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1. Potential trade war, Uber's earnings call drive dip in financial market
Amid a week rocked by tariff news from the United States and with earnings calls ongoing, the financial markets have responded. Wednesday started with stocks down, the Wall Street Journal reports, following a drop and subsequent recovery on Tuesday.
Uber reported its 2024 earnings on Tuesday, and the highlights included a "lower-than-expected operating income," per WSJ, and plans for robotaxi adoption.
“Investors are debating whether AVs pose a risk, or present a massive opportunity for Uber,” Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said.
In response to the call, the company's share price was down around 6% on Tuesday morning.
2. Super Bowl hotel prices soar as ticket resale prices drop
The big game this weekend is already shaping up to be a big gamble — at least in terms of getting there. Super Bowl ticket prices have reportedly dropped, which isn't uncommon at this point. Hotel prices, meanwhile, have risen at a notable rate, Jeff Bollig, director of marketing at Acendas Travel, told KCTV.
“Usually Super Bowl rates are three to four times normal room rates,” Bollig said. “Right now they are eight times higher. New Orleans has fewer rooms than other host sites.”
This rate increase was predicted due to the region's compressed market, HNN's Trevor Simpson reported.
Ticket prices average around $3,300 per seat, Front Office Sports reported Monday, which is down by nearly 30% from the week before.
3. Incoming earnings calls to reflect hotel industry's response to global uncertainty
As the hotel industry gears up for its earnings calls looking back at 2024, analysts expect to see few surprises from hotel companies.
However, when looking forward to the rest of 2025, concerns will include labor and insurance costs and increasing uncertainties stemming from the new presidential administration.
"The geopolitical wild cards change by the hour. It's hard to know," C. Patrick Scholes, managing director of lodging and equity research at Truist Securities, told HNN's Trevor Simpson. "This could be a really [straightforward] year or really exciting year; we're not quite sure yet."
4. California's 2024 hotel sales report reflects disconnect in market
California saw the fourth-lowest hotel deal dollar volume in 15 years, with that figure dropping 10.4%, according to a year-end survey. The number of individual hotel sales dropped by 6.4% year over year as well.
The California Hotel Sales Survey 2024 Year-End reports roughly $3.36 billion in hotel deals in the state last year, down from $3.75 billion in 2023. The number of sales fell from 265 to 248 in 2024.
“I think what we're seeing is still a big disconnect on price expectation between buyer and seller,” Atlas Hospitality Group President Alan Reay said. “We’re still seeing the impact of the higher interest rates, and when we take the fact that a lot of lenders now pulled away from hotel financing, it's making it even more difficult for those transactions to get closed.”
5. US airlines to relaunch Tel Aviv flights
United Airlines announced Tuesday that it will bring back its flight services between New York and Tel Aviv. The first daily flight will return beginning March 15, The Times of Israel reported, and a second daily flight will be added back on March 29.
“This resumption follows a detailed assessment of operational considerations for the region and close work with the unions who represent our flight attendants and pilots,” United said in a news release. “United has a longstanding commitment to serving Tel Aviv.”
U.S. airline operations to Israel nearly completely halted amid the ongoing war in Gaza and Lebanon. Last month, Delta announced it plans to return flights on April 1.