COVID-19 and the Chinese Hotel Sector
Caroline Zhang | March 31st, 2020
Covid-19: What Should Hoteliers Keep in Mind In the Midst of the Current Crisis
Pierre Verbeke | March 27th, 2020
News Archive: March
FAU Hospitality and Tourism Management Program Offers Lifeline to Workers Struggling During Coronavirus Pandemic
Florida Atlantic University | March 26, 2020
BOCA RATON, Fla. (March 26, 2020) – Florida Atlantic University’s nationally ranked Hospitality and Tourism Management program, within FAU’s College of Business, is offering a free certificate to industry workers and professionals who may be affected by the COVID-19 crisis. Through a series of five online sessions in April, participants can learn about the core components required for success in the industry. The sessions cover hospitality law, career competencies, marketing and revenue management, finance fundamentals and service excellence. “Hospitality will always rebound, but this is the first global crisis where every hospi...
How Social Media Can Help Your Hotel During COVID-19
Pipeline Social Media | March 30, 2020
Canceled events. Canceled travel plans. Canceled bookings. It’s safe to say that the Coronavirus has rocked the hospitality industry and we can only hope that the effects will be over soon. You are most likely looking at your budget and finding any and all areas to trim back to meet payroll and impending bills. While you might not be concerned with social media right now, we wanted to give you some food for thought during this time in order to set your hotel up for success in the future. Social media is the first place your guests will go to get informed. They still rely on you to figure out what their travel options are, whether you a...
Now Is the Worst Time for Hoteliers to Stop Selling
Greg Johnson | March 24, 2020
By Greg Johnson We are all dealing with a crisis that is unprecedented, causing us to rethink the way we tackle our everyday jobs and how people are traveling. This is causing our hotels to run with a skeleton crew, all sharing in the responsibilities of the various tasks needing to be done. Hotel sales leaders have, in general, been protected from jumping into the daily operations of the hotel so that they can devote most of their energies towards keeping the future funnel of business coming into the hotel. That is not our current reality, though. With our past designated job descriptions being discarded in an effort to continue to ...
Coronavirus Impact On Hotels & A Plan For Recovery
GCommerce Solutions | March 23, 2020
What is the current digital marketing landscape for the hospitality industry? First, let’s summarize the larger impact of COVID-19 on the industry. Current Impact of COVID-19 on the Hotel Industry According to American Hotel and Lodging Association (AHLA), the hospitality industry has lost 1.5 billion in room revenue and is on pace to lose $1.4 billion per week due to COVID-19. In the last few days, we have received word that many hotels have either already closed their doors or are planning to in the immediate future, all due to the impact of COVID-19. While these numbers are staggering, let’s take a look at what our hotel digit...
3 Undistributed Expense Trends to Watch
HotStats | March 16, 2020
Hotel operating departments can be divided into two main groups: those that generate revenue and those that don’t. Typically, hoteliers focus on the first group when analyzing financial performance— after all, that’s where the money comes from! Thus, departments such as rooms, F&B and spa are put under the microscope, and departmental key performance indicators (KPIs) are thoroughly studied and benchmarked. The second group consists of the undistributed departments, namely Administrative & General (A&G), Information & Telecommunications systems (I&T), Sales & Marketing (S&M) and Property & Maintenan...
COVID-19: Industry Leaders Speak Out on the Future of the Meeting Business
Hospitality Upgrade | March 12, 2020
by Fran Worrall, Hospitality Upgrade Editor Yesterday, the World Health Organization announced that COVID-19—the viral disease that has swept the globe and killed more than 4,200 people—is officially a pandemic. At the same time, President Donald Trump announced that travel from Europe to the U.S. would be restricted for 30 days, beginning tomorrow at midnight. Analysts are saying the virus is having a bigger impact on global aviation than 9/11. And a recent Skift Research survey indicates that nearly one-third of U.S. travelers are deferring their plans. A number of industry conferences and meetings have been cancelled or postponed, a...
Kimpton Debuts in the Florida Keys With Five Hotel Collection, Kimpton Key West
Kimpton Key West | March 16, 2020
KEY WEST, FL (March 16, 2020) – Today, Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants announces the opening of Winslow’s Bungalows, the first hotel in the new five-hotel Kimpton Key West collection. This marks the sixth outpost for the boutique hospitality company in the Sunshine State and its first in the Florida Keys. Across all five of the hotels, spread across six blocks in Key West’s historic Old Town, no two rooms in the collection’s 219 total keys are the same. A complete reimagining of the Historic Inns of Key West, accommodations span everything from estate-like guesthouses to charming bungalows and original conch houses, each with its ow...
COVID-19: Employer Obligation for Safety, Paid Leave, Wage and Hour
Jonathan Yarbrough | March 26, 2020
By Jonathan Yarbrough The hotel industry is being hit particularly hard by COVID-19 with occupancy rates plummeting for those hotels open during this crisis. Some hotels that are open are operating with a skeleton crew – with exempt managers working alongside hourly employees to ensure that hotel operations run as smoothly as possible under the circumstances. Still, these operating hotels must take precautions to ensure that staff are as safe as possible during this pandemic, while complying with the various, and seemingly ever-changing, employment laws. Wage and Hour Laws and Workplace Safety While safety of employees is certainl...
