Sky-high prices for luxury rooms

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Sky-high prices for luxury rooms

Hotel prices are rising to unprecedented heights, especially for five-star stays, said Nikki Ekstein in Bloomberg. Prices at brands like Holiday Inn and Best Western have risen 19% in the U.S. and 32% in Europe since 2019. But luxury travel advisers say their clients "are ponying up $1,700 per night on average" for their opulent accommodations this summer. That's a 69% increase from the $979 a night that a similar survey showed travelers were spending in 2019. Data from a broader range of luxury hotels confirmed the uptick, with one broker reporting the average rate for a night in Europe is up 57% from 2019. One travel adviser said "pent-up demand" from the pandemic has become "the travel industry's mantra." His clients splurged to the tune of $3,682 per night for their stays last year.

Gen Z's wandering ways

Should young workers be more worried about how often they switch jobs? asked Eilene Zimmerman in The New York Times. According to the Employee Benefit Research Institute, "22.3% of workers ages 20 and older spent a year or less at their jobs in 2022, the highest percentage with a tenure that short since 2006." About one-third switched employers within two years. Gen Z's apparent willingness to load up entry points on the résumé "may be a response to what younger employees perceive as corporations' unyielding focus on the bottom line." But recruiters say many employers still regard itinerant candidates with suspicion. In a survey of hiring managers by Robert Half, "77% named job hopping" as their "top concern when evaluating a candidate's resume."

S&P drops ESG scores in bond ratings

S&P Global said last week it will stop handing out scores to corporate borrowers based on ESG criteria, said Patrick Temple-West in the Financial Times. "The debt rating agency has since 2021 published scores from 1 to 5 for a company's exposure to each element of environmental, social and governance risks." Visa, for example, had received a 3 for its governance performance and 2s for its work in the other departments. "The move comes amid skepticism over ESG ratings" and pressure from conservatives over the use of ESG as an investment criterion. S&P's debt ratings are used by bond buyers, and any negative marks can have a major effect on a company's borrowing costs.

This article was first published in the latest issue of The Week magazine. If you want to read more like it, you can try six risk-free issues of the magazine here.