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1. The Latest Supply Chain Threat: Canadian Railways
With the two primary railways in Canada planning to lock out roughly 10,000 Teamsters, the North American supply chain faces its latest threat, Reuters reports. While the strike won't directly disrupt any routes in the U.S. or Mexico, it is already stropping cross-border cargoes from moving between the U.S.-Canada border.
The overall economic impact of the labor stoppages could reach $1 billion.
"Factoring in the millions of Canadian jobs that would be impacted, the magnitude of the disruption is daunting," the Business Council of Canada wrote to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon.
2. Central Banks Converge on Jackson Hole
The path of global monetary policy is in the balance this week as central bankers meet at the economic symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and a decision looms for the U.S. Federal Reserve on interest rate policy, Bloomberg reports.
In addition to the U.S., interest rate decisions in Japan, Europe and New Zealand are drawing attention, especially after the Reserve Bank of New Zealand announced a surprise rate cut last week after early signals that they would wait until later in the year.
Reuters reports the U.S. Fed's decision will be a test of Chairman Jerome Powell's approach to employment numbers.
3. The Macroeconomic Factors Hotels Face
Broad economic growth is slowing for the U.S., but the overall outlook for hotels remains positive, according to Tourism Economics' Aran Ryan. HNN's Bryan Wroten reports U.S. consumers are facing a pinch.
“We’re at this interesting spot where we’re actually growing our incomes at a slower pace than growing our spending,” Ryan said. “The sort of thing that drives some of the headlines recently about concerns about [whether] the economy [will] dip into recession.”
But despite slower spending, Ryan believes the hotel industry is likely to settle into a period of more sustainable, long-term growth.
4. Alaska, Hawaiian Airline Merger Clears Major Hurdle
Alaska Airlines' planned $1.9 billion acquisition of Hawaiian Airlines is closer to reality today after the Justice Department opted not to challenge the deal, The New York Times reports. The combined airlines would be the fifth largest in the U.S. but still significantly smaller than the four largest airlines.
The Justice Department's decision is noteworthy in part because other airlines mergers and acquisitions have faced significant regulatory scrutiny, including the now abandoned merger of JetBlue Airways and Spirit Airlines.
The deal still faces scrutiny by the Transportation Department, which pledged to only approve it "if it is in the public interest." Hawaiian Gov. Josh Green has publicly supported the deal, stating he's hopeful "a stronger company will emerge and offer more travel options for Hawaii residents and local businesses."
5. One Hotelier's Path to Podcasting
Ashford Inc's Jeff Borman appeared on the newest episode of the Hotel News Now podcast, sharing his outlook on revenue strategy trends, along with his personal path to a career in the travel industry and hosting his own podcast, "No Show, a Travel Industry Podcast."
He said the impetus for the podcast was regular conversations with now co-host Matt Brown about the "whys" behind travel industry news.
"That conversation continued for years, until we finally put a microphone and a recording device on it, and that's really what it was," Borman said. "So explaining the why. Why did travel work this way? I think it's evolved now to where I get to ask the questions instead of just answer them."