Inflation has helped hotel revenues return to pre-pandemic 2019 levels with new hotel construction on the rise to meet demand, writes Emma Dooling for Philadelphia Business Journal.

That includes plans by Neumann University in Aston to build an on-campus hotel to diversify the school’s income.

The possibility of a hotel there became reality after 63 acres of land was acquired by the university from the Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia in June 2021.

The hotel is part of Neumann’s priority to develop revenue-generating capital projects.

.Joe Massaro, CEO of the Pennsylvania Restaurant & Lodging Association, said leisure travel remains strong and that leisure travel hotel revenue in 2022 is just .7 percent under 2019 revenue.

Visit Philadelphia forecasts that leisure will be the largest segment of hotel demand in 2023, at 34.6 percent, generating more than 1 million hotel room nights.

Meanwhile, business travel is steadily coming back, but still lags, Massaro said.

Business travel revenue in Philadelphia in 2022 is projected to be 21 percent less than in 2019, according to the American Hotel & Lodging Association.

Read more about an upsurge in hotel revenue and new hotel construction in the Philadelphia region, including at Neumann University in the Philadelphia Business Journal.