Hotels faced a number of hardships as they began reopening in the wake of Covid, including a need to make up for lost revenue, a yo-yoing approach to ongoing restrictions and operating principles, and difficulty recruiting staff, everywhere from entry level to upper management. That was balanced out in part by two huge boons: pent-up consumer demand (travelers were eager to take vacations—and spend big to do so), and an understanding from those consumers that the industry was a bit of a mess and we’d all need to grin and bear it while taking those coveted trips. Now, several years down the road, there’s a growing sense that much of the hotel scene hasn’t recovered in full. Instead, consumers have been experiencing a steady rise in nightly rates and a prolonged period of decline in standards for service and hospitality. I travel 365 days a year as a nomadic journalist, so..
