Developers are shunning luxury hotels in the U.S. as room rates fail to rebound to peak levels and profits are squeezed by the costs of offering swanky amenities such as spas and trendy restaurants.
Six luxury hotels are expected to open in 2013, the same as in 2012 and down from 23 just three years ago, according to Lodging Econometrics, a Portsmouth, New Hampshire-based research and consulting firm. Investors are instead focusing on the so-called upscale category, where new properties are forecast to climb 49 percent from last year to 131 hotels.
