The road to recovery continues to be a long one. Hoteliers will need all the help you can get to make your properties safe to welcome returning travelers, and the Trade Show at AAHOACON21 is just the place to find that help. Hundreds of exhibitors will be on hand offering deals and discounts to help hoteliers succeed as you bounce back from COVID-19. This year's Trade Show also will feature wider aisles, frequent sanitization, and other health and safety measures so attendees can wheel and deal with confidence. The road to recovery runs through AAHOA, so join us August 3-6 in Dallas, TX.

The first two events on our 2021 AAHOA Charity Golf Tournament schedule are in the books, but there's still time to register as a player or sponsor for one - or all! - of the remaining four. On Tuesday, we took to the greens at the Wildcat Golf Club in Houston, TX, for the Southeast Texas Inaugural Charity Golf Tournament, while today, we teed off at Ocotillo Golf Club in Chandler, AZ, for the Southwest-Phoenix Charity Golf Tournament. Our golf events are a great chance to network in person while enjoying a fun day of golf in support of local charities and ongoing COVID-19 relief efforts. Participants’ well-being, health, and safety are our No. 1 priority, so we are taking all necessary precautions to keep you safe. Check the list below and sign up for the event near you!

It's time to invest in your professional development by earning your Certificate in Hotel Ownership^® (CHO). AAHOA's revamped CHO is a fully customizable, all-digital platform that will help you make better decisions; learn effective sales and marketing strategies; better understand, utilize, and invest in technology; and so much more. As one CHO graduate put it, "I loved the program! The best part was you get to select your own topics for the classes. ... I would definitely recommend to my friends!" Our CHO program offers an in-depth look into 12 learning tracks and allows you to work at your own pace.

We know hoteliers need critical data now. This Market Analytics, Pace & Performance (MAPP) tool, developed by myDigital Office, helps users make strategic, data-backed business decisions for economic recovery. It’s based on the crowdsourcing of anonymized hotel data, so the greater the number of users, the more robust and useful the data becomes. This resource provides real-time insight into revenues, forward-looking indicators, and market potential for recovery. 

For the last decade, an increasing number of frivolous lawsuits under Title III of the ADA have been filed. Unfortunately, these lawsuits have done little to ensure places of public accommodation are more welcoming to all guests, and they have hurt hoteliers and other small businesses. We are conducting a survey to gather data on how hoteliers have been impacted, and your response will help shape our efforts to combat this issue. Please take a few minutes to fill out this survey submitting the details of your specific ADA lawsuits or demand letters. Please re-submit the form for each property for which you have received a lawsuit or demand letter. These often-meritless lawsuits do great harm to hoteliers nationwide and they must end.

AAHOA is bringing you a series of COVID-19-related webcasts that will keep you informed and help determine next steps for your business. We have educated more than 50,000 attendees to date and feature more than 240 webcasts separated by category in our library. AAHOA makes these webcasts available to the industry, so share with those in your network, whether they're an AAHOA Member or not. 

In a recent Morning Consult survey, a whopping 72 percent of respondents said concerns about cleanliness and sanitization affect their decision on whether to stay in a hotel. AAHOA has partnered with P&G Professional to create the AAHOA/P&G Professional’s Training in Hotel Sanitization and Cleanliness. This all-digital program covers what hoteliers need to know as it relates to the effective sanitization of your property. This program is completely FREE and is available to the entire hospitality industry. Download our infographic to learn more and sign up for this valuable training today!

Truist Securities (formerly SunTrust Robinson Humphrey) reports, “Last week’s result was up against a -81.3% comp in the comparable week in 2020 vs. and -79.7% in the prior week’s results. On a 2-year run-rate, RevPAR was down 27.1% vs. down 31.5% in the prior week’s 2-year run-rate. Note that last week incorporated Passover and Good Friday/Easter Weekend vs. 2020 where Passover/Good Friday/Easter Weekend is in the following week (ending 4/11/20). Even though there was not much holiday travel last April, we note this is not a clean y/y comp. The 2-year compare is also not a clean comp with the holidays in mid-late April 2019. Upscale was +286.8% and -38.5% over 2 years, y/y outperformed the industry average; Upper Midscale was +260.1% and -23.8% over 2 years, y/y underperformed the industry average.”

As North America’s leading hospitality procurement services provider, Avendra offers AAHOA Members competitive pricing from its 800+ supplier contracts. Earn huge savings on engineering, rooms operations, administrative, replacement FF&E, and more! Visit http://www.avendra.com or call 866-AVENDRA and start saving today!

Marcus & Millichap is a leading commercial real estate brokerage firm focusing exclusively on investment sales, financing, research, and advisory services. The firm has perfected a powerful property marketing system that integrates broker specialization by property type and market area, has relationships with the largest pool of qualified investors, and uses state-of-the-art technology to match buyers and sellers. Contact them by email or visit the website today.

AAHOA is proud to collaborate with Kennesaw State University to establish the Michael Leven and Lee Dushoff AAHOA Scholarship for Compassionate Leadership. This annual scholarship will support students seeking an undergraduate degree in hospitality management. For more on the qualifications and how to apply, please contact Seth Walker or call 470-578-2206. To make a tax-deductible contribution to the scholarship endowment, please click here. 

As the industry begins taking steps to address a much-needed recovery, many hotels and restaurants are having a difficult time finding workers. Despite a massive labor pool, some workers are expressing reluctance to return to what can be a high-stress work environment.

As the weather warms and millions have been vaccinated, more and more people are beginning to travel again. Wyndham Hotels and Resorts CEO Geoff Ballotti reports that the chain recorded its highest occupancy rates since the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020.

Taking into account the increasing number of vaccines being deployed and recent COVID-relief legislation, CBRE Hotels Research reports an average national occupancy rate of 43% for the first six months of 2021, with that number projected to rise to approximately 55% during the second half of the year.