Despite inflation, prepare for ‘strong’ holiday travel season ‘no matter the cost’: Omni’s Peter Strebel

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After experiencing the “busiest” summer travel season that pushed the company into “recovery” status in the post-Covid era, the chairman of Omni Hotels & Resorts is predicting a continued boom in travel this year’s holiday season.

“People have spent the last two Christmases away from their family, from their friends. I believe that no matter what the cost, people will want to get together,” Omni’s Peter Strebel told FOX Business’ Maria Batiromo on Tuesday, “Morning with Maria.”

Airline ticket prices have risen more than 33% year-over-year, according to the U.S. Department of Labor, and as more Americans start planning their holiday travel plans in advance, Strebel argued that decades of high inflation have not affected the number of Omni bookings. keep out.

“I think the price is definitely a lot higher than it was,” she said. “Our customers are a little more on the luxury coin. So we’re not as affected by inflation.”

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Omni has been hitting its highest 2019 revenue numbers every month since May this year, the chairman said, adding that leisure travel has returned to a “steady” pace following the shutdown of the Covid-19 pandemic.

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Omni Hotels and Resorts chairman Peter Strebel said on Tuesday, September 27, 2022 that those “getting ready for holiday travel” should expect a “busy” season. (Getty Images)

“We’re very, very busy, which is great to see. We’re almost fully staffed,” she said. “So I think the business, you could almost say, is there, and it’s almost salvageable and on its way.”

Strebel, which has more than 50 properties in North America, attributed Omni’s strong revenue growth to “perceived demand” for group and business travel following the pandemic.

“The reason for group travel is to develop new products, to bring people together, to raise morale, to have a company culture,” Strebel explained. “And that’s been dead for two years … and there seems to be a thirst to bring people back together.”

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To keep up with growing travel demand, Omni’s chairman noted that the company has several projects to build or envision property experiences, including two new hotels in Texas and Arizona, an expansion in the Orlando area and a major renovation of one of America’s oldest hotels. Virginia

“We didn’t stop during Covid. We still continued to build and renovate our hotels,” she said. “The oldest resort in America is The Homestead, and that’s in Hot Springs, Virginia. And we’re spending $140 million to renovate that hotel, bring it back to its original architecture and feel and look. And that will be completed next spring.”

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