Traveling Blog: Tax Cut Travel Myth + Car Rental Recovery + Uncomfortable Travel Truths

August 9, 2018

Editor's Note

An interesting nugget came out of the Choice Hotels earnings call on Wednesday. Unprompted by questioning from analysts, Patrick Pacious, the CEO of a company whose holdings include such middle-America lodging staples as Quality and Comfort Inns, volunteered in prepared remarks that he hasn't yet seen any pickup in travel spending from the sweeping tax cuts Republicans put into law earlier this year.

It's very early to see any ripple effects, of course, but it's interesting to hear a CEO bring up potential non-impacts so soon. Pacious stands out among his CEO peers for saying he has not yet seen an uptick in Americans traveling because of extra cash from the tax cuts President Trump has trumpeted so loudly as a pillar of his economic platform. The travel industry lobby has been conspicuously quiet on calling out Trump in general, even after his travel ban and all its horrid implications for the industry. Who knows? Maybe at some point the false promise of big gains from trickle-down tax savings will prompt travel executives to hold this White House more accountable.

— Tom Lowry, Managing Editor

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