Hotel CEOs' Outlook, Airlines' Climate Progress and Barry Sternlicht's Warning
Skift Daily Briefing Podcast Listen to the day's top travel stories in under four minutes every weekday.
Listen to the day's top travel stories in under four minutes every weekday.
Skift Travel Podcasts
Good morning from Skift. It's Wednesday. Here's what you need to know about the business of travel today.
Hotel CEOs believe the U.S. is wasting its tourism potential with the country facing a 50 billion dollar deficit in international travel, writes Senior Hospitality Editor Sean O'Neill.
Marriott CEO Anthony Capuano and other leaders said Washington needs to streamline visa processing and take other steps to ensure the U.S. is ready to host major sporting events in the next decade. Several hotel CEOs have called for more funding for Brand USA, the country's tourism marketing organization. And they hope President Trump and Congress will allot money to help with long-standing infrastructure and resource needs.
In addition, many hotel CEOs said they're focused on expansion abroad, especially India, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East.
Listen to This Podcast
Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Youtube | RSS
Next, Willie Walsh, director general of the International Air Transport Association, is blaming governments and fuel producers for aviation's slow process in reaching its climate goals, writes Climate Reporter Darin Graham.
Walsh said the European Union, in particular, has failed to provide the support needed to increase the production of sustainable aviation fuel. Walsh added that companies such as BP and Shell have cut back or delayed their investments in green fuel. The European Union's current policy requires airlines to use at least 2% sustainable aviation fuel in their fuel mix by 2030.
Fuels Europe said producers have rapidly scaled SAF output and lowered costs.
Finally, Starwood Hotels founder Barry Sternlicht says established hotel chains are facing growing pressure from independent brands, reports Senior Hospitality Editor Sean O'Neill.
Sternlicht, who sold Starwood to Marriott for 13 billion dollars in 2015, said newer brands are much easier to launch via social media. Sternlicht added that successful hotel brands must differentiate themselves and that hospitality remains fundamentally about service quality.
Sternlicht has officially rebranded his latest hotel management company as Starwood Hotels, reviving the name of the company he founded in 1991.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
36 minutes ago
- Yahoo
New EU-Ukraine agri trade quotas to be 'in between' current deal and wartime exemptions
By Kate Abnett BRUSSELS (Reuters) -The European Union and Ukraine are negotiating a new deal that will set import quotas on agricultural goods from Ukraine somewhere "in between" current levels and the temporary exemptions granted after Russia's 2022 invasion, the EU's agriculture commissioner told Reuters. The EU temporarily waived duties and quotas on agricultural products in June 2022 after Russia's full-scale invasion to help Ukraine compensate for the higher costs of its exports, after Russia threatened its traditional Black Sea shipping lanes. Those tariff suspensions expired on Thursday. The EU and Ukraine reverted to the pre-war regime of trade quotas on Friday, while the two sides negotiate a new longer-term deal - in which Brussels is seeking to strike a balance between supporting Ukraine in its war with Russia, and heeding European farmers' concerns about cheaper Ukrainian imports. "What will be negotiated will be something in between the quotas under the existing DCFTA and the autonomous trade measures, the volumes that have been exported there," EU agriculture commissioner Christophe Hansen said in an interview with Reuters on Thursday. The DCFTA refers to Ukraine and the EU's pre-war trade deal. The EU's "autonomous trade measures" temporarily suspended quotas on Ukrainian imports from 2022. Ukraine's farm minister Vitaliy Koval told Reuters this week that Kyiv was pushing for an agreement on higher quotas than it had before the war. EU farmers have complained that large shipments of cheaper Ukrainian sugar imports under the wartime tariff exemptions have undercut local supplies. The EU triggered "emergency brakes" to re-impose quotas on products including sugar and eggs in the past year, in response to surging imports. The EU's Ukrainian sugar imports soared to 400,000 tons in the 2022/23 season and over 500,000 tons in 2023/24, far exceeding the pre-war quota of 20,000 tons. Hansen said the new quotas on sugar would be "significantly higher" than those under the pre-war arrangements. "I think we can absorb a certain amount of those products," he said, while noting sensitivities around sugar, poultry and eggs. Negotiations on the new EU-Ukraine deal started on June 2. Hansen said it was feasible a deal could be reached by summer. "It depends now on both sides, I think technically that could be feasible," he said. Agricultural goods accounted for about 60% of Ukraine's total exports last year, with the EU buying around 60% of those goods, worth about $15 billion. A senior Ukrainian lawmaker said last month the loss of tariff-free access to the EU market could cost the country 3.5 billion euros ($3.99 billion) in annual revenue. "Our solidarity with Ukraine is as firm as ever, and therefore we are very committed to deliver this agreement as quickly as possible," Hansen said. The pre-war quota regime, which applies as of Friday, also includes lighter rules on import licenses for some goods like poultry and eggs, where instead of requiring licenses, quotas will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis. ($1 = 0.8763 euros)
Yahoo
37 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Germany's Merz eyes car tariff offsetting mechanism after Trump talks
BERLIN (Reuters) -German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Friday that he would pursue a deal under which U.S. cars could be imported into Europe duty free in exchange for tariff waivers on the same number of vehicles exported to the U.S. Speaking at an event in Berlin just hours after his inaugural trip to Washington for talks with U.S. President Donald Trump, Merz said: "We have to see if we can come up with an offset rule or something along those lines." "We agreed that we will have two representatives between the White House and the chancellery who will now talk intensively with each other about German-American trade relations," he added. He said trade negotiations with the U.S. remained within the remit of the European Union, however, and that later on Friday he would speak to EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to brief her on the outcome of his talks with Trump. The news comes after sources told Reuters last month that Mercedes-Benz and German rivals BMW and Volkswagen were in talks with Washington over a possible import tariff deal. Mercedes-Benz CEO Ola Kaellenius told Spiegel in an interview on Thursday that such a mechanism could act as a precedent for other industries. (Writing by Friederike HeineEditing by Ludwig Burger)
CNBC
9 hours ago
- CNBC
Germany's Merz says he agreed to boost cooperation with White House on trade issues
Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Thursday said Germany, Europe's largest economy, was ready to take over a greater leadership role on future trade agreements as the United States and the EU race to reach a trade deal before a July 9 deadline. Merz told reporters he had a productive meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House on Thursday, and the two men had agreed to strengthen cooperation on trade matters and other issues. Merz said he and Trump spoke at length about trade and tariffs during their meeting in the Oval Office, and over an extended lunch, where Merz said he highlighted the manufacturing facilities operated by German automakers in the United States. "We will send officials to further deepen these topics. We want to reach a mutual solution," Merz told reporters after the meeting, noting that while the European Union was responsible for setting trade policy, Germany had a significant role to play given the size of its exports. Trump has set a July 9 deadline for the 27-bloc European Union and other trading partners to reach trade deals and avert steep tariffs. U.S. and EU officials met in Paris on Wednesday and said negotiations were constructive and advancing quickly. Europe, already facing a 50% tariff on steel and aluminum and a 25% levy on car imports, could see U.S. tariffs on other exports surge from 10% to as high as 50% if no deal is reached. U.S. tariffs were having a significant impact on German automakers, he told CNN and Fox News in separate interviews. "These tariffs are ... something which is really threatening our economy and we are looking for ways to bring them down," he told Fox News. "Our conviction is that free trade, open markets are the best thing for the mutual wealth of our countries." Merz told ZDF German television that he told Trump that German automakers produced about 400,000 vehicles in the United States, about the same number as in Germany, with some of those vehicles then exported back to Germany. "There is a balance," he said. "Can we not acknowledge that for every car that is imported another car is exported by the same manufacturer and drop the tariffs?" Merz said he would also address the issue with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, adding that there was scope and potential momentum to reach a solution. "If a trade dispute escalates, that hurts everyone, also hurts the German manufacturers in America and the roughly one million families in America that are paid by German firms," he told Germany's ProSieben television station. "I'm optimistic that we'll make progress. But we're not yet at the goal line."
