Tag Archives: hotel

Hotel category- lil stats, big importance

Rarely do I see a business article use data with such clarity & insight

https://www.thestar.com/business/2018/07/17/less-room-at-the-inn-for-toronto-conventions-report.html

This surprisingly well written business article (esp for Canadian publication)  supports oft-ignored lessons about Market Assessment; your boss will want to know  1. category size; 2. category growth,; 3. factors influencing growth and also 4.  competitive SWOT’s. The data/ considerations should look out a few years.

Given the need for a ‘future focus”, many ppl may assume the Conventions/ Tourism Biz should be consumed about airbnb data. Not so fast. Despite the popular media’s focus on casual shared accommodation, the reality is that Bed & Breakfasts & airbnb-type accommodations don’t influence a location most meeting managers would select for a convention; what DOES influence it is a city’s perceived safety, transport & services infrastructure, entertainment options, meeting halls/ convention centres – and the capacity & service level of legitimate inns & hotels. And Toronto isn’t faring well on that front.

There are some extremely relevant figures here – on prices & capacity/ market. The Convention Biz is big- with big ripples to all aspects of a city’s economy. The data seems to indicate Toronto has an uphill climb to continue to be a ‘world class’ convention site. This Biz Category invites a market share fight as would any big category; I hope Mayor Tory takes time from ‘detail management’ to review this Big Picture opportunity – and to strategize/ invest accordingly.

In his favour? Mayor Tory’s business background, and his common sense actions to ease road traffic congestion on major routes.

Discouraging signs? A still-woeful regional transit ‘system’; a myopic decision to spend billions of taxpayer $ to BYPASS a borough with a subway; a brutal lack of accountability on transit car supply; road construction contracts that still seem to still be poorly written, unenforced, or both (youre hereby invited to play: “Let’s see if any work is done in the closed lanes of Hwy427 today!”)

SL

Hot Hotel market gets less roomy

On March 8, we discussed Restoration Hardware, West Elm & Williams-Sonoma getting into the hotel biz. Now you can add another name- J.C. Penney.

http://www.chainstoreage.com/article/jc-penney-checks-its-newest-business–hospitality

To be fair, they’re not actually opening actual hotels- just trying to supply them. I doubt that Penney’s wares will compete at places that would have bought decor from Restoration Hardware, West Elm or William-Sonoma. But it is a sign that hospitality – be it the part-time cowboy unregulated tax-dodging sector (airbnb) or the full-time, regulated brands – is a hot sector. Perhaps more competitive than ever – and more fragmented- but hot.

This older article from Skift remains imo a terrific little context-setter on that growth:

https://skift.com/2015/06/08/5-charts-that-show-why-the-travel-industry-is-the-worlds-fastest-growing-sector/

People now travel more. They’re savvy about value, location, decor.  And that travel cements new trade relationships & friendships across borders & cultures. imo the more we travel, the more we learn about the world, and the more we lessen our multicultural ignorance as a species.

So let’s be hospitable. And grow together.

SL