Market Trends

🏩 Michiel Bakker, President and CEO of the Culinary Institute of America, highlighted the future of culinary and hospitality education on Jan. 30, 2025. The episode is supported by Shiji Group, a global hospitality technology leader. Bakker's discussion is aimed at hotel brands worldwide, focusing on streamlining operations and enhancing guest experiences. Music for the episode was produced by Clay Bassford of Bespoke Sound, a company specializing in music identity design for hospitality brands.

🏡 Bunkhouse Hotels opens its first property in Houston, the 71-room Hotel Saint Augustine, featuring the flagship restaurant Perseid, led by Chef Aaron Bludorn, who previously helmed Café Boulud in NYC. Perseid opened on January 16 and offers a 118-seat bistro with Texas Gulf Coast and French-inspired cuisine, serving meals throughout the day and adding brunch on weekends. The group also plans to open Hotel Daphne in Houston's Museum District in fall, with 49 rooms and a new Jo's Coffee location targeted for winter 2025.

🏡 In Los Angeles, California, the AHLA Foundation's Night of a Thousand Stars gala raised over $1,000,000 with 400+ industry leaders at the Beverly Hilton. The event included $10,000 pledged by AHLA for wildfire relief in LA, with a match of up to $25,000 for member donations. Awards were given to hospitality professionals under 30, students, women in leadership, and the lodging employee of the year. Notable support came from a $100,000 donation by Jon and Ellen Bortz.

🏨 U.S. hotel industry forecast for 2025: ADR +1.6%, RevPAR +1.8%, occupancy up to 63.1%, indicating steady growth. Economic stability with low unemployment, slowing inflation, and solid business investment contributes to the positive outlook. High-end hotels expected to lead performance. Trade and immigration policies could pose risks to inbound travel. Labor costs stabilize, GOP margins improve slightly. Growth in group and business travel anticipated, F&B departments to see high growth rates.

🏨 Hospitality Ventures Management Group (HVMG) launches Elevate Renovations + Development, an Atlanta-based firm offering development, project management, and advisory services to the hospitality industry. For over 20 years, HVMG has managed projects for over 65 hotels. Elevate's recent work includes a $19.6 million renovation of The Darwin Hotel, completed in 9 months, earning two Gold Key Awards in 2023. The new entity expands HVMG's services beyond its portfolio to meet growing demand.

```html 🏨 In 2024, major hotel groups including Hyatt, Hilton, Choice Hotels, Marriott, and Radisson expanded globally. Hyatt plans 30+ new properties for 2025, adding to its 138,000-room pipeline, with Q1-Q4 openings across various brands. Hilton added over 973 hotels and 100,000 rooms, the largest annual increase in its history, and boasts a pipeline of 3,600 hotels with 498,500 rooms. Choice Hotels opened 61 extended stay hotels in 2024 and aims for upscale and midscale growth. Marriott added over 120,000 rooms, with a pipeline of 577,265 rooms across 3,766 properties, and signed 1,200 deals representing 162,000 rooms. Radisson added nearly 40,000 rooms and retained its upscale segment lead in Europe for the 13th year, with nearly 70 Radisson Collection hotels and significant openings in Paris and Madrid. ```

🏨 Hospitality ON has mapped new hotel openings worldwide over the last 10 days, including hotels from groups, chains, and networks. The color-coded map indicates hotels that opened this week (yellow), announced openings for later in the year (blue), rebranded reopenings (green), and newly signed projects slated to open in the future (orange).

🏖 Luxury Escapes launched LuxyPlus+, a VIP travel club, in the UK following its success in Australia, New Zealand, & Singapore. The club saw 10,000 new members in the first weeks and nearly 30,000 joined within six months. Members have saved thousands of dollars, with LuxPlus+ members spending 50% more time on the Luxury Escapes site and receiving priority service. LuxPlus+ is now available for membership.

🏨 Coury Holdings expanded in California with nine new hotel management agreements, appointing Bo Patel as COO to lead West Coast operations. Patel brings over 20 years of experience in hospitality, previously co-founding Evolution Hospitality. The expansion includes the Hilton Garden Inn, Hampton Inn, Homewood Suites in San Diego totaling 726 rooms, and the DoubleTree Palm Springs with 289 rooms. Coury's lifestyle division added four new properties in Sunnyvale and Palo Alto, enhancing their Western Region footprint.