As of last week, room rates in North America have risen 2%. (Plank) The increase in room rates is due to the increase in business travel.
They are more willing to spend money on hotel reservations then in the past. Omni Hotels and Resorts reported that the number of meetings booked at his company is now the same as they were in 2007 and early 2008. 75% to 80% of its business has come from corporate travel.
Editor of Travelocity has reported that hotel bookings through the sight for this past summer remained constant with that of last summers. However, there has been a 3.5% in bookings this fall compared to last. Although there is improvement, bookings are still 12% lower than in 2008, before the recession. (Plank)
Apple Core Hotels has also seen a 25% in RevPAR since 2009. When compared to 2008, revenue is still down about 20%. It is clear that the hotel industry is making improvement, but business travel must increase to keep hotel revenue increasing.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703.html
Although hotel industries are showing a comeback in revenue, I expect that increases will begin to level out soon. The increases have been due to the increase in business travel. How much more business travel is going to be created? In order for the hotel industry to keep seeing improvements, luxury travel must also be increased.
ReplyDeleteI read an article similar to this one a couple of weeks ago and it basically said that the occupancy levels of hotels is still down from a few years ago, but is showing steady improvements. I believe that during this recession people are increasingly frugal with their money so they are cutting down their vacations and choosing the hotels with the best deals for their families.
ReplyDelete