Looking Ahead to ALIS, Plus the Industry Outlook

As we’re closing this January 15th edition—the ALIS issue—we’ve set our sights on heading to Los Angeles to the annual hotel investment conference toward the end of this month. 2018 is here and we’re ready to face it head-on to see if all of the forecasts—ones that we’ve digested to determine the course of business—will, in fact, ring true. But just what are some of the indicators and key projections for 2018?

During ALIS, industry analysts will share with the roughly 3,000 attendees key trends and identify new opportunities for the hospitality sector. After all, aside from networking and negotiating potential deals, this is why the largely C-suite audience travels to the JW Marriott & Microsoft Theater. In the kickoff session, Katherine Lugar, president & CEO, AHLA, and Gerald Lawless, chariman, World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC), will share the stage with journalist and former hotel company executive Kathleen Matthews, to define the “new normal,” in terms of travel and tourism, and will provide their perspective on operating businesses in today’s environment. This will be followed by industry strategists laying out numbers—what we’re facing and where we’re headed. It will be interesting, and Hotel Business will be there to report to you the insights and information via digital, social and print media.

But, if you’ve been reading this publication for years now, you’ve been looking forward to receiving our annual U.S. Hotel Industry Outlook, which provides research and data on each of the chain scales as we begin this new year. Check out the supplement after page 38. Our recent Green Book already gave us a preview of what our core audience of owners and developers, management companies and brokers, among others, believes the economic climate and hospitality landscape will be for this year. But in the Industry Outlook, we hear from CBRE Hotels’ Americas Research and STR what they predict—and it’s good news: The U.S. hotel industry is expected to continue to grow room rates and RevPAR. With occupancies remaining relatively flat and little room to push them much further, hoteliers will focus on driving ADR this year. So why is 2018 about increasing rates and RevPAR? The answer, according to our experts, is a state of balance: supply and demand equilibrium. Where are we going to see some of the highest growth rates for ADR and RevPAR? From opposite ends: economy and luxury.

Should I have issued a spoiler alert? Well, I’ll leave the rest for you to discover when you read the Outlook. And after that, we’ll see—and report on—how reality stacks up to rationale as the year unfolds.