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Hospitality

During periods of growth or uncertainty, Marsh can help your hospitality business reduce your total cost of risk, enabling you to make more strategic business decisions with confidence.
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Increasing tourism and globalization has helped fuel a growing hospitality market.

Now, amid regularly shifting travel restrictions, hotels and restaurants are facing uneven demand, limited capacity, and continued uncertainty, making budgeting and financial planning more challenging. Long-term recovery for hospitality businesses will require the adoption of new operating models, technologies, and data-driven planning to forecast emerging trends, including enhanced safety considerations and rising consumer concerns.

Performance within the hospitality industry depends heavily on market and asset type, making a more individualized approach to forecasting crucial. At Marsh, we have over 800 dedicated hospitality insurance and risk management specialists who are ready to assist you with creating a loss control program that helps you better anticipate and manage risks.

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The hospitality industry is a broad category made up of dozens of business types. Any operating model that invites members of the public to eat, sleep, or take part in a leisure activity falls under this category, including:

  • Accommodation services: Hotels, luxury resorts, motels, lodges, bed and breakfasts, and inns.
  • Dining and leisure: Restaurants, bars, movie theaters, and spas.
  • Activity-oriented businesses: Golf courses, sailboat rental, bicycle rental, horseback riding, skiing, amusement parks, and indoor water parks.

Due to the distinct risks associated with each of these categories, hospitality businesses can benefit from a unique coverage and risk management strategy designed to protect guests, staff, property, and revenue.

Organizations within the hospitality sector will need coverage similar to standard business policies. This includes traditional areas of risk, such as fire, theft, and vandalism, and property insurance for the physical structure of your business.

However, you’ll also need to consider coverage for the more unique aspects of your business model, including:

  • Business interruptions: Equipment breakdown insurance helps you get up and running as soon as possible in the event that something stops working or if you experience a power outage, storm, or natural disaster. For example, if refrigeration equipment fails and you have to dispose of large quantities of food, this will help you repair systems and replace lost goods as quickly as possible.
  • General liability: This includes areas of risk such as injuries and food contamination that are more likely to happen given the environment of a hospitality business.

Additional considerations should be factored into a comprehensive risk management strategy, including mandatory workers' compensation, liquor-related liabilities, and cybersecurity coverage. Business leaders are advised to assess their operating model to identify core areas of vulnerability.

Dramatic changes in visitor behavior, spending power, and consumer expectations affecting both leisure and business travel are expected to influence the hospitality industry for years to come.

As consumers’ perception of safety and risk continue to fluctuate, there are several other areas of risk for the hospitality sector to contend with, including:

  • Sharing economy: The increased popularity of online lodging marketplaces has led to significant cannibalization. Investments in new amenities and experiential travel opportunities will be essential in recapturing market share.
  • Staffing shortages: Hospitality companies should identify and address wage and worker satisfaction issues to increase employee retention and maintain the level of service customers expect.
  • Guest-facing technology: Technology is expected to be incorporated across operations as a means of enhancing the guest experience. In addition to making updates such as digital keys and room controls, businesses must contend with increased cybersecurity vulnerabilities, including attempts to compromise reservation systems.

At Marsh, our dedicated hospitality specialists can help business leaders analyze industry risks and trends and assess areas of vulnerability. Leveraging our proprietary analytics, we’ll work with you to devise a program that generates the right risk financing and mitigation decisions for your business strategy.