“As the hotel industry works towards regaining its footing, we wanted to learn exactly what was keeping our members awake at night,” said Matthew Arrants, CHAM, HAMA president, The Arrants Company principal. “Not surprisingly, labor dynamics remain the main issue for many, followed closely by the impacts of the overall economy.
AHLA, with whom we have recently partnered, shares these concerns and is taking steps to address them through a variety of their own methods. By recognizing that these are at the forefront of hotel asset managers’ minds, we can better position ourselves and our hotels to address these concerns head-on.”With nearly 120 respondents, the top five concerns of 2022 by HAMA membership are:
- Availability of Labor
- Labor Wage Rates
- Return of Corporate Travel
- General Inflation
- Market Demand
“HAMA members have strong opinions on each of these topics,” Arrants noted. “In terms of labor availability, job vacancy stats are improving when compared to mid-2020, indicating the crisis is easing, but the industry needs to focus on the reputation of jobs in the hospitality industry as we attempt to regain all the positions lost during the pandemic. Members also believe the worst is behind us with regards to wage rate increases. Worryingly, corporate travel still has not returned, and company habits are not matching their employee’s personal behaviors, such as companies not allowing employees to return to the office due to safety concerns, but then scheduling meetings offsite or meeting for happy hour. While general inflation is its own issue, in a more positive light, our asset managers remain confident that it’s not a matter of ‘if’ but ‘when will’ market demand return to pre-pandemic levels. We will continue to monitor the situation and the opinions of our members closely.”
