Travel Industry update for 2025

3 June 2025
The hospitality industry continues to navigate challenging conditions.
 
Availability is still restricted in some markets due to two main factors; business travel continuing to be focused on Tuesdays and Wednesdays making it less attractive to some hospitality businesses; and some hotels continuing to be under exclusive contracts due to government schemes, including temporary and emergency housing schemes across a range of needs including affordable housing, secure housing, relocation, domestic abuse, witness protection and immigration. Previously these requirements were something hoteliers would consider on a booking-by-booking basis. They rarely agreed to offer all their rooms on an exclusive use basis; however, due to reduced demand this is something that some hoteliers have welcomed as a far more reliable income stream since the pandemic.
 
As an industry that has a large proportion of employees in the minimum wage bracket, further increases in this, alongside recent changes to employer national insurance contributions, have seen a greater impact than other industries, leading some hospitality businesses to review and in some cases reduce staffing which can also impact on the service the end customer enjoys.
 
Retaining staff in hospitality businesses post pandemic continues to be a challenge, seeing repeated recruitment and training which can impact on customer service while new recruits are finding their feet.
 
Other financial pressures continue due to ongoing economic uncertainty from global instability which directly or indirectly impacts the costs of materials, energy and food.
 
We are now seeing an uptick in services such as gyms, being offered in support of traveller well-being, but these are still not back to the level of facilities available before pandemic when many of these services were closed.
 
PRIORITY is here to help you overcome these challenges, continue to meet your travel policy requirements, and keep you informed about issues and help. Should you require any assistance or guidance to help reduce your costs, please contact your travel team at PRIORITY.