Group demand sentiment trends upward, energy/utility costs and airlift capacity remain top challenges among industry experts

In Q4 2022, STR launched the Hospitality Industry Sentiment (HIS) survey, a new quarterly study of travel industry professionals. With the second edition of this survey completed in Q1 2023, new insights and sentiment trends reveal a subtly shifting landscape in hospitality experts’ opinions and experiences.

The relative strength of post-pandemic leisure demand trails off slightly between the first and second iterations of our survey. Group demand, however, is trending upward to help offset this — and so is the strength of internal travel. Fewer respondents indicated that “increased guest spending” was a current boost for their business, but a sizable lift for “major events” means big demand surges for destinations and hoteliers.

Around the world, labor supply and costs remain the top challenges for hospitality professionals. But energy costs have also cropped up as a huge hurdle, particularly for those in the U.K. and Europe. With increased participation in the latest wave of the HIS survey, we’re able to segment the results by region for a more granular view of geographical trends. We can similarly see how respondents in Asia have been affected by the limits of airline travel:

Finally, the forward-looking trend of general business confidence varies quite a bit from region to region. For example, respondents from the U.K. are by far the most pessimistic in the short term, but increasingly hopeful for the future of the industry — particularly looking ahead 24 months. Confidence among Canada and Asia-based respondents grows slightly as we look further ahead, but the opposite is true amongst Europe-based respondents. And in the U.S., it’s the mid-term (12 months ahead) where confidence falters slightly, but ultimately most of these respondents feel solidly confident when looking two years into the future.

The next wave of the HIS survey will launch the week of 19 June. If you are not yet a part of the HIS community of travel and hospitality professionals, we would greatly value your input and participation. Register here to become a member of the HIS community, and we’ll send you a summary report of the results when you complete the survey.