|
EY’ S ROBBIE KARVER HANDICAPS A DYNAMIC HOTEL INDUSTRY.
By DAVID EISEN
|
The hotel industry is nothing if not resilient. It survived COVID; it can take on anything. The current landscape makes it tough on developers, wracked by higher interest rates, elevated construction costs and a persistent gap between what buyers are willing to pay and what sellers expect to receive. Despite those pressures, Robbie Karver, a principal at EY, whose specialty is real estate, hospitality, travel and tourism, is a believer and |
optimist: he sees an industry with considerable momentum— and one whose fundamentals remain stronger than many of the headlines might suggest.
“ There’ s a lot of tailwinds right now in the hospitality space,” Karver said, pointing to the three primary sources of hotel demand: leisure, group and corporate travel.
Corporate and group demand, he said, are benefiting from relatively strong corporate performance, with companies
|
continuing to invest in meetings, events and business travel, which is a multiplier for the hotel industry. Leisure demand has also remained resilient, as consumers continue to prioritize travel and allocate discretionary income toward it.
HIGHLY RATED One of the bigger surprises of the post-pandemic period has been the durability of hotel rates. After the surge in pricing that followed the pandemic,
|
54 hotelsmag. com Oct / Nov 2026 |