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| August 22, 2024 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
AAHOA News
 🚨 Attention, Future HerOwnership Attendees! 🚨
The clock is ticking! You have just ONE DAY left to secure your hotel room at the AAHOA discounted rate! The deadline is TOMORROW, Friday, August 23—don’t miss out on this final chance to save. After Friday, when you register, you’ll no longer be able to receive the AAHOA hotel room block rate. Act now to lock in your spot at the 2024 HerOwnership Conference in Redondo Beach, CA, and get ready for an empowering experience! Register today and secure your savings!
 What Happened: A big shout-out to the Northwest Regional Director Taran Patel, and the incredible Ambassadors, for hosting AAHOA's first Charity Golf Tournament of 2024! The event was a huge success, with 144 players and over 30 generous sponsors coming together for a sold-out event.
Why it Matters: However, the real victory was raising an amazing $105,000 for local charities, including the Autism Society of Oregon, Businesses Ending Slavery & Trafficking (BEST), Make-A-Wish Oregon, the AAHO Charitable Foundation, and the Washington Hospitality Association Education Foundation.
Ready to take your swing at the North Texas Charity Golf Tournament on October 14, or the Florida Charity Golf Tournament on November 6? Register now.
 We need your input to support our advocacy efforts for the Loans In Our Neighborhoods (LIONS) Act (H.R. 7242), which proposes increasing Small Business Administration (SBA) 7(a) loan limits from $5M to $10M.
Why it Matters: Your insights are crucial for influencing policy. Completing a brief 3-question survey by 11:59 p.m. EDT on Saturday, August 31, 2024, will bolster our case for enhanced financial support, directly benefiting our community and entrepreneurs across America.
Deeper Dive: Responses are confidential and pivotal in our collective advocacy efforts. When we each play a small role, we can have a great impact.
 This move represents a win for the hotel industry and the 20,000 AAHOA Members who own and operate more than 60% of the nation's hotels.
Deeper Dive: The GSA announced that for fiscal year 2025, the daily lodging rate for federal employees traveling within the continental United States will increase from $107 to $110. Additionally, the standard meals and incidental expenses (M&IE) rate will rise from $59 to $68, with M&IE tiers for non-standard areas adjusting to $68-$92 from the previous $59-$79 range. Featured Quote: AAHOA Chairman Miraj S. Patel highlighted the importance of this increase: "With government travel being a significant contributor to hotel revenue, it's crucial that federal per diem rates are aligned with the economic pressures hotels face today, including persistent inflation and the widespread labor shortages across the country."  AAHOA applauds the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) and Administrator Isabel Casillas Guzman for forging a groundbreaking Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Ministry of Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) of the Republic of India. This agreement marks a milestone in fostering international growth, strategic partnerships, and collaboration among the two democracies.
Deeper Dive: Announced on August 16, this MOU represents the SBA's first collaborative effort with India to enhance the global presence of MSMEs. It follows the 2023 state visit between President Biden and Prime Minister Modi, where they stressed the importance of MSMEs in creating inclusive economies. The agreement is designed to fortify bilateral efforts to promote MSME participation in the global marketplace, focusing on investment, commercialization, supply chains, and future trade opportunities. Featured Quote: "This MOU underscores the importance of bilateral trade between the U.S. and India and the importance of the two countries working together to support small businesses," said Chairman Miraj S. Patel. "With a focus on entrepreneurial training, access to capital, trade and export financing, and leveraging technology and digital services, this partnership will significantly enhance small businesses' ability to compete globally."
AAHOA Advocacy in Action
Featured Content
HerOwnership
 What Happened: AAHOA was thrilled to witness an unforgettable gathering at the first-ever HerOwnership Sunrise Soiree, held at the stunning Columbia Gorge Hotel & Spa.
Why It Matters: This special event brought together a vibrant community of women hoteliers from the Pacific Northwest thanks to the generous sponsorship of Red Roof Inn.
Deeper Dive: Also present at the event were AAHOA Women Hoteliers Directors Eastern and Western Divisions Purnima Patel and Shetal Zina Patel, respectively. Their steadfast dedication to elevating and empowering AAHOA's women is greatly appreciated. Thank you to Lina Patel of Red Roof for also hosting!
Coming Up: This inspiring gathering served as the perfect lead-up to the 2024 HerOwnership Conference in Redondo Beach, which is just 20 days away! AAHOA invites all women hoteliers to join us at this one-of-a-kind event, where hundreds will come together to celebrate and empower each other.
AAHOA Education
Join our "Decoding the Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD)" Webinar Series with Marisa Rauchway from CSG Law!
AAHOA's first ever three-part webinar series presents:
Whether you're a new or seasoned franchisee, this series provides essential insights into franchising trends and how to navigate the FDD to ensure your success.
Reserve your spot today and earn an AAHOA Learning Journey Certificate!
AAHOA in the News
Featured Club Blue Member
O’Connor is the largest property tax consulting firm in the United States. O’Connor’s team of professionals possess the resources and unparalleled market expertise in the areas of property tax, cost segregation, and commercial and residential real estate appraisals. Their proven solutions continue to help taxpayers reduce their annual property tax rates. To learn more information about potentially reducing your property taxes, visit their website at www.hotelpropertytaxconsultant.com.
Featured Member Benefit
Group whole life insurance issued by MassMutual offer for AAHOA Members with special underwriting! Elect up to $250,000 with only a few health questions to determine insurability; no medical exam required! (Must be enrolled through BeneChoice.) Also available to AAHOA Members through BeneChoice – additional benefits for your employees that are made available at no direct cost to you/the owner!
Featured Platinum/Silver Partner
Ecolab, the global industry leader in hotel cleaning and sanitization, offers preferred pricing to AAHOA Members. Save on laundry, housekeeping, kitchen, pool and spa chemical programs, and more! For more information, please visit the website, then contact Michael Pfister (Michael.pfister@ecolab.com) or call 952-852-0926 today!
Industry News
Though business and group travel was somewhat slow to return after the pandemic, that segment's performance has continued to grow in the time since, with many of the top U.S. markets seeing prominent surges in this area.
(Source: Hotel Dive) Despite an overall industry trend favoring standard rates throughout the week, several top markets still command premium rates on weekends, though those are soon expected to be outliers as rates normalize regardless of the date of stay.
(Source: CoStar)
Today's Hotelier
In the Market
As Truist Securities wrote, “Overall U.S. RevPAR was +0.9% y/y for the week ending 8/17/2024, per STR, below the prior week's result of +1.9% y/y and slightly above the trailing 10-week average of +0.8%. August RevPAR growth looks to be an improvement from June and July, likely several points of better growth, as August has shown three consecutive weeks of positive y/ y RevPAR growth. However, this lift likely is from August 2024 having five weekends. Comparatively, August 2023 had four weekends as opposed to a “real” underlying improvement in leisure demand. Current MTD RevPAR through 8/17: +3.2%. Upscale RevPAR: +0.7% y/y; Upper Midscale RevPAR: +0.2% y/y.”
Upcoming Events
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AAHOA Washington DC Area Town Hall | Baltimore, MD
