Driving REVPAR in the Current Economy: The Shift from Managing Demand to Generating Demand - By Carol Verret
In the past eighteen months, demand has remained relatively flat while rate has increased by between 7% in 2007 and almost 9% in 2006. The consumer that seemed so resilient to rising hotel rates has 'collapsed', in the words of Bernie Sternlicht, Chairman and CEO of Starwood, pressured by rising gas prices and the resulting cost of goods, not to mention the loss of equity in their largest investment, their homes. (BTNOnline, June 2, 2008)) ...more