Letter from the Dean – June 2021 Finance Issue

Welcome to the Finance Edition of Boston Hospitality Review

By: Arun Upneja, Ph.D., Dean, Boston University – School of Hospitality Administration

As you read this letter, I would be thrilled if you were sitting back in a beach chair, getting ready for takeoff, or checking into your hotel room. Enjoying some leisure time is not only good for our overall health and well-being, it’s also essential to our economic recovery – most especially in hospitality!

With descriptors such as “unprecedented” and “unpredictable” taking over the lexicon in the last year, planning vacations, let alone making financial forecasts, has been ever-challenging. Uncertainty looms over every decision with so many unknowns circling within our spheres. 

Although the answers are not yet at our fingertips, I can affirm that the Boston Hospitality Review (BHR) is a good place to start. This special edition, co-edited by Ozgur Ozdemir, P.h.D., and Amrik Singh, P.h.D., spotlights the pertinent and prescient financial issues currently confronting the lodging and restaurant sectors. 

The authors featured in this issue bring their in-depth expertise from both the academic and practitioner sides of the hospitality industry, illuminating the path as we move through to the light at the end of the metaphorical tunnel. 

Not exactly a spoiler alert, but I can tell you before you dig into this issue, that recovery is coming. After a year of being unable to travel, eat out, and enjoy leisure time activities at will, pent-up demand is set to explode. However, much like the passengers’ unrelenting question, “Are we there yet?,” the answer is: it takes time. Not only are the road maps being updated, but so is our internal GPS. The well-worn ways no longer work.

On the road to recovery, we need to not only drive toward the dollars but now also, the cryptocurrencies, which you will also read about in this edition. This way, we can begin to understand the underlying value of all that we seek and try to make sense of it. 

Whether you are on a plane, train, or in an automobile to your next destination, thank you for taking us with you. Likewise, we are here for you.

Sincerely,

Arun Upneja, Ph.D.
Dean of Boston University School of Hospitality Administration