With this year’s NYU International Hospitality Industry Investment Conference just wrapped, it is a good time to look at the state of U.S. hotel business. And what we heard might surprise you. According to industry researchers STR, growth of RevPAR – that’s “revenue per available room” -- is now projected to be 2% this year, down from 4%. And luxury-hotel RevPAR growth is now predicted to be down 0.2%, instead of up 5%.

But is this downgrade troubling, or is it just a correction from the last few years of postpandemic growth? At the conference, hotel executives talked up the return of corporate travel, the growth of group bookings and the need to grow their brands' room counts. We delve into all that in this episode with Nicolas Graf, a clinical professor at NYU’s Jonathan Tisch Center of Hospitality, and hotels editor Christina Jelski.

Episode sponsor

This episode is sponsored by the Globus Family of Brands. https://www.globusandcosmos.com and https://www.avalonwaterways.com

Stay tuned at the end of the episode for a special sponsored interview with Globus’ chief sales officer Camille Olivere, led by Mary Pat Sullivan, executive vice president of marketing and partnerships for Northstar Travel Group.

Related links

Demand for U.S. hotels drops, forecast adjusted https://www.travelweekly.com/Travel-News/Hotel-News/Demand-for-US-hotels-drops-forecast-adjusted

With leisure leveling off, hotel CEOs welcome a surge in business travel and groups https://www.travelweekly.com/Travel-News/Hotel-News/Hotel-CEO-panel-NYU-hotel-conference-2024