Be aware: a scammer will call the hotel late at night or early morning and pretend to be the hotel owner or a rep from a utility or fire alarm company. The caller says bills need to be paid immediately and asks the hotel employee to “help” by getting cash from the safe, cash drawer, or even their own funds, and sending it through a money transfer service at a gas station or other local business or by purchasing Bitcoin. To combat this scam, please alert your team members, especially your night auditor(s), and put a policy in place to address it. Let your staff know you will never call with this type of demand. If your hotel fell victim to this scam or is targeted, please report it to your local police.

Truist Securities (formerly SunTrust Robinson Humphrey) reports, “Last week’s RevPAR was up against a -51.6% comparable result in 2020 vs. -48.1% in the prior week’s 2-year run-rate. On a 2-year run-rate, RevPAR was -13.9% vs. -14.8% in the prior week’s 2-year run-rate. Upscale RevPAR: +82.1% y/y and -22.2% over 2 years; Upper Midscale RevPAR: +64.2% y/y and -4.5% over 2 years. Last week once again presented a noisy picture given the High Holidays in 2021 and 2020: Yom Kippur on Wednesday/Thursday last week and Rosh Hashanah during the 2020 weekend. Not helping is higher-rated transient business travel given that Upper Upscale Tuesday/Wednesday occupancy was just 50% last week, down over 40% vs. 2019.”