Market Trends

🏨 In Cambridge, Massachusetts, the Hospitality Asset Managers Association (HAMA) revealed its Spring 2025 Industry Outlook Survey results during the 2025 Annual Spring Meeting. The survey collected insights from 80 hotel asset managers, which is about 33% of HAMA's membership. Key findings include 49% predicting a U.S. recession in 2025, a significant jump from 19% in Fall 2024, and 55% considering changes to brand/management. Concerns over an impending recession rose to 70% among those polled informally during the conference.

🏨 Hospitality ON has compiled a non-exhaustive list of new hotels opened globally in the last 10 days, including those belonging to groups and chains. The map indicates openings in yellow, future openings announced in blue, rebrandings in green, and newly signed projects in orange. The list provides locations, photos, and essential details about each hotel.

🏨 Sheraton Philadelphia University City Hotel in Pennsylvania announces a $60+ million renovation to be completed by 2025. The upgrade, designed by Gensler, includes guest rooms, public spaces, a 24/7 fitness center, and a new outdoor deck. &More café will offer dining experiences. The University of Pennsylvania owns the hotel, which Davidson Hotels operates. The renovation aims to provide a blend of traditional and contemporary styles, with amenities like meeting pods and a multi-use terrace for events and relaxation.

🏨 - Tariffs on goods from Canada and Mexico have recently been partially reversed. - US hotel industry impacted by both the tariffs and the surrounding rhetoric. - Construction and renovation costs could increase, potentially elongating projects. - US rooms in construction have ranged between 150,000 and 160,000 for over three years. - Last year's supply percent change was 0.6%, below the long-term average of 1.7%. - Property Improvement Plans (PIPs) may be delayed or scaled back due to higher costs. - Canadian air inbound to the US dropped by 6-7% in March. - The World Cup will be in Spain, Portugal, and Morocco in 2030. - Hotel owners and operators are advised to focus on differentiation and service quality rather than lowering rates. - The conversation between hotel brands and owners is key to navigating brand standards and financial pressures. - Some investment funds are coming to an end and may put properties on the market. - San Francisco's hotel market is showing signs of recovery. - Data from CoStar and STR is used to inform operational strategies. - The Hotel Data Conference in Nashville is an annual event for hotel data enthusiasts. - The i92-APIS dataset from the Department of Commerce provides international travel counts. In the US hotel industry, fluctuating tariffs on Canadian and Mexican goods impact construction and renovation costs, while rhetoric affects service delivery. With 150,000-160,000 rooms in construction consistently

🏖️ Fliggy, a Chinese online travel platform, disclosed trends from the Chinese Spring Festival and Qingming festival, highlighting a surge in luxury getaways, domestic flights, and hotel bookings. 4- and 5-star hotels saw the fastest growth. Popular destinations included Shanghai, Beijing, Hangzhou, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Chengdu, along with outbound favorites like Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong SAR, Thailand, and Singapore. Austria, Hungary, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Denmark, Uzbekistan, Norway, Georgia, Germany, and Brazil experienced rapid booking increases. Notably, outbound bookings for departures 2 days before holidays rose 20% year-on-year; overseas attraction tickets went up by 56%, international cruises by 172%, and international train tickets by 293%. Domestic car rentals increased by 33%, with train ticket bookings soaring over 200%. Traveler spending grew by almost 5% year-on-year, and car rental duration averaged 3.1 days, up 41% year-on-year. Fliggy's Vice President Zhang Chen anticipates the demand for nature-centric getaways to continue throughout the year.

📈 Realytics, specializing in customer experience (CX) and operational metrics, identifies top-performing brands' key traits: staff training, menu consistency, and quality service. These factors drive growth, enabling store expansion and increased foot traffic. Realytics offers benchmarking against competitors, highlighting crucial CX elements for success. A semifinalist at MURTEC 2025, Realytics provides data-driven strategies to improve guest loyalty and profitability. Their report, "CX Leaders and Laggards 2020–2024," details these findings for the restaurant industry.

🍴 Bret Thorn, Senior Food & Beverage Editor, reports on food & beverage trends for Nation’s Restaurant News and Restaurant Hospitality since 1999, also hosting a podcast. He wrote for The New York Sun from 2005 to 2008 and worked in Thailand for Manager magazine and Asia Times from 1992 to 1997. Thorn, a magna cum laude Tufts University graduate and Phi Beta Kappa member, studied French cuisine at Le Cordon Bleu and Chinese language and culture at Nanjing and Beijing Universities. He won the 2006 Jesse H. Neal Award and joined the Disciples d’Escoffier in 2014.

🏠 Driftwood Capital launched its Driftwood Lifestyle & Luxury Division (DLLUX) in February, managing 12 assets, with $2 billion invested since 2019 in luxury and lifestyle projects, including the Westin Resort & Spa Cocoa Beach and Dream Miami. Alinio Azevedo, Managing Director, indicated that luxury hotels saw a 29% ADR increase from 2019 to 2023, with branded residences growing by 160% over a decade. DLLUX has a dedicated fund (DLLX) targeting over $3 billion in investments, focusing on luxury hospitality assets and branded residential properties.