The American hotel industry has supported a total economic impact of $1.5 trillion of business sales (accounting for revenue and certain taxes, also referred to as output) in 2022, a recent study has revealed.
American hotels supported 8.3 million American jobs, equivalent to roughly one in 25 U.S. jobs.
According to the Economic Impact of the U.S. Hotel Industry study conducted by the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA) in association with Oxford Economics, the country’s hotel industry supported $760 million of GDP, representing a contribution to the U.S. gross domestic product and $211 billion of federal, state and local taxes.
The hotel industry comprises around 62,500 properties with 5.6 million rooms. The sector sells around 1.3 billion rooms annually.
The sector supported $463.2 billion in wages, salaries and other compensation, including $104.7 billion in hotel operations. Hotels paid over $104 billion in wages, salaries and other compensation and supported $463 in total wages, salaries and other compensation.
Hotels directly generated $72.4 billion in federal, state and local tax revenue.
Guests spent $691.2 billion at hotels and local businesses and on transportation, of which only $216.1 billion was spent on lodging (31%), while the rest was spent on transportation, food and beverages.
For each $100 of spending on lodging, guests spent an additional $220 during their trip.
Hotels purchased $119.2 billion in inputs from other businesses in the country.
RELATIVE TO 2019
The sector has witnessed a significant recovery from the pandemic. In nominal terms, many key metrics are ahead of 2019 levels, like total business sales (+7.6%), total wages and salaries (+6.1%) and total federal, state and local taxes (+7%).
Compared to 2021, total businesses supported by hotels jumped 29.9% to $1.5 trillion and 7.6% above pre-pandemic levels.
However, employment at hotels was still 15.9% below 2019 levels, through aggregate wages and salaries at hotels recovered to approximately level with 2019 levels, accounting for a 21.7% increase per job.
CAREER OPPORTUNITIES
The country’s hotel-related economic activity is creating unprecedented career opportunities for existing and prospective hotel employees. As of March, national average hotel wages were among the highest ever at over $23 per hour.
Since the pandemic, hotel wages have risen faster than average wages in the general economy.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, until April, hotel employment was down by more than 250,000 jobs against February 2020. Hotels plan to fill most of the jobs lost during the pandemic, including over 100,000 hotel jobs presently open in the U.S.