What's Trending in 2025
The US hotel construction pipeline has grown to 6,376 projects and 749,561 rooms in the first quarter, marking a 5% rise in projects and 6% increase in rooms year-over-year, according to Lodging Econometrics. Projects in the early planning stage have shown significant growth, with a 10% increase in projects and a 13% increase in rooms. Upscale, upper midscale and midscale chains account for 75% of projects, with upper upscale and midscale reaching record highs.
Hotel Management Online
U.S. business travel bookings at Hyatt Hotels Corp. properties in the past few weeks have "been down in the high single-digits versus last year," president and CEO Mark Hoplamazian said Thursday during the hotel company's first-quarter earnings call.
BTN
The US job market added 177,000 jobs in April, surpassing economists' expectations of 135,000, despite a slight decrease from March's revised figure of 185,000. This growth reflects a continuation of the labor market's resilience since the pandemic recovery, with the unemployment rate holding steady at 4.2%.
CNN
China has signaled a potential thaw in the ongoing tariff war with the US, saying it's evaluating Washington's outreach for talks while urging sincerity from the Trump administration. Markets responded positively, though China warned negotiations hinge on the US rolling back unilateral tariff hikes. "I am confident that the Chinese will want to reach a deal. And as I said, this is going to be a multi-step process," said US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
WST
At last week’s Federal Reserve meeting—the second of 2025—the Federal Reserve voted unanimously to hold interest rates at 4.5%, marking the second consecutive pause after three cuts since September.
LightBox
The National Travel & Tourism Office reported that overseas travel to the US fell 11.6% in March compared with 2024 and is down 3.3% for the year to date. Visitors from Western Europe fell 17.2% in March, from the Middle East by 17.7%, South America 10.4%, Central America 23.9% and Mexico 23.2%; the statistics do not include Canadian visitors. "We'd like to see that clear message right now, that Canadians, Europeans, all travelers, are encouraged to come to the United States," U.S. Travel CEO Geoff Freeman told a congressional committee April 8, adding: "That message could be sent more loudly right now."
Travel Weekly
LuxUrban has been evicted from two Manhattan hotels amid mounting lawsuits, unpaid rent, and ongoing leadership turmoil.
Bisnow
The Federal Reserve Bank tracks the U.S. unemployment rate from 1948 to the present, providing historical context for labor trends across recessions, expansions, and policy changes.
Federal Reserve Bank
The City Planning Commission has given its approval to Related Companies' Hudson Yards casino proposal, a major step forward in New York City's competitive bid for downstate gaming licenses.
Commercial Observer
Two years after the failures of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank sparked fears about regional banks' CRE exposure, lenders are now clearing distressed commercial real estate debt from their balance sheets.
Bisnow
As a hospitality business owner, understanding 2025's gifting landscape is essential. With the lifetime gift tax exclusion set to revert to lower pre-TCJA levels in 2026, now is the time to act. The window to gift up to $13.99 million tax-free may soon close, potentially impacting legacy planning and estate strategy.
Withum
Property insurance remains a top concern in Florida, but despite early promises, meaningful legislation has stalled. No bills have advanced to enhance oversight or simplify claims disputes as lawmakers enter the session's final stretch.
Florida Trend
Undocumented workers in the hospitality and agricultural industries may be allowed to exit and re-enter the U.S. legally if employers vouch for them, former President Trump said during a Cabinet meeting, according to CNBC.
CoStar
HUD Secretary Scott Turner is moving to eliminate restrictive regulations like the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing rule in an effort to restore authority to municipalities and increase housing development on federal land.
Bisnow
Rosanna Maietta, president and CEO of the American Hotel & Lodging Association, has testified before the House Committee on Education and the Workforce to emphasize the hospitality industry's financial contributions and challenges, noting that hotels support one in 25 US jobs and contribute close to $900 billion to GDP. Maietta also highlighted workforce recovery since the pandemic, with employment still 10% below pre-pandemic levels, and urged Congress to expand the H-2B visa program, pass the Save Local Business Act and maintain key tax provisions.
Hotel Management Online
In the coming months, New York City will end its contracts for thousands of hotel rooms that have served as shelters for the waves of migrants who have arrived in the five boroughs.
What comes next largely depends on the physical condition of the buildings — and the financial condition of their owners.
Bisnow
The U.S. hotel average daily rate and RevPAR will increase year over year in 2025, according to a new projection from Lodging Analytics Research & Consulting, which warned currently solid demand for business transient stays could soften later in the year.
BTN
Use our Tax Guide as a year-round, step-by-step guide to examine financial opportunities and identify planning strategies to minimize tax exposure and maximize your family’s wealth. Our goal is to cut through the complexity and uncertainty of tax law and present information in a straightforward manner; providing relevant summaries, charts, examples and tips to deliver timely insights you can discuss with your advisors.
EisnerAmper
Rising costs for materials and labor are posing challenges for hotel construction in 2025, but proactive strategies can mitigate these issues. Jake Zwaagstra of TriCelta Development suggests early and accurate budgeting, project phasing, leveraging economies of scale, maintaining project timelines, adopting a design-build approach and using an Owner-Controlled Insurance Program.
Hotels Magazine
For hotel real estate investment trusts, the U.S. deals environment has proved challenging in recent years, with a few exceptions.
During their fourth-quarter and full-year earnings calls, hotel REIT executives spoke about how they have been adjusting their capital strategies to drive the greatest value they can as the deals pace has yet to pick up.
CoStar Group
The leisure segment remains stable, while both group and corporate segments show marginal growth. International travel is weak due to the strong dollar, also causing U.S. citizens to travel abroad to get value. Additionally, cruise ships and short-term rentals are impacting the lodging industry.
CoStar Group
US hotel revenue per available room increased by 3.1% at the end of February, driven solely by a 2.7% rise in average daily rate, while occupancy remained flat, according to STR. Los Angeles and Southeast markets showed strong performance due to past natural disasters, while New Orleans benefited from Mardi Gras.
CoStar Group
The National Travel and Tourism Office forecasts a 6.5% increase in international visitors to the US this year, predicting 77.1 million arrivals. While this number falls short of pre-pandemic levels, the trend is positive, with 90.1 million visitors expected by 2027 and events like the 2026 FIFA World Cup and the 2028 Olympics expected to boost travel.
TravelPulse
The yield on 10-year Treasury bonds, used to benchmark all sorts of real estate debt, has risen roughly 100 basis points since the Federal Reserve began monetary easing in September. The movement reflects broad anxiety among bond traders, and a significant retreat in yields is unlikely without severe economic pain.
Bisnow
Trump has alluded to several early policy decisions that could touch commercial real estate, and he returns to the Oval Office as a delicate recovery takes root in CRE. The first days of Trump’s presidency are expected to include executive orders that will provide both opportunities and challenges for the sector.
Bisnow
A handful of hotel management companies decided to merge together this year, including Pyramid Global Hospitality's European division merging with Axiom Hospitality and PM Hotel Group combining with Sightline Hospitality.
CoStar
Due to the New Year’s holiday shift, the U.S. hotel industry reported positive year-over-year comparisons, according to CoStar’s latest data through Jan. 4. CoStar is a leading provider of online real estate marketplaces, information, and analytics in the property markets.
CoStar
The U.S. Department of Labor reports employers added 256,000 jobs in December, and the unemployment rate has dropped to 4.1%, according to the Wall Street Journal. Economists surveyed by the newspaper expected 155,000 jobs added and an unemployment rate of 4.2%.
CoStar
Job growth was much stronger than expected in December, likely providing the Federal Reserve less incentive to cut interest rates this year.
CNBC
The hospitality industry is known for its fast-paced and ever-changing nature, but one of the biggest challenges it faces is high employee turnover. With long hours, demanding customers, and relatively low pay, many employees in this field leave for other opportunities, leading to significant costs in hiring and training new staff.
Hotel Online
As hotels provide shelter for evacuees, the wildfires spreading across California could impact their business for months to come.
HotelDive
Positive sentiment in commercial real estate is starting to build. Interest rates began to fall in the second half of 2024, transactional activity started to stabilize and tentative signs of asset-value growth returned to some slices of the market. But the recovery is still nascent and not everywhere all at once.
MSCI
The further a hotel brand moves up the hotel chain scale, the greater the need is for incredible experiences that create a sense of place — the crafting of true hospitality versus only "heads in beds" lodging.
CoStar
The very intense investment focus in the extended-stay market has narrowed into upper-economy/lower-midscale positioning, said Mark Skinner, partner at the Highland Group. “That's where most of the growth is centered where previously it was more broad-based,” he said. “The fastest growing brands are all in squarely in the mid-price select.
Hotel Management
Every day brings about the daunting question of "What's next?" and for hoteliers looking ahead to the new year, that question is even bigger.
CoStar
“Stay alive to ‘25” was a common refrain heard at industry conferences over the last two years. Now that 2025 is upon us, here are some topics to think about, plan for and maybe even worry about a little.
CoStar
