Top Hotel and Resort News From January 2024

News about the hotel industry worldwide has been booming this month, from new openings to year-end outlooks and year-ahead predictions. January is always the time to book back on the past year's challenges and successes, and to look ahead to the new year to come. Click through this slideshow to get bite-sized explanations of the month's biggest headlines, and don't forget to click the links provided to read the full stories.

In early January, Four Seasons announced that its well-known Residences would be coming to its resort on Nassau Paradise Island, The Ocean Club. The 67 private residences are expected to open in 2027.

A new feature takes a deep dive into the American hotel industry, looking at how it did at the end of the year, with construction and development numbers, among other metrics. The bottom line? The industry is growing, especially in new openings.

Banyan Tree Group got a new name and announced nineteen new properties opening in 2024. Its new name is Banyan Group. It anticipates a busy year of new openings, including the Banyan Tree Veya Valle de Guadalupe in Mexico.

Club Med celebrated the opening of a new ski resort in Hokkaido, Japan at the end of 2023: the Club Med Kiroro Grand. The 266-room all-inclusive resort offers a ski destination with a stunning 160-day winter and record-breaking snowfall totals.

A new report finds that many hospitality industry leaders find it difficult to implement and measure environment, social and governance (ESG) goals. These issues can range from regional differences to different reporting standards, stakeholder skepticism and more.

Small and medium-sized businesses can now take advantage of a newly launched program, 'Hilton for Business,' which offers a complete suite of business travel and management tools, while also allowing the businesses the chance to earn loyalty points and rewards.

In mid-January, the WTTC announced a partnership with the non-profit Biosphere Foundation to establish an overarching set of sustainability criteria for the hotel industry worldwide, which should make the industry's transition to greener practices and sustainability easier to follow, measure and implement.

The Secrets Tides Punta Cana, part of the World of Hyatt Inclusive Collection, recently opened this January. The 688-room resort is an adults-only resort with nine restaurants, three pools, a full-service Secrets Spa and a resort-within-a-resort concept, the Preferred Club.

Hyatt is aiming to continue its record-breaking expansion completed in 2023 with its luxury, resort and lifestyle portfolios leading the way. New openings this year include the Zoetry Halkidiki Resort & Spa, the Thompson Palm Springs and the Kennedy 89, among others.

Hilton is another hotel giant reporting record-breaking growth in 2023, with 132 new hotels entering its brands in the fourth quarter alone, the largest number opened in a single quarter for the company. Hilton welcomed 395 hotels worldwide in 2023.

Marriott International signed 52 percent more rooms in 2023 than it had in 2022, welcoming over 400 new properties across the globe in its own record-breaking year for development. 

Disneyland Paris's Disneyland Hotel recently opened in late January following a full renovation, making it Disney's first 5-star luxury hotel inspired by Disney royalty. Everything, from the grand lobby to each room and suite, offers inspiration from the most royal of Disney movies.

A new report by the American Hotel & Lodging Association found that hotels in the U.S. are expected to pay record-high wages to employees in 2024, $5 billion higher than 2022 and $11 billion higher than in 2019. Hotels are also expected to generate record state and federal tax revenue this year.