Luxury Resorts Face Guest-Worker Challenges

Travel and tourism don’t exist in a vacuum. No matter how good your latest campaign or new hotel is, politics, economics, or another outside actor has the power to derail any project.

In many instances it’s not the big companies that suffer most. Rather it’s the smaller independent operators who take the hit, and this week we have a story illustrating that very point. Immigration is a key issue for President Trump and his supporters, and this is now filtering down into the luxury hospitality industry, thanks to restrictions on short-term visas.

For feedback or news tips, reach out via email at pw@skift.com or tweet me @paddywhyte.

— Patrick Whyte, Europe Editor

6 Looks at Luxury

Small Luxury Resorts Caught Up in Immigration Clampdown: While those on H-2B visas are simply guest workers, they’re getting ensnared in the current immigration debate. And that’s a problem for small, seasonal resorts.

Rosewood Hotel Group CEO: ‘We Want to Push the Hotel Industry to Another Level’: All of the buzzwords are here in CEO Sonia Cheng’s strategy — from co-working and community to recognition and technology — but can Rosewood continue to maintain its uniqueness, even as it goes after what all the other hotel brands are going after, too? Given its track record, it just might.

Hotels Have a Problem With Plastics, A Skift Deep Dive: The hotel industry is just waking up to the problem of plastic waste, but this is a two-way street. Hotels rely on this convenient, affordable material just as much as travelers do. The real struggle is turning newfound global awareness and municipal legislation into swift action.

With More Leisure Time, Chinese Tourists Are Traveling More Too: Chinese citizens are enjoying more free time, and they’re leveraging that time to travel more. But with government initiatives promoting nationalistic “red tourism,” international destination marketing organizations face stiff competition.

Philippines’ Boracay Island Tackles Overtourism With Bans on Cruise Ships in Peak Seasons: Philippines’ Boracay shows a good example of how to regulate potential overcrowding by cruise ships. The idea to offer alternative ports of call is smart, as it promotes new destinations and spreads tourism benefits to other places.

Four Seasons Teases Its New Private Jet for Around-the-World Luxury Travel: When you were a teenager, you may have backpacked through Europe on a tight budget. When you make your first $100 million, you might fly on the Four Seasons private jet. At least that’s what the hotel company hopes.

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Skift Europe Editor Patrick Whyte [pw@skift.com] curates the New Luxury newsletter. Skift emails the newsletter every Tuesday.

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