Americans for the Arts’ public-opinion survey in 2018 found citizens value the arts and believe it benefits the community and its businesses.
In the U.S. hospitality sector, art is becoming more mainstream as hotels integrate different artistic mediums into design and décor as well as guest programs.
In this episode of Lodging Leaders, we explore how hotels use art to set themselves apart from the competition and attract guests who would not have otherwise stayed at the hotel.
Along with the business perspective, hotel owners and managers also promote non-traditional art concepts and support artists whose works enrich the lives of guests and locals.
We talk to Jean-Luc Laramie, general manager of the Hotel Chicago West Loop, which integrated art into its renovation plans in unique ways; Asend, the muralist who plans to create a work on the exterior of the hotel; and Terry Eaton of Eaton Fine Art in Austin, Texas, who creates and curates art programs for hotels of all sizes all over the world.
Resources and Links
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.