Pre-pandemic, the average hotel logged a little over two hours of labor for every occupied room, but that’s dropped to 1.5 hours over the course of the pandemic in part because housekeepers aren’t going into rooms each day and reduced food and beverage service.

Mack Real Estate Group has taken over control of seven limited- and full-service hotels totaling 1,087 rooms in New York City through a loan foreclosure. A Mack affiliate provided an $85 million mezzanine loan while the value of the ownership transfer was listed at $315.8 million.

Hotel brand company stock values were down 7.4% from March 2020, but up 39.7% over March 2019, whereas hotel REIT stock values were down 27.1% year-over-year and up 10.1% from this time in 2019. Year-to-date, hotel brand stocks are up 10.6%, compared to a 17% increase for hotel REITs.

Of the travelers surveyed, 43% said they are “more likely” to travel domestically post-pandemic and 44% are “more likely” to travel internationally, while 50% are “as likely” to travel domestically post-pandemic and 41% are “as likely” to travel internationally.

The company reported operating costs and expenses of $10.49 billion for 2020, down 45% from 2019, in part because of layoffs, furlough programs and reduced work hours. Marriott had 121,000 employees at the end of last year, compared with 174,000 the year before COVID.

Around 44% of US corporate travel managers think that travel volume will shift to virtual in 2021, up from 34% when surveyed in October. The expectations are a bit more optimistic for 2022, showing only 27% expecting the shift up from 22%.

According to pipeline data as at December 2019, there were 3,867 hotels and 603,037 rooms set to open in 2020. Of these, 322,561 rooms were completed, equating to a 53% completion rate. This is a substantial drop compared to 2019 when completed hotel projects totaled 77% of the pipeline.

For the week of Feb. 28 to March 6, 2021, U.S. hotel revenue per available room was slightly more than half of what it was in 2019, $48.13 compared to $87.75.

Blackstone Group Inc. and Starwood Capital Group have agreed to acquire hotel owner and operator Extended Stay America Inc. for $6 billion.

The Baird-STR Hotel Stock Index grew by 22.4% in February, following an 8.2% month-over-month decline in January. By comparison, the S&P 500 index was up 2.6% in February.