Every sector of the travel and tourism industry has taken bit hits in the corona crisis, but Hilton CEO Christopher Nassetta says he thinks the hotel sector will have a faster recovery than airlines or cruise companies.
Although he says it may take several years to get back to 2019 levels of demand, he told financial analysts that “I feel spectacularly good about the long-term for the industry.”
Among reasons for his estimate that hotels will recover faster are that even before full air and international travel resume, hotels will see demand from more local travelers venturing out from their homes by car on regional trips. He expects leisure business to grow hotel use first, followed more slowly by business travel and finally by the meeting and convention business that has been in near total shutdown.
Nassetta said that Hilton’s hotels in China have already largely reopened and are seeing growing reservations, and that the company is seeing future reservations grow elsewhere. Another factor: Overall hotel occupancy before the crisis was at in the low 70 percent range; airlines can’t make money at that rate, but hotels can.
