Latest articles tagged budgeting

Almost overnight, group business disappeared when the worst economic times of our life time coincided with the public exposure of AIG and other companies spending lavishly on group business while accepting government bail-outs.

Unless we have been living under a rock for the past year, we would know that the world's economy has plummeted and that the hospitality industry worldwide has experienced an unprecedented drop in RevPAR, the primary indicator of profitability. As the world is adjusting to this new economy, the hospitality industry is searching for ways to recover.

Health care reform is an important topic for the hotel industry because it is directly related to labor costs. Labor costs are usually the largest operating expense for a hotel. In 2008, total hotel labor costs equaled 32.9 percent of revenue and 45.8 percent of all operating expenses.

The U.S. lodging industry rebounded strongly after its 2001 to 2003 industry recession. RevPAR growth exceeded 7.8 percent each year from 2004 through 2006. While hotels achieved a relatively strong 5.8 percent growth in RevPAR in 2007, industry performance started to show its first signs of softness. During the year, demand grew less than 1.0 percent contributing to a slight drop in occupancy (-0.4 percent).

Report forecasts 2010 planning as anything but typical