Per the name, the historical role of revenue managers has been to maximize revenue - specifically rooms revenue or RevPAR. RevPAR growth is achieved by increasing occupancy and/or average daily rates (ADR).
According to the March 2019 edition of CBRE's Hotel Horizons® forecast report, RevPAR growth for the U.S. lodging industry will be limited to under 2.5 percent through 2020. Further, CBRE is projecting a 0.6 percent decline in RevPAR for 2021 as CBRE expects the economy to slow down during the year. The combination of modest increases in revenue and rising operating expenses (especially labor) make hotel owners and operators nervous about their ability to enjoy profit growth the next few years.
Hosting a premier sporting event isn't just a mark of stature—it can be a boon for the city's hotel industry. From the Super Bowl and the World Series in the U.S., to the World Rugby Sevens Series held in a variety of locations, from the UAE and South Africa, to New Zealand and Hong Kong, sporting events are a facilitator of traveler demand.
Brussels, with a population of approximately 1.2 million, enjoys a strategic location in the heart of Western Europe, making it both a regional metropolis and an international hub. In addition to its role as capital of Belgium, the city is home to NATO's headquarters and is widely known as the 'capital of Europe', hosting both the European Parliament and the European Commission. Described as the 'new Berlin' by the New York Times in 2015, an eclectic and creative facet of Brussels has recently emerged, represented by its community of artists, architects and designers.
HotStats, the global leader in monthly profitability data benchmarking for the hotel industry, has released findings of U.S. hotel performance for 2018, in its "Profit Matters: U.S. Annual Report Performance Tracker."
In a previous blog post, I took aim at RevPAR. My pursuit: to puncture the long-held notion that it's the most exemplary data point to consult within the hospitality industry. And, according to one comment, I succeeded in doing so (thank you, Don Weintraub, you made my mother very proud).
Detroit's image of a proper rust-belt city in the depths of despair during the Great Recession and the subsequent filing of bankruptcy in 2013 has been reshaped into an inspiring story of resilience and resurgence. Detroit's economy is strong, with unemployment decreasing every year since 2014 and an employment base that continues to diversify. While the economic mainstays—General Motors, Ford, and Fiat Chrysler—still thrive in the city, other major employers belong to the financial and healthcare sectors; moreover, the technology sector continues to grow.
Surrounded by the beauty of lakes and the Mississippi River, Minneapolis is home to many Fortune 500 companies and more than 11,000 hotel rooms. High quality of life, diversity of employers, and leisure attractions continue to entice demand and an ensuing level of hotel development to the area.
Growth in the booming U.S. hotel industry is cooling off, data tracker STR forecasts, setting the stage for the lodging industry's worst stretch since 2009.
We live in interesting times. Each day, we cannot be sure which way the stock market will swing, with its volatile nature and seemingly knee-jerk reactions to the trade and policy headline of the day. If the stock market serves as a leading indicator of times to come, the economy in 2019 is likely to slow in comparison to the one to which we've become accustomed. Despite this trajectory, other factors still signal that the hotel industry isn't likely falling off a cliff anytime soon.
Transaction activity has been observed to be on a downward trend from 2013 until 2017, owing to the transactions of Dalian Wanda China portfolio to R&F Properties. Since then, the frequency of transactions have been high, with 228 recorded transactions from 4Q2017 to 3Q2018, slightly lower than the 251 recorded the previous four quarters.
In 2017, the actual achieved levels of occupancy, average daily rate (ADR), total revenue and profits for U.S. hotels were less than their respective budgeted amounts. After a five-year period (2011 through 2015) of extremely accurate budget projections, this marks the second consecutive year that owners and operators failed to meet their operating goals.
Many of us who attended The Lodging Conference this past month heard Bernard Baumohl, Chief Economist for the Conference Board, provide his economic forecast. He covered topics in his usual fast, effective and entertaining style. Some interesting takeaways were that business spending is not up much, oil is going to see oversupply and is up markedly due to politics (not the market), and GDP will be up 3 percent this year, 2.2 percent next year and 1.4 percent in 2020, according to the Consensus Forecast.
TravelClick, a leading global provider of data and revenue-generating solutions for hoteliers, today released new data from the Company's August 2018 North American Hospitality Review (NAHR). According to this data, the second half of the year has stable rates and bookings across all travel segments, up 1.80 percent in average daily rates (ADR) and 0.51 percent in bookings in the third quarter when compared to the prior year. Group travel in Q3 is also up 1.81 percent in ADR and 0.50 percent in bookings, and the transient segment overall is up 1.80 percent in ADR and 0.52 percent in bookings in the same time period.
Lodging is a cyclical industry meaning that it passes over time through four distinct phases: peak, contraction, trough and expansion. Most industry participants believe that 2007 was the previous peak of the current business cycle following six years of expansion from the 2001 industry recession. According to STR, the demand for lodging increased for six consecutive years from 2002 through 2007, while average daily room rates (ADR) grew in excess of 4.5 percent during the latter four years. Per CBRE Hotels' Trends® in the Hotel Industry survey, gross operating profits (GOP) were growing at a 10 percent annual pace leading up to 2007.
U.S. Economy
Following several years of strong RevPAR growth leading up to Super Bowl XLIX in 2015, growth in the Phoenix market has slowed somewhat. ADR growth was modest in 2016, as much of the market experienced a post-Super Bowl correction, but ADR rebounded in 2017. Occupancy growth has remained relatively modest since 2016, slowing even more in 2017 but remaining positive. Year-to-date data through May 2018 illustrate modest increases in both occupancy and ADR, resulting in moderate RevPAR gains.
Bangkok, located in the central region of Thailand, is the county's political and commercial centre and has been the official capital city since 1782. Bangkok is also the main gateway city to Thailand and serves as an aviation hub for the region. The city attracts international and regional markets through a combination of cultural charm and modern shopping centres, appealing to a wide range of travellers. The following article gives a brief overview of Bangkok, its different sub-markets, its tourism industry, and the recent dynamics of the local lodging market.
The Tucson lodging market often lives in the shadow of its bigger sibling, Phoenix. And while meeting and group demand in both markets is driven by Arizona's idyllic weather during the winter and spring, differences in local dynamics paint significantly different pictures in terms of leisure and commercial demand.
U.S. hoteliers enjoyed an eighth consecutive year of increasing profits in 2017 despite another slowdown in the rate of revenue growth. According to the 2018 edition of Trends® in the Hotel Industry, total operating revenue increased by 2.0 percent in 2017 for the average hotel in its survey sample. Fortunately, by limiting the growth in operating expenses to 1.9 percent, managers at the Trends® properties realized a 2.2 percent increase in gross operating profits (GOP) for the year.