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1. American traveler satisfaction declines across all sectors
The American Customer Satisfaction Index Travel Study 2025 found travelers generally enjoyed their travel experiences less compared to the year before, according to a news release. The study is based on 16,771 completed surveys conducted between April 2024 and March 2025.
“Across much of the travel segment, the satisfaction drop is being driven not by bargain hunters, but by business travelers and other high-value customers,” said Forrest Morgeson, associate professor of marketing at Michigan State University and director of research emeritus at the ACSI. “With spending patterns under pressure and pricing power fading, providers are going to need to work harder to deliver consistent value across all customer segments.”
Overall guest satisfaction dropped by 1% to an ACSI score of 76 after gains for the past two years, according to the release. Online travel agencies also saw a decrease of 3% to a score of 75 due to improved booking experiences through airline and hotel companies directly.
2. Green Bay hotels positioned to score big with NFL draft
Hotels in and around Green Bay, Wisconsin, are expected to see strong performance this week thanks to the city hosting the 2025 NFL draft, reports CoStar News' Trevor Simpson. Green Bay has 53 hotels comprising roughly 5,000 rooms.
"I think we're going to see that compression impact the market quite a bit, particularly on demand, and then also performance wise for [revenue per available room] and [average daily rate] and fairly high occupancy," said Colin Sherman, director of hospitality market analytics in Texas and the U.S. South for CoStar Group. "The impact, when you look at it from an absolute number, it's probably going to be bigger [than in past host markets]. It's such a small hotel market."
3. Driftwood Capital closes $1.2 billion consolidation deal
Driftwood Capital closed on its $1.2 billion portfolio consolidation deal, which includes 18 hotels comprising 4,203 keys, reports CoStar News' Natalie Harms. The hotels are all new builds or have been recently renovated, and they operate under Hilton, Marriott International or Margaritaville flags.
“We see this portfolio as a blueprint for how we intend to invest and operate in the next cycle,” said Carlos Rodriguez Jr., president and chief operator officer of Driftwood Capital, in a news release. “It reflects our focus on building high-quality, strategically located hotel portfolios — just like we did with our recent Space Coast Fund, which represented over $800 million in assets."
4. Markets jump after Trump eases worries over Fed chair, tariffs
Markets across the world lifted this morning after comments from President Donald Trump indicated he did not plan to remove Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell and that he expected the tariff battle with China would calm down in the near future, the New York Times reports. S&P 500 futures indicated early morning gains after increasing by 2.5% Tuesday, and global stock exchanges each saw their own low single-digit percentage increases as trading began in their respective countries.
This is a partial recovery, however, as these gains do not erase losses seen in recent weeks, the newspaper reports.
“The erratic threaten-retreat-threaten-retreat cycle has economic consequences,” Paul Donovan, the chief economist of UBS Global Wealth Management, wrote in a note. “The uncertainty this causes may impact consumer and business decision-making.”
5. Credit card companies prepare for a worse economy
With delinquencies on the rise and near pre-pandemic levels, banks and credit card companies are getting ready for a potential economic downturn and the expectation that fewer customers will be able to pay their bills, the Wall Street Journal reports. JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup have added money to rainy day funds, Synchrony is tightening its standards and U.S. Bancorp is targeting more affluent customers.
Executives at American Express and Citigroup have said consumers are spending less now on travel and entertainment. Capital One shared the amount of cardholders who make only minimum payments on their bills is now above pre-pandemic levels.
Consumer sentiment has dropped in recent months, drawing concerns about a slowdown in overall spending, the newspaper reports. That hasn't come to pass yet, however.