This week in Hospitality & Tourism #36 2023
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U.S. Employment in Leisure and Hospitality Continued to Trend Up in August (+40,000)
U.S. Unemployment Rate Up to 3.8% for August.
Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 187,000 in August, and the unemployment rate rose to 3.8 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Employment continued to trend up in health care, leisure and hospitality, social assistance, and construction. Employment in transportation and warehousing declined.
Employment in leisure and hospitality continued to trend up in August (+40,000). The industry had gained an average of 61,000 jobs per month over the prior 12 months. Employment in the industry remains below its pre-pandemic February 2020 level by 290,000, or 1.7 percent.
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Every September 1st we celebrate the hard work, passion, and commitment of hoteliers across America.
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AHLA: Proposed DOL overtime changes would harm hotels
American Hotel & Lodging Association President & CEO Chip Rogers spoke out after the Department of Labor issued a proposal to increase the minimum salary threshold for employees to qualify as salaried executive, administrative and professional employees (and therefore exempt from overtime pay requirements) under the Fair Labor Standards Act. The proposal would bring the threshold to $55,068, up from the current $35,568—a nearly 55 percent increase.
This would be the second increase in less than five years, and under the proposal, the threshold would automatically update every three years. Employees who fail to qualify for the FLSA’s “white collar” exemption must be paid overtime for any hours worked over 40 in a given workweek, which the association argues can limit managerial and worker development opportunities, such as remote work, travel, and career development.
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Enhancing decision-making with data management
It is of utmost importance to make well-informed decisions based on data. You cannot make decisions based on assumptions or estimates alone. A small error in data can be a make-or-break point for your business. However, with the amount of unstructured data, it can be extremely difficult to know where to begin.
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Three Chain Scales Hit Record-High Project Counts in the Global Pipeline at Q2
In the Q2 ‘23 Global Construction Pipeline Trend Report from Lodging Econometrics (LE), analysts state that the total global construction pipeline stands at 14,572 projects/2,310,238, up 3% year-over-year (YOY) by projects and 1% YOY by rooms. Worldwide, at the close of the second quarter, there are 6,154 projects/1,108,498 rooms under construction, 3,679 projects/506,760 rooms scheduled to start within the next 12 months, and 4,739 projects/694,980 rooms in the early planning stage.
Luxury, upper upscale, and the upper midscale chains dominate the pipeline at Q2, reaching record project counts at Q2 and accounting for 47% of the projects in the total pipeline. Of that 47%, upper midscale hotel projects comprise 29% of the projects in the total global pipeline with a record 4,236 projects and 558,159 rooms. Upper upscale projects stand at 1,653 projects/374,407 rooms at Q2, while luxury hotel projects increased 10% YOY to close the quarter at 909 projects/180,538 rooms.
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Taylor Swift impact grows to $208M in U.S. hotel room revenue
Taylor Swift's The Eras Tour generated an additional $208 million in hotel room revenue.
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How to use ChatGPT, a practical application for every hospitality firm.
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STR: U.S. hotel results for week ending 2 September
Following seasonal patterns, U.S. hotel performance showed mixed results from the previous week but positive comparisons year over year, according to CoStar’s latest data through 2 September.
- Among the Top 25 Markets, Minneapolis saw the largest year-over-year increases in occupancy (+19.1% to 74.4%) and RevPAR (+26.7% to US$101.06).
- Las Vegas posted the highest lift in ADR (+9.0% to US$181.61) and the second-largest jumps in occupancy (+15.9% to 74.4%) and RevPAR (+26.3% to US$135.07).
- New Orleans saw the steepest RevPAR decline (-17.2% to US$61.20).
27 August - 2 September 2023 (percentage change from comparable weeks in 2022, 2019):
- Occupancy: 62.7% (+0.2%, +3.1%)
- Average daily rate (ADR): US$150.52 (+1.8%, +23.0%)
- Revenue per available room (RevPAR): US$94.38 (+2.0%, +26.8%)
