Review

The Week in Hospitality Insights - Results Season Starts

It’s the start of results season, as the major hospitality companies look back at an incredibly tough year for the industry, and look forward to a more positive time.

In the US, Wyndham acknowledged 2020 as “the worst year our industry has ever experienced” but its results were overall positive, turning a profit and with shares back above pre-COVID levels. CEO Geoff Ballotti explained how the company managed to capute the pent-up leisre demand this year through its portfolio that met the new needs of travellers, investment in sales and marketing, and RevPAR improvements.

In Europe, Pandox’s CEO Anders Nissen started its company results call with an upbeat statement: “We are preparing for a brighter future”, while admitting that current conditions were bad. The company is indeed well positioned to take advantage of the trend for local travel and is counting on the ease of travel restrictions to seize the “significant pent-up demand for travel among both companies and individuals.”

Next week, Hilton, Choice Hotels International, Marriott International and Hyatt are due to announce their results.

In Europe, more opportunistic investors are expressing their interest in hotels, such as Pygmalion calling it ‘the best period ever to invest in European hotels’, while others such as Peakside are looking at hotels for the conversion potential. Meanwhile in the UK further restrictions are put in place on international inbound travel. This time the government is imposing a stricter quarantine and counting on hotels to look after travellers, with insufficient preparation according to the sector.

The unexpectedly cheerful news story of the week is the development of the London Resort, dubbed as a new Disneyland by the Thames. The project moved one step further along the development path and we can’t help but being excited about the prospect of a new theme park