CHTA proposes a three-part measurement framework tracking economic retention, workforce investment, and environmental impact to better capture tourism's true value to Caribbean economies.
CHTA shares insights from Barbados forum covering climate resilience, digital transformation, direct booking strategies, and workforce innovation as priorities for Caribbean hotels.
The NFL’s announcement of Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl halftime show comes off the tail end of the performer’s 31-show residency in Puerto Rico, which has been estimated to have brought as much as $200 million dollars into the local economy with a carryover boost for local hotels.
In 2024, the Dominican Republic has emerged as one of the top choices for outbound leisure travelers from the U.S. and Canada. This Caribbean gem has captured the hearts of travelers with its stunning beaches, rich culture and affordable vacation packages. With its proximity to North America, all-inclusive resorts, and a wide range of activities, it's no wonder that the Dominican Republic is the go-to destination for travelers seeking sun, sand and relaxation. In this blog, we will explore the various travel trends that are defining the popularity of the Dominican Republic this summer.
Barbados is an independent English-speaking Commonwealth country and the easternmost island of the Caribbean. It is one of the most mature tourist destinations in the Caribbean. The island is known for offering some of the most serene beaches in the world, as well as an abundance of dining options, local shopping experiences, outstanding golf courses, and numerous other attractions. According to Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc. (BTMI), approximately 80% of visitors to the island come for vacation or tourism purposes. The following graph shows the historical stopover visitation data for Barbados.
After the devasting impacts of Hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017, the U.S. Virgin Islands, which comprise the islands of St. Thomas, St. John, and St. Croix, faced a significant rebuilding effort to reopen their hotel inventory. As the renovations and reopenings from the 2017 hurricane season were nearing completion, COVID-19 began to affect the islands. However, the U.S. Virgin Islands have a significant competitive advantage over the other islands in the Caribbean because they benefit from U.S. territory status. As a result, the U.S. Virgin Islands avoided the complicated COVID-19 travel restrictions that existed in other Caribbean destinations, allowing the islands to increase visitation numbers after 2020 significantly faster than other Caribbean islands.
As international travel returns in many parts of the world, several Members are starting to report strong numbers both for arrivals and tourist spending. This is in spite of the fact the sector continues to face a number of challenges, among them the ongoing pandemic, rising interest rates and cost of living levels, and heightened economic and geopolitical uncertainty.
The Dominican Republic is one of the fastest growing economies in the Caribbean and the most popular tourist destination in the Caribbean region. Its tropical climate, white-sand beaches, diverse mountainous landscape, and colonial history attracts visitors from around the world. The country has 28 provinces spread across six main regions, with the East & Southeast region, which encompasses the cities of Punta Cana and Bávaro, serving as the most popular tourist destination and offering nearly 50% of all hotel rooms in the country.
The COVID-19 pandemic has imposed a new set of challenges for hoteliers, making it critical to ensure that they are leveraging the right tools and technology such as CRM solutions. NextGuest's new Customer Data Management Platform provides an unmatched centralized platform where various data sources are integrated, providing hoteliers with one single source of truth.
Today every guest generates a massive amount of data. But how can these be used profitably? Modern hoteliers, especially in a post-COVID world, must be able to make profit from the opportunities data offers – also to surpass times of crisis in which manual processes are even less viable due to the lack of staff.
In the coming year, customer relationship management (CRM) will play a pivotal role in re-establishing guest trust and, perhaps more importantly, igniting long-term guest loyalty. This will prove especially paramount within the group business/event sector of hospitality, as sales teams are expected to manage an increasingly dynamic workload.
In the fight to survive, hoteliers must throw everything they have at capturing demand in the months ahead. Combining their expertise with leading-edge technology that provides actionable business insights will allow them to gain a competitive edge.
The coronavirus has swept through the travel industry like a tidal wave and scarred our sector for years, perhaps even decades to come. In this context, hotel distribution has to reinvent itself by learning lessons from the past and envisioning what travelers' behavior is going to look like in an uncertain future.
Infor is dedicated to working with industry leaders to ensure lasting resilience in the coming era, post-COVID. Revenue management and pricing solutions will play an integral role to ensure success. Learn how Infor's technology solutions for the hospitality industry can help organizations create stability, gain clarity, and form actionable and effective strategies for the present and the future, too.
Our global hospitality industry is facing its greatest challenge in modern history—and also its greatest opportunity for transformational change. It would seem 2020 dealt us all a losing hand, but there's still a game to be won.
Today's hotel revenue departments are scrambling to determine the best sources of data to help them make informed decisions around operations, sales, and marketing. Fortunately, top-of-funnel data with deeper insights into traveler intent is available to help revenue teams get a real-time glimpse into current and future demand.
Since its onset, the global health pandemic has undoubtedly represented an upheaval of the hospitality market with virtually all industry professionals recognizing a need to reevaluate their offerings to conform to new guest needs, behaviors and expectations.
The entire hotel experience is currently in a state of transformation due to the spread of COVID-19, and hoteliers are in a position to leverage technology to transform the guest room into a profit center. By making PPE (Personal Protection Equipment) along with a wide range of other products available for purchase in the guest room, hotels have an opportunity to fulfill guests' needs at a distance while creating a new profit center in an environment where revenue-generating sectors appear to be disappearing by the day.
It is widely accepted that the world emerging from the current crisis, will be one shaped by the new norms and cultural evolutions that are taking place today. Hoteliers who are ready to welcome guests in an environment that emphasizes their safety and personal value, will be the first to recover.
Imagine all the chaos if you had to hire a consultant to come to your home and set up ZOOM on your computer at the onset of beginning of COVID-19. This is the state of “cloud” PMS technology in the hospitality industry. Coronavirus forced every one of us to take some time to reflect and, more importantly, reprioritize.
At the outset, it is important to understand that a pandemic like COVID has changed life in its entirety. Behaviors, priorities, and expectations have changed. Many businesses, verticals or solutions that existed/exist today will need to undergo transformations.
From a tourism sustainability point of view, the coronavirus is both a blessing and a curse. On the bright side, it forces organizations to think about different (smarter?) ways to do business, making use of virtual options that do not require travel.
With U.S. and global attention focused on the Caribbean region following two record-breaking hurricanes that hurled through the region in September, the timing of CHICOS less than two months later opened the door to educated conversations within our industry. Interestingly, the dialog was hardly identifiable with the sensationalist news headlines and misrepresentations in the media that the Caribbean is somehow pulverized, as the 2017 Atlantic hurricane season winds down. Rather, attendees agreed that there is a need to educate the public on the geography of the region, and conversations delved into other directions including lender reactions, new design and code regulations, the effect on investor behaviors and holding periods, operational expenses, and capital improvement opportunities, among others.
CBRE Hotels Americas Research announced that the average Caribbean hotel in its survey sample suffered a 4.7 percent decrease in gross operating profit (GOP) during 2016, according to its newly released twelfth edition of Caribbean Trends® in the Hotel Industry. This decline in profitability follows four consecutive years of double-digit increases in GOP.
Known for its iconic pink-sand beaches, the island of Bermuda is nestled in the North Atlantic Ocean, just 650 miles east off the coast of North Carolina. Most associate the island as part of the Caribbean, but Bermuda is actually located hundreds of miles to the north. Less than a two-hour flight from New York, Bermuda is an ideal tourist destination with mild temperatures and a unique culture, growing in popularity among younger, experiential travelers and hotel investors.
Will Cuba Become the Caribbean's Best Destination? Don't get them wrong: The all-inclusive, oceanside resort that Georgetown University Hospitality students visited during their recent trip to Cuba was wonderful, and all anyone could ask of … an all-inclusive, oceanside resort. It just didn't say "Cuba."
In Havana’s Parque Central, shady stone benches and graceful palm trees beckon to mojito-sipping tourists and locals gathering to shoot the breeze.
The gathering spot, in the center of town, is surrounded by horse-drawn carriages and long lines of colorful finned-and-chromed 1950s cars. But more utilitarian vehicles have recently begun circling the square: construction equipment transforming old buildings into luxury hotels.
As Cuba’s relationship with the United States grows warmer, real estate redevelopment is heating up, too.
Cuban tourism authorities announced record number of tourists for the last year. The country welcomed more than 4 million visitors most of them coming from the North America. Dalila Alba González, deputy director of marketing for the Ministry of Tourism (Mintur) reported that Cuban tourism ended the year of 2016 with more than four million visitors for the first time which means an increase of 13% compared to the previous year.