Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

STR, TE release new forecast for 2021 at in-person Hunter Hotel Conference

Hotels’ issues finding skilled labor was a running theme at the show

STR, TE release new forecast for 2021 at in-person Hunter Hotel Conference

IT WAS A hopeful sign that the Hunter Hotel Conference was held at in downtown Atlanta after the COVID-19 pandemic caused its delay from March to May. That optimism shown through also in STR and Tourism Economics’ revised forecast for the upcoming year, which was presented at the conference.

Stronger than expected demand in the first quarter led STR and LE to raise expectations for recovery in 2021. However, the firms still are expecting full recovery of demand by 2023 and close-to-complete recovery of RevPAR is still projected for 2024. This comes after the agencies lowered its forecast for the year in January.


“The next stage of the U.S. travel recovery has commenced,” said Adam Sacks, Tourism Economics president. “An effective vaccine rollout and generous fiscal stimulus will drive the fastest single-year economic expansion in nearly 40 years. Leisure travel demand is gathering strength with substantial recovery in sight for many markets. However, transient business, group and international travel face continued headwinds, and a full recovery will take several years.”

Expectations also are high for the summer, but improvement has already been seen since the beginning of the year because vaccinated consumers have a pent-up demand for travel, said Amanda Hite, STR president.

“Consumers flush with savings felt ready to jump back into the experiences that were put on hold over the past year,” Hite said. “As we saw in late March and early April, leisure continues to be the primary source of demand although improving weekday occupancies indicate that some business travel is back in the marketplace. What remains furthest off from meaningful recovery is group business, but there is hope for upward movement in that segment as more events get back on the books. Until that point, big-box hotels and markets heavily reliant on conventions will continue to lag, keeping total industry recovery to 2019 levels in the distance. As we saw in our latest monthly P&L data release, the industry has only recently reached 50 percent of pre-pandemic GOP levels.”

Hite presented the forecast on the second day of the Hunter Conference and followed a similar report from Rachel Rothman, head of hotels research and data analytics for CBRE Hotels Research. Rothman said she expects the recovery to continue after summer because leisure travel is not the only force at work.

ENEWS 05 12 21 Hunter conference STR Rama and Patel D.J. Rama, president and CEO of Auro Hotels in Greenville, South Carolina, left, participated in a panel discussion with Mitch Patel, president and CEO of Vision Hospitality Group in Chattanooga, Tennessee, during the Hunter Hotel Conference in Atlanta. Rama said his company had to put a 60 percent cap on their hotels’ capacity because they don’t have enough staff to clean more rooms due to a labor shortage.

“As you know, there's been a lot written in the press about how this recovery is fueled by leisure. We wanted to take a moment to not only call out the holidays where you'll see the spikes,” Rothman said. “But importantly, we see the overall trend increasing outside of the holiday periods. People are not just traveling for leisure, they're traveling for business as well, and this proves that.”

A recurring theme at the Hunter Conference was the labor shortage hotels, and other industries, are facing for various reason.

“Hotels are having a difficult time finding skilled, affordable labor. This is nothing new. However, the situation does appear to be getting slightly worse,” Rothman said. “On the left, what you'll see is wages for hospitality employees versus wages for line level retail employees. Going into the pandemic, you'll see there was about a 14 percent premium, just over $2. Since the pandemic, this premium has widened to over $2.70 or 17 percent premium.”

One reason given for the labor shortage is the fact that the most recent federal relief package extended unemployment payments until September, meaning it takes more to encourage them to come back to work. D.J. Rama, president and CEO of Auro Hotels in Greenville, South Carolina, during a panel discussion at the conference told attendees they should lobby their local governments for assistance.

“I think we don't have a choice, but to take action with our governors and let them know what's happening,” said Rama. “We've actually started putting inventory caps of just filling 60 percent of our hotel rooms, because we don't have enough people to clean our rooms.”

More for you

Asian Hospitality unveils inaugural ‘Women of Color Power List’

Asian Hospitality unveils inaugural ‘Women of Color Power List’

Women of Color Power List 2025 Debuts at AAHOACON 2025

ASIAN MEDIA GROUP USA, publisher of Asian Hospitality magazine, launched the first-ever “Women of Color Power List 2025” at the 2025 AAHOA Convention & Trade Show in New Orleans, honoring 51 women reshaping the U.S. hospitality industry. The publication is the first to spotlight the achievements of women of color, recognizing their resilience, innovation, and leadership.

Asian Media Group Managing Editor Kalpesh Solanki, Executive Editor Shailesh Solanki, and Chief Operating Officer Aditya Solanki announced the list during the conference.

Keep ReadingShow less
AAHOALending.com લોન્ચ 2025

AAHOA, બ્રિજ AAHOALending.com લોન્ચ કરે છે

AAHOA અને બ્રિજે AAHOALending.com ને AAHOACON 2025 માં રજૂ કર્યું

AAHOA અને બ્રિજે AAHOALending.com લોન્ચ કર્યું, જે હોસ્પિટાલિટી પર કેન્દ્રિત ડિજિટલ ધિરાણ પ્લેટફોર્મ છે. તે AAHOA સભ્યોને 150 થી વધુ ધિરાણકર્તાઓની ઍક્સેસ પ્રદાન કરે છે, જેમાં વધુને વધુ લોકોને નિયમિતપણે ઉમેરવાની યોજના છે, આ પ્લેટફોર્મ વપરાશકર્તાઓને ધિરાણ વિકલ્પોની તુલના કરવાની, શ્રેષ્ઠ દરો અને સુરક્ષિત ભંડોળ શોધવાની મંજૂરી આપે છે.

કોફાઉન્ડર અને CEO રોહિત માથુરની આગેવાની હેઠળના બ્રિજને ક્લબ બ્લુ ઇન્ડસ્ટ્રી પાર્ટનર તરીકે નિયુક્ત કરવામાં આવ્યા છે, જે AAHOAના પ્રોગ્રામમાં સર્વોચ્ચ સ્તર છે, તેના 300 ભાગીદારોમાંથી માત્ર 12 જ લાયકાત ધરાવે છે, એમ બંનેએ સંયુક્ત નિવેદનમાં જણાવ્યું હતું.

Keep ReadingShow less
2025માં મંદીની સંભાવના 50 ટકા : HAMA સર્વે

2025માં મંદીની સંભાવના 50 ટકા : HAMA સર્વે

HAMA 2025 સર્વે: 49% મેનેજર્સ મંદીની આશંકા ધરાવે છે

હોસ્પિટાલિટી એસેટ મેનેજર્સ એસોસિએશનના સ્પ્રિંગ 2025 ઇન્ડસ્ટ્રી આઉટલુક સર્વેક્ષણમાં અંદાજે 49 ટકા ઉત્તરદાતાઓ 2025 માં અમેરિકામાં મંદીની અપેક્ષા રાખે છે, જે 2024ના પાનખર સર્વેક્ષણમાં 19 ટકાથી વધુ છે. ટોચની ત્રણ ચિંતાઓ માંગ, ટેરિફ અને DOGE કટ અને વેતનમાં વધારો વચ્ચેનો જોડાણ છે.

HAMA સર્વેક્ષણમાં જાણવા મળ્યું છે કે લગભગ 55 ટકા ઉત્તરદાતાઓએ તેમની વર્તમાન વ્યૂહરચનાના ભાગ રૂપે બ્રાન્ડ અથવા મેનેજમેન્ટ ફેરફારો કર્યા છે અથવા કરવાની યોજના બનાવી છે.

Keep ReadingShow less
AAHOA Bridge AAHOALending 2025

AAHOA, Bridge launch AAHOALending.com

AAHOA and Bridge Unveil AAHOALending.com at AAHOACON 2025

AAHOA AND BRIDGE launched AAHOALending.com, a digital lending platform focused on hospitality. It offers AAHOA members access to more than 150 lenders, with plans to add more regularly, while allowing users to compare financing options, find the best rates and secure funding.

Bridge, led by Cofounder and CEO Rohit Mathur, has been named a Club Blue Industry Partner, the highest level in AAHOA’s program, with only 12 of its 300 partners qualifying, the duo said in a joint statement.

Keep ReadingShow less