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1. US inflation rises nearly 3%
Consumer prices were up 2.9% in August compared to a year ago, according to a Labor Department report. It's a steeper annual increase than July's reported 2.7% increase, per NPR.
"Prices rose 0.4% between July and August, compared to a 0.2% increase the previous month. Prices for groceries jumped 0.6% while gasoline prices rose 1.9%," NPR added.
Factoring out food and energy prices, "core" inflation was 3.1% for the last year.
2. Jobless claims in US highest in four years
According to a report from the U.S. Labor Department, jobless claim applications for last week rose 27,000 to 263,000. It's the highest since the week of Oct. 23, 2021, and higher than the 231,000 originally predicted by economists, according to the Associated Press.
"Weekly applications for jobless benefits are considered a proxy for layoffs and have mostly settled in a historically low range between 200,000 and 250,000 since the U.S. began to emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic nearly four years ago," per the AP.
3. Hotel management exec on dip in international inbound travelers
The U.S. hotel industry has experienced declines in inbound international travel, and Lovell Casiero, senior vice president of commercial strategies at PM Hotel Group, said that PM Hotel Group has felt the effects. CoStar News' Trevor Simpson reports PM Hotel Group has properties in markets such as Los Angeles; Washington, D.C.; New York City; and Hawaii that Casiero said have been affected by lower international demand.
"Our portfolio is really feeling it," she said. "For me personally — it's definitely hurting our data at the portfolio level and our performance in those markets — but it's also just very sad to me that we have this [geopolitical] noise going on. People should be able to travel and do what they want to do and explore the world."
It's been almost a year since PM Hotel Group and another hospitality management company, Sightline Hospitality, formed a strategic merger under the PM Hotel Group name.
4. Las Vegas rolls out self-driving taxis
Visitors to Sin City can now gamble with a driverless ride down the Vegas Strip. Amazon-owned Zoox has rolled out its fleet of toaster-shaped autonomous taxis, the Financial Times reports. The limited rollout comes ahead of implementation in San Francisco, which should happen in the next few months.
“We’re starting where we know the demand is today, which is people going from different attractions, properties and venues to different ones. It will be point to point between the venues,” said Aicha Evans, Zoox’s chief executive. “From there we will continue expanding, adding more robotaxis and building the business.”
5. Ritz-Carlton reportedly to return to Houston
Marriott International's luxury Ritz-Carlton hotel brand is expected to return to Houston. An executive from Deiso Moss, a local real estate firm, told the Houston Chronicle that the company is in talks with Marriott to construct a 44-story Ritz-Carlton hotel with 154 rooms and 114 branded residences.
Deiso Moss has not revealed the timeline of the projects but said there will be 50,000 square feet of restaurants, lounges and amenities. The firm has launched a website for those interested in opting into more information about the residences.
"Houston previously had a Ritz-Carlton hotel in River Oaks, which hosted the late Queen Elizabeth II when they toured Texas in 1991, but it was stripped of its name in 1997 along with three other Ritz-Carltons in New York, Washington, and Colorado," reads the article.