2023 was a big year for the hotel industry

For a lot of hotels 2023 was a big recovery year, but it is possible that the post-lockdown travel and lodging boom has peaked

The first couple years of the pandemic were brutal for hotels. But Steven Carvell at Cornell’s School of Hotel Administration says 2023 was an outstanding year. “I don’t think people anticipated it back in 2022,” he said. “Everyone thought that we’d have a recession by now.” That recession never materialized, and Carvell says the strong economy boosted hotels across the board.

Key takeaways

• Hotels charged more and made more per room in 2023, though occupancy was still below pre-pandemic levels. One big reason is business travel is still lagging;
• So far, leisure travel has been the key to the hotel industry’s comeback. But Kaushik Vardharajan at Boston University’s School of Hospitality Administration says in 2023 we saw that taper off a bit;
• “I think 2024, you’ll continue to see leisure travel moderate,” said Vardharajan. Meaning we probably won’t see the same kinds of big increases we’ve seen the last couple years, at least when it comes to travel within the U.S.

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