Unemployment, wages both creep up slightly: The United States unemployment rate went up only slightly to 4% amid the partial government shutdown in January, according to the latest data from the Labor Department, as reported by Bloomberg. Those numbers exceeded economists’ projections, but wage growth—up just 0 .1%—fell short of expectations.
“The hiring and wage gains underscore resilient demand for labor, and support for consumer spending, even as the shutdown furloughed government workers, heightened uncertainty and weighed on economic activity,” the news agency reported. “At the same time, economists had cautioned the data would contain more distortions than usual.”
White House hopeful about China trade talks: The Wall Street Journal reports “the U.S. and China moved closer to settling their trade dispute” with loose plans for new meetings between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping expected in late February.
The two sides seem to be feeling more optimistic following positive discussions between Trump and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He.
With a 1 March deadline for a trade deal approaching, Trump has sent mixed signals on whether he expects to have a deal in place soon.
“This isn’t going to be a small deal with China,” he said. “This is either going to be a big deal or it’s going to be a deal that we’ll just postpone for a while.”
IREFAC members expect a good year: It’s easy to point to reasons for pessimism for the hotel industry in 2019, but members of the Industry Real Estate Financing Advisory Council believe there’s also reason for hope. Speaking at the Americas Lodging Investment Summit this week, IREFAC members noted 2019 could be similar to 2018, HNN senior reporter Bryan Wroten writes.
In terms of mergers and acquisitions, Tony Capuano, EVP and global chief development officer at Marriott International, said the big brands could still be in the market.
“You will see the big brands, for a whole host of reasons beyond economics, try to drive scale perhaps through (mergers and acquisitions) to grow their footprint to in turn grow their loyalty to get their hooks deeper into the ownership of their customers,” he said.
Fighting human trafficking around the Super Bowl: Major sporting events like the Super Bowl are viewed as hot spots for human trafficking, so law enforcement agencies like the FBI and organizations like Save Our Adolescents from Prostitution—or S.O.A.P.—are ramping up their efforts to combat it, Reuters reports.
Representatives of S.O.A.P. are visiting Atlanta-area hotels to distribute bars of soap and makeup wipes branded with information about the National Human Trafficking Hotline.
InnSight now called Mereté: As part of the company’s 25th anniversary, Springfield, Oregon-based InnSight Hotel Management Group has rebranded as Mereté Hotel Management. The company, which has 17 properties in the Pacific Northwest, was founded by Richard Boyles and Patrick McShane as Exeter Hospitality Associates before changing to InnSight in 2004.
Compiled by Sean McCracken.