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1. Wyndham Touts First Quarter Revenue, Pipeline Growth
In the first full-quarter earnings reports since the end of Choice Hotels International's pursuit of the company, Wyndham Hotels & Resorts officials shared 1% global revenue per available room growth, 4% systemwide rooms growth and 243,000 more hotel rooms in the company's pipeline.
The vast majority of Wyndham's rooms growth was outside the U.S.; international rooms growth increased 8% year over year, compared to just 1% domestically.
Wyndham President and CEO Geoff Ballotti said developers feel more confident to sign with the company now that Choice's proposal fell apart.
“With the deal noise dissipating, owners who were uncertain on committing to deals with us — those who did not want to wind up in the Choice system — have agreed to sign,” he said.
2. Venice Starts Entrance Fee To Battle Overcrowding
Today marks the official start of Venice charging visitors €5 ($5.34) a day and requiring reservations for entrance into the city in an effort to curb overtourism, Reuters reports. For now, the fee will only apply to the 29 busiest days for the city, starting with today's Liberation Day celebration in Italy.
Reuters also reports that Italy is looking to place broader curbs on overtourism in places such as Florence and Capri.
3. Growth Slows for US Economy
U.S. gross domestic product growth fell to a seasonally and inflation-adjusted 1.6% in the first quarter based on the latest data from the Commerce Department, lagging behind economists' expectations of 2.4%, the Wall Street Journal reports.
The newspaper reports: "American consumers are still spending heavily on healthcare, insurance and other services, the Commerce Department said. But a slowdown in spending on goods such as cars and gasoline, as well as a decrease in businesses’ inventory investments, weighed down overall growth."
4. Boeing Issues Force Southwest To Scale Back
Continued production issues at Boeing leading to fewer new plane deliveries has spurred Southwest Airlines to cut back services to the point of exiting four airports, CNN reports. The airline is ending service at Bellingham International Airport in Washington state, Cozumel International Airport in Mexico, Syracuse Hancock International Airport in Central New York and George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston.
“The recent news from Boeing regarding further aircraft delivery delays presents significant challenges for both 2024 and 2025,” Southwest CEO Bob Jordan said in the company's first quarter earnings release. “We are reacting and replanning quickly to mitigate the operational and financial impacts.”
5. Hyatt Adds Mr & Mrs Smith Properties to Platform
Hyatt officials have announced the addition of 7,000 Mr & Mrs Smith luxury hotels and villas to the company's booking platform and World of Hyatt loyalty program. The move comes a few weeks ahead of members losing access to Small Luxury Hotels of the World — which started a new partnership with Hilton.
Hyatt acquired Mr & Mrs Smith in 2023.