British Airways , one of the world's largest airlines, saw its shares surging as the "airline revised higher its growth revenue forecast for the year to at
least 4%, up from 3%, and said management believes it can achieve a
small operating profit". Notably the airline found that "booking activity in October felt the effects of turmoil in the financial markets but has since started to recover". As the airline sector arguably feels economic headwinds ahead of others including lodging that could be good news.
Nevertheless, others such as Disney who are more directly involved in lodging have reported no such uptick. In fact Disney has started discounting by nearly 45% (visitors offered seven nights for the price of four) at its resorts which is great news for the consumer and unlike BA, Disney's CEO, Bob Iger notes that "forward bookings had declined" as the "pace of bookings at our [US] parks has slowed meaningfully since the time of the Lehman bankruptcy".
In the meanwhile, Lodging, like many other small businesses can take to some of the successful tactics highlighted in this Forbes report. They include really listening to customers citing the Mirror Lake Inn, an 84-year-old high-end resort in Lake Placid,NY and continuing to investing in training and quotes the example of Evergreen Subaru in Auburn, Maine.