Starwood Capital Group Chairman and CEO Barry Sternlicht told CNBC on Wednesday that the travel recovery has started, adding, “We see all of this pent-up demand coming back. It’s going to be a frenzy this summer.”
Sternlicht said his 1 Hotel South Beach was “ahead in February of this year, ahead of 2019.”
“The recovery is well underway,” Sternlicht said, while pointing to President Joe Biden’s recent comments that states need to open up Covid vaccination eligibility to all adults by May 1.
Sternlicht believes the bottled-up demand will also boost the apartment market in the months ahead. “There’s 5 million people living with their parents. They’re all going back to the apartments as soon as their jobs are back, and people will go back to the office,” he said.
He compared the desire to be in the office to those who still like to see movies in theaters despite the advent of digital streaming. “The truth is, it’s a social event,” he said. “People will go back to the theaters, and they’re going to go back to the office.”