®
oundtable:
Regional hotels Hospitality leaders discuss the impact of COVID-19 and the recovery timeline.
Jim Beley
Manager The Umstead Hotel & Spa
How would you describe the state of the hospitality sector in the region? It’s changed dramatically. The fact is our business mix has drastically changed. Historically, corporate travelers made up the bulk of our weekday occupancy but with company travel restrictions still in place, it has been slow to return. Fortunately the leisure travel segment has been stronger than ever with the increase of domestic vacations. This high demand has pushed leisure guests into the lower rated weekdays to avoid the high demand weekends. That has allowed the luxury and resort markets to thrive achieving revenue numbers comparable to pre-COVID numbers by filling the corporate void with higher rated leisure business at lower occupancy levels. This shift has not come without its own set of challenges, with more guests occupying each room and each wanting to utilize our restaurant, spa, and pool outlets. For our type of property, that gets concerning in terms of questions surrounding if we have enough availability in the spa, pool or dining room. People want the full experience when they come to our hotel. We’re adjusting to what our guests expect when they come to a luxury hotel but it’s very different than before. What is your outlook for the next 12 to 18 months? Without any setbacks, I believe that in 2022 we will most likely be back to the levels that we last saw in 2019. That’s my forecast. What could hinder that situation is if companies continue to mandate the amount of business travel. But from what I hear, business travel is going to come back in a very solid way in the third quarter of this year. 162
| Invest: Raleigh-Durham 2021 | TOURISM, ARTS & CULTURE
Pete Byers
General Manager Residence Inn Raleigh Downtown
What innovative hiring methods are you using? The labor issue is highly prevalent in the hospitality sector. The past year has provided little incentive or motivation for anyone to come back to work. We have used all of the traditional routes when hiring associates: online job postings, brand job postings, job fairs, websites and so forth. We’ve used signing bonus offers and have increased wage scales for existing associates in an effort to retain those we have and to help attract new talent. We’ve had members who have gone down to the local Walmart with flyers and handed those out in an effort to get people interested. Is this innovative? No, but it’s just getting your feet on the ground, trying to do your best to find folks who are interested. What we’ve found is that folks aren’t as readily available right now for different reasons. When do you anticipate the return of leisure and business travel to the Raleigh area? We are already seeing economic trends turn upward this year. Raleigh is a big festival town with many large events throughout the year. One of our biggest festivals involves the International Bluegrass Music Association’s World of Bluegrass festival, which is returning this September. The event is one of Raleigh’s biggest, bringing more than 200,000 visitors in 2019 and accounted for an economic impact of over $18 million. The return of Bluegrass and many other festivals will continue to be key in moving the economic needle over the next two years. I also believe we will begin to see our business travel ramp up this fall at a slightly greater pace than has been projected previously. It will take more time to regain historic levels but we’ll start to see it increase.
