With all but one day of 2024 now in the books, the year seems to be a unique and noteworthy one for the global hotel industry.
From leadership changes to a concert tour that had the hotel performance comparable to a traveling Super Bowl, there was no shortage of news-making events.
To help put the year into perspective, Hotel News Now compiled some of the most-read and impactful hotel stories from each month of 2024.
January
The new year kicks off with the expectation that both hotel development and demand should have a better outlook than 2023.
But improved conditions doesn't immediately translate to more hotel construction.
An analysis of CoStar data shows the industry heads into the year with a flat pipeline, based on year-over-year comparisons. Jan Freitag, national director of hospitality markets analytics for CoStar, notes an outsize interest in limited-service properties.
“Those limited-service type properties from a branded stable are well-understood, and the banker can get 10 years of experienced data for a specific project like that,” he said. “That makes them feel comfortable that this is how they're going to perform.”
Kicking the year off at the 2024 Americas Lodging Investment Summit, industry experts say hotel performance is poised to outperform the larger economy.
February
Aimbridge Hospitality, the largest third-party hotel operator, announces new leadership, with former Marriott International executive Craig Smith slated to take the CEO role.
In replacing outgoing CEO Mike Deitemeyer, Smith promises to start working immediately with both owners and employees to get a sense of how the company is faring.
“I really want to get the feedback,” he said. “You've heard things in the industry of what you need to do, but you really want to get the feedback to be able to say, ‘Here's what I heard from you, and here's where we're going to start this journey.'"
And as one leadership journey begins, another wraps up as long-time industry executive Eric Danziger — most famous outside the hotel industry for his tenure leading Trump Hotels — announced his retirement.
In addition to leading Trump Hotels, Wyndham Hotel Group and Starwood Hotel & Resorts Worldwide, Danziger counts among his accomplishments the creation of the DoubleTree cookie, which he helped spearhead with the brand in the 1980s.
"We were a tiny little company," he said. "It was about how do we have ... product differentiation. Every hotel company talked about service, service, service, service, all that stuff. ... We stumbled on how when you stay at a hotel, everybody says they're gonna make it feel like you're at home. We said, 'What's the next step to that?' And that was basically milk and cookies."
March
Airport passenger data from the Transportation Security Administration shows clear evidence of a recovery among business travelers, a demand segment that has lagged well behind leisure travel in the post-pandemic recovery period.
"Travel in January and February heavily depends on travel for business purposes and to attend a convention or group meeting, while leisure travel enters a relatively slow period between the recent holiday season and the upcoming spring breaks. The growth in airport passenger traffic to start 2024 suggests business travel continues to recover from the effects of the pandemic," said Daryl Cronk, then a CoStar analyst.
At the same time, SCP co-founder and CEO Ken Cruse tells the HNN podcast that leisure travelers are increasingly gravitating to brands they identify with, such as his portfolio of boutique properties geared around wellness, social good and sustainability.
April
Miami Beach has a long-earned reputation as a spring break destination that city officials have pushed back on, starting a campaign this year that includes rules on nightly curfews, public intoxication, loud music and more. The city even released a video “breaking up” with spring breakers.
Hoteliers say the change has been noticeable.
“When people don't feel that we're offering a safe environment, obviously that curbs parents wanting their kids to go to spring break in Miami or people fully being able to enjoy what spring break has to say,” said Craig Haas, area director of operations at Concord Hospitality.
May
In one of the biggest deals of the year, Host Hotels & Resorts announces a deal to buy the Turtle Bay Resort in Kahuku, Hawaii, from Blackstone Real Estate for $725 million before converting it to a Ritz-Carlton.
"We are thrilled to enter into an agreement to acquire Turtle Bay Resort, which will further expand and diversify our already strong presence in Hawaii," Host President and CEO Jim Risoleo said in a news release.
In another planned high-profile conversion, The Mirage Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas closes to make way for a major redevelopment, including a rebrand to the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino and Guitar Hotel Las Vegas.
June
Zach Demuth, global head of hotels research for JLL Hotels & Hospitality, says there are signs a gummed-up deals market could soon open up for U.S. hotels as a "perfect storm" of factors begin to coalesce.
"We're at a unique inflection point where [revenue per available room] is generally still relatively high, but starting to normalize in many markets," he said at the 2024 NYU International Hospitality Industry Investment Conference. "While many hotels might be having record-high revenue numbers, they also are struggling from a profit perspective."
July
A ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court seemingly changes 40-year-old precedent on how federal agencies set rules and how businesses — including hotels — must follow them.
Experts say businesspeople should prepare for changes at the U.S. Department of Labor, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, National Labor Relations Board and the Federal Trade Commission, among others.
"All of those things will be subject to challenge by people affected by them, and the question in each case will be, is the regulation consistent with and supported by statutory language?" Randy Coffey, partner at the law firm Fisher Phillips, said on the Hotel News Now podcast. "The court will then have to say, this is the law, and does this regulation comport with what the law and the statute is?"
August
While it's still five months away, industry experts predict 2025 could be a pivotal year for hotel demand. Speaking at the 2024 Hotel Data Conference, STR's Kelsey Fenerty predicts the next year could be a strong one for group demand.
“Expect more RevPAR growth than in 2024, which is good, and a little more still in 2026, but that will be rate-driven,” Fenerty said.
And the industry sees yet another large hotel transaction, as Hyatt Hotels Corp. sells the Hyatt Regency Orlando to RIDA Development Corp. for $1.07 billion.
September
Hilton releases the company's 2025 Trends Report, headlined by the prediction that the new year will see the rise of "travel maximizers."
“The idea is that it is OK to continue to spend this so crucially important disposable income that our guests have, and that people in the economy have, and spend it on travel,” said Jess Petitt, chief trends officer for Hilton.
In one of the biggest hotel brand deals of the year, Oyo Hotels & Rooms parent Oravel Stays announces a deal to buy G6 Hospitality — which owns brands Motel 6 and Studio 6 — from Blackstone Real Estate for $525 million.
October
Hoteliers in Asheville, North Carolina, start the month taking stock of historic damage to properties in the city from Hurricane Helene, noting it will be a long road back to normalcy for the community at large.
Amy Michaelson Kelly, founding principal and chief operations officer at Atlanta-based Hatteras Sky, which owns two boutique hotels in the market, said Asheville has a special combination of hospitality, independence and creativity — traits the city's businesses and residents are leaning into as they continue to work through recovery.
"It's a unique community of people who care about each other and support each other," she said. "There's unique arts, unique natural appeal, then you layer that with Southern hospitality and a spirit of free thinking."
Six months into his tenure at Aimbridge, CEO Craig Smith says his priority remains relationship building.
November
As Chinese travelers finally venture out to other countries again, experts warn their expectations and preferences have changed. That means hoteliers have a greater onus to understand Chinese preference when it comes to social media and payment platforms.
“China has much different booking and payment systems than nearly every other country, including Saudi Arabia. We have invested much into things such as making sure AliPay is accepted and seamless,” said Alhasan Aldabbagh, president of Asia-Pacific markets for Saudi Tourism Authority.
December
The story that had been driving the hotel industry for two years finally came to an end as the two-year, global odyssey that was Taylor Swift's Eras Tour officially closed out its final shows in Western Canada.
All told, the tour grossed more than $2 billion and left a lasting mark on hotel history.
Cody Bertone, general manager of the Virgin Hotels New Orleans, said his property saw year-over-year increases in occupancy of 47% and rate at 173%. Swift performed three shows from Oct. 25-27 at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans.
The kind of hotel performance success generated by a high-demand concert or event won't likely be recreated anytime soon, he said.
"I would say it's a singular event," he said. "Having Friday, Saturday and Sunday, three concerts, allowing people to book one-night stays at a high amount, I don't think we'll repeat that. We won't have those types of rates until the Super Bowl in February here in New Orleans."