Culinary union approves of new agreement with MGM: Culinary Workers Union Local 226 ratified a bargaining agreement with MGM Resorts International on Tuesday, which seems to further lessen the possibility of culinary and bartenders unions going on strike in Las Vegas, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reports.
A spokeswoman from Culinary Local 226 said “99% of the votes favored the contract,” the newspaper reports.
The five-year contract will cover 24,000 employees at 10 MGM Resorts properties. Union members also approved a five-year contract with Caesars Entertainment Corp. on 14 June.
HITEC: Industry might be taking wrong tech approach: Innovative technology contributes to the overall success of the hotel industry, but experts speaking during the Hospitality Industry Technology Exposition & Conference said the industry’s current approach to the use of technology might be holding it back, HNN’s Sean McCracken writes.
Ash Kapur, SVP of hotel asset management and CRO for Starwood Capital Group, said he’s seen poor uses of technology in the industry when his company has looked at acquisition opportunities.
“When you look at the tech stack, in most instances you see a lot of band-aids,” he said. “There are a lot of things broken, and it’s not just the companies we’re pursuing. You see it across the landscape of hotels.”
Pope’s Dublin visit could move homeless out of hotels: Pope Francis is scheduled to visit Dublin, Ireland, later this summer, which could lead to displacement of homeless families living in hotels in the capital, Ireland-based BreakingNews.ie reports.
The Pope will be in town for the World Meeting of Families, and the visit is expected to attract more than 600,000 tourists to Dublin. More hotel rooms will be needed to accommodate the influx of visitors, which could move homeless families out of hotels, the article states
"You're not going to get a hotel bedroom anywhere in 100 miles of Dublin, I would imagine, when the Pope comes to visit," the Rev. Peter McVerry, who campaigns on behalf of the homeless, told the news outlet.
A look at U.S. hotel performance in May: Data from STR, parent company of HNN, shows that hotels in the United States reported positive results in the three key performance metrics in May, according to a news release.
The U.S. hotel industry saw occupancy increase 0.7% to 68.2%, average daily rate rise 2.6% to $129.90 and revenue per available room increase 3.3% to $88.59.
May marked the 99th consecutive month of year-over-year RevPAR growth for U.S. hotels.
Hotel prices drop in Western Cape, South Africa: The Consumer Price Index from Statistics South Africa shows that hotel prices in the Western Cape dropped 11.2% year over year in May, Business Insider South Africa reports.
While other provinces also reported price drops, the decrease in the Western Cape was greater than all the others. The Northern Cape and Mpumalanga saw hotel prices drop a small amount, but during the same period, the national average price of a hotel room rose 0.6%.
Gauteng saw prices increase 3.5%, and North West hotel prices grew 4.5%, according to the news outlet.
Compiled by Danielle Hess.