An $11 Billion Travel Slump and a Cusco Lesson in Owner-Free Profit

U.S. Travel Association forecasts an $11 billion drop in international visitor spending by 2026 — inflation-adjusted inbound spend falling 6.3% to $163 billion, with America's share of global long-haul arrivals down from 10.3% in 2019 to 7.7%. That forecast anchors a week of pieces examining what actually sits underneath a hotel's standards, its culture and its reported profits.

What do younger luxury guests actually want?

Adam Frost of Regent's University London gathered executives from hospitality, food and events, and their verdict is blunt: Millennials and Gen Z still demand excellence. They just reject the gatekeeping that traditionally came with it.

Sebastian Knoerr, Director of Rooms at London's Sloane Club, says younger members have had less practice with formal settings, so the club teaches the standard explicitly and lets the delivery flex. Kelly Licciardi of Restaurant Associates puts the dining-side shift plainly: affluent guests now want "substance and story over stiffness."

Frost's conclusion cuts against the easy read. Luxury may be getting more demanding, not less. A scripted service sequence is easy to audit; warmth and judgement are not. That shifts hiring toward traits like empathy and curiosity, and turns the sommelier from gatekeeper into guide. Kenan Simmons of SLH made a parallel argument earlier in the week, warning against "robotic yes sir, no sir" service.

Have harassment laws changed hotel culture?

Not enough, argues Nasir Zahir. He recalls a 1970s hotel culture in which general managers and corporate officers pursued female employees who had little power to say no. Laws, HR processes and zero-tolerance policies are far stronger today, but "people still do stupid things," and annual online training is often a check-the-box exercise that changes nothing.

He calls for training built around hotel realities — a guest exposing himself to a housekeeper, a complaint about a senior manager — and for investigations that apply the same standard no matter how important the accused. The stakes are concrete: EEOC cases involving hotels include a $370,000 settlement in 2022. He notes allegations in pending litigation are not established facts.

What does a family-run hotel's profit really say?

Enrique L. González of F2F Invest LATAM, who once ran a four-room hostel in Lima with his wife, offers a cautionary piece of deal math. Many Latin American hotels, including some with 100 rooms or more, depend on an owner who is also general manager and head of sales.

His example: a Cusco hotel reporting $250,000 in annual operating profit, where the owner took no market salary and a relative's travel agency generated more than half the bookings. A buyer would have to replace those functions, so the profit would not carry over intact.

González doesn't treat owner dependence as a defect. He suggests negotiating a transition — a defined period of owner involvement, a gradual handover of commercial relationships, a contingent payment, or for owners who want to keep the property, a lease or an operator.

Signals

• CoStar: U.S. hotel RevPAR rose 9.7% in the week ending 31 October, with Tampa and New Orleans leading the Top 25 Markets on the World Series and major conferences.
• WTTC: Three new indices — Power, Efficiency and Opportunity — built with Oxford Economics across 184 economies will measure tourism beyond visitor numbers.
• Shiji: The vendor's Q3 2026 benchmark of 11.9 million reviews puts the Global Review Index at 87.0% but positive sentiment at 69.8%, with average response times halving to 3.1 days.
• Domes Resorts: Three Greek openings are planned for 2027 under the Casa Cook and Cook's Club brands, after Domes became the major shareholder in Casa Collective in April 2026.

People and Properties

Ryan Lynn joins Cushman & Wakefield as Head of UK Hotel Capital Markets from Knight Frank; Rozenn Lavaur Fournier becomes Director of Development for Greece and Cyprus at IHG; David Mariotti takes over as General Manager at Hotel Viking, which reopened in May 2026 after a full reimagination for its centenary.

On the development front, Aman announced Amantaru in Puerto Rico; Viceroy Park Avenue is taking reservations ahead of a February 2027 debut; Meliá will bring ME by Meliá to Asia via The Kasem House Bangkok Hotel; Nanju opens December 24; and Bahia Principe reopens its Explore properties in Runaway Bay, Jamaica and Costa Adeje, Tenerife on 1 December after renovations.

With inbound spend projected to soften through 2026, operators facing softer top-line growth will likely lean harder on exactly what this week's columns dissect: service models, workplace culture and honest unit economics.