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Executives of publicly traded hospitality real estate investment trusts and Wall Street investors say it's too soon to tell whether the banking crisis is a blip on the radar or an early indication of much more to come, but they are confident that operating fundamentals remain strong and there are opportunities to take advantage of during this period, reports Hotel News Now's Dana Miller from the 2023 Hunter Hotel Investment Conference in Atlanta.

Marcel Verbaas, chairman and CEO of Xenia Hotels & Resorts, said during a panel titled "Wall Street Talks" that "we Wall Street types" look at this banking crisis as an opportunity.

"There might be an opportunity for us to be able to be a little bit more acquisitive than we've been over the last couple of years to the extent there's some more product that's coming to market," he said.

Failed Silicon Valley Bank is set to be acquired by First Citizens BancShares, reports the New York Times. The acquisition includes roughly $72 billion in loans — at a discount of $16.5 billion — and the transfer of deposits worth $56 billion. A total of nearly $90 billion in Silicon Valley Bank securities and other assets were not part of the deal and remain in the control of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

"The bank regulator will receive rights linked to the stock of First Citizens, which could be worth up to $500 million. The FDIC estimated that the cost of Silicon Valley Bank’s failure to the government’s deposit insurance fund would be around $20 billion.

"First Citizens and the FDIC will share in any losses on the loans included in the transaction, in an arrangement that often features in sales of failed banks. First Citizens said this would 'provide further downside protection against potential credit losses,'" the news outlet reports.

Workers within Germany's transport network, including airports, ports, railways, buses and subways, are on strike as two of Germany's unions are demanding higher wages to alleviate the rising cost of living, BBC News reports. Thousands of flights at airports in Munich and Frankfurt have been canceled as a result. Nancy Faeser, the country's interior minister, is optimistic an agreement will be reached this week.

"Many public service workers are suffering the high energy prices and high inflation," Faeser told Reuters on Monday. "That's why it's our job to find a good agreement."

Millennials are traveling at higher rates than other age groups, even surpassing the wealthier baby boomer generation, CNBC reports from research by Morning Consult. Additionally, their tech-savviness and social consciousness are transforming the travel industry.

“When it comes to nearly all travel behaviors, millennials are the generation most likely to engage — and they do so often,” Lindsey Roeschke, travel and hospitality analyst at Morning Consult, told the news outlet. “For example, 18% of millennials have taken three or more domestic flights in the past year, compared to 10% of Gen Xers and 6% of baby boomers.”

In terms of where millennials are choosing to stay, millennials in 2022 made up nearly half of Airbnb's customers, which is more than Gen Xers and boomers combined, said British market research firm YouGov.

Blanketed by snow, several ski resorts in California say they plan to keep their slopes open well into the summer months, CNN reports.

Mammoth Mountain in the Eastern Sierra mountains, for example, received a season snowfall of 668 inches and announced last week it would be open for skiing at least until the end of July. This was the earliest in the year the resort has ever said it would extend the season.

“We aim to keep lifts spinning until as long as conditions allow, which definitely could go into August this season,” Mammoth Mountain communications director Lauren Burke wrote to CNN. “Spring skiing and riding conditions are going to be the best we’ve ever seen with the mountain in midwinter form.”

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