Travel Briefcase: There’s still plenty of hotel competition.
Consumers shouldn’t fear the consolidation happening in the industry, experts say.
The news last week that New Jersey-based Wyndham Worldwide is acquiring smaller rival La Quinta Holdings for $1.95 billion is only the latest in a series of deals to consolidate the nation’s hospitality industry.
But travelers shouldn’t fear that more of the country’s hotel rooms are in the hands of a few giant hotel companies, according to industry experts, who say the hotel industry still has plenty of competition.
Wyndham, with 8,350 hotels, including brands such as Ramada, Days Inn, Howard Johnson and Travelodge, will add the 900 managed and franchised hotels branded as La Quinta Inn & Suites, La Quinta Inn and LQ Hotel. The deal is scheduled to close this year.
Wyndham hotels are mostly lower and mid-scale brands while La Quinta hotels are primarily midscale and upper mid-scale properties.
Several merger and acquisition deals have been announced in the last few years, putting nearly half the nation’s 53,400 hotels under the control of six hotel giants — Marriott, Hilton Worldwide, Intercontinental, Wyndham Worldwide, Choice Hotels and Best Western Hotels & Resorts.
The biggest deals took place in 2016 when Marriott International Inc., the world’s largest hotel company, took over Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. in a $13-billion deal.
Industry experts say the consolidation of the hotel industry should not result in unusually high rates for guests because giant hospitality companies operate many brands, ranging from cut-rate hotels to swanky, luxury inns.
“Hotels compete on a local basis much more than airlines or car rental companies do,” said Bjorn Hanson, a hospitality expert at New York University’s Preston Robert Tisch Center for Hospitality and Tourism.
Plus, he noted that short-term rental platforms such as Airbnb have surged in popularity, offering an extra supply of rooms especially during special events that increase demand such as a sporting championship or a holiday.
Lighter magazine saves United fuel
What difference can an ounce make on an airplane?
If you are United Airlines, with 4,500 flights a day, an ounce can add up. The Chicago-based carrier said it recently began printing its in-flight magazine, Hemisphere, on lighter paper, cutting 1 ounce from each magazine. It now weighs 6.85 ounces.
In an internal message to employees, United said it has also switched to lighter paper on its seatback service guides.
The carrier operates 744 mainline planes that vary in size, carrying 50 to 366 passengers each. For a typical 737 plane carrying 179 passengers, the reduction would mean about 11 pounds per flight.
The airline said that slight weight reduction is saving 170,000 gallons of fuel a year, or $290,000 in annual fuel costs.
Last year, United stopped on-board sales of duty-free items — such as perfumes, chocolates and liquor — cutting 1.4 million gallons of fuel a year at a cost savings of $2.3 million.
Attendants protest 737 Max bathrooms
Passengers who fly on American Airlines’ 737 Max planes will probably notice that the lavatories are extra small, with sinks so tiny that fliers can wash only one hand at a time.
The manufacturer of the plane, Boeing, designed the compact bathrooms that way to squeeze in about a dozen more seats in the cabin than in older versions of the 737 jets.
But now flight attendants are grousing about the new lavatories.
In a meeting a week ago with American Airlines Chief Executive Doug Parker, a group of flight attendants complained about the design of the lavatories on the 737 Max, an airline spokesman said.
The lavatories at the back of the plane are located between the passenger seats and the galley where the flight attendants prepare drinks and snacks for the fliers. When both doors to the lavatories are open, the flight attendants are sealed off in the galley, blocking them from getting to the passengers, the flight attendants complained.
They also said the sinks in the bathrooms are so tiny that the water from the faucet splashes onto anyone attempting to wash their hands.
Joshua Freed, a spokesman for the carrier, said American Airlines has fixed the problem with the sinks by installing aerators on the faucet to cut the strength of the water flow. The carrier is still looking for a fix to the door problem.
American Airlines flies three 737 Max planes, between Miami and New York, but expects to have a total of 20 737 Max jets in the fleet by the end of this year, with 20 more added each year for the next four years, Freed said.