The business outlook for hotels remains strong for the remainder of 2023 thanks to an uptick in business travel and a healthy preference among business and leisure travelers to stay in hotels, according to a survey commissioned by the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA) and conducted by Morning Consult.
The survey found that 68% of Americans whose jobs involve travel said they were likely to travel overnight for business during the last three months of 2023, up from 59% in 2022. Hotels are the top lodging choice for 81% of business travelers surveyed.
For upcoming holiday travel, 32% of Americans are likely to travel overnight for Thanksgiving, up from 28% a year earlier, while 34% are likely to travel overnight for Christmas, up from 31% last year. Meanwhile, 37% of Americans said they were likely to travel overnight for leisure during the last three months of 2023, down slightly from 39% in 2022.
Travel attitudes have largely returned to pre-pandemic norms as 71% of Americans now say their likelihood of staying in hotels is the same as before the pandemic, and nearly 70% of business travelers say their employers have either returned to the pre-pandemic normal or increased amounts of business travel. This is good news for hoteliers, as business travel is one of hotels’ main sources of revenue.
The survey of 4,006 adults was conducted Sept. 18-23. Other key findings include:
- 55% of Americans planning to travel overnight for leisure during the last three months of 2023 plan to stay in a hotel.
- 45% of Americans said they are more likely to stay in a hotel this holiday season than they were last year.
- 44% of Americans said they are likely to take more leisure/vacation trips this holiday season than they did last year.
- 59% of those planning to travel overnight for Thanksgiving plan to stay with family or friends, while 30% plan to stay at a hotel.
- 62% of those planning to travel overnight for Christmas plan to stay with family or friends, while 26% plan to stay at a hotel.
“Hotels are going above and beyond to take excellent care of guests as travel approaches pre-COVID levels, and this survey underscores that fact,” said Chip Rogers, president/CEO, AHLA. “America’s nearly 62,500 hotels are a bright spot for the nation’s economy. To continue growing, they need to hire more people, but a nationwide shortage of workers is preventing hotels from regaining all the jobs we lost to the pandemic. There are a number of steps Congress can take to help address our industry’s workforce challenges. Those include establishing an H-2B returning worker exemption, passing the Asylum Seeker Work Authorization Act and passing the H-2 Improvements to Relieve Employers (HIRE) Act.”
According to Indeed, there are nearly 85,000 hotel jobs currently open across the nation. As of September, the U.S. had 9.6 million job openings, but only 6.4 million unemployed people to fill them, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
As of September, the national average hotel wages were $23.36/hour. Since the pandemic, average hotel wages (+24.6%) have increased more than 30% faster than average wages throughout the general economy (+18.8%).
