Loew’s Hotels saw its revenue more than double in the fiscal third quarter, but CEO Jonathan Tisch says there’s still ground to cover for a full recovery to 2019 levels.
Tisch blames Amazon for making things harder
Tisch blames the ongoing labour shortage and the “Amazon effect” for making it hard for hospitality companies to hire new people. On CNBC’s “Squawk Box”, he said:
In many markets where we have hotels, as do our competitors, Amazon came in with a fulfilment centre. They’re paying people a lot of money. Everything is making it difficult for us to hire people.
But Loew’s Hotels, he added, was turning to incentives and benefits to remedy the situation. Last month, the luxury hospitality company broke ground on a new $550 million Arlington Hotel and Convention Centre, adding 888 rooms and 266,000 square feet of function space.
Demand is already improving across several markets
According to Tisch, signs of improvement were evident across several markets, but a return of international and business travel was needed for a full recovery. Unlike Bill Gates, however, he is confident that the pandemic-driven hit to business travel isn’t permanent.
I was at Loew’s Miami Beach Hotel yesterday for a meeting. It was full, people were doing business in person. So, it’s getting there; it’ll take a year, it’ll take two years, but we’re going to get back to levels that we are accustomed to in the travel and tourism industry.
Tisch is convinced that high-end resorts can easily pass on rising costs to customers. He confirmed that Loew’s had increased weekend prices in most of its markets. During the week, however, prices are staying put for now as business travel hasn’t returned completely.
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