Is the hotel industry in trouble?

Anyone in the industry? What is going on with hotels?

I have never received so many advertisements from them in my life.
I am being absolutely bombarded by them. In the mail, online, as ads. Not just by one, but it seems from all of them.
Is it due to Abnb? Are they putting them out of business. Is it the cost of staff and the crack down of illegals? The pending
recession, maybe they are trying to drum up all the business now for down times?

I noticed that the costs and fees have slowly crept up to ridiculous rates, especially in big cities. It wasn't always like that.
I'm not a cheap person, but something is amiss when the fees are almost as much as the room. I've noticed that some hotels are charging for parking when they aren't even in the city, I just think that is crazy.

Also now they have you checking in at 6pm, and checking out at 4am (OK that's a joke, but you know what I mean)

Many years ago I worked pretty closely with those in the hotel/and travel industry, and I know is something is up now.

I would say it’s most definitely from Air BnB though it’s the hotel industry’s fault from not being customer centric when they had the monopoly on the industry.

“Netflix
did not kill blockbuster. Ridiculous late fees did.

Uber
did not kill taxi business. Limited access and fare control did.

Amazon
did not kill other retailers. Poor customer service did.

Air BnB
Is not killing the hotel industry. Limited availability and pricing options are”

We have hotels poping up everywhere around here like the plague , so I am guessing business is hot right now.

a reply to: JAGStorm


Not in the industry but travel absurdly often and stay in various places and like a good chin wag with staff...

My understanding is that ABNB has totally cornered the market in many regions where outright business trips is not the main reason for the stay in the regular hotel chains.

It has got so bad in a lot of places that the days of having crazy prices for late bookings on the day is firmly a thing of the past, same price a month in advance or on the day. Also sites like Booking have caused a pricing war as a majority of punters just want a cheap clean room and that site gets them the best place at the best prices and the more you use it the better it becomes, it means that some hotels and B and B are offering deals that I would think they are only making a very small profit on just to fill the rooms.

Next up would be land, a lot of the old hotels near me have sold up and the land is being converted into housing and apartments. Nothing more to say on that people need places to live.


Overall I think a lot of hotel chain's just took the p##s for years with rip off prices, ABNB saw a gap and went for it and it paid off, in some cities the councils are limiting the number of ABNB on offer such as I heard recently in Edinburgh when I was in the UK, that is how many cheap places are on the market all undercutting each other and without the overheads, it is kinda a no brainer that the major chains will suffer.

Yes, the hotel industry is in trouble due to the expanding vacation rental market and monopolization of the online booking process. I manage a portfolio of roughly 400 vacation rentals in a coastal resort town. For a one week stay, it’s often cheaper to get a vacation rental, plus you get the added convenience of a full sized property.

Just last week, at our local county commissioner meeting, 30+ hotel owners came to argue for more vacation rental regulations - basically they want privately owned vacation rentals to be held to the same commercial fire code as hotels are - not feasible at all for single family homes. They’re grasping at straws, and clearly just concerned about their bottom line. Where as a residential property manager can contract out cleaning, maintenance, etc, for turns, hotels have to have someone on staff 24/7. Our overhead is much lower to operate, and we have just a fraction of regulations that hotels are governed by. Plus, property managers don’t have to leverage their funds for rental inventory - we just have to find homeowners who aren’t using their property the entire year. I can manage a portfolio of hundreds of single family homes on a budget of $50,000. A hotel with the same number of bedrooms would cost well over $30,000,000 to build...

Furthermore, hotels are having to pay 5-10% commissions off the total nightly rate to travel aggregators, if they procure a booking. In this day and age, most people will book instantly online rather than calling and booking through the front desk directly...




a reply to: JAGStorm

a reply to: JAGStorm

I think it will find it's niche market and streamline itself eventually. Hotels won't die, but they will evolve with the times just like travel agencies did and have so far. Lots of people will just throw money at a vacation rather than look for deals, but will look for deals if they are actually traveling and not relaxing.

Conventions and conferences and business travel will also keep them afloat.

The whole airBnb and what not fits nicely where it does. And so will hotels. I just think it's a bit of an awkward time right now.

Personally if I go on a vacation, I want to splurge a bit and hotels my go to, if I want to travel, hostels and other accommodations including hotels are my go to. I know hotels in Asian nations offer just basically a bed / pod for cheap while in the hotel itself.

a reply to: JAGStorm

As someone who spends a lot of time in hotels, over 200 days last year.
I don't think they're in any trouble.

If anything, customer service has gotten a lot better.

Prices for everything are higher in cities, hotels are no exception.
Air BnB can be just as pricey for higher quality places and during peak season.

Have seen more and more persons in my industry go to AirBNB, our hotels gouge the prices during our markets 6 times a year. That's not just my markets they do at the other markets as well. So in response manufacturers, sales reps and buyers have all started using BNB more and more. Have loads within walking distance and even more if you don't mind a cab ride. Daughter'sgoing on a cross-country trip and not using one hotel, says it was less expensive this way. Going to try it myself my next road trip.

a reply to: watchitburn
Can second this. Hotels really are not that expensive if you are constantly using them and are in their "club". Can usually get an ok room for ~$70 a night and every 3rd night free.