Stuart Greif
HotelNewsNow.com
Halfway through 2010, the hotel industry has finally started to shows signs of recovery from the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. All three key financial indicators for the industry—occupancy, average daily rate and revenue per available room—decreased during every month of 2009, according to the latest STR data.
Throughout the downturn, hoteliers made hard decisions, and often deep cuts, to manage costs in line with declining revenue as best they could. At the same time, they tried to strike the right balance to mitigate impact on the customer experience, which could tarnish their brands. Beyond canceling development projects and reducing capital expenditures, the need to also reduce operating costs made these choices difficult, as hoteliers sought to make reductions where they were less visible and less likely to affect the guest experience.
One might assume under the economic conditions of the past year that satisfaction would decline—with hotels often running on leaner staffing levels, reducing services and deferring scheduled maintenance, to name a few.
