A survey of 261 European hotel executives has revealed a worse-than-expected outlook for the hospitality industry with 79 percent of respondents predicting hotel chain bankruptcies in the next twelve months. Four in ten hotel executives anticipate that more than five chains will go into administration in the next year.
According to the DLA Piper 2009 Europe Hospitality Outlook Report – launched today at the International Hotel Investment Forum (IHIF) – European hospitality executives are less optimistic about the health of their industry than their US counterparts. Only 39 percent of European hotel executives expect the industry to recover in 2010, compared to 59 percent of US hotel executives. Over half of European executives (52 percent) do not expect a recovery until 2011[1].
Respondents cited two main reasons for their level of pessimism – the inability to raise capital in the current market (43 percent) and the struggling European economy (33 percent).
Read the full article on Hotelsmag.com.
Image by barteverts under Creative Commons.
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Unfortunately, hospitality jobs are suffering in the U.S. as well. Part of the problem is that there has been public outcry over the “excessive” and “luxury” travel spending of companies, who in particular, have received bailout money from the government. This has caused many companies (even those who haven’t taken bailout funds) to cancel events. This significantly cuts into hotel revenue as well as restaurant and even retail. The travel industry is currently working hard to assist the Treasury department on what should be deemed “excessive” or “luxury” as the U.S. senate tries to push through a measure that looks to limit corporate spending for “luxury” travel. It seems one man’s luxury can mean a hospitality worker’s job.