HFTP® Acquires Leading Hospitality Industry Brands: Hospitality Upgrade, Hotel-Online, The CIO Summit and The Executive Vendor Summit
Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals | June 25th, 2024
Why Massive Global Events Are a Catalyst for Change
Alan Young | March 10, 2020
By Alan E. Young, Co-Founder, Puzzle Partner Uncertain times are a catalyst for change, especially within the hospitality industry. Hospitality, after all, has always held a somewhat notorious reputation for being reluctant to change. While other sectors are, by nature, more malleable to new-edge advancements and best practices, our industry often takes its time, testing the waters long before making the commitment to dive in. That is until a global event inspires disruption that simply can't be ignored. A worldwide crisis, natural disasters, weather changes, the implementation of new laws, and, of course, economic and political instabi...
10 Ideas to Improve Booking Performance During the Crisis
Milestone Inc. | March 10, 2020
By Dev Kurbur, SVP of Global Customer Success “Some companies will emerge stronger than before” – Andy Grove Intel’s Andy Grove had a lot to say about how to react to downturns and setbacks. Here are just a few of his insights and maxims: 1) The first rule is that economic downturns always end. 2) Some companies emerge from recessions stronger than before. 3) You can’t save your way out of a recession. 4) The future favors the optimist.* Milestone, Inc. has dozens of hospitality clients, so we decided to put together some recommendations for where to invest time and focus during the crisis and here we share them with ...
STR: Italy Hotel Occupancy Drops Amid COVID-19 Outbreak
STR | March 10, 2020
LONDON — 10 March 2020 —Key hotel markets in Italy have reported significant occupancy declines amid the outbreak of coronavirus (COVID-19), according to preliminary February data from STR. “Italy has become a focal point of the COVID-19 outbreak, so to no surprise, the hotel occupancy impact has been significant in certain markets,” said Robin Rossmann, STR’s international managing director. “It is important to note, however, that performance declines are more pronounced in Italy in comparison with other countries due to the significant measures being taken by the government to combat the virus spread. The hope is that these m...
The First Rule of Coronavirus: Don’t Panic
March 10, 2020
March 10, 2020 -- Coronavirus may seem like it’s come out of nowhere, but hospitality revenue optimization professionals have been here before. From Sept. 11 to SARS to one hurricane season after another, they have not just survived plenty of crisis events but thrived in the aftermath. The number-one thing to keep in mind, according to Timothy Wiersma, founder and principal of Revenue Generation LLC and chair of HSMAI’s Revenue Optimization Advisory Board: Don’t panic. Wiersma shared some additional advice for revenue professionals in a recent interview with HSMAI. When it comes to responding to the coronavirus, what should hospit...
New GBTA Research Shows Coronavirus Continues to Impact the Business Travel Industry
Global Business Travel Association | March 10, 2020
Alexandria, VA -- March 10, 2020 -- The coronavirus (COVID-19) continues to impact the global business travel industry, with companies canceling meetings and instituting blanket business travel cancellations, according to the latest research conducted by the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA). GBTA members routinely send their employees to meetings and events throughout the world, with the primary destinations being North America, Europe, China, and the Asian Pacific region. To understand the coronavirus’s effects on business travel, GBTA conducted its third lightning poll of membership on March 4-6, 2020. GBTA received response...
Tourism Tidbits: Tourism Confronts the Coronavirus
Dr. Peter E. Tarlow | March 9, 2020
By Dr. Peter Tarlow This article was first published in eTurbo News. The following is a modified and updated version of that article. Only a few short months ago, the world first heard about a possibly new and deadly virus called the Coronavirus (CoVid-19). In these last few months what at first appeared to be a few isolated cases of an unknown form of influenza in a faraway province of China has now turned into a worldwide pandemic that threatens not only human life and wellbeing but also major portions of the tourism industry and economies around the world. For example during the last week of February world stock markets plun...
Meeting Professionals Cite Top Priorities for 2020 in Teneo Hospitality Group’s Annual Survey
March 9, 2020
Eden Prairie (Minneapolis), MN -- March 9, 2020 -- As a new decade dawns, leading meeting planners are identifying the most pressing issues confronting the meetings industry. Challenges include service delivery and value, creative meeting environments, the demand for unique, curated meeting experiences and an over-reliance on technology without accompanying technical support. Teneo Hospitality Group, the premier group representation firm, polled top meeting planners coast to coast to determine their most pressing issues and concerns. These experts represent a spectrum of the meetings industry – finance, pharmaceuticals, real estate, insu...
Coronavirus Fears Should Be Less Hype and Hospitality Can Help / Frank Wolfe
Frank Wolfe, CAE, FIH | March 9, 2020
March 9, 2020 -- Early this morning I was pulled off the beach (in my dreams) by a series of rapid-fire instant messages and emails. For those who have kids, it was like one of those middle of the night calls when they are staying overnight at a friend’s house. Immediately your adrenaline builds, you get instant sweats and you can feel the beat of your heart reverberating through the entire bed frame. The reason for this interruption was that ONE confirmed case of the coronavirus had been announced in a city where HFTP is participating in several events this month. Only one case of a virus and already we were being asked if we were going...
Hospitality Financial Leadership: What to Do in a Financial Crisis
David Lund | March 9, 2020
By David Lund A lot has been said about the flu outbreak and the devastating effects it will have on the travel and hotel industry. But what can you do about it? The old saying, “You can’t save your way to prosperity,” still holds true, but you can be the best of class when it comes to being the least affected. Occupancy and rates are going to fall, they always do. The question is, where will the market go and how can we keep our REVPAR index? I’ll leave that piece for the revenue and marketing pundits. Here is a list of the top 10 things you can do today to mitigate the financial tsunami that’s coming. I have lived and manage...
Hotel Online’s Siegel Sez for March 6, 2020 Featuring Douglas Rice
March 6, 2020
Here we go … more thoughts on the Coronavirus (COVID-19). Nope, I would rather leave that to the Center for Disease Control to keep us informed (https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html). But I warn you that I will add a link to the end that Mike Dickersbach posted on LinkedIn. The post said that maybe we need to balance our thoughts on the virus. From the business side we all are wondering what lies ahead especially after ITB Berlin cancelled three days out when many of the 160,000 attendees were already on their way to Berlin. Will more events be cancelled moving forward? Will attendance at some events be lighter? Will some ex...
COVID-19 Coronavirus as Force Majeure Contract Defense — History and Origins
Jim Butler | March 5, 2020
By Jim Butler and the Global Hospitality Group® Hotel Lawyers | Authors of www.HotelLawBlog.com 5 March 2020 See how JMBM’s Global Hospitality Group® can help you. Click here for the latest articles on the coronavirus and here for the latest on force majeure. In the article below, JMBM partner Mark Adams discusses the coronavirus in relation to force majeure provisions in contracts. This legal concept goes back centuries, but has become increasingly relevant as COVID-19 may be advanced by many in the coming days as a defense to breach of contract. This article is one of a series which will discuss the principles of force majeure ...
Restaurant and Hotel Management Platform Tripleseat Acquired by Vista Equity Partners
Tripleseat | March 5, 2020
CONCORD, Mass., March 5, 2020 -- Tripleseat, the leading web-based sales and event management technology solutions for restaurants, hotels, and unique venues, today announced an acquisition by Vista Equity Partners ("Vista"), a leading investment firm focused on enterprise software, data and technology-enabled businesses. Through the acquisition, Gather, already owned by Vista, will be merged with Tripleseat. The merger will bring together the sales and event management platforms of Tripleseat and Gather with software solutions that streamline and simplify event booking and management, while also enabling further technology enhancements and ...
AHLA Urges Congress to Pass COVID-19 Supplemental Appropriations Package
AHLA | March 5, 2020
WASHINGTON (March 5, 2020) – The following is a statement from Chip Rogers, AHLA president and CEO, on an emergency supplemental appropriations package to address the threat of COVID-19. “Hoteliers are deeply committed to the health safety of both the millions of people we employ, and the millions of guests who we serve at our hotels each day. The domestic lodging industry supports more than 1 in 25 American jobs, both at our properties and throughout the communities we serve, and we contribute nearly $660 billion to U.S. GDP. Our success would not be possible without a robust travel and tourism sector. To that end, we strongly urge th...
Events Canceled Due to Coronavirus? Here’s How to Replace Lost Business
Daniel Craig | March 4, 2020
By Daniel E. Craig, Founder, Reknown This week, the travel industry is reeling after the cancellation of ITB Berlin and various other events due to COVID-19. Whether this is just a blip on the radar or the start of a prolonged downturn, we don’t have the luxury of waiting to find out. We need to regroup and re-strategize now. For tech vendors and travel suppliers, tradeshows provide a rare opportunity to meet in person with hundreds of clients, prospects and industry partners, launch products, hold demos, give presentations and build relationships. After a successful event, attendees come home with a long list of leads, renewals an...
Travel Trends Index: Int’l Inbound Travel to Plummet 6% Over Next Three Months
U.S. Travel Association | March 4, 2020
March 04, 2020 - WASHINGTON -- The Leading Travel Index (LTI), the predictive component of the U.S. Travel Association's Travel Trends Index (TTI), projects international inbound travel to the U.S. will fall 6.0% over the next three months as the coronavirus outbreak continues to roil the global economy. The latest TTI captures data from January, when awareness of coronavirus began to ramp up and China—one of the biggest travel markets to the U.S.—implemented aggressive measures to curb travel out of certain cities. The predicted 6.0% three-month drop compared to the same period in 2019 is the sharpest in the five-year history of th...
AHLA Joins Business Leaders to Discuss Response to Coronavirus
AHLA | March 4, 2020
WASHINGTON (March 4, 2020) – Chip Rogers, president and CEO of the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA), today joined leaders from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, U.S. Travel Association, Airlines for America, and the National Retail Federation to discuss the potential impact of COVID-19 and the business community is responding. Rogers underscored the hotel industry’s commitment to the health and safety of our employees and guests, and encouraged travelers to follow CDC guidance on COVID-19 while recognizing that domestic travel is still possible. “I want to reiterate how critically important the health and safety of our ...
Crisis Management – Market Reactions vs Steady Leadership
Thomas Mielke | March 3, 2020
By Thomas Mielke The Financial Times this weekend reported on the trillions of dollars that have been wiped out thus far due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak. According to the newspaper, stocks in hospitality companies have been particularly hit, having fallen by a reported 19% in Europe compared to last week – one of the strongest declines for the sector since the terror attacks of 9/11. The still-growing number of countries, and companies, enforcing travel bans is exasperating the situation. Reuters reported, for example, global giant Nestle suspending all international business travel. Other companies operating acro...
In the Age of Pandemics: Some of the Reasons That Tourism Industries Fail: Part One of a Two-Part Series
Dr. Peter E. Tarlow | March 3, 2020
Part 2 will appear in April. By Dr. Peter Tarlow Much of the tourism literature is dedicated to tourism successes or how to succeed. When not focusing in on successes, the literature often deals with crisis management, such as the most recent outbreak of CoVid -19 (Coronavirus). Rarely do we examine our self-inflict failures. The fact is that many tourism and travel businesses, however, do not succeed. The reasons for these failures may be of a personal nature, not enough passion or pure laziness, but the great majority of failures can be classified into sociological taxonomies. These categories help us to think abo...
Hotels Scrape Out Profit Growth in January Amid Coronavirus Concern
HotStats | March 3, 2020
U.S. hotels eked out a 0.6% year-over-year increase in GOPPAR in January, but as the full scope of the coronavirus becomes clearer, subsequent months could put pressure on hoteliers to generate both top- and bottom-line growth. Revenue, too, was up in the month, as rooms RevPAR grew 2.7% YOY on the back of an increase in average rate (up 1.1% YOY) and occupancy (up 1.0 percentage points). Positive revenue growth in F&B pushed total revenue to a 3.2% YOY increase, as non-rooms revenue grew 3.9% YOY. Still, hoteliers had trouble with flow-through, evidenced by the smaller increase in profit of only 0.6%. This came as a result of a jum...
3 Ways to Protect Your Hotel’s Revenue From the Impacts of the Coronavirus
GCommerce | March 3, 2020
By Lindley Cotton As the number of people infected with Coronavirus continues to rise while the U.S. stock market continues to drop, the hospitality industry is wondering what the true impact will be in the coming weeks and months. While no one can accurately predict the total damage, we do know that hotels who rely on business from China, Japan and Korea will need to look elsewhere to make up for loss in traffic from these countries. In addition, in the last few days, some of the largest conferences in the world have been canceled due to companies shutting down international travel (and in some cases US domestic travel). The Washington...
New Survey Shows 66% of Americans Unlikely to Cancel Vacation Because of the Coronavirus, but 63% Would Cancel International Business Trip
March 2, 2020
Most Americans would not cancel and upcoming vacation because of the coronavirus threat, but would cancel an international business trip, according to a new series of polls conducted by Reservations.com. One survey shows that respondents predict the global travel industry will suffer from the outbreak. The global death toll of the coronavirus sits at more than 2,400 deaths with the vast majority in China’s Hubei province, the center of the outbreak, with over 2,300 deaths. As of February 22, 2020 there were over 64,000 cases in the epicenter of the outbreak, with over 40,000 patients hospitalized. Only 17 deaths have occurred outside of ...
BLLA Creates Clarity Within the Industry
THE BOUTIQUE & LIFESTYLE LEADERS ASSOCIATION (BLLA) | March 2, 2020
New York, NY, March 2, 2020 – The Boutique Lifestyle Leaders Association, commonly known as BLLA, continues to lead its ongoing commitment to providing clarity to the boutique hotel industry. Today, in an effort to recognize the ever-evolving nature of the business, it is publishing its groundbreaking categorization of the various kinds of boutique hotels in the world. With an unprecedented, comprehensive list of initial fourteen unique types of boutique hotels, BLLA re-establishes and cements the boutique hotel enterprise as a field of its own, no longer simply a subtype of a broader hotel enterprise. In the eleven years since the bou...
HFTP to Assist Postponed HITEC Europe Exhibitors
HFTP | March 2, 2020
2 March 2020 - Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals (HFTP®), the producers of HITEC®, announced today that exhibitors and sponsors who were confirmed to participate in HITEC Europe 2020 will be offered a complimentary branding package for HITEC North America, scheduled for 15-18 June 2020, San Antonio, Texas, USA. HFTP is also in the process of refunding booth fees and sponsorships paid to HFTP. The Europe event, which has been postponed in response to the global uncertainty related to the Novel Coronavirus and its impact on the hospitality industry. was planned for Mallorca, Spain 21-23 April is Europe's premier hospitality t...
Hyatt Hotels Highlighted at First ASFONA 2020 Owner Board Meeting in Chicago
ASFONA | March 2, 2020
ASFONA Owner Board Members confer with Hyatt management team members to explore opportunities within the hotel giant's impressive global brand portfolio CHICAGO — MARCH 2, 2020 — ASFONA, the hotel industry’s only independent non-brand affiliated hotel owner/operator association, held its first Board Member meeting of 2020 in Chicago with a focus on Hyatt Hotels and the company’s impressive global brand portfolio. The February meeting, which took place at the Hyatt Regency Downtown Chicago, included a morning session, in which ASFONA Owner Members had an opportunity to meet with management team members of Hyatt Hotels. The Hyatt te...
