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1. Singapore Residents Take Advantage of Easing Restrictions
Singapore's announcement last week of its "vaccinated travel lanes" led to a wave of flight inquiries from residents who want to take advantage of the quarantine-free international travel beginning this month and next, CNBC writes.
"Searches for cities within Singapore’s so-called VTLs doubled — and in some cases almost tripled, according to Expedia Group data," the news outlet reports. "It came after government officials announced the opening of new quarantine-free travel lanes to countries in Europe, North America and Asia."
Week over week, search interest from Singapore residents increased for Seoul, South Korea (180%); Vancouver, Canada (160%); Frankfurt, Germany (130%); London (120%); and Los Angeles (80%).
2. Starwood Capital Founder Says Labor Issue will Damage Economic Recovery
Barry Sternlicht, founder of private investment firm Starwood Capital Group, said during an interview with CNBC's 'Squawk Box' that the shrinking workforce in the U.S. due to the COVID-19 pandemic is "going to cripple" the economy's road to recovery.
One of Sternlicht's hotels in Brooklyn, New York, has a 220-person staff and still needs to fill 40 of those jobs. The federal government should offer people money to go back to work instead of staying home, he said.
“They should actually pay people a bonus for going back to work and getting back in the labor force, off federal programs and state programs,” he said. “Then they tax them because they have a job.”
3. Hotel Lending on Path to Normalcy
Though not as robust as pre-pandemic, the hotel lending environment is improving along with the broader U.S. hotel industry, writes HNN's Bryan Wroten.
Hotel lenders are now pursuing new issuances and refinancing, and the level of debt stress among hotel owners has declined from pandemic highs because of the flexibility of lenders and federal pandemic relief packages.
“We’re doing 10-year, fixed-rate loans at around 3.5%, which is as low as I’ve ever seen them in my 30-year career,” said Peter Berk, president of PMZ Realty Capital. “We’re doing floating-rate loans in the high 4s, all non-recourse. It’s a great opportunity if you’re a borrower to put on long-term debt.”
4. Consumer Prices Rise Again
According to the latest figures from the U.S. Department of Labor, the Consumer Price Index shows consumer prices rose more than expected in September, the New York Times writes.
Compared to 2020, the index rose 5.4% in September. In August, it grew 5.3%. Month-to-month price gains also exceeded economists' predictions, rising 0.4% from August to September.
"The figures raise the stakes for both the Federal Reserve and the White House, which are facing a longer period of rapid inflation than they had expected and may soon come under pressure to act to ensure the price gains don’t become a permanent fixture," the news outlet writes.
5. US Hotel Performance Lifted To Late-Summer Level
STR, CoStar's hospitality analytics firm, reports that U.S. hotel performance ending the week of Oct. 9 increased to a level resembling that of late summer due to the long Columbus Day weekend.
In percent change from the comparable week in 2019, occupancy dropped 9.6% to 63.9%, while average daily rate grew 2.4% to $134.63, and revenue per available room dropped 7.4% to $86.02.
"The occupancy level was the highest since the week ending Aug. 14, while ADR came in higher than every week since the one ending Aug. 21," the release states.