Editor's Note: Some linked articles may be behind subscription paywalls.
1. Las Vegas Hotels Poised To Win Super Bowl
Las Vegas hotels have already secured a victory as the city prepares to host its first Super Bowl, pitting the NFL's Kansas City Chiefs against the San Francisco 49ers, Hotel News Now's Trevor Simpson reports.
Hotel rates this weekend in Las Vegas are forecast to average $573, which would be a record high, according to data from STR, CoStar's hospitality analytics firm. Miami is the current record-holder for ADR during the Super Bowl, posting an average room rate of $559 when the city hosted the game in 2020.
“If you were just looking at demand and average daily rate, I would — in Vegas terms — bet that they will have the highest-performing Super Bowl that we’ve seen from what we’ve tracked,” said Emmy Hise, senior director of hospitality market analytics at CoStar Group.
2. Expedia Group CEO To Step Down
Peter Kern, CEO and vice chairman of online travel agency Expedia Group, said during the company's 2023 fourth-quarter and full-year earnings call that he will step down from his role this May, Hotel News Now reports.
Succeeding him will be Ariane Gorin. Gorin is currently president of Expedia for Business. Following the transition, Kern will remain with the company as vice chairman.
Expedia reported full-year 2023 lodging gross bookings revenue of $74 billion in 2023, up 11% year over year. Records were set in full-year revenue at $12.8 billion and fourth-quarter revenue at $2.9 billion.
3. Global Air Travel Rebounds
Recent figures from the International Air Transport Association show global air travel recovered to 68.5% of 2019 levels in 2023 after it began to reignite in summer 2022. China's recent reopening is expected to further propel air traffic recovery, Reuters reports.
Analysts, however, caution that a full recovery will depend on how quickly travel to and from China happens. China has begun to allow overseas group tours for its citizens. Some airline carriers plan to reopen some routes between Europe and Asia in the coming months, though it will be at a lower volume than 2019.
"I don't think that China's recovery will probably get back to 2019 levels until next or the following year to Europe," James Halstead, managing partner at consultancy Aviation Strategy, told the news outlet. "For short-haul flights, you'll probably see better recovery, but it's still going to be tentative and it'll depend on border controls within Asia."
4. Tampa Bay Gears Up for Spring Breakers
With spring break in the U.S. quickly approaching, hotels in Tampa Bay, Florida, are starting to experience an influx in bookings, Fox 13 reports.
"They pay a bed tax, and part of that bed tax helps re-nourish our beaches, but it also helps us provide messaging about our destination and the great things we have to offer here in our community," Robin Miller, the president and CEO of the Tampa Bay Beaches Chamber of Commerce, said in a statement. "It’s not just about a hotel, it’s about keeping a museum open; it’s about keeping that shirt store open or that little gift shop that you love as a resident because you need a gift for your family member."
Tampa International Airport is projecting more than 90,000 passengers on peak days between March and mid-April. An average of 60,000 passengers per day come through the airport.
5. Lending Trends Shift More International
Recent lending trends show that international banks are taking on more credit-loss provisions for U.S. commercial real estate than U.S. banks are, the Wall Street Journal reports.
In the fourth of quarter 2023, Deutsche Bank took $134 million in credit-loss provisions for U.S. commercial real estate, up from $71 million in the third quarter. New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco represented more than half of U.S. commercial real estate loans that the bank performed an internal stress test on.
"Some credit trends are already moving in different directions. U.S. banks’ owner-occupied commercial real estate loans saw a jump in the delinquency rate in 2020, according to figures tracked by S&P Global Market Intelligence. But they have fallen back to levels below what they were before the COVID-19 pandemic," the news outlet reports.