HFTP® Acquires Leading Hospitality Industry Brands: Hospitality Upgrade, Hotel-Online, The CIO Summit and The Executive Vendor Summit
Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals | June 25th, 2024
Tripadvisor’s Spring Travel Index Shows Americans are Spending Big, Prioritizing R&R This Season
Tripadvisor | March 11, 2022
NEEDHAM, MA - March 11, 2022 - After snowstorms and freezing temperatures have pummeled cities across the United States this winter, the long-awaited arrival of spring is nearly within reach. Tripadvisor today released its seasonal Spring Travel Index, using a combination of search and sentiment data to reveal what - and where - is hot this spring. After a slower winter with new variants curbing many vacation plans, travel is in full bloom this spring. Despite the rising cost of fuel and inflation overall, people aren't willing to let this hamper their spring travel plans. In fact, over half of Americans (53%) are planning on travel...
Passage of Omnibus Spending Bill Includes $250 Million for Brand USA, America’s Destination Marketing Organization
U.S. Travel Association | March 11, 2022
WASHINGTON — March 11, 2022 — U.S. Travel Association President and CEO Roger Dow issued the following statement on the full Senate passage of the $1.5 trillion omnibus spending bill, which includes the Restoring Brand USA Act to provide $250 million in relief funding to the United States’ destination marketing organization: “The inclusion of the Restoring Brand USA Act in the fiscal spending bill is a major win for the entire U.S. travel industry, which has suffered more than any other industry throughout the pandemic. As international travel spending remains 78% below pre-pandemic levels, the relief provided by the bill—which ut...
Short Extension of Mask Mandate Creates Opportunity for Endemic Policies in New Framework
U.S. Travel Association | March 11, 2022
WASHINGTON — March 11, 2022 — U.S. Travel Association President and CEO Roger Dow issued the following statement on the Biden administration’s announcement to extend the federal mask mandate on airlines and transportation services until April 18, 2022: “The Biden administration urgently needs to send a clear message to the American public and the world that it is safe to travel again, particularly for vaccinated individuals, despite this 30-day extension of the federal mask mandate. We continue to urge the federal government to phase out the mask requirement and put forward a clear plan for travelers within this 30-day pe...
Bleisure Trips, Workations, & Positioning Your Hotel for the Latest Hybrid Travel Trends
Sarah Johnston | March 10, 2022
By Sarah Johnston The last two years has signaled monumental shifts within the hospitality industry – both good and bad. Along with the challenges surrounding fluctuating demand and staffing shortages, the pandemic has also ushered in a new era of hybrid travel that are giving hotels a new revenue lifeline. More and more people around the globe are now working from home, and they are also realizing that when your office can be anywhere with a good internet connection – you can work from just about anywhere. According to a recent Skift report, remote work is still widely prevalent across all international markets, with 55% of survey...
Historical Analysis: Rising Gas Prices Have Limited Impact on U.S. Hotel Demand
STR | March 10, 2022
Performance recovery is ramping up for U.S. hotels as the first quarter of 2022 nears a conclusion. However, that recovery is meeting potential headwinds from the war in Ukraine and subsequent further increases in gas prices. While the circumstances of 2022 are unique, historical data suggests that the latter of those two global issues will have a limited impact on U.S. hotel demand even as the cost for leisure and business travel increases further. Using data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, gas prices have hit an all-time high on a nominal basis but remain lower than the July 2008 peak on an inflation-adjusted basis (real...
First-Ever Southeast Tourism Unity Summit Mar 22-25 to Be Hosted by Explore Brookhaven, Georgia
Travel Unity | March 10, 2022
BROOKHAVEN, GA - March 10, 2022 - Explore Brookhaven is set to host the 2022 Travel Unity Summit Southeast March 22-25, 2022, at the Hyatt Regency Atlanta Perimeter at Villa Christina. This is the first and only event of its kind in the Southeast, and is representative of growing initiatives in the U.S. Among the organizations involved in the event are the Southeast Tourism Society, the Georgia Association of Convention and Visitors Bureaus (CVBs), the Alabama Tourism Department, Louisiana Association of Convention and Visitors Bureaus, the Mississippi Tourism Association and many more. Also presenting and sharing best practices are lead...
AAHOA Chair Vinay Patel Issues Statement on Russia’s Premeditated, Unprovoked, and Unjustified Invasion of Ukraine
AAHOA | March 10, 2022
ATLANTA, GA – March 10, 2022 – Two weeks ago, Russian military forces under the guidance of President Putin began an unprovoked and unjustified attack on the Ukrainian people. Today, more than two million people have fled Ukraine, with as many as five million expected to be displaced as Russian troops continue to advance toward major cities. The thoughts and prayers of AAHOA Members, Americans, and the entire world are with the Ukrainian people as they suffer through this tragic humanitarian crisis. “Seeing the news – images and videos of Ukrainian people in bomb shelters, fleeing their homes, and crowding train stations to g...
International Visitors Spent $8.2 Billion in January 2022
NTTO | March 10, 2022
Data recently released by the National Travel and Tourism Office (NTTO) show that in January 2022: International visitors spent $8.2 billion on travel to, and tourism-related activities within, the United States, an increase of 63 percent compared to January 2021. Americans spent more than $7.5 billion traveling abroad, yielding a balance of trade surplus of $721 million for the month—the third consecutive month during which the United States enjoyed a balance of trade surplus for travel and tourism. Travel exports of $8.2 billion in January 2022 were lower than $10.4 billion in December 2021 and $9.6 billion in November 2021 b...
People Around the World Are Booking Airbnbs in Ukraine to Help People in Need. Will It Work?
Anit Mukherjee and Alan Gelb | March 10, 2022
By Anit Mukherjee and Alan Gelb Over the past few weeks, thousands of people across the world took to Airbnb to book more than 60,000 nights at properties in Ukraine. Nearly all of these Airbnb would-be-guests weren’t considering wartime vacations, but instead were using the popular accommodation booking service as a cash transfer mechanism. This method of philanthropy appears to have originated and gained steam on social media starting on March 2, 2022 when a Twitter user shared the idea to support Ukrainians by booking rooms on Airbnb as a “way to send immediate monetary assistance to people in hard-hit areas.” In essence, p...
Travel Leaders, U.S. Department of Commerce Conduct Roundtable on Business Travel Recovery
U.S. Travel Association | March 9, 2022
WASHINGTON — March 9, 2022 — The U.S. Travel Association today led a delegation of 11 travel industry leaders to the U.S. Department of Commerce for a discussion with U.S. Deputy Secretary of Commerce Don Graves focused on promoting safe business and professional travel in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and opportunities to help the travel and tourism sector fully and evenly recover. At the meeting, Graves voiced his support for the travel industry, saying the Commerce Department will bring “all tools to the table” to help overcome obstacles that remain to the normal resumption of business travel, both domestically and from abro...
AHLA Welcomes New Member Puerto Rico Hotel & Tourism Association
AHLA | March 8, 2022
WASHINGTON – March 8, 2022 – The American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA) today announced it has welcomed the Puerto Rico Hotel & Tourism Association (PRHTA) as a new member, continuing to grow the association’s reach at a critical time for the hotel industry. PRHTA joins an AHLA roster of more than 30,000 members that includes 80% of all franchised hotels and the 10 largest hotel companies in the U.S. AHLA now counts 50 lodging associations as members, including 45 state associations, and organizations representing Washington, D.C., New York City, St. Louis, Memphis and Puerto Rico. PRHTA’s membership comes at a time...
ITA Data Release: December 2021 Total International Travel Volume
NTTO | March 8, 2022
December 2021 Total International Inbound Travel Volume (Visitor Arrivals) to the United States was 3,413,421 -- a Year-Over-Year Increase of 199.7%, yet just 49.6% of December 2019 Arrivals December 2021 International Outbound Travel Volume (U.S. Citizen Visitor Departures) from the United States totaled 6,060,417 -- a Year-Over-Year Increase of 89.2%, yet just 68.3% of December 2019 Departures Data recently released by the National Travel and Tourism Office (NTTO) show that in December 2021: International Arrivals to the United States Total non-U.S. resident international visitor arrivals (Overseas+Canada+Mexi...
Travel Industry Urges Biden Admin to Raise Cap on H-2B Visas
U.S. Travel Association | March 7, 2022
WASHINGTON — March 7, 2022 — U.S. Travel Association Executive Vice President of Public Affairs and Policy Tori Emerson Barnes issued the following statement on the announcement that the H-2B visa cap for the second half of FY 2022 has already been met: “With the H-2B visa cap already met and millions of jobs still open, it is evident that a workforce shortage is threatening to hold back industries across the economy, especially in Leisure & Hospitality. The cap on H-2B visas must be raised to ensure travel businesses are adequately staffed—particularly ahead of the busy summer travel season when so many businesses re...
Leisure and Hospitality Still Biggest Unemployment Factor in New Jobs Report
U.S. Travel Association | March 7, 2022
WASHINGTON — March 7, 2022 — U.S. Travel Association Executive Vice President of Public Affairs and Policy Tori Emerson Barnes issued the following statement on the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ February employment report, which confirms that 73% of the jobs lost are in Leisure & Hospitality (L&H): “The overall jobs report today may be good economic news for certain sectors, but nearly three quarters (73%) of all jobs still lost due to the pandemic are in Leisure & Hospitality (L&H). The sector’s uneven recovery is due to the lack of available workers, and revenues are down due to a lack of inbound internat...
ISHC Now Accepting Nominations for the 2022 Young Leader Award Presented at IHIF
ISHC | March 3, 2022
Berlin, Germany - March 3, 2022 - The International Society of Hospitality Consultants (ISHC) is now accepting nominations for the Young Leader Award to be presented at the International Hospitality Investment Forum (IHIF) in Berlin, Germany 3-5 May 2022. The Young Leader Award was established by ISHC and IHIF in 2009 to recognise and celebrate the excellence of young emerging leaders in the hospitality industry. Candidates must meet the following criteria: 35 years of age or younger. Born on or after 5 May 1986 Currently works for or directly within the hotel sector Is recognized by peers and industry mem...
Travel Edge Releases New Trend Insights for Spring 2022
Travel Edge | March 3, 2022
TORONTO – March 3, 2022 – As travelers dust off their passports and prepare for 2022 travels, the insiders at Travel Edge, the North American leader in luxury travel, have compiled data and insights that showcase the trends their advisors are seeing for spring 2022 and beyond “As we look forward to a promising year in travel, our Travel Edge Network insiders have noted major spring travel trends that will impact the industry,” states Nadiya Makarenko, senior vice president of Travel Edge Network. “Most notably, these trends include a refocus for bucket-list trips, the evolution of workcations and bleisure travel, extended t...
HFTP Issues Urgent Message from the Ukrainian Hotel and Resort Association
HFTP | March 3, 2022
Today Frank Wolfe, CEO for Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals (HFTP®) had the honor of speaking with Irina Sidletska, president of the Ukrainian Hotel and Resort Association (UHRA), while she was keeping safe inside a bomb shelter in Ukraine. She reached out to Wolfe, requesting that the following unedited information was relayed to the tourism industry. The message is as follows: Ukrainian Hotel and Resort Association (UHRA) urges US-based tourist and hospitality associations, as well as whole tourism community — travel-related authorities and bodies, professional associations, and businesses — to push for impo...
Knowland Reports Significant Growth in February Meetings Volume, Up 340 Percent Over February 2021
Knowland | March 3, 2022
Meetings increase 48 percent from January to February 2022, a significant sign the world is ready to get back to the business of meeting in person ARLINGTON, Va. — March 3, 2022 — Knowland, the world’s leading provider of data-as-a-service insights on meetings and events for hospitality, today released its monthly meetings and events data for February. Meetings volume from January to February increased 48.1 percent. Even more significant is a 340 percent increase over February 2021. Individual recovery metrics (average attendees and average space used) are now level with 2019. If the year continues at this pace, volume levels wil...
Tourism Tidbits: With The Possible End of the Pandemic, It Is Time for Tourism to Help Travelers Make New and Pleasant Memories
Dr. Peter Tarlow | March 2, 2022
By Dr. Peter Tarlow As a special edition of Tourism Tidbits was published last week, this edition turns to other matters. Please pray for an end of the conflict in Europe and for peace not only in Europe but throughout the world. Although during the month of March much of the world is still deep in winter, there is the hope that the worst of the bitterly cold weather is now behind us. There is also the hope that potentially the tourism industry can go beyond all the hassles and lockdowns due to Covid-19 and return to a somewhat normal tourism industry. March is the month when tourism professionals need to remind themselves that th...
Four Trends for Beyond Revenge Travel 2.0
Larry and Adam Mogelonsky | March 2, 2022
By Larry and Adam Mogelonsky Last week we looked at some immediate trends that hoteliers should consider for the rest of 2022 as each property contends with the reopening and the huge swell of incoming travel encapsulated by the buzzy term ‘Revenge Travel 2.0’. All operators have to be ready to pivot on a dime, especially with the headache of labor shortages, but that doesn’t mean you can ignore what the years ahead will bring. In fact, if you don’t then you may find your business left behind by all the forces at play. What we stress from firsthand experience through our hotel asset management consultancy is that all the long-te...
New Guidelines Put Women’s Empowerment at Heart of Tourism’s Restart
UNWTO | March 1, 2022
A new set of guidelines will help both governments and businesses better address the needs of women in the tourism sector. The guidelines published by the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) were developed with the support of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Development (BMZ), the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH and UN Women. They aim to ensure an inclusive and resilient recovery from the impacts of the pandemic. They recognize that, given the disproportionate loss of employment suffered by women, as well as the high proportion of women workers within tourism and their concentration in lowe...
Business Travel Recovery Keeps Gaining Traction
GBTA | February 28, 2022
There are positive indications that business travel continues to turn the corner on COVID-19, and especially over the past month, as concern from Omicron begins to wane and global travel restrictions loosen. Also on the rise are business travel volume expectations for the year ahead, as well as employees’ willingness to travel and to blend business travel with leisure time. Responding companies also expect to be heading back to the office, at least a few days a week, and many of them are facing headwinds in hiring and retaining qualified workers. This is according to data and insights from the February COVID-19 recovery poll, the latest...
HFTP Warns of Housing Pirates Posing as Official Representatives for HITEC Orlando Hotel Reservations
HFTP | February 28, 2022
Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals (HFTP®) is educating HITEC Orlando attendees about housing pirates in its efforts to prevent them from experiencing fraudulent actions. The Hospitality Industry Technology Exposition and Conference (HITEC®) will be held at the Orange County Convention Center on June 27-30, 2022 in Orlando, Florida USA. To assist with accommodations HFTP enlists the services of Orchid Events to help manage the thousands of hotel room nights necessary for the event. A housing pirate is an unauthorized housing provider that may approach exhibitors and attendees with fraudulent offerings of hotel rooms, r...
With New CDC Guidance, Travel, Aviation, Business Groups Urge Biden Admin to Lift COVID Travel Restrictions
U.S. Travel Association | February 28, 2022
WASHINGTON — February 28, 2022 — With new guidance issued Friday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that relaxes many COVID-era policies—including indoor mask wearing—the U.S. Travel Association, the American Hotel and Lodging Association, Airlines for America and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce are appealing to White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator Jeffrey Zients in a letter that urges the Biden administration to replace pandemic-era travel advisories, requirements and restrictions with endemic-focused policies that enable travel to resume fully and safely and the American economy to accelerate its recovery. The...
