As the availability of new-construction financing continues to tighten, an increasing number of hotel owners and developers are turning to commercial property assessed clean energy loans.
While the lodging industry is recovering from impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, this twelfth annual HVS Lodging Tax Study quantifies the revenue impact of the pandemic over the past year. An analysis of 25 major US hotel markets shows that overall revenues have recovered to 2019 levels, but markets with high levels of leisure demand are faring better than those without. The lag in collections of lodging taxes will prolong the impact of the pandemic state and local government collection of the taxes. The report also provides historical data on tax rates and the collection and distribution of revenue from lodging taxes levied in all 50 States and the 150 largest US cities.
Traditionally, RevPAR was the gold standard metric to apply to revenue KPIs. It was and still is used as the measure of financial market strength. While RevPAR is a good depiction of profitability when the market is in a "typical" state, it can obscure a hotel's performance when it veers away from the norm – a condition the industry hasn't seen since early 2020.
I am happy to see this topic gaining momentum. Profit optimization in today's environment is key to your entity's success. Revenue optimization will continue to evolve and grow in sophistication as the practice matures, as the distribution landscape changes around it, and as new technologies emerge to support and disrupt hotels' strategies.
Back in 2014, I published an article "Things you didn't know about RevPAR (or: ARPAR as a better performance indicator" where I described the new index for profit tracking and profit maximization I had developed: Adjusted RevPAR (ARPAR), which also made its way to wikipedia and has been adopted by hospitality companies across the globe.
The halls of the JW Marriott Desert Ridge were buzzing this week as thousands descended upon the Phoenix resort for this week’s Lodging Conference. If you couldn’t make it to the event, here’s a quick recap of what you missed.
Just like any accounting topic, flow through and flex ratios look complex to many, and the interpretation with both the positive and negative signs resulting from the calculation also seems complicated. However, just like any accounting topic, once we take a few minutes and explore some examples, they are actually quite simple and amazingly useful.
Flow thru is first of all "a concept" and it's wrapped around the idea that if revenues go up or down my profit "should" react in a prescribed manner if I'm doing a good job as a manager controlling my payroll and expenses. It's rather straightforward when things move up together, for example, revenues are up 100k compared to the same month last year and my GOP is up 60k – my flow is 60%.
Watermark Lodging Trust, Inc. (“Watermark,” “WLT” or the “Company”) today announced that, at a Special Meeting of Stockholders, the proposed acquisition of WLT by private real estate funds managed by Brookfield was approved by its stockholders. Under the terms of the previously announced merger transaction, WLT common stockholders will receive cash consideration of $6.768 per Class A share and $6.699 per Class T share.
In Part 1 of this series, I highlighted that hotel property investors transact to acquire both real estate and the operating businesses with their varying sets of revenues and expenses. This institutional arrangement is unlike those for most other commercial real estate investments in which the business owners make fixed rental payments to property owners while expenses are mostly variable. Hotel investments therefore come with counteracting exposures to inflation of operating revenues and expenses that may neutralize inflation impacts on profits (i.e., net operating cash flows). The statistical results reported in Part 1 suggest that hotel profits do not adjust to inflation. Over the period of 1946-2020 inflation positively influenced both total revenues and total operating expenses to the extent that they offset one another.
The distinction between fixed and variable costs has blurred over time as technology, labor market conditions, and guest preferences have evolved. These trends have been exacerbated by changes in occupancy patterns post COVID. Hotel owners and operators need to understand how these changes affect strategies for maximizing profitability.
First things first: THERE IS NO NEW NORMAL! The new normal was a mix of government imposed social distancing restrictions that lead to increased costs coupled with mass layoffs and reduced available inventory = Pay it, suck it up or leave it.
Focus to increase NOI, I think is an import topic and item to think about when hotels are working to further optimize revenue. So finding revenue with a high margin is key. A first process to implement, ideally fully automated would be upselling of room upgrades, and monazite early arrival and late departure.
Historical data has become completely obsolete because of the pandemic and the current inflation. If your King Room went for $200 on September 20th of 2019 at 75% occupancy, how much should you charge in 2022 at 60% occupancy, citywides down by 70%; corporate groups down by 40%; corporate transients down 35% and Inflation at 8.5%?
Bonus Depreciation is fading away over the next 5 years. With the help of the IRS Section 179 Deduction and still powerful Bonus Depreciation, lodging Owners can save thousands of dollars in federal income tax savings in 2022 and beyond.
myDigitalOffice (MDO), the world's fastest growing hotel performance management platform, today announced its rank on the annual Inc. 5000 List, which highlights the fastest-growing private companies in America. Following a three-year run where the company grew by over 1,000%, MDO came in at #608 overall, and is the sixth fastest growing private company in all of Travel and Hospitality.
The recent price surge for many goods and services in the U.S. raises the prospect for an extended period of persistent high inflation. Conventional measures of inflation track either specific sets of prices that consumers pay, notably the Consumer Price Index (CPI), or for economywide spending - Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE).
During the peak period of the pandemic, we saw a widespread purge of unit, area/regional, and corporate level leadership roles being consolidated or purged altogether. Those initiatives were taken to preserve cash flow by controlling labor-related expenses.
I think in life you get what you pay for. My point of reference here is a full-service managed and branded hotel. I believe when you pay for and get an executive team that has all the critical bases covered your hotel will get better results in all areas, including service, engagement, and profits.
RobertDouglas advised Chartres Lodging Group in successfully refinancing its existing loan for the recently renovated, 50-key room Dr. Wilkinson’s Backyard Resort & Mineral Springs in Calistoga, California with a best-in-class institutional balance sheet lender.
On December 31, 2021, the constant maturity, 10-year U.S. Treasury note (the 10-year) stood at 1.52 percent. The 10-year now hovers around 3.0 percent and the prospects for higher rates appear good. During the data period for the analysis presented below, the 10-year ranged from 0.65 percent to 6.70 percent and last exceeded 5.0 percent in 2006. A concern among commercial real estate investors (especially hotel investors because of the high sensitivity to macroeconomic conditions) is a rate-driven economic slowdown that threatens property income growth. Given the linkages across capital market rates, investors are concerned about the possible upward movement in hotel capitalization rates (cap rates) promoted by increasing 10-year rates. This blog addresses the sensitivity of hotel cap rates to changes in the 10-year.
According to the March 2022 edition of CBRE’s Hotel Horizons® national forecast report, the total revenue for a typical U.S. hotel is not expected to return to pre-COVID 2019 nominal dollars until 2023. Accordingly, hotel owners and operators continue to seek ways to control expenses.
The price of gas continues to rise in the U.S., but hoteliers aren't nervous that surging fuel prices or inflation might dampen summer travel demand.
RobertDouglas advised a joint venture between Wexford Lodging Advisors and Trinity Private Equity Group in successfully refinancing its existing loan for the 138-key, all-suites DoubleTree Suites Nashville Airport. The new, non-recourse senior mortgage has a five-year term. The floating-rate financing was provided by a leading life insurance company’s real estate credit platform.
During pandemic we have seen an increase in package and leisure sales, especially for the non-central hotels. With travelers willing to spend more money on theirselves many hotels have seen an increase in incremental revenue. We see an increase in requests for Total Revenue Management projects now that restrictions are lifted and demand is returning.
More than asking if hotels should diversify their revenue streams now, they should be asked what has stopped them doing so earlier!, or in other words, why do hotels only do revenue management in the space where there is a bed?
Many hotels have been diversifying their income streams for ages. Though, the entire industry has still been measuring its performance through RevPAR as being a de facto metric since the Revenue Management discipline was born.
JMBM’s Global Hospitality Group® and EB-5 Finance Group™ are pleased to publish an updated edition of The Developer’s EB-5 Handbook for Construction Financing. This new and improved handbook provides essential resources for developers considering EB-5 financing for their next project.