Hotels Eagerly Await Returning Chinese Travelers

25.08.2023 - 14:03 / skift.com / Sean Oneill

Here are some excerpts from Daily Lodging Report from the past week. If you’re not a subscriber, you should be. Get news on hotel deals, development, stocks, and career moves. Sign up here, now.

The 88-room Fairfield Inn & Suites by Marriott in North Conway, New Hampshire, situated at the base of Cranmore Mountain Resort, is now open. The property will operate as a Marriott franchise, managed by Lafrance Hospitality. Hotel amenities include meeting space, an on-site lobby bar, outdoor patio with multiple firepits and a hot tub, an indoor pool, fitness center, and storage lockers for ski and hiking equipment.

IHG Hotels & Resorts announced the completion of the first phase of a multi-stage renovation at its Holiday Inn Washington-Central/White House property. The initial project included a reimagining of the hotel lobby along with the addition of a Johnny Rockets and Hurricane Wings restaurant, with ongoing renovations of guest room bathrooms scheduled to conclude in Q3 2023. Located in the heart of the nation’s capital, the hotel is owned by RI Associates and managed by Coakley & Williams Hotel Management.

Skift Note: It’s good to see supply chain disruptions come to an end in much of the U.S. hotel development market. Now the holdups are mainly labor and regulatory.

Skift Note: There was no report on the U.S. holiday of President’s Day.

Marriott International is planning 14 new luxury properties opening in the Asia Pacific region this year.  Marriott currently has 156 properties in 27 countries and territories in the region, The Australian reported. Some of the openings include the Ritz-Carlton in Melbourne this March and the W Sydney in October. The Ritz-Carlton will take the mantle of Australia’s loftiest hotel with panoramic views and a sky lobby on level 80, with 257 luxury hotel rooms and suites below. The W Sydney will have 585 guestrooms, suites, and studios with harbor views.

Singapore has urged Chinese authorities to restore flight capacity between the two nations to pre-Covid levels as to boost business and tourism ties, The Straits Times reported.

South Korea will increase the number of flights into the country from China to 80 from 62 per week by the end of this month, South Korea’s Prime Minster said, according to a Reuters report.

European Union countries have agreed to phase out pre-departure Covid testing for travelers from China by the end of the month.

Macau visitor arrivals in January doubled year on year, reaching nearly 1.4 million. Jose Wong, an associate professor at the Macau University of Science and Technology’s Faculty of Hospitality and Tourism Management, poured cold water on the situation. He forecasted that Macau would only see half of the yearly pre-pandemic visitors