NEW YORK — Despite macroeconomic headwinds, including inflation and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, hoteliers across the globe are still pushing rates — as long as customers allow it.
Executives from major hotel companies during the second day of the 44th annual New York University International Hospitality Industry Investment Conference said recovery these days is being led by rate instead of occupancy.
Some major gateway markets such as Boston and Chicago are still lagging in occupancy, so it’s not been a uniform recovery, said Majid Mangalji, president of Westmont Hospitality Group.
Now might be the best opportunity to pay more attention to rate index versus revenue per available room index as additional intelligent revenue-management tools become available.
“I think if we can find … that the pent-up demand offsets macroeconomic headwinds over the next 18 to 24 months, then we could find ourselves on the other side of this,” said Noble Investment Group CEO Mit Shah.