The international CEO of Marriot, J.W. Marriot Jr, talked about the hotel industry in its current state. He said that they have been continually feeling the U.S. Economy’s downward spiral, which has been caused by a credit crunch and a real estate burst, which they see has effected a lot of industries. Marriot has usually always done well in the international bookings department to balance their losses from the U.S.

He also stated that their international sales have recently began to decrease. They have been continuing to do well in the business bookings department in various locations throughout the work week, even though personal travel has dropped as well. There are many companies that are not taking as many trips as they usually do, because business travel costs too much and petrol prices continue to increase. This is causing the industry of hotels to take a hit yet again.

There are other industry chains that have been experiencing the same pain of the economy other than Marriot. Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide and Wyndham Worldwide have also had a stock drop with today’s trading. There is going to be a long summer to face for the hospitality industry due to the slowing of residential travel because of the weakening economy and issues with credit, plus the decrease of business travel because of high petrol costs.

The remainder of 2008 will also be long until the price of petrol starts to recede. Businesses have started spending less money on hotels due to the rise of air flight, and this is causing all of the higher end chains of hotels to feel the repercussions more than the budget chains of hotels.

www.marriott.co.uk