A Tariff War Playbook for Hotels: What a Major Asset Manager Is Thinking

Michelle Russo's asset management firm oversees a $12 billion portfolio of hotels. She sees dominoes falling: Tariffs → economic uncertainty → fewer international visitors → fewer bookings → cost-cutting and marketing changes.

The U.S. hotel industry is navigating significant challenges stemming from President Trump's tariff war, according to a leading hotel asset manager whose team runs a $12.5 billion portfolio of properties on behalf of owners.

Michelle Russo, founder and CEO of HotelAVE, reports that trade disputes are disrupting supply chains and tourism forecasts. She has downwardly revised the firm's outlook for the year.

"I basically told my team that they should assume RevPAR [revenue per available room] is going to be down 5% year-over-year," Russo explained.

"That's not me giving a forecast to the industry, and hopefully, things won't be that bad," she clarified. "But I want cost containment plans that assume that scenario."

Economic uncertainty has already led to a noticeable slowdown in bookings across many of the hotels that hire HotelAVE for strategy across North America, Latin America, and Europe.

"We've seen leads [for potential hotel reservations] sitting there and not converting [such as for group bookings]," Russo said. "It's uncertainty that's delaying booking decisions."

Since Trum