rar hospitality
Transforming Hotels With Artificial Intelligence
Robert Rauch | April 1, 2024
Operators Who Ignore New Tech Will Be at a Severe Competitive Disadvantage By Bob Rauch Scheduling and training processes are becoming streamlined; revenue management has improved optimizations, and SEO and marketing strategies rely on AI to enhance online visibility. Chatbots are used for customer service and exist with many hotel providers today. Practical Uses of AI in Hospitality We just revised our menus and wine lists while utilizing AI, and while AI provides insights and depth, it still takes a human to know what is best in a market. This is true with all use cases for AI. It can speed up many processes, support innovation, etc....
Striving for a Better Way, Better Year for Hoteliers
Bob Rauch | November 2, 2022
By Bob Rauch Economic and geopolitical factors from the war in Ukraine to lingering pandemic fears and interest rates are expected to continue into 2023, leading to some hesitation and talk of recession in the hotel industry. The Federal Reserve has now increased interest rates three times in a row, all at 75 basis points. It most likely has already slowed the pace of inflation, so they should stop raising the rates. While consumer spending remains strong, there are many indicators that holiday spending will be softer than expected, the housing boom is winding down and recession conversation has created concern. After hearing my f...
Hotel Guests Getting Used to Changes in Service, Technology
Bob Rauch | July 7, 2022
By Bob Rauch Hotel fundamentals are on an upward trajectory, but several macroeconomic elements are a risk to owners and operators including inflation, higher oil prices, geopolitical tensions, rising interest rates and broader economic growth concerns. A recession would clearly affect near-term hotel stock price performance and sentiment as well as net income; however, hotel industry fundamentals remain solid, midweek business travel is recovering nicely, and groups are coming back. Was COVID-19 good for the industry? No, but much of the technology that was implemented during the pandemic will stay. Contactless check-in and touch...
Travel in 2022: Addressing the Demands of a New Era
Robert Rauch | March 9, 2022
By Robert Rauch This year marks an exciting point for hotels within reach of 2019 numbers. Many select-service and resort hotels fit this profile, but the majority of hotels should see great growth in 2022. What is the landscape? Threats to the Industry The greatest threats to the travel and tourism industry include new supply; Airbnb, Vrbo, and similar short-term rental companies; interest-rate increases; oil prices and terrorism. Reduction of visa issuance, global economic stability and economic growth by inflation are other concerns. Russia, China and Iran are all threats to stability in the Middle East, Eastern Euro...
Finance, Technology and Service Will Dominate
Bob Rauch | January 12, 2022
By Bob Rauch Interest rates are low, consumer confidence is stronger, oil prices are high and employment is very uneven. The Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) is at 58.7 in December 2021, down from 60 in November and 61 in October. Any number over 50 shows that the economy is expanding so the PMI is good news. Threats from COVID-19 variant Omicron should peak this month. Perhaps the biggest threat is inflation as that is starting to impact the middle class as well as the poor. The silver lining is that this inflation might cause hotel room rates to grow beyond the 6% inflation rate. Hotel Finances During most recessions, there is a signi...
10 Travel Trends That Will Happen in 2022
Bob Rauch | December 21, 2021
By Bob Rauch Travel is taking a new direction in 2022 and it’s important for hoteliers to continue adapting to the consumer changes for these travel predictions. Through a combination of technology, guest expectations, and employment, here are the most important traits to consider in your 2022 management plan. Enjoy reading these trends and have a spectacular and very Happy New Year! 1. The talent void – We furloughed and laid off the majority of our workforce, but we can fix it by recruiting those with strong communication, technology, sales and analytic skills. Yes, we will pay them more but they will perform better and will p...
The Current State of the Hospitality Industry
ROBERT RAUCH | May 5, 2021
By Bob Rauch Where is the Hospitality Industry as of Spring 2021? Current conditions in the state of the hospitality industry include leisure travel, employee challenges and reinvented guest programming. While I do not know how we are going to pay for the government spending plans, I do know that in the short-term, we will see huge growth in gross domestic product with some forecasters projecting over 6% for this year. Lenders are back in the game and traffic on the roads seems to me like an increase in business overall. To date, all of the hotel business, by and large, is leisure business. Longer weekends...
The Return of Business Travel
Robert Rauch | April 6, 2021
By Bob Rauch When Is business travel really coming back? Many corporate executives had all their meetings online in 2020. In 2021, we believe that will change soon due to the pace of vaccines, decline of COVID-19 cases, and negative impacts of closed economies. Regional sales trips are beginning again and airport executives suggest that business travelers are coming back. But when will this segment really return? Realistically, look at Q4 of 2021. Q2 will see an uptick, Q3 will be all about pent-up leisure demand and Q4 will see a strong return of business travel. Companies have been able to conduct business online with improved onl...
