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LAS VEGAS HOTEL ADR is anticipated to reach $573 during February 9-11, setting a record for any Super Bowl weekend, according to STR. The research firm also foresees an 87.9 percent occupancy rate for the market from Friday to Sunday night, translating to a RevPAR of $504. Miami set records for the highest Super Bowl ADR and RevPAR in 2020, STR said. However, a significant difference lies in size: Las Vegas, the largest U.S. market with 393 hotels and 172,707 rooms, has more than double Miami's room inventory. "The Super Bowl's unique volume of demand, driven by not only the game but the leadup festivities, as well as the attractions Las Vegas has to offer, is the perfect recipe to drive record-breaking prices," said Chris Klauda, STR's senior director of market insights. "While the F1 Vegas Grand Prix impact was the greatest on and around the Las Vegas Strip, the reach and impact of Super Bowl LVIII will spread to areas well beyond the Strip."

U.S. EXTENDED-STAY HOTELS set new performance records for demand, ADR and RevPAR in the third quarter of 2022, according to a report from The Highland Group. However, rate resistance is growing at lower price points as recession fears loom. The "U.S. Extended-stay Hotels: Third quarter 2022" report by the Highland Group said that the economy extended-stay segment reported six consecutive months of demand drop and two successive quarterly falls in occupancy in the quarter ending September. "Mid-price extended-stay hotels reported first quarterly decline in occupancy since fourth quarter of 2020. Excluding the last 15 months, extended-stay hotel ADR is still increasing at the fastest rate for 20 years but, like the overall hotel industry, ADR growth continues to decelerate," the report said. "The slowdown in ADR growth is greatest at higher price points although mid-price and upscale extended-stay ADR is still increasing faster than the economy segment."

AAHOA'S NEXT ANNUAL conference and tradeshow, set for April 11 to 14 in Los Angeles, already has set a record for the number of booths sold. It will be the largest conference in 34 years, AAHOA said. The association has sold 81,900 square feet of exhibit space for the upcoming AAHOA Convention & Trade Show, exceeding the 77,500 square feet sold for the 2019 conference, which was previously the record holder. In addition, as of Feb. 8, AAHOA has nearly doubled the registration total of lifetime members compared to AAHOACON22, and the organization is still on pace to exceed 2019 registration totals of more than 8,000 attendees "I've been in the exhibition business for a long time, and I'm so impressed to see the enthusiasm, excitement, and response from vendors who are looking to do business with AAHOA Members," said Dennis Smith, AAHOA vice president of business development. "Our team is thrilled to reach this historical milestone, with the ultimate goal of connecting as many AAHOA Members as possible with the product and service providers who can help them make money, save money, protect their investments, and better serve their guests." AAHOA's 20,000 members spend $50 billion with suppliers attending the event each year. "I always look forward to the industry's Super Bowl event, and this year, as I conclude my term as AAHOA Chairman, I'm proud of the work our association has done to prepare for the event and connect even more vendors directly with decision makers," said Nishant "Neal" Patel, AAHOA chairman. "AAHOA Members spend billions of dollars each year with suppliers, and AAHOA plays an important role in connecting hoteliers directly with those who can help them run a better, more profitable, and more efficient business - AAHOACON is where deals are made."

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ASIAN AMERICAN OWNED technology firm Netlink Voice LLC has acquired Phonesuite, a hospitality voice communication platform used by several hotel brands, the company said in a statement. Following the acquisition, Phonesuite and its subsidiary Phonesuite Direct, will be supported by Netlink Voice's finances, technology infrastructure and shorter development cycle. "Our plan is to keep the best of Phonesuite in place, including its strong market presence, network of resellers and integrators, and hotel industry technologists who know and understand the voice and data needs within the hotel industry," said Nilay Patel, CEO and chairman of Jackson, Mississippi-based Netlink Voice. "Important next-generation platform development will be accelerated by applying the Netlink Voice technology stack to the flagship Voiceware VoIP platform quicker and with a broader feature set than ever before. We are already developing our next-generation hospitality product," he added. Netlink Voice had been a long-time Phonesuite reseller, the statement added.

THE NEW JERSEY legislature has passed legislation that will place new requirements regarding employees when a hotel changes hands. Hospitality and business associations are objecting to the law, saying it will hinder hotels' recovering in the state. Assembly Bill 6246 will, among other things, require new owners of a hotel to keep all employees on staff for at least 90 days after the purchase without reducing their wages or benefits. The bills also would require the previous owners to provide a list of all employees' names, addresses, hiring dates, phone numbers, wage rates and employment classifications at least 30 days before the change in control, according to the legislation. It also sets terms for how the new owners can reduce staff if necessary during the retention period as well as how violations of the law should be addressed. The proposed law is well intended, but flawed, Ray Cantor, vice president of government affairs for the New Jersey Business & Industry Association told Center Square newspaper.

VIRAL "VICTOR" PATEL and Mahmood "Mike" Merchant are new members of Best Western Hotels & Resorts board of directors. Patel will represent several Midwest states and Ontario, Canada, and Merchant will represent California, Nevada and Hawaii. Patel has been a member of Best Western for more than 20 years, according to the company. He has served as a governor and as the chair of the Best Western Kentucky marketing co-op, liaising between the brand and hoteliers. He is currently the owner and operator of the Best Western Corbin Inn in Corbin, Kentucky, and will represent that state as well as Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin. "I've witnessed tremendous growth within our brand over the years and am excited to join my fellow Board members as we move forward under Larry's leadership," said Patel. "Service is extremely important to me, and I feel grateful to have served my colleagues and community in a variety of roles over the years. I look forward to this new set of responsibilities and am fully committed to serving our hoteliers across the Midwest and parts of Canada and our hoteliers at large."

HOLIDAY INN EXPRESS brand from IHG Hotels & Resorts has reached a milestone of more than 3,000 hotels across the globe, a statement said. The brand accounts for more than a third of IHG's global pipeline, and nearly 650 properties are expected to open in the coming years. According to the statement, Holiday Inn Express opened 100 new hotels every year and now offers 300,000 rooms in 2100 cities. Columbus, Georgia-based RAM Hotels, owns four Holiday Inn Express properties and Mitesh "Matt" Patel, executive vice president, described it as a power brand. "Holiday Inn express is and has always been a power brand. It performs very well in the markets we own them in," he said. "We always set Hampton as a benchmark for our Holiday Inn Express and tend to drive comparable RevPAR to Hampton Inn brand. Our Holiday Inn Express did very well during the pandemic and recovered within two to three months post pandemic."

Fairfield Inn & Suites Oklahoma City Downtown is now open in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The Marriott International franchise is owned and managed by Tulsa, Oklahoma-based Anish Hotels Group under its founder, President and CEO Andy Patel. The 133-room hotel is the first to open in the new downtown convention center area, adjacent to the new $290 million Convention Center set to open in September. Nearby are Chesapeake Energy Arena, Bricktown Ballpark, Myraid Gardens, and the new $140 million Scissortail Park. Amenities include a full-service bar featuring pre-prohibition craft cocktails, a fitness center, business services, and a 988-square-foot meeting space.

RED ROOF IS putting its money to good use, fighting human trafficking in cooperation with anti-child trafficking and exploitation organization ECPAT-USA. The hotel company and the not-for-profit kicked off their new partnership with a $10,000 check presentation at the AAHOA 2022 Annual Conference & Trade Show last week. Red Roof is a member of ECPAT-USA's Tourism Child-Protection Code of Conduct, known as "The Code," a voluntary set of business principles travel and tour companies can implement to prevent sexual exploitation and trafficking of children. Through the summer months, Red Roof also will promote The Code and encourage more donations from its franchise partners and vendors and the entire hospitality industry. "Red Roof stands shoulder-to-shoulder with ECPAT-USA," said George Limbert, president of Red Roof. "We encourage all of our partners and peers in travel and hospitality to join us and stand by ECPAT-USA in the fight against human trafficking."

REVPAR FOR U.S extended-stay economy, mid-scale and upscale segments is recovering back to pre-pandemic levels, according to a report from consulting firm The Highland Group. Total extended-stay hotel occupancy is very close to the first quarter levels reported in 2016 and 2017 but below its peak years since 2015. "Overall, first quarter extended-stay hotel ADR was the highest ever reported in 2023 and all three segments have more than fully recovered their 2019 nominal ADR values," the report said. In its "2023 First Quarter U.S. Extended-Stay Hotels Report," Highland said the economy and mid-price extended-stay hotels made considerable gains in RevPAR relative to corresponding classes of all hotels between 2019 and 2023. Due to high concentration of rooms in urban markets, upscale extended-stay hotels have seen RevPAR decline slightly relative to all upscale class hotels. However, the gap is expected to narrow as urban markets make a full recovery, the report noted. "Rising interest rates and construction costs, as well as tightening loan underwriting, means extended-stay supply growth should be relatively low nationally for two to three years. Assuming the overall hotel industry does not endure a correction, extended-stay hotels should set more new performance records during the near term at least," says Mark Skinner, partner at The Highland Group.

THE CITY OF Los Angeles is not doing enough to regulate short-term rental properties, according to AAHOA and a report from local advocacy group Better Neighbors LA. Both groups say the city should do more to enforce its existing 2019 ordinance on home sharing apps such as Airbnb and Vrbo. Los Angeles' ordinance requires short-term rentals to register and sets other regulations on home sharing apps. However, the Better Neighbors report found that the city's enforcement of the ordinance has been dropping since 2022, evidenced by a 54 percent decrease in warning letters, an 85 percent decrease in fines and a 25 percent increase in non-compliant listings. "Every year we put out an annual report that gives a snapshot of how enforcement is going in the city of Los Angeles, how many short-term rentals exist, and how that's changed from the prior year. This year, we've found that non-compliance is up," Allison Kriste, a representative of Better Neighbors Los Angeles, said in an interview with the Santa Monica Mirror newspaper. "We found a high rate of non-compliance across the boards in the city of Los Angeles. In addition, we've also found that enforcement activity is down. We're identifying more non-compliant listings, as compared to last year. The city is issuing fewer warning letters, they're issuing fewer fines. They're not doing a whole lot."

TARAN PATEL, MANAGING principal of A-1 Hospitality Group and AAHOA Northwest regional director, has received the 2023 Lodging Operator of the Year award by the Oregon Restaurant & Lodging Association for his outstanding contributions to both the hospitality industry and communities. "Oregon's hospitality industry is filled with remarkable, passionate people who go above and beyond on a daily basis because they love what they do," said Jason Brandt, ORLA president and CEO. "These recipients represent not only some of our industry's most dedicated leaders and advocates, but also the exemplary service that sets the high standard for the entire industry to achieve." Following the completion of his MBA in 2015, Taran began working in operations and development, contributing to the company culture established by his parents. Under his leadership, A-1 Hospitality Group's hotels not only offered crucial assistance to their communities during the pandemic but also stayed operational, safeguarding job stability for their team members and enabling them to provide for their families during challenging times.

THE G20 NEW Delhi Leaders' Declaration underscores tourism's role in promoting sustainable social and economic development, the World Tourism Organization of the United Nations said in a statement. The G20 economies' meeting on Sept. 9 to 10 acknowledged the potential for constructing a future through development models that implement sustainable, inclusive, and equitable transitions globally, ensuring no one is left behind. The high-level discussions concluded with the launch of the Leaders' Declaration, a set of agreed-upon aims for advancing development and prosperity, the statement added. The statement recognizes tourism for its "pivotal" role in driving the achievement of the sustainable development goals and the wider 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

U.S. HOTEL CONSTRUCTION increased slightly in December after 25 consecutive months of decline, according to STR. Projects in the later stages of development saw a reversal in their decline and luxury projects were up. There are 159,344 rooms in construction during the month, up 0.3 percent, over Dec. 2021. As many as 213,066 rooms are in the final planning state, an increase of 15 percent over last year. STR pipeline data added that 240,092 rooms are under planning, a decline of 15.6 percent. New York City, Phoenix and Dallas are set to see the largest supply percentage increases from current construction. The luxury and upscale segments would see the most supply. "While the overall pipeline continued to contract year over year, December showed strength in the later phases of development," said Alison Hoyt, STR's senior director of consulting. "Over the past year, we've seen late-stage pipeline rooms consistently decline from 2021 levels, while rooms in the planning phase often showed double-digit growth. We started to see a change in this pattern in November, when final planning rooms significantly jumped year over year and planning rooms came down pretty firmly. The same occurred in December, with the only difference being construction increasing slightly over 2021. When looking strictly at volume, the in-construction phase has been fairly stable throughout the year, remaining under 160,000 rooms and showing month-over-month increases from July through October and again in December."

SONESTA INTERNATIONAL HOTELS Corp. recently launched Sonesta Essential, a new upper-midscale select-service brand. The company now offers 15 brands. Sonesta Essential is meant to offer easier new builds and conversions with modest brand standards, limited food and beverage requirements and simplified conversion processes, according to the company. "Sonesta Essential is a fresh, new brand carefully designed by Sonesta to deliver a core selection of services compared with other hospitality experiences," said Brian Quinn, Sonesta chief development officer. "With tremendous demand in the select-service category, we are confident that Sonesta Essential will become a leading brand in an exciting, timely and relevant segment." The first two Sonesta Essential hotels will be a franchise in Vacaville, California, which is set to open in late spring 2023, and a managed property in Chattanooga, Tennessee, which will be converted from a Sonesta Select in the fall of 2023.