Regulatory and Legal Affairs

🏨 The Department of Homeland Security will issue an additional 64,716 H-2B visas for FY 2025, expanding the cap beyond the standard 66,000. American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA) supports this, urging Congress for a needs-based visa system. AHLA endorses bills like the Closing the Workforce Gap Act of 2024 (H.R. 7574), the HIRE Act (H.R. 4708), and the Asylum Seeker Work Authorization Act (S.255/H.R.1325). AHLA Foundation focuses on workforce development, supporting programs for human trafficking survivors and Opportunity Youth.

💰 The UK Government is introducing legislation to reform business rates, beginning its delivery as promised in the Labour manifesto. Funded by a tax increase on the top one percent of high-value properties, the bill aims to permanently cut rates for retail, hospitality, and leisure businesses from 2026. Last month, business rates support was extended for a year, but reduced from 75% to 40%, capped at £110,000. This will lead to an average 140% increase in rates for over 250,000 premises; restaurants' bills will rise from £5,051 to £12,122, and pubs from £3,938 to £9,451.

📍 According to the report by FREENOW and GBTA, 85% of travel programmes have risk policies for business travel, yet only 55% frequently address ground transport risks. Regular safety trainings are conducted by 62% of programs, with 56% covering ground transport. Although 89% have traveler tracking systems, only 24% can consistently locate employees using ground transport. Half of the travel managers view taxis as the safest ground transport; vehicle safety checks and professional licenses are vital for 93% and 91% respectively. Business relationships with transport vendors exist for most companies in Germany, UK, Spain, and Ireland, enhancing operational efficiency.

📌 HOTREC reports that Booking.com is legally required to comply with the Digital Markets Act (DMA) as of today but has not met compliance or communicated necessary changes by the deadline. Booking.com's market share exceeds 70%, but changes to parity clauses and data access are considered cosmetic or unaddressed, such as the pre-payment option and website interface concerns. HOTREC's Director General, Marie Audren, urges the European Commission to investigate Booking.com for non-compliance.

🏖 A survey by the American Hotel & Lodging Association and Morning Consult reveals 52% of Americans plan to travel overnight for leisure in the next four months, with hotels preferred by 45% for leisure and 59% for business. High-speed Wi-Fi is the top hotel technology priority. About 32% will travel for Thanksgiving, and 34% for Christmas. Sustainability is important to 66% of travelers. Inflation could reduce hotel stays for 56% of respondents. The survey included 2,201 American adults and was conducted from September 30 to October 2.

🏢 In Q3 2024, Dallas, Texas saw a 13% quarter-over-quarter and 15% year-over-year increase in commercial real estate lending, with the CBRE Lending Momentum Index hitting 214. Average spread on closed loans was 183 bps; multifamily loans tightened to 168 bps. Life companies led non-agency loan closings with 43%, followed by alternative lenders at 34% and banks at 18%. CMBS issuance reached $29 billion, tripling year-over-year. Government agency lending on multifamily assets rose 40% to $28 billion, with the Agency Pricing Index at 5.8%.

📡 In the travel industry, digital regulation is intensifying. Europe launched the "EU Data Package" with five legislative pieces: Data Governance Act, Digital Services Act, Digital Markets Act, Data Act, and Artificial Intelligence Act, within the last five years. Similar laws have emerged in the U.S. and China, affecting data privacy, consumer protection, competition, AI, marketplace platforms, and taxation.

🏨 Peachtree Group in Atlanta, Georgia, partners with Group 10 Management, adding 14 new hotels with 1,648 rooms, primarily Marriott, Hilton, and IHG brands, mostly in metro Detroit. This expansion grows Peachtree's managed operations over 100 hotels, now totaling 107 hotels, 13,485 rooms, across 27 brands in 27 states including Washington D.C. Peachtree's third-party management portfolio increases to 31 hotels. The partnership aims to leverage Peachtree's expertise in hotel operations, brand compliance, and cost efficiencies.