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1. Spain Gears Up for Busiest Tourist Season
Spain is projecting a record number of tourists will visit its popular destinations this summer, and finding enough workers to meet the demand remains a pain point, Euro News reports.
Hotel bookings for the week of Easter "are up 20 points on last year, and occupancy this summer is expected to exceed 90%,"according to data from the Spanish Hotel Alliance. Randstad, a human resources company, expects Spain will need at minimum 60,000 more tourism and hospitality workers to meet demand."
"Companies such as Meliá have launched campaigns on social networks, looking for young talent wherever they can find it. In Madrid, hospitality schools are saying that pupils are guaranteed to secure a job as soon as they graduate — if they want one," the news outlet said.
2. European Banks Cut Lending
Eurozone banks began dialing back lending to businesses prior to the fall of Silicon Valley Bank in the U.S. and Credit Suisse. Now, fears about the trajectory of bank health could lead to even tighter lending in the country in the near term, the Wall Street Journal reports.
"The banks cut their lending to Eurozone businesses by 3 billion euros in February, equivalent to $3.23 billion, while the increase in lending compared with a year earlier slowed to 4.9% from 5.3% in January, according to data released by the European Central Bank on Monday. There was also a slowdown in lending to households," the news outlet reports.
3. Pandemic Reflections: Kessler's Lori Kiel
In the first of Hotel News Now's ongoing series "Pandemic Reflections," Kessler Collection Chief Commercial Officer Lori Kiel reveals her top takeaway from the past three years is giving herself the opportunity to be more selective in how she spends her time, both personally and professionally, reports HNN's Sean McCracken.
"I'm being forced to be a different leader. We're being forced to be a different company because at Kessler we really value that face to face," she said. "We value the fellowship of having everybody in the office. Pre-pandemic, we were not proponents of remote or hybrid work at all. Post-pandemic, I am only one of three in my office that are on the commercial teams, and you understand my commercial team in whole is probably close to 80 people."
4. US Consumers Pull Back on Leisure Reservations
U.S. travel companies told investors in early 2023 that demand remained healthy as consumers made a point to spend on experiences. However, reservation management company SevenRooms, which partners with hotel brands including Marriott International and casino hotels in Las Vegas, said consumers are now being more selective and trading down to less expensive options or cutting them entirely, Reuters reports.
Data from SevenRooms shows U.S. no-show rates in February rose 0.3% from the previous month to 5% and cancellation rates increased 1.3% to 14.2%.
"We're seeing that go up a little bit more than we have in the past," SevenRooms CEO Joel Montaniel told the news outlet, adding that customers are booking reservations at multiple hotels and then canceling.
5. Supreme Court Considers Dispute Between Hotel, Disability Activist
The Supreme Court said Monday it will consider whether a disability rights activist is allowed to sue hotels for disobeying a federal disability law even without planning to stay at the hotels, the New York Times reports.
Activist Deborah Laufer has filed more than 600 lawsuits against hotels across the nation for not complying, including Acheson Hotels, which operates the Coast Village Inn and Cottages in Wells, Maine. Acheson Hotels argues the Laufer was not entitled to sue because she did not intend to stay there.
"She said its website did not identify accessible rooms, provide an option for booking an accessible room or supply enough information to determine whether the rooms and features of the inn were accessible to her," the news outlet said.