Santander, Signal Capital to invest in joint fund: Signal Santander European Hospitality Opportunities fund, a joint venture of Santander AM and Signal Capital, will invest in hotels located in southern Europe, especially in Spain. Both Santander and Signal Capital will invest €100 million ($119 million approximately) each to the fund, which will have a five-year investment period and is aimed at institutional investors.
Marriott’s new ad campaign: Marriott Bonvoy – Marriott International’s travel program and marketplace – has launched its global “Power of Travel” campaign, calling on the world to embrace the transformative power of travel as a vital pathway to growth, healing and unity. The new tagline, “Where Can We Take You?”, underscores the brand’s belief in travel’s ability to help one grow, heal and find common ground. The campaign will air during the NBA Finals and the upcoming summer Olympics. Additional efforts over the next few months will include streaming and key collective viewing moments on television, in-flight entertainment, digital, social and out of home placements.
New advice to create, capture demand: In the near-term absence of business travel, leisure travel is set to comprise the travel market, a study by Accenture revealed. While scheduled airline capacity has fallen 54% compared to 2019 levels, hotel occupancy is down by 25 percentage points since March 2020. Airlines and hotels should reposition themselves for the post-pandemic market and focus on creating and capturing demand for leisure travel. The study suggested the aviation and hospitality industries make the following changes: inspire customers to travel, make flexible changes to global marketing, do a fundamental rethink on loyalty programs, capture new business through personalized digital media and content production, make data-driven decisions and deliver on the promise of seamless experiences.
Hotel brand values off 33%: Brand Finance, which evaluates the strength and value of more than 5,000 global brands every year, reports the world’s top hotel brands lost nearly US$23 billion in brand value in the past year, down from US$70.2 billion in 2020 to US$47.4 billion in 2021. The total value of the world’s top 50 most valuable hotel brands has declined by 33% (US$22.8 billion), as the sector negotiates fallout from COVID-19 pandemic. Hilton retains the title of the world’s most valuable hotel brand, despite recording a 30% brand value decrease to US$7.6 billion. Hyatt is the fastest growing brand in the top 10, and one of only two brands to record brand value growth in the top 50, up 4%. New entrant Taj is the sector’s strongest, with AAA strength rating. Overall, leisure and tourism brands’ cumulative brand value dropped 40%, according to the report.
LA’s Hotel Figueroa joins Hyatt: The Hyatt Hotels Corp. added Hotel Figueroa, the 95-year-old hotel in downtown Los Angeles, to The Unbound Collection by the Hyatt brand. Hotel Figueroa is the first hotel in L.A. and the third in California within The Unbound Collection by Hyatt, which currently includes 27 hotels worldwide. Built as an exclusive women’s hostel for solo female travelers, Hotel Figueroa was originally opened in 1926 by the YWCA.
Recovery in Australia: Despite Australia’s relative success in controlling the spread of COVID-19, Sydney and Melbourne continue to struggle due to a strong reliance on corporate travel, the events industry and a bigger dependence on international source markets, although many other key markets across the country have returned to nearly their pre-pandemic demand levels. ‘Australia: Hotel Market Recovery from COVID-19,’ a report by Horwath HTL Australia, provides an outlook for nine key markets across the country. It said that Melbourne saw a 54% decline in loss of daily room nights occupied, while Sydney saw a 50% dip. However, regions like the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast will lead in performance due to their ability to attract leisure travelers.
Travelers prefer longer trips: Longer trips of more than 10 nights are rising in demand post COVID-19, according to a poll by GlobalData. Over one in four (26%) respondents prefer to take a leisure trip of more than 10 nights, the second-most popular length of trip after stays ranging four to six nights (28%). With fewer opportunities for recreational spending and reduced expenditure on commuting to work or school, many people have managed to save money, which has contributed to the increased desire for longer stays.