Hotels cry wolf as they can’t find any help

Hotel industry reps around the world are sounding the alarm that they are struggling to find enough people to restart their hotels. The pandemic caused many to lay off most of their staff. Now that vacation travelers are back in the saddle traveling again the hotels have plenty of rooms but not enough help to clean them, etc. Because of the labor shortage, many hotels are asking that you skip daily housekeeping and just have towels replenished each day. Hotels have also closed restaurants. This past week we were told that some hotel managers are being forced into making beds and cleaning rooms just to get by.

Will the hotel labor shortage cause hotels to implement robot bartenders? – Even before the labor shortage brought on by COVID the hotel industry was looking at ways to lower the cost of providing services for their customers in a smaller, limited-service hotel, (like Courtyard by Marriott). Robotic technology is allowing for cost savings programs that will allow hotels in the future to be able to provide bar service without an attendant. I can see that people who want a drink are able to use a kiosk to punch in their drink order and the robot does the rest. This would cut a lot of costs for hotels and yet still provide a service for their customers. CLICK HERE to read a great article about this idea.

Uber prices going sky high as they can’t find enough drivers – Just like the hotel industry, the ride-sharing companies, Uber and Lyft, can’t find enough drivers and are trying to entice drivers to work with higher wages, resulting in higher prices for riders. Prices by Uber are zooming higher by as much as 40% more this year. Add to that the double whammy of wait times for Uber and Lyft are also doubling and tripling as fewer drivers mean longer wait times. CLICK HERE to read an excellent article on this subject.

National Parks this summer are overcrowded and putting up “No Vacancy” signs –Americans are hitting the road this summer and trying to make up for lost time from the pandemic. National Parks around the country are being flooded with vacationers and families who don’t want the hassle of flying or can’t travel internationally. This has caused fast and massive overcrowding of the National Parks and is now resulting in many parks closing their gates as too many people are in the parks. CLICK HERE to read more.

I’m starting to think about converting to a cash-back credit card as airlines jack around with point values – Have you noticed how rapidly the major airlines are making it much harder and more expensive to redeem airline frequent flyer miles for free tickets? Delta, American, and United have all devalued their frequent flyer miles to the point where it is hard to even earn a penny a point in some cases. I have been doing some research and found the Capital One Spark Card that pays back 2% on every purchase. Plus they pay you $500 after you purchase $4500.  I am seriously thinking of moving some of my credit cards from a frequent flyer basis to a cashback basis.

Here is an easy way to earn 100,000 frequent flyer points – Chase Sapphire Preferred is offering a sign-up bonus of 100,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points to be used with airlines, hotels, etc. These points are much more valuable than many airline points as they give you the flexibility to use points to give a 1.5 cent credit toward your purchase. This bonus is worth a minimum of $1,250 and the card has a $95 annual fee. That’s a pretty good deal.

Check out our amazing variety of escorted tours- If you would like to travel in a group, feel the comfort of having everything taken care of beforehand, and learn about your destination from the best hand-picked tour guides, then take a look at our Escorted Tours page and get inspired! There is such a great variety of tours from the Big Apple, cycling tours to Portugal and Ireland, or how about some of my favorites; Following in the Footsteps of Apostle Paul in Greece, the Passion Play journey featuring Munich, Oberammergau, Salzburg, Vienna, and Prague, or come, join our second journey with the Nebraska National Guard Historical Society to France to commemorate the 78th anniversary of the end of World War II! Included are once-in-a-lifetime moments and guaranteed lifelong memories. Travel while you can, do not wait. Call or email our friendly group department today, (402) 858-0033 / GroupDepartment@executivetravel.com to request your personal and detailed tour brochure or simply to register. Space is limited and some tours are almost sold out. Do not hesitate.