
Over the past year, the Albuquerque and New Mexico market have suffered unprecedented declines in demand because of the COVID-19 pandemic. These declines have been driven by more restrictive state-imposed limitations on travel and business operations, especially for hotels. As the state begins to emerge from COVID-19 restrictions, we examine the recovery outlook.

Rod Clough, President – Americas, interviewed McKenna Luke, Senior Vice President, Albuquerque and Michael Smithson, Vice President, Phoenix overseeing the Southwest region, on April 8, 2021, to discuss the current Phoenix market dynamics and the outlook for recovery.

The COVID-19 pandemic has negatively affected hotels in the greater San Antonio market since early March 2020, similar to most cities in the United States. How far has the San Antonio hotel market fallen? When is group demand expected to rebound? What will the recovery look like?

As we observe World Autism Awareness Day, we want to highlight what our industry can do to help support individuals with autism. To better understand the diversity challenges, growing diversity programs, and opportunities to be more inclusive within the hospitality industry, we interviewed the founders of Autism Double-Checked, an organization that provides autism-specific training to hotel staff to create more autism-friendly travel experiences.

Since March 2020, Boise hotels have suffered unprecedented declines in demand, similar to most cities in the United States, because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Which factors affected 2020 hotel performance, and what key elements are expected to influence hotels in the Treasure Valley’s capital? What will the recovery look like?

The New York City borough of Manhattan has historically been among the strongest, most diverse, and most dynamic hotel markets in the world. Now almost one year into the COVID-19 pandemic, sustained business closures in New York City have resulted in little to no improvement in lodging performance since the pandemic began. When will New York begin to see meaningful recovery, and how long before the lodging performance returns to pre-pandemic levels?

Following nearly a decade of revitalization and growth, COVID-19 delivered a significant blow to Milwaukee similar to what was felt in nearby urban Midwestern cities. Despite Milwaukee’s longstanding history as a manufacturing powerhouse, as well as its strong financial and healthcare sectors, COVID-19 caused hotel demand to fall by 58% and ushered in a wave of work-from-home culture and major event cancellations. Where does Milwaukee go from here, and what was the impact of event cancellations?

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Las Vegas economy has been extremely harsh given the market’s reliance on visitation and conventions. Following five consecutive years of accommodating more than 42 million visitors, Las Vegas hosted just over 19 million people in 2020 (the lowest number of visitors since 18.1 million in 1989). Continued weak performance is anticipated through the first half of 2021.

Declining oil and gas prices since 2014 have largely resulted in an economic retrogression in Alaska. Aside from the oil and gas industry, the tourism industry is one of the largest private-sector groups of employers in the state and accounts for one of every eight jobs. Therefore, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has been detrimental to the local economy. While the widespread availability of a vaccine has ignited hope, tourism recovery faces some obstacles in 2021.

Extended-stay hotels have long been the industry's answer to those seeking accommodations similar to an apartment, but without the need to sign a long-term lease. Stays can be as short as one overnight or as long as years, in rare cases, but generally trend from two weeks to a couple of months.