PwC Offers Grim Forecast For Lodging Industry

NEW YORK— In a report on crainsny.com, PricewaterhouseCoopers, which closely tracks the lodging industry, predicts that many hotel properties will not be able to survive the crisis in New York City that was unleashed by the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. PwC predicts that as many as 10 city hotels will be forced to seek bankruptcy protection in the wake of huge declines in business. The WTC attack came at the start of the most important season for hotels, and wiped out most business on the books in an already sagging industry, said the report. The accounting firm forecasts a 30% to 35% drop in revenues for the remainder of the year. The firm says this expected decline is the worst on record since such data were first published in 1927. By contrast, last year was the industrys most successful in 50 years. PwC puts these statistics in a chilling context, according to the report, saying the forecasts assume “no further acts against the U.S. and no large-scale military action that would have an effect on travel for the rest of the year.”