Hotels Are Trying to Recapture Losses With Skyrocketing Prices Too Bad Service Isn’t Following.

On one day in April 2020, American airports were so empty that the TSA screened around the same number as it might have in the late 1960s—just under 90,000, a figure down 90 percent from the more than 2 million who’d breezed through regularly each day a few months earlier. It’s startling, then, to compare figures now: According to the TSA, commercial airports have gained back more than half of those pre-pandemic fliers, and private-jet flights stateside are up 9.5 percent over last year, per business-aviation analysts at Argus.

So travel is roaring back to life, flush with much-needed passengers—and cash. Isn’t that a good thing? The surge at the luxury end of the market should be a foolproof boon for trip-starved travelers and financially struggling operators. But it’s not. Instead, luxury travel’s travails showcase every major post-pandemic problem, a shorthand for the economy at large.

Take supply-chain issues. While giant cargo ships such as Ever Given finally arrived at dock, the challenge persists. In part, it’s thanks to China’s devotion to its lockdown-driven zero-Covid strategy and the shuttering of key ports there such as Yantian as a result. One luxe Oakland, Calif., hotel opened only half its rooms, and even then, a few weeks late, after a partial delivery of headboards from Asia; the 100-person Emerald Azzurra elite cruise ship took off for its maiden voyage with stopgap chairs and tables, purchased in a scramble from Ikea by the onboard hotel director.

But it’s more than freighters mucking up furniture deliveries: High-end resorts in many Caribbean destinations rely almost entirely on shipped-in foods and beverages, leaving gaps in menus and bar inventories. Insiders don’t expect things to resolve soon, either: In a survey by the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA), more than a third of respondents expect the same problems to persist for at least another year.