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1. EU bank president warns Europe needs to diversify trading partners
In a speech at the World Economic Forum in Geneva on Wednesday, Christine Lagarde, president of the European Central Bank, said the effect of U.S. tariffs and political noise makes it important for European businesses to deepen relationships with trading partners outside of the U.S. She also highlighted the “increased international prominence of the euro,” according to The Wall Street Journal.
Lagarde told the forum that Europe already is feeling the effect of U.S. tariffs, “with the expected economic slowdown from the start of the year as a result evident in the second quarter.” She added that the recent deal to impose a 15% baseline tariff on Eurozone imports into the U.S. “establishes an effective average tariff between 12% and 16%, a little higher but still close to assumptions used in the ECB’s baseline projections in June.”
2. Softer UK demand dampens Travelodge hotel numbers
Softer travel demand in the United Kingdom and especially in London muted Travelodge’s first-half 2025 numbers. But the Thame, England-based hotel firm said it is encouraged by its development pipeline, notably in Spain. Through the end of June, Travelodge's revenue declined approximately 3% year over year to £471.3 million ($635 million) and earnings before interest taxes, depreciation and amortization decreased by approximately 42% to £47.3 million.
Reasons for the drops included “event phasing weighted to [the second half of 2025” and “significant industrywide cost inflation.” But Travelodge executives added that the declines were partially offset by contribution from new hotels, continued growth in food and beverage and strong growth in Spain.
“Profits were impacted by approximately £20 million of inflationary cost increases, including around £9 million from National Living Wage uplifts and additional National Insurance [contributions] costs. Despite these headwinds, our diversified business and leisure customer base supported strong occupancy of over 82%, and the performance of our Spanish business was a particular highlight, delivering strong revenue and profit growth,” said Travelodge CEO Jo Boydell.
3. Canada posts highest hotel occupancy in six years
For the week of Aug. 10-16, hotels in Canada posted positive performance. According to CoStar hospitality data, Canada's hotel occupancy rose 1.7% to 82.3%, and the occupancy level was the country’s highest since August 2019. During the week, average daily rate increased 6.5% to 247.41 Canadian dollars ($178.35) and revenue per available room increased 8.3% to CA$203.53. Manitoba stood out among the provinces with hotel occupancy up 8.3% to 86.7%, ADR up 13.9% to CA$189.14 and RevPAR up 23.3% to CA$163.96.
For the same week, U.S. hotels saw mildly negative or flat performance. Occupancy decreased 0.9% to 66.3% and revenue per available room decreased 0.5% to $104.50. ADR was the only metric to see an improvement, albeit a 0.4% increase to $157.51.
4. UK councils warned against seeking asylum-hotel injunctions
Following a United Kingdom High Court decision this week that a hotel in Epping, Essex, just outside of London must cease housing asylum seekers, lawyers are warning other jurisdictions from seeking copycat injunctions. Such action risks fueling protests and political action and muddies the waters in terms of councils’ use of hotels and other accommodation for other groups in need, according to Local Government Chronicle.
The court’s decision in the Epping case granted an injunction because it deemed “public interest in enforcing planning control and the loss of amenity for local residents, as the hotel had been closed for tourists since 2020, outweighed the public interest in the accommodation of asylum seekers.”
5. AAA anticipates cheaper Labor Day travel prices this year
New York City, Orlando and Seattle will be the three most popular cities to visit from Aug. 30 to Sept. 1 over the Labor Day weekend, according to booking data from AAA. The association added that hotels, flights and car rentals will all be cheaper this Labor Day weekend compared to a year ago.
AAA said hotels this year are 11% cheaper than those of last year, flights are 6% cheaper and car rentals are 3% cheaper. It added that the cost to travel over the long weekend internationally is 2% cheaper in terms of hotel stays but 8% more expensive in terms of flights.