Another year is in the books for the hotel industry.
In 2021, hoteliers saw the first signs of travel demand recovery as newly vaccinated travelers with more savings to spend finally took their leisure trips. That pent-up demand was a significant boost all summer long in leisure destinations and drive-to markets, and the ripple effects of consumers traveling once again reached all sectors of the industry.
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The U.S. hotel deals environment rebounded this past year after a depressed 2021, and industry professionals expect record-setting deals will continue to be made in 2022.
The wave of distress never hit in 2021, but with federal relief long expired and lender flexibility running out, industry experts believe more distressed deals will happen in 2022.
Hotel investors aggressively pursued hotel deals in 2021, which marked a major recovery from the low number of transactions in 2020.
Across the U.S. hotel industry, management companies looked to innovate their labor models throughout 2021 as more consumers returned to vacationing and drove up demand, even as hotels struggled to recruit employees and keep them engaged.
After record profitability in 2019 and some of the largest profit declines in 2020, in 2021 profitability has returned across much of the global hotel industry.
Revenue-managing around unpredictable demand patterns as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic has turned typical strategies upside down. However, revenue managers were able to quickly pivot.
Hotel revenue managers are prepping their teams for 2022 as the COVID-19 pandemic continues, which includes better understanding segment demand to deploy pricing, length of stay and room-type strategies.
In quarterly earnings reports throughout this year of recovery, hotel company executives have widely credited pent-up leisure travel demand for improved performance, while pinning much of their hopes on a return of and greater contribution from business travelers and groups in their markets.
The recovery of the hotel industry from the ongoing global pandemic can be measured by improvements to key performance metrics — revenue per available room, average daily rate and occupancy — which dropped precipitously as lockdowns and travel restrictions were imposed in March 2020, and have improved through starts and stops since.
Patterns of volatility in hotel stock values throughout 2021 are likely to be replicated in 2022 as uncertainty and outside factors weigh on the industry.
As hotel performance cratered in March 2020 as COVID-19 was declared a pandemic and travel restrictions and lockdowns were implemented in the U.S. and around the world, hotel stock values also suffered great losses.
2021 featured the return of in-person meetings in the hotel industry, which also meant the return of video interviews on Hotel News Now. Here are some of our favorite interview moments for the year.
The hotel industry's top topics in 2021, including vaccines, the emergence of new COVID-19 variants and the uncertainty around business travel, offer some insight into what's in store for 2022.