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1. Travel executives meet with President Trump
CEOs of several of the largest hotel companies, along with executives from other travel companies, visited the White House yesterday and met with President Donald Trump, who touted strong travel demand this summer related to the FIFA World Cup, Reuters reports.
"The American skies were loaded up with planes and loaded up with a lot of happy people," he said.
But the lack of international travel demand is still glaring for the broader travel industry, with the Commerce Department saying overseas visitors were down 4.7% through July.
2. Why Hilton is bullish on a boom in India
CNBC reports while Hilton has optimism in many Asia-Pacific destination, India is the country that is garnering the most attention.
“India is the most exciting market for travel and tourism globally, and will be for the next decade,” Alan Watts, Hilton’s president of Asia-Pacific, told CNBC.
He said both the reasons for that optimism and the opportunities there are broad-based.
“We see opportunity at all price points, and continue to benefit from rapid infrastructure investments, paired with rising consumer appetite for travel, expanding middle classes and improving connectivity across the region,” Watts said.
3. REITs could change investment outlook in China
While Chinese hotel developers have been remarkably successful in the past few decades, the next stages of hotel ownership have been less institutionalized, and STR's Jesper Palmqvist said the introduction of real estate investment trusts this year could possibly change that.
"At least in theory, this allows for Chinese owners to recycle capital, and the intention to improve their liquidity," he said on the latest episode of the "CoStar News Hotels" podcast. "And I suppose the idea is to potentially then, in a dream world, accelerate the institutional investment in hospitality."
4. Ryman closes on Grande Lakes acquisition
Ryman Hospitality Properties has announced the real estate investment trust has closed on its acquisition of the Grande Lakes Orlando Resort.
CoStar has previously reported Ryman the price tag for the deal came in at $1.38 billion. Trinity Investments is the seller.
"The addition of Grande Lakes Orlando represents a compelling strategic fit for Ryman," Ryman President and CEO Mark Fioravanti said in the release announcing the deal. "This property expands our group customer rotation opportunities and further strengthens our position in the nation’s largest meetings market, which we believe will enhance our ability to generate sustainable growth and long-term shareholder value."
5. Employer healthcare costs to see large spike in 2027
Employers could be facing the biggest jump in healthcare costs in more than two decades, The Washington Post reports.
A new survey of executives from consulting firm Marsh indicates employers are expecting a 8.2% increase in 2027. That would mark the largest increase since 2003.