What is trends in hotel development?

Answer 1

Trends in Hotel Development

• Capacity control. Refers to who will control the sale of inventories of hotel rooms, airline seats, auto rentals, and tickets to attractions. Presently, owners of these assets are in control of their sale and distribution, but increasingly control is falling into the hands of those who own and manage global reservation systems and/or negotiate for large buying groups. Factors involved in the outcome will be telecommunications, software, available satellite capacity, governmental regulations, limited capital, and the travel distribution network.

• Safety and security. Important aspects of safety and security are terrorism, the growing disparity between the haves and have-nots in the world, diminishing financial resources, infrastructure problems, health issues, the stability of governments, and personal security.

• Assets and capital. The issues concerning assets and capital are rationing of private capital and rationing of funds deployed by governments.

• Technology. An example of the growing use of expert systems (a basic form of Artificial Intelligence) would be making standard operating procedures available online, twenty-four hours a day, and establishing yield management systems designed to make pricing decisions. Other examples include increasing numbers of smart hotel room and communications ports to make virtual office environments for business travelers and the impact of technology on the structure of corporate offices and individual hotels.

• New management. The complex forces of capacity control, safety and security, capital movement, and technology issues will require a future management cadre that is able to adapt to rapid-paced change across all the traditional functions of management.

• Globalization. A number of U.S. and Canadian chains have developed and are continuing to develop hotels around the world. International companies are also investing in the North American hotel industry.

• Consolidation. As the industry matures, corporations are either acquiring or merging with each other.

• Diversification within segments of the lodging industry. The economy segment now has low-, medium-, and high-end properties. The extended-stay market has a similar spread of properties as do all the other hotel classifications.

• Rapid growth in vacation ownership. Vacation ownership is the fastest growing segment of the lodging industry and is likely to continue growing as the baby boomers enter their fifties and sixties.

• An increase in the number of spas and the treatments offered. Wellness and the road to nirvana are in increasing demand as guests seek release from the stresses of a fast-paced lifestyle.

• Gaming. An increasing number of hotels are coming online that are related to the gaming industry

• Mixed-use properties. An increasing number of hotels are being developed as multiuse properties, meaning hotels with residences (condominiums), spas, and recreational facilities.