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Airbnb introduces fee for properties booked in a different currency

Feb 13, 2024
The move is part of the company's push to expand internationally. Critics says add-on fees hurt their budget.
With a new fee for properties booked in a different currency, Airbnb charges up to 16.5% for “guest services.”
Yuriko Nakao/Getty Images

What drove the strong growth in GDP at the end of 2023? Consumer spending.

Jan 25, 2024
Nostalgia, cold weather and an uptick in business travel have been good news for three Baltimore businesses.
The bump in GDP reflects increased consumer spending on goods and services.
LumiNola/Getty Images

Smaller, independent hotels in Europe find it harder to bounce back from the pandemic

Oct 6, 2023
While 77% of European hotels are independently owned, they've struggled to rebound from the pandemic as easily as larger hotel chains.
The lobby of a luxury hotel in southwestern France.
Franck Fife/AFP via Getty Images

Hotels get creative as the hospitality labor market remains tight

Sep 4, 2023
Employment in the field is slowly growing, but some companies are highlighting their role in the community to attract workers.
One of the bars at San Diego's LaFayette Hotel and Club. The hotel rushed to staff up before its grand opening and was able to hire 140 workers.
Courtesy the LaFayette Hotel

Hotels and restaurants have had trouble hiring, so they innovated

Jul 17, 2023
That’s meant automating some tasks once done by humans and thinking carefully about the humans they do hire.
After two summers of worker shortages on Cape Cod, some restaurant and hotel owners have become more efficient, "enabling them to operate with a smaller staff,” the Beige Book says.
Tim Graham/Getty Images

At a historic Buffalo, NY, inn, fair wages mean there's no such thing as a labor shortage

Nov 1, 2022
Joseph Lettieri, co-owner and operator of InnBuffalo off Elmwood, almost sold the hotel in 2020. Now, it's the busiest it's ever been.
InnBuffalo Off Elmwood co-owner Joseph Lettieri said business is the busiest it's ever been.
Courtesy Ellen Carlstrom

Rebooting a multibillion-dollar business after tens of thousands of layoffs

Nov 1, 2022
Jerry and Lou Jacobs, co-CEOs of global hospitality company Delaware North, say inflation is a bigger concern than labor right now.
Jerry, left, and Lou Jacobs are co-CEOs of Buffalo-based company Delaware North. Inflation requires the business to be agile and flexible, Lou Jacobs says.
Brandon Watson

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Another price that's rising: The cost of a night in a hotel

Oct 17, 2022
There isn't enough supply and there's too much demand.
Issues sprung from the pandemic are still affecting the hotel industry.
Getty Images

Travel bookings tick upward as omicron recedes

Feb 21, 2022
People also appear to be booking ahead more often, seen as a sign of renewed optimism.
Passengers wait at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Virginia over Presidents Day weekend. The TSA screened more than 2 million people on Friday and Sunday.
Daniel Slim/AFP via Getty Images

As omicron cancels festivals and other events, businesses that support them are reeling

Jan 6, 2022
The Sundance Film Festival, for example, just canceled in-person events two weeks before they were set to begin.
People pass a banner for the 2022 Sundance Film Festival on Thursday. The festival canceled its in-person program, a blow to local restaurants, bars and hotels.
George Frey via Getty Images