5 main hospitality trends; new OTA rival; S&P 500 Q2 earnings drop

Week 27 - the same 5 hospitality trends repeat themselves in the media world on weekly basis. Sometimes just a few, but this week all 5.

TLDR: To Long Didn’t Read

This week's hospitality news includes the UNWTO promoting sustainability, a vision of hotel guests in 2030, takeaways from a recent hospitality show, Expedia's frustration with a new OTA player Hopper, and TAP Air Portugal being privatized. In external news, China's exports are falling except in Russia, S&P 500 Q2 earnings are dropping, and Latin America has the opportunity to become a major oil producer. Additionally, a study on corporate governance tools and financial performance in the hospitality industry is discussed, and a guide to hotel software APIs is provided.

0. News snippets

Not significant enough to expand on, but worth hearing about

Saudi Arabia currently has a 1 trillion USD pipeline of hotels coming (until 2030); Google launched its ChatGPT alternative “bard” in the EU & Brazil; Work from home is apparently less effective, latest revised studies show;

1. Main Hospitality News

Core news related to the industry

UNWTO promotes sustainability

UNWTO or the UN of Travel is organizing a sustainability summit this week. The goal is to inspire and guide various sector representatives to lead the sustainability movement. Finally connecting multiple stakeholders during a cocktail party, helping them save the world while they enjoy a good drink. One thing, we regular folks can take away without attending the cocktail party is a guide that UNWTO has created that can help anybody create projects in line with global SDG (sustainable development goals) standards. If interested, go here.

Being a hotel guest in 2030

A vision of 2030 or a forecast of what will it be like to be a hotel guest in 7 years. Well written and presented here. Nothing revolutionary, however an increase in the trends we already know to an extent that it becomes natural. Topics like AR/VR are omnipresent (apparently); Personal touch is supported through AI & all hotels are sustainable park heavens. Time will tell, but just maybe instead we will wake up in the version of the future from blade runner.

Another week another hospitality summit (this time with 5 takeaways)

A hospitality show happened recently putting a few opinion leaders together. Lucky for you a podcast summarizes 5 key takeaways from it. In short: there is a lack of workforce, AI is coming, sustainability is essential, personalization (as always) & of course future is uncertain. Seems like these 5 points plague the hospitality news on a weekly basis, hence for our frequent readers, hopefully, no surprise. To check out the full podcast, go here.

Expedia is annoyed at a competitor

A new OTA player is on the market disrupting things for the big guys. Hopper. So much so that, Expedia has claimed that they are disorientating the guest and so it “must” pull its inventory from the hopper website. Should mean a lot for average users amongst us, since it shows that it is actually doing something extraordinary, unlike most others. For those who are interested, hopper offers hotels, flights, rentals etc. With the option to cancel at any time, change the dates anytime and so on.

TAP Air is being privatized, EU’s biggest gov. owned airline

Another interesting case of airlines this week. Portugal’s main airline is TAP Air and its owned and operated by the government (Still!). It is apparently losing money and as a result, is being privatized. An exciting set of news for some, like Lufthansa who have expressed interest in acquiring it. The sale is waiting for an accurate valuation and will likely be sold end of the year. An interesting piece of news, especially considering that TAP reported record-high traffic & revenues compared to last year and even 14% higher than in 2019.

2. Externalities

Econimics, finance, geopolitics. All have an impact on the hospitality sector.

China’s exports are falling, except in Russia

China’s exports have fallen instead of rising post covid recovery. An interesting piece of statistics has come out this week. Likely due to rising tensions between the West and China, exports have fallen, even compared to 2022. The only region where Chinese exports have increased is Russia (the perfect duet of countries that care most about human rights). Hence, for those of you who still think China is the future for the Westerns amongst us, perhaps reconsider.

S&P 500 Q2 earnings are dropping

Quarterly reporting season is happening this week for all the major, publicly traded companies and it isn’t good. Results forecasted are the lowest in 3 years across the entire S&P 500 index. Or a 7.2% drop is predicted. 2 major sectors are still expected to rise, consumer-based (aka Amazon) & communication-based (aka Meta or Facebook). Low earnings can mean a lot of things, but surely are not a net positive for the rest of us.

Latin America’s Opportunity to Grow Rich

Few know that Latin America has the 2nd biggest reserve of oil worldwide. Not only in Venezuela but spread out across several countries. Including Brazil, Columbia, Guyana, Mexico & others. Yet its production output is approx. 10%. Interestingly enough while Brazil & Guyana have managed to stabilize their production (make it more carbon neutral & profit already at 35$), the rest of the bunch are still stuck at low volume & low margins due to inefficiencies. The conclusion is if the rest of Latin America figures it out (get rid of corruption that is), the continent can use that to take it to the first world club.

3. Academia

Scientific papers related to the topics above. For those who want to know for sure ;)

All the forecasted trends & repetitive industry issues aside, a new study has been released looking at corporate governance tools (like due diligence, board members type etc.) and the correlation between financial performance established. Results? Certain CG methods are more effective than others and positively or negatively correlate to the overall financial performance of a hospitality company. The proportion of independent board members is for example positive. Now whether a well-run company usually has more independent board members or that is a prerequisite is not answered here, nonetheless a very interesting finding.

4. Readables

Books, podcasts & the big stuff.

Today's must-read is "Yes Is the Answer: How Positivity, Passion, and Pineapples Will Transform Your Leadership and Your Life" - a book that emphasizes the power of a positive mindset in leadership and personal growth. The author, Christine Trippi, explains how adopting a "yes" attitude, embracing challenges, and cultivating passion are key to success and fulfilment. Through hospitality anecdotes and insights, she shows how positivity, passion, and a willingness to take on new challenges can transform not only one's leadership style but also their overall life experience.

5. Tips & Tricks Tools & SaaS

Any new software you can use? Industry tricks you missed?

How do hotel software APIs work?

With all the talk of tech and how important it is to manage your property into the future with modern software solutions, we found a very handy hotel API guide. In short, a rich pool of tech solutions is being developed for hotels and in order for them all to stay connected they all (mostly) have API integration capacity. Or in other words, the software allows you to connect it to some other software to exchange info. Like Mailchimp (an email marketing tool) connecting to your PMS to pull guest emails and you not having to do it manually. Hence, if you want to understand more about how this works and how you can implement it to your advantage go here.