CONSTRUCTION
274 | Construction in a Pandemic: Hotel builders face unexpected challenges
CONSTRUCTION
In the first quarter of this year, more than 140 new hotels opened in the U.S., reported Lodging Econometrics.
In March, the U.S. had 150,000 rooms under construction, said STR. It’s the highest end-of-month total the company has reported.
Jan Freitag, senior vice president of lodging insights at STR, said he expects hotel construction to continue throughout the year. But because of the low customer demand caused by the coronavirus crisis, hotel developers are not in a rush to open and projects will spend more time in construction.
Also impacting the timelines are the availability of building materials due to supply chain disruptions and challenges in finding skilled laborers who want to work during a pandemic.
This episode of Lodging Leaders podcast looks at the current state of hotel construction and explores what the future might hold with regard to new development in the shadow of COVID-19. We interviewed construction company executives and hotel developers to get an idea of the challenges they’re facing in getting a job completed and opened.
Resources and Links
- Larry Spelts of The Indigo Road Hospitality Group
- Azim Saju of Hotel Development and Management Group
- Bill Wilhelm of R.D. Olson Construction
- Stephanie Hall of DAG Construction
- Next Generation in Lodging webinar
CONSTRUCTION
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291 | On The Brink: Hotel associations lobby on Capitol Hill to ward off disaster
Leaders at AAHOA and the American Hotel & Lodging Association say time is running out for the nation’s 57,000 hotels in need of federal government financial relief as the coronavirus pandemic in the U.S. heads into its eighth month. Cecil Staton, president and CEO of AAHOA, and Chip Rogers, president and CEO of AHLA, are tirelessly rallying the industry to implore Congress to act soon before half of the country’s hotels go into foreclosure. This report is part of our ongoing coverage of the coronavirus crisis and its impact on the hotel industry.
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290 | DAY-CATIONS: Hotels turn guest rooms into private office spaces
With hotel occupancies hovering around an average of 50 percent, owners and operators are seeking new ways to generate revenue beyond traditional overnight stays. One solution in the works is day use of hotel rooms. Hotel companies such as Red Roof, Hyatt Hotels Corp. and Hilton are promoting the practice during the COVID-19 pandemic. Ahead of the curve is HotelsbyDay.com, a day-use booking platform that is marketing hotels as the new office space. Long Live Lodging explores the unconventional use of hotels and how owners and operators can position their properties to attract day users. This is part of our ongoing coverage of the coronavirus crisis and its impact on the hotel industry.