Priya Patel
TLDR:
- 2023 marked a strong recovery for the Giants in general, with salaries, staffing, billing rates, and fees surpassing 2019 levels.
- Hospitality Giants are struggling to surpass pre-pandemic fees, down by 44% compared to 2019.
Key Points:
2023 marked a year of very strong recovery for the Giants in general, with almost all metrics surpassing the 2019 levels: salaries, staffing, billing rates, fees. But when it comes to the sector-by-sector temperature-check, the landscape is more uneven. Hospitality joins corporate in the recovery-pending zone. Giants working in this vertical are still struggling to surpass pre-pandemic fees.
Looking closely at individual data points, hospitality fee income did increase 12 percent year-over-year, and Giants are predicting another small 5 percent bump-up for 2024. Segment predictions for 2024 are dead-even with 2023 actuals, with a majority expecting the most growth in luxury hotels. Project totals are also way up, to the tune of 40 percent year-over-year and 63 percent higher than 2019. Giants are expecting another 11 percent project growth for 2024.
In terms of locations, Hospitality Giants tend to have the highest percentage of overseas projects in comparison to other verticals. While most sectors hover around a 90/10 split between domestic and international, hospitality has traditionally held steady around 80/20, and this year is no different, albeit skewing toward domestic. Once again, the biggest growth markets are Asia, Canada, and Europe overseas and, in the U.S., the southernmost regions.
