We’ve always enjoyed The Lodging Conference at the JW Marriott Phoenix Desert Ridge Resort & Spa, and this year’s event from Sept. 17-20 did not disappoint.
If you haven’t yet attended, the event is the largest hotel development conference in the world, with more than 2,700 hotel owners and executives, mostly based in the U.S., participating. We’ve attended more than a dozen times in the conference’s past 29 years.
Several of our key takeaways included:
• Stay alive until ’25: Interest rates are expected to ease in 2025, reducing the cost of financing as we work through some economic and inflationary fluctuations.
• Hawaii and Japan: Travel is still sluggish from Japan after COVID, and in Hawaii we are at about 40% of pre-pandemic numbers. The good news is that recent flight additions have been announced that should make some headway.
Overall, we see more of the same in the coming year with increased optimism into 2025, particularly around international, group and business travel, and more attractive interest rates.
For additional insights on the conference, industry media coverage is available here.