Travel & Data Trends

At the risk of stating the obvious, hoteliers are in business to make money. But the foundation of the business is offering your guests a positive experience in exchange. A significant portion of your efforts to bring in more revenue hinge on understanding what your guests are looking for and finding the most efficient way to offer it to them.

Earlier this week I was talking to a regional commercial head of Asia for one of the world’s largest hotel chains and the view forward into 2024 is one of concern, to say the least.

The car rental industry is in the midst of a remarkable technological shift in response to evolving traveler expectations. Experts in the mobility industry say the industry is prioritizing digital experiences, multimodality, sustainability, and safety to better serve today’s travelers.

I was asked by my team to provide insights from the road, what I’ve seen, and what trends and challenges are looming on the horizon. I joked that I needed to dust off my crystal ball, but in reality, the only prediction I feel comfortable making is that the Green Bay Packers will not make it to the Big Game this season (wink, wink.) What I can do is provide a look at some industry challenges I’ve seen this year that will continue into 2024.

From the rise of AI, to a drop in mid-week demand, to changing in lead times and so much more, hoteliers worldwide have gone through yet another head-spinning year.

Europeans first settled in the city that would become Charleston over 350 years ago. Charleston’s rich history is one of the drivers of its thriving tourism sector, which tallied 7.68 million visitors in 2022. In the hospitality industry, Charleston continues to make history, while local initiatives are also making strides to preserve it.

As we approach 2024, the hospitality industry’s landscape is set to undergo significant transformations characterized by increased personalization, automation, AI, and cybersecurity, just to name a few. Moreover, these advancements will not only redefine the guest experience but also push the boundaries of what is possible in the sector.

The end of the year is fast approaching. Hoteliers are setting their goals for 2024, with increased communication and transparency between departments high on their list of goals for new technology. The current state of hospitality is leading operators to embrace a fast, reactive approach to hotel management, which thrives on nimble decision-making supported by technology and light automation. Technology now exists to help hoteliers run their properties in a lean, more efficient manner than ever before—if their Property Management System can handle it.

The most accurate predictions are usually the most malleable. Take the contrasting Covid-era predictions that business travel, or corporate travel, would or would not fully recover.

After spending the last 32 years tracking and analyzing the Boston/Cambridge (“the City”) lodging market, Pinnacle Advisory Group (“Pinnacle”) is quite comfortable forecasting top line (occupancy and ADR) revenue for the City. But projecting the future with precision can be complicated. Here’s our perspective on the City’s lodging market for 2024: