NASHVILLE, Tennessee — Bifurcation was the word of the day as the 2024 Hotel Data Conference kicked off.

Higher-end hotels are performing better than midscale and economy hotels. Group and business travel are strengthening while leisure travelers are showing sensitivity to pricing. There are concerns over rate growth slowing while travel demand is still high.

The year hasn’t exactly gone as hoteliers hoped, or planned, but the year isn’t over, and the strength of overall travel demand gives them optimism not just for the remainder of the year but for how 2025 looks to be shaping up as well.

Listen below as HNN's Sean McCracken and Trevor Simpson talk with Kelsey Fenerty, STR's manager of analytics, about the first day of the Hotel Data Conference.

Attendees of the first day of the 2024 Hotel Data Conference in Nashville, Tennessee, gained insights into U.S. hotel industry performance data and trends. Along with sitting through panel discussions and data presentations, attendees took part in interviews, had their professional headshots taken and sat in on a live recording of the "Tell Me More" hospitality data podcast.

"No matter what, hospitality is going to remain a service business. It is essentially a business built on human connections and technology can contribute to that and supplement it."
— Sam Makani, vice president of strategic operations, Mission Hill Hospitality, on balancing technology implementation with human connections between employees and guests.

"We are in a phase like fashion. Fashion sometimes comes back, and this feels a little bit like some periods of 2008 ... Like anything else, you're gonna go up, it's gonna come down and then we're gonna go right back up."
— Alex Cisneros, chief commercial officer at Mint House, when asked to provide a simile comparing the current state of the hotel industry to something else.

Something I found interesting during the forecast panel discussion was everyone’s take on the lowered expectations for rate growth in 2024. The first quarter was inarguably worse than anyone had hoped, but the second quarter thankfully was better. Everyone noted the price sensitivity of leisure travelers becoming a growing concern, enough so that several publicly traded hotel brand companies and real estate investment trusts lowered their full-year revenue per available room guidance because they expect less ability to grow rate.

But despite this issue, there’s still a general feeling of optimism. Group demand and business transient are expected to be real performance drivers for the rest of the year, not because leisure is leaving them to do the heavy lifting, but because they’re actually doing better. The outlook from everyone I’ve heard today is that while there are definitely challenges at play today, they expect to see things turn around for 2025.
— Bryan Wroten, senior reporter
@HNN_Bryan

This year's Hotel Data Conference comes just days after the word "recession" was tossed around when global stocks wavered earlier in the week. Around the world, markets quivered as last week's U.S. jobs report wasn't as positive as expected. I anticipated to hear some level of worry from HDC speakers about whether the U.S. economy might finally dip, but I heard few concerns.

Tourism Economics' Aran Ryan presented slide after slide of reasons why U.S. hoteliers should be optimistic. Ryan called the U.S. economy's current season one of transition to more sustainable growth without tipping into recession. Consumers are spending on durable goods such as housewares and furniture. High-income households are still spending on travel, and such affluent households are responsible for more than 60% of U.S. hotel spending. Ryan certainly didn't raise any alarm bells that should keep hoteliers on alert.

That optimism is certainly welcome. It's encouraging to hear from the first few sessions at this conference that hotel leaders have a longer-term view of their business and are confident in their strategies going forward. They won't be concerned by the day-to-day headlines after they've already put in the work to build back from the pandemic years.
— Dan Kubacki, senior editor
@HNN_Dan

The one word that kept coming up in the panels I sat in on today was “experience.” Whether that was in relation to the guest experience or the growing trend of experiential travel, it’s clear that this will be a focal point for the hotel industry moving forward.

Capturing that experience will come down to another theme of the day, which is trying new technology to push the industry further. Sage Hospitality’s Priya Chandnani said during a revenue-management panel that people in this discipline need to start small but progressively ramp up the use of technology available to maximize results.

During an artificial intelligence panel, panelists encouraged those not familiar with AI to just try it out and become more comfortable with the functionality of the technology before any widespread applications. They warned the audience, though, to stay on top of the AI trends so they don’t fall behind their competitors.
— Trevor Simpson, associate editor
@HNN_Trevor

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