Operations & Strategy USA & Canada Opinion Articles - Hospitality Net

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Opinion Article

February 14, 2025

Family Experiential Resorts Finding Success

As travel rebounds from the disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic, family travelers are increasingly seeking unique and memorable experiences when selecting a destination. While this trend is not new, it has gained momentum post-pandemic, as many travelers are opting for indoor waterpark resort getaways in addition to other travel. This increase in demand prompted action from resorts as many reevaluated their strategies, enhancing amenities and activities – whether through new developments, renovations, or expansions – to cater to evolving traveler preferences.

By Adam Zarczynski, Manager, Hotel & Leisure Advisors (H&LA)

Opinion Article

December 9, 2024

Learning From Las Vegas Luxury with Crockfords at Resorts World

Luxury hotels are defined by service excellence, exclusive amenities and personalization. With so much buzz around ‘personalization’ these days (in quotes on purpose), what is often missed is the precision of service delivery necessary to execute this attention to detail at scale, for which there’s no truer form of expressing this precision than through customization of the guest journey in a seamless blend of meticulously curated experiences.

By Larry Mogelonsky and Adam Mogelonsky

Las Vegas, Nevada, United States

Opinion Article

November 22, 2024

Downtown Honolulu Grows Up

For many decades, visitors to the Hawaiian island of Oahu had just one neighborhood to choose from when booking a hotel. Waikiki–that iconic mile-and-a-half strip of white-sand beach ringed by more than 26,000 hotel rooms–was the only place where hotels could be found.

By Paul McElroy, Executive Vice President, Highgate, Highgate Hotels, L.P.

Honolulu, Hawaii, United States

Opinion Article

September 4, 2024

Soft Brands – A Third Alternative

Historically, hotel owners have had the option to either affiliate with a known brand or operate independently. Affiliating with a brand provided access to a reservation system, loyal customers, communal marketing programs, a known identity among consumers, and a sense of stability within the finance and investment community. Brand affiliation, however, comes with costs. Owners pay a variety of fees for royalty, marketing, reservation, and guest loyalty programs, and need to conform to facility, service, and operating standards.

By Robert Mandelbaum and Paul Isaacson

Opinion Article

May 6, 2024

Checking the Changes to Hawaiian Luxury with the Halekulani

For those who are unfamiliar, the Halekulani is (pardon the alliteration) a hallmark of Hawaiian hospitality, with the property acting as the keystone for the densely populated beach tourism area of Waikiki in Honolulu. At 453 rooms and suites, the luxury hotel has a time-honored history, first established in 1917 and now comprising five buildings and three signature restaurants, all with an unparalleled onsite experience. Further to this article, the property closed completely for an 18-month renovation at the outset of the pandemic in 2020.

By Larry Mogelonsky and Adam Mogelonsky

Honolulu, Hawaii, United States

Opinion Article

March 11, 2024

Creating the Entertainment Capital within the Entertainment Capital of the World

Las Vegas is a city that lives on reinvention to keep drawing ever-larger crowds to this oasis in the desert that, for full transparency, wouldn’t even exist if it weren’t for the entertainment industry. While the world’s entertainment capital started out with gaming, shows and conventions, in recent decades it has also become a culinary mecca and now a world-class sports destination.

By Adam Mogelonsky and Larry Mogelonsky

Las Vegas, Nevada, United States

Opinion Article

October 23, 2023

Business Travel Accelerating

Despite ending 2022 still 29% below 2019 levels, transient and group business travel have made considerable progress this year.

By Jamie Mageau, Director of Research Products, U.S. Travel Association

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Opinion Article

August 15, 2023

The Q2 Business Travel Tracker Shows Business Demand is Normalizing While Cost Constraints Diminish

Business travel expectations are normalizing. In line with other travel indicators softening and consistent with prior quarters, eight in 10 business travelers expect to travel to attend conferences, conventions or trade shows in the next six months.

By Jamie Mageau, Director of Research Products, U.S. Travel Association

Opinion Article

August 10, 2023

Extended-Stay Hotels Continue to Gain in Popularity

The pandemic and hybrid work arrangements have generated strong demand for longer hotel stays, increasing the popularity of cost-effective extended-stay hotels and making them one of the fastest growing segments in hospitality. With higher margins and lower development costs than full-service hotels, extended-stay properties have the potential to generate higher returns on investment. As a result, banks are more likely to provide funding for what are perceived to be lower-volatility, higher-return hotels, particularly those associated with well-established brand families. We expect capital to continue flowing into this segment as long as outsized returns exist.

By Jack Levy, Hospitality Consultant, CBRE Hotels

Opinion Article

August 4, 2023

How Three—or Four—Factors Have Combined to Increase Travel's Affordability

Below, we take a deep dive into the data and what it means for travel.

By Aaron Szyf, Economist, U.S. Travel Association

Opinion Article

July 19, 2023

As Camping Popularity Surges, RV Resorts Look to Capitalize With Hotel-Like Comforts

Over the past several years, H&LA has seen a marked increase in interest from developers and investors in campgrounds and RV resorts. RV parks are rebranding as resorts as they add more amenities. Though camping is far from a new phenomenon, its uptick in popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic helped introduce it to many first-time campers, which boosted participation to higher levels. One of the most popular pastimes in North America, camping has the added benefit for travelers of also being one of the most affordable and accessible vacation options.

By Anthony DiPonio, CHIA, Associate, Hotel & Leisure Advisors (H&LA)

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Opinion Article

May 22, 2023

Industry Perspectives: Looking Ahead for the Travel Industry

These insights and perspectives help us understand how some of the largest travel corporate players are viewing the state of the economy and its impact on the travel industry as well as the main factors they are monitoring that may hinder their continued growth.

By Jamie Mageau, Director of Research Products, U.S. Travel Association

Opinion Article

April 20, 2023

Independent Hotels Have Largely Shed 'Inferiority Complex'

Between the 1950s and the year 2000, hotel owners wishing to expand business beyond their local community had two options.

By Thomas Magnuson, Co-Founder & CEO Magnuson Hotels, Magnuson Hotels

Opinion Article

April 12, 2023

Hotel Conversions to Residential Use Heat Up

As economy and budget hotels are nearing the end of their economic life, some properties are finding new capital for renovations from buyers seeking to convert properties to residential use. In this article, we provide a sample list of hotels that have gone through this metamorphosis.

By Rodney Clough and Koby Kearney

Opinion Article

March 22, 2023

Data Security and Privacy in Hospitality – Who’s Paying the Bill?

One of the most valuable assets of a hotel brand is information – detailed personal information about guests at their hotels, participants in their loyalty programs, and visitors to their websites. This information allows hotel brands to focus on creating guest loyalty, acquiring potential guests, engaging in effective marketing, expanding market share, and creating properties and services that entice and satisfy hotel guests. Because of this, hotel brands have long contended that they “own” hotel guest data and have unencumbered rights to use it, without respect to the interests of hotel owners and even the guests themselves.

By Robert Braun, Partner, Jeffer Mangels Butler & Mitchell, LLP, JMM

Opinion Article

December 30, 2022

Highs, Lows and Some In-Between: 2022 in Review

What a year. 2022 was a mix of setbacks and recovery, coupled with seemingly contradictory economic and consumer data.

By Aaron Szyf and Jamie Mageau

Opinion Article

October 27, 2022

Hotel Data Security Update: Hotels, Hotel Owners and Employee Personal Information

Hotel operators and owners have long been focused on the privacy of the personal information they collect from guests – because of the global nature of the hospitality business, hotel brands have focused on complying with the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and beginning in 2018, the Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), the first comprehensive law designed to protect the privacy of consumers’ personal information.

By Robert Braun, Partner, Jeffer Mangels Butler & Mitchell, LLP, JMM

Opinion Article

October 17, 2022

Q3 Business Travel Tracker: Restricting Policies Limiting Business Travel are Diminishing

Company policies restricting business travel are diminishing for both small and large organizations. The negative impacts of reduced business travel are increasingly evident.

By Jamie Mageau, Director of Research Products, U.S. Travel Association

Opinion Article

September 7, 2022

Paging Business Traveler

At the Hotel Data Conference in August, there were several panel discussions focused on the state and return of business travel. The one that piqued my interest was not the one focused on “Bleisure” but a much more demurely titled “The return of business (transient) travel”.

By Eric Amador, Customer Success Manager, BirchStreet Systems

Parrish, Florida, United States

Opinion Article

August 15, 2022

Emphasizing Indigenous Hotelier Education with Firecircle

Indigenous tourism is a burgeoning pillar within Canadian travel, growing at four times the pace of other tourism sectors and contributing more than $1.7 billion to the GDP from over 1,875 businesses (prior to the pandemic). And despite the crushing impact of the past two years, there is more interest than ever from Indigenous entrepreneurs to take their place in the Canadian hospitality industry. Supporting these ventures in turn presents lucrative opportunities for investors, brands and management companies.

By Larry Mogelonsky and Adam Mogelonsky