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1. 10,000 US hotel employees start strike action
Approximately 10,000 hotel employees in several U.S. cities began a multi-day strike on Sept. 2 — Labor Day — after contract talks disbanded, according to union Unite Here. The union said members from 24 hotels are taking part in the action in the U.S. cities of Boston; Greenwich, Connecticut; Honolulu; San Diego; San Francisco; and Seattle, and that the action could expand to include Baltimore; New Haven, Connecticut; Oakland; and Providence, Rhode Island, according to CNBC.
The unions are in talks with hotel firms Hilton, Hyatt Hotels Corporation and Marriott International. CNBC added that “the strike comes as 40,000 Unite Here hotel workers across 20 cities face expiring contracts this year. Negotiations for new four-year contracts have been taking place since May, and about 15,000 of those workers have authorized strikes in 12 markets.”
2. Oasis reunion should lead to 2025 UK hotel boom
Manchester rock giants Oasis, which acrimoniously broke up in 2009 when brothers Liam Gallagher and Noel Gallagher decided they could no longer work together, announced a reunion tour of 17 concerts in summer 2025. The subsequent free-for-all to acquire tickets has been unprecedented and points to a huge summer next year for the hotel and hospitality industry, according to the United Kingdom media. Sky News reported the tour could add as much as £1 billion ($1.31 billion) to the U.K. economy, rivaling the economic benefits of Taylor Swift's recent series of shows in the United Kingdom.
According to the Daily Mail, the Oasis shows in Cardiff, Edinburgh, London and Manchester, as well as two shows in Dublin, already are resulting in sold-out hotels and much higher prices. It said “99% of (hotel) rooms in Cardiff are already booked up” and “in Manchester, with 98% booked on the night of the city’s first concert on July 11.”
Some ticket holders claimed they had their hotel reservations canceled after they correctly took a guess at the dates of the shows before they had been announced, only for the hotels to cancel their bookings due to “a series of technical issues.” Critics have claimed this is price gouging.
3. China faces more woe from continued property slump
The ongoing property crisis in China appears not to have an end in sight and is causing continued crises for local government income and spending, with economists predicting there is little light and progress on the horizon, according to the Wall Street Journal. The newspaper reports that in the first seven months of 2024, the country’s tax revenue in year-on-year terms declined 5.4% and proceeds from land sales declined 20%.
The newspaper added “cash-strapped and indebted, regional governments are seeking alternative revenue streams to compensate for falling land and tax income. That is a worrying sign that fiscal conditions are deteriorating, analysts say, and bodes ill for China’s sputtering economy.”
4. Dorsa and Room00 acquire TOC Hostels
Madrid-based owner Dorsa Holding Group and operator Room00 Group purchased 100% of the shares of TOC Hostels from owners Ignacio Catalán and Salvador Torrens for approximately €20 million ($22.1 million), according to a press release from Room00, which said the deal will give it 1,360 rooms in operation and 900 in construction, most of which are in Spain and Portugal.
The Aug. 30 release added that Room00 claims it has now become the largest hostel chain in Europe, with 30 assets in operations and a further 20 in the pipeline. It has a presence in Rome with one property.
In a note sent to Hotel News Now, Room00 said, “the company invoiced €40 million in 2023 and has invoiced almost €30 million in the first semester; in this second semester, we have seven openings, so we must invoice between €65 million and €75 million this year.
5. One year in, Airbnb states New York rules failing consumers
Short-term rental group Airbnb is claiming that 12 months after New York City imposed regulations against its business model, and those of other providers, the new landscape is failing to provide value to consumers and “risks pricing out everyday people hoping to travel to New York City,” according to a Sept. 3 release.
The firm, which added that in its estimation the rules have resulted in consumers “facing all-time high hotel prices and residents facing all-time high rents,” said data from CoStar, the parent company of Hotel News Now, showed “average hotel prices in New York rose 7.4% in 12 months [July 1, 2023, to July 31, 2024], compared with an only 2.1% increase, nationally.”