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1. US GDP growth slows
U.S. gross domestic product growth slowed to a rate of 1.5% in the second quarter, down from 2.1% in the first quarter, The New York Times reports.
While consumer spending and business investment have remained "relatively healthy," the newspaper pointed to households being hurt by "higher prices for gasoline and other petroleum-based products."
“Underlying growth was strong,” said Eric Wallerstein, the chief macro strategist at the Clocktower Group. “That said, real incomes and spending have been trending lower.”
2. San Francisco suing Booking, alleging travel 'scam'
The City Attorney's Office in San Francisco is filing suit against Booking Holdings, claiming the online travel agency company is engaging in "a brazen hotel booking scam that’s misleading travelers, inflating prices and harming our local hospitality industry," SF Gate reports.
At the heart of the suit is a practice of creating websites designed to look like first-party booking sites for hotels themselves that are actually created by third parties that have inflated rates.
The companies Guest Reservations and Book Online are also included in the suit.
3. Accor's second quarter hit by Middle East disruption
Accor executives said the company had a strong second quarter while reporting their full first-half 2026 results this morning, but they are being weighed down somewhat by continued conflict in the Middle East, CoStar News Hotels' Terence Baker reports.
“In the Middle East, RevPAR was down 29% driven by the UAE, which was down 67% … with other countries, which is Egypt and Saudi Arabia, namely, posted positive RevPAR growth in the mid-single digits,” Martine Gerow, Accor's group chief finance officer, said during the company's first-half 2026 earnings conference call.
Accor's hotel revenue per available room in the Middle East was down 0.2% during the quarter but up 3.3% across the rest of the globe. In the first half of 2026, Accor's global RevPAR rose 2.2% year over year but if excluding the Middle East, that figure is 4.6% growth.
There has been something of a rebound in the United Arab Emirates, with Dubai showing year-over-year growth in July.
4. Fed holds on rates and analysts question leadership
The U.S. Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged Wednesday, and CNBC reports the market's reaction indicates skepticism that the central bank will increase rates if needed in the near future.
Fed watcher Jon Hilsenrath said in a note to clients that part of the problem is it's still unclear what exactly would be required for new Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh to support a rate increase as the economy has faced 63 months of inflation above the 2% target.
“Warsh didn’t convey the message clearly or explicitly, and the bond market puked on him,” Hilsenrath said.
5. MGM Resorts' Las Vegas properties boosted by events, convention
The Las Vegas Strip is seeing improvements driven by events and convention business, MGM Resorts officials said during their second-quarter earnings call, CoStar News Hotels' Bryan Wroten reports.
“Revenue for Las Vegas was bolstered by a solid underlying base of group and convention business at MGM Resorts and aided by strong attendance at events around town, ranging from BTS to UFC to a deep playoff running in the Stanley Cup by our very own Vegas Golden Knights,” he said.