwinds and the uncertainty brought on by the occasional COVID-scare. This will be driven primarily by buoyant domestic demand, the gradual revival of inbound travel, and the Indian government’s renewed emphasis on the expansion of the tourism industry, which is expected to contribute US$250 billion to the country’s GDP by 2030. The government also intends to release the National Tourism Policy soon to promote sustainable and inclusive tourism growth in the country. The hotel sector should develop s...
The Cleveland Market Is on Pace for Full Recovery
Brandon Leversee | January 4, 2023
By Brandon Leversee The recovery of Cleveland’s travel and tourism industry is well underway following the severe downturn in 2020. According to Destination Cleveland, business and leisure travelers to Cuyahoga County in 2021 increased by 17% from the levels recorded in 2020. This increased visitation resulted in a total economic impact of $9.3 billion. Industry officials predict that Cleveland and Cuyahoga County will fully recover by 2024, despite rising inflation and continued staffing shortages, as well as the possibility of a national recession in 2023. Cuyahoga County Market—Recovery to 2019 Performance Source: Destination...
Hotel Occupancy Slows as the Holidays Near
STR | December 22, 2022
Note: The Market Recovery Monitor will be off for the holidays during the final week of December. The next and final edition of the MRM is scheduled to run on 6 January. Beginning 13 January, the MRM will be replaced by a new series, “STR Weekly Insights.” Methodology update: This will be one of the final weekly analyses to utilize STR’s current non-participant modeling methodology and U.S. Top 25 Markets. In 2023, Las Vegas will replace Norfolk/Virginia Beach in the Top 25. Read more HERE. Key Takeaways: U.S. occupancy began the normal pre-holiday decline Skiing areas posted the highest ADR increases in the U.S...
Recent Trends in Vacationland: The Ebb and Flow of the Coastal Maine Lodging Market
Brian Bisema | December 19, 2022
By Brian F. Bisema, Raymond Parejo The primary economic engine of Coastal Maine, also known as Vacationland, is the summer tourist season, which experienced tremendous growth in 2021 and continued strengthening in 2022. Attractions such as Acadia National Park, local beaches, lighthouses, and a host of restaurants, bars, breweries have remained the drivers of leisure travel. Bleisure travel (a combination of business and leisure travel) to the Maine/Greater New England area has also increased substantially over the past 18 months, further bolstering lodging performance. Despite the staggered opening of the U.S.–Canada border, and with C...
Almost Home: The Boston Hotel Market Approaches a Recovery
Erich Baum | December 13, 2022
By Erich Baum, Brian F. Bisema, Raymond Parejo According to STR, Boston’s revenue per available room (RevPAR) finished 2021 at roughly half the pre-pandemic 2019 level, a discouraging performance. But the city took a leap forward in 2022 and is on pace to finish the year with a RevPAR level just a shade below the pre-pandemic performance. After adjusting for inflation, these results are less significant, of course, but the turnaround still represents a huge achievement, particularly considering that the recovery is still in progress for the international travel, corporate transient, and convention demand channels. As illustrated in the ...
