Many hotel-business experts believe an industry downturn is at hand.
Some say it will happen as soon as next year. Others expect business to slow in 2021.
So, is the forecasted slowdown based on fact, an economic algorithm, or is it more of a gut feeling?
In this episode of Lodging Leaders we try to answer this question. We also find out what hotel owners should be doing today to prepare for a slowing of business tomorrow.
We talk to Mark Woodworth and Robert Mandelbaum, analysts with CBRE Hotels Americas Research; Paul Breslin of consulting firm Horwath HTL; and Susan Barry of Hive Marketing, who offers tips on how to get your hotel recession ready.
Lodging Econometrics has tracked the hotel industry since 1998. Its global database includes new-hotel pipelines as well as renovations and brand conversions. Hotel franchisers once eager to launch new brands are focused on converting existing hotels because it’s a faster way to recover revenue lost to the COVID-19 pandemic than through new construction. In Episode 346, Lodging Leaders explores the increasing number of conversions in the U.S. hotel industry and what owners and operators need to consider before repositioning an asset.
In the first few months of the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S., financiers anticipated a swell of distressed hotel businesses. Some raised rescue funds to respond to what they thought was a pending crisis. Though there are financial rescues taking place, the level of such activity is far below what industry advisers and fund managers expected. Commercial real estate investors positioned to act in the early days of the pandemic held off and are now just beginning to unleash their cash hoards totaling billions of dollars. Episode 345 of Lodging Leaders podcast explores the state of capital investment in the hotel industry.