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Marriott International Notifies Guests of Property System Incident
Marriott | March 31, 2020
Marriott International announced that it is notifying some of its guests today of an incident involving a property system. The notice explains what occurred, the information involved, the measures taken by Marriott to investigate and address the issue, how Marriott is assisting guests, and steps guests can consider taking. Hotels operated and franchised under Marriott’s brands use an application to help provide services to guests at hotels. At the end of February 2020, the company identified that an unexpected amount of guest information may have been accessed using the login credentials of two employees at a franchise property. The comp...
ALICE Launches Free COVID-19 Checklist Software
ALICE | March 31, 2020
ALICE has launched a new free product to help hoteliers operate more efficiently during COVID-19. ALICE’s COVID-19 Checklists Software is available now, and is free to help hotels manage operations through times of low occupancy or closure, back into times of recovery, and up to full occupancy again. ALICE Checklists provides hoteliers with tools to streamline operations and communications. With more than 100,000 hoteliers across 2,500 hotels using ALICE, it is the hospitality industry’s leading operations technology, connecting every department of the hotel with one platform for all staff communication and guest requests. With ALICE C...
COVID-19 Hotel Management Plan
Robert A. Rauch | March 31, 2020
By Robert Rauch As a seasoned hotelier of over 40 years, I have worked through five previous recessions, ergo, I feel qualified to provide insights into what we should do as we face the sixth recession since the 1970s. If we have not preserved cash, the financial portion of this brief article is perhaps the most critical. The human side is near and dear to my heart, but the financial side weighs heavily. Here is my suggested plan for recovery, not from COVID-19, but from the economic wounds it is causing. Financial Relief The most critical first step, if not already taken is to project our expenses for the next 90 days. This requires...
Clairvoyix Announces Their Rapid Recovery Response – R3© Email Solution Designed to Help Hotels When They Need It Most
Remington | March 31, 2020
Hospitality industry’s leading enterprise class marketing automation company is offering affordable outsourced transient/leisure and group email marketing. LAS VEGAS, NV (March 31, 2020) – Clairvoyix, the leader in enterprise class, hospitality-specific marketing automation, announces their Rapid Recovery Response – R3© solution, designed to give hoteliers the simplest and least expensive email marketing tool available. “We recognize that many hotels are open or will be opening soon, and we also know that they may not have sales and marketing staff on hand to deploy an email campaign” said Mike Schmitt, CEO of Clairvoyix. “...
U.S. Hotel RevPAR Forecasted to Drop 50.6% for 2020
STR | March 30, 2020
HENDERSONVILLE, Tennessee—Due to the impact from the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. hotel industry is projected to report a 50.6% decline in revenue per available room (RevPAR) in 2020, according to a special forecast revision from STR and Tourism Economics. “The industry was already set for a non-growth year, now throw in this ultimate ‘black swan’ event, and we’re set to see occupancy drop to an unprecedented low,” said Jan Freitag, STR’s senior VP of lodging insights. “Our historical database extends back to 1987, and the worst we have ever seen for absolute occupancy was 54.6% during the financial crisis in 2009. With roug...
IHG Connects US Hotel Colleagues Impacted by Covid-19 With Job Opportunities at Leading Companies
IHG | March 30, 2020
IHG® has today announced the launch of the IHG® Hotel Colleague Job Center to support US-based hotel colleagues impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic. The global Covid-19 outbreak has created unprecedented circumstances for the hospitality industry. Travel around the world has paused for most people, which has led to a number of IHG’s hotels closing temporarily or significantly reducing operations, impacting the employment of hotel colleagues. To support them, the IHG® Hotel Colleague Job Center website – available at IHG.com/WeSupportYou – will provide resources, advice and guidance during this difficult time. It includes job...
Florida For Good Launches National B Tourism Network
Florida For Good | March 30, 2020
ORLANDO, Fla. (March 30, 2020) – Florida For Good (FFG), an organization that helps bolster the business for good movement in the state, has just launched the B Tourism resource platform for sustainable tourism businesses to connect, share best practices and during these trying times, provide free resources to those companies dealing with negative impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic. As part of the For Good Movement Inc., a 501(c)3 nonprofit, FFG was founded on the principles of helping businesses in Florida become more conscious, sustainable and focused on people and the planet instead of just profit while putting a strong sense of commu...
Commingle:Engage to Launch No-Cost Service to Help Hotels Book Local Drive Business
Lodging Interactive & commingle:engage | March 30, 2020
PARSIPPANY, NJ – March 30, 2020 – commingle:engage, by Lodging Interactive, the hospitality industry’s premier provider of full-service social media marketing and guest reputation management services today announced it is planning to launch a new service to help hotels book local business opportunities. StayPlayExplore.travel will offer locally curated content and hotel offers to target staycations and local social event opportunities. The service will be offered free of charge to hotels. “I believe the hospitality industry will recover in stages, with the first stage being leisure travelers who will be anxious to venture ou...
U.S. Travel Reacts to House Passage of Coronavirus Relief Package
The U.S. Travel Association | March 30, 2020
Washington (March 30, 2020)—U.S. Travel Association President and CEO Roger Dow issued the following statement on House passage of the CARES Act: "The Phase 3 relief package passed by Congress this week is a great first step in this process, and comes at a time when the American travel industry is facing catastrophic economic disaster, with almost six million travel-supported jobs expected to be lost in the next five weeks. "We call upon the Department of the Treasury and the Small Business Administration to expedite the rulemaking process—within 10 days—to get this money out the door into the hands of those who so desperately nee...
FIU’s Chaplin School of Hospitality & Tourism Management and South Beach Wine & Food Festival® Give Back to South Florida’s Foo
FIU's Chaplin School of Hospitality & Tourism Management | March 30, 2020
MIAMI (March 2020) – FIU’s Chaplin School of Hospitality & Tourism Management is helping to put money into the hands of cooks, servers, dishwashers and all team members at restaurants and bars through a new partnership with the South Beach Wine & Food Festival®. The SOBEWFF® & FIU Chaplin School Hospitality Industry Relief Fund will provide immediate financial support to independently owned and operated restaurants and bars impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic in Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties. Many of these family operated establishments have hired FIU student interns and even given graduates their first jo...
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...
Hospitality Financial Leadership: Food Cost Net Weight
David Lund | March 30, 2020
By David Lund With Guest Author Patrick McClary When people hear the term food cost, they generally think of the simple calculation of cost / selling price = food cost %. This calculation does little more than give you a percentage. Understanding and controlling food cost is much more complex. In operations that have proper controls and processes in place a spike in food cost can be traced back to one event. Operations that do not have a strong foundation of food cost usually react with bizarre behavior such as stepping up their garbage cans thinking that the costs increases are because of people throwing out food. That may be the case,...
Deep Dive: Asia Performance in the Time of COVID-19
HotStats | March 30, 2020
COVID-19 swept through Asia first. Chinese health officials first reported the outbreak to the World Health Organization (WHO) on Dec. 31, 2019, and the rapid spread of the virus prompted aggressive containment measures across the entire region. The impact on the hotel industry was swift and severe, because many Asian travel markets rely heavily on Chinese visitor demand. Revenue Tourism Economics noted that in terms of spending, mainland China constitutes the most important outbound travel market in the world, and according to the China Outbound Tourism Research Institute, the top 10 destinations chosen by Chinese t...
Avoiding Large Group Gatherings? Help Is On the Way
The Contact Group | March 30, 2020
The Contact Group Provides Unique Solution for Internal and External Communications (VIRGINIA BEACH, VA) –March 26, 2020—The Contact Group, the leader in innovative phone-based and online communications solutions, will facilitate a member wide teleconference for C.A.R.E.the Cooperative Association of Resort Exchangers on April 6, 2020. When C.A.R.E. was forced to cancel its annual conference in Philadelphia due to the COVID-19 shutdown, many of its 106 members asked how they could replace the C.A.R.E. annual “Meet the Members” session. During this popular roll call, members share resort inventory availability and requirements ...
Best Western Plus Champaign/Urbana Inn to Open in Champaign, Illinois
Best Western Hotels & Resorts | March 27, 2020
Champaign, Illinois (March 27, 2020)—Best Western® Hotels & Resorts announces the opening of the Best Western Plus Champaign/Urbana Inn, located at 516 W. Marketview Drive in Champaign, Illinois. Owned by Vip Patel and Jay Patel, the hotel recently completed a $1.9 million renovation and features 98 guest rooms and six suites. Hotel amenities include a heated indoor pool, fitness center, two different meeting and event spaces, complimentary hot breakfast and free wireless internet. Each newly updated room is equipped with a large flat-screen television, microwave and mini fridge. The hotel offers complimentary faxing, printing and ...
An Updated 2020 Hotel Outlook | CBRE U.S. ViewPoint
March 27, 2020
Economic conditions are deteriorating quickly with the Covid-19 outbreak causing a sharp drop in economic activity. Key Findings: CBRE expects GDP growth will slow to 0.4% in 2020. U.S. RevPAR will decline by 37% in 2020, with a contraction of more than 60% in Q2. Demand will decline by 28% in 2020; ADRs are expected to decline 11% in 2020. The most complex constraint impairing travel comes from social distancing efforts and travel or group gathering restrictions on global populations. Properties that primarily cater to discretionary travel will be affected most, i.e. luxury, upper upscale, urban, airport, and resort pro...
Covid-19: What Should Hoteliers Keep in Mind In the Midst of the Current Crisis
Pierre Verbeke | March 27, 2020
Even during some of the worst crisis in the past, hotels or restaurants have not been forced to close. We are in uncharted waters: what should hoteliers keep in mind to navigate the current crisis? By Pierre Verbeke We are reading a lot these days about this unprecedented crisis and the profound impact this has and will have on our business. Stock exchange wealth has been wiped away, thousands of hotels have had to close and many of our employees are affected and are assigned to residence. Never before have we seen mandatory hotel or restaurant closures on a scale as today. Even during some of the worst crisis in the past, hotels or r...
Live Survey Reveals 50 Percent of Hotels Not Planning to Close Properties Due to COVID-19
Knowland | March 27, 2020
Leading group hospitality analytics firm, Knowland, conducts webinar to inform hoteliers on best practices during a time of crisis, with a focus on key recovery strategies ARLINGTON, Va. — March 27, 2020—Knowland, the leader in group hospitality analytics for hotels, convention and visitor bureaus, conference centers and other meeting venues, announced today the results of a live survey of more than 700 hoteliers conducted during its informative webinar “COVID-19 Preparing Today for Success Tomorrow.” Knowland’s VP of product management, Kristi White provided insight and guidance during a webinar held on March 25, 2020 and is ava...
SureStay Hotel® by Best Western Fairfield Napa Valley Makes Its Debut in California
Best Western Hotels & Resorts | March 27, 2020
Fairfield, California (March 27, 2020) The SureStay Hotel by Best Western Fairfield Napa Valley has opened its doors in Fairfield, California, and invites travelers to experience one of the newest hotel brands in the industry – the SureStay Hotel Group®. The SureStay Hotel by Best Western Fairfield Napa Valley will provide guests with an experience they can count on and the amenities today’s travelers have come to expect. The SureStay service promise reflects the brand and the hotel’s commitment to providing quality service and value to its guests. Located at 3331 N. Texas St. in Fairfield, California, the hotel features 100 wel...
AHLA Applauds House Passage of CARES Act
AHLA | March 27, 2020
WASHINGTON (March 27, 2020) – The following is a statement from Chip Rogers, AHLA president and CEO, on the House passage of the CARES Act. “The hotel industry applauds Congress and the Administration for their tireless work in response to this unprecedented public health crisis. We appreciate Speaker Pelosi and Minority Leader McCarthy for their leadership. By passing the CARES Act, Congress has taken a critical first step to provide immediate support for American workers and the industries that drive our economy. “We continue to support the underlying foundation of the CARES Act, which seeks to help millions of workers and thous...
International Tourist Arrivals Could Fall by 20-30% in 2020
March 27, 2020
The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) has released its updated assessment of the likely impact of the COVID-19 on international tourism. Taking into account the unparalleled introduction of travel restrictions across the world, the United Nations specialized agency for tourism expects that international tourist arrivals will be down by 20% to 30% in 2020 when compared with 2019 figures. However, UNWTO stresses that these numbers are based on the latest developments as the global community faces up to an unprecedented social and economic challenge and should be interpreted with caution in view of the extreme uncertain nature of the current cr...
Hilton Corporate Response to COVID-19
Hilton | March 27, 2020
McLEAN, VA - The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) has created unprecedented challenges for our industry, our hotels and our Team Members. Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. (NYSE: HLT) is taking decisive action to protect the core of its business and support affected Team Members until this crisis passes and travel resumes. With travel at a virtual standstill, operations have been suspended across many managed and franchised hotels, and those hotels that remain open have reduced services for guests because of decreased occupancy levels. At the corporate level, Hilton is taking the following actions to significantly reduce expenses and preserve l...
What Key Indicators Are Hotel Management Company CROs Tracking?
March 27, 2020
By Christopher Durso When it comes to determining the full scope of the coronavirus effect, hotel management companies are monitoring specific key indicators, as the three dozen participants in HSMAI’s HMC Chief Revenue Officer Virtual Roundtable — presented online on March 25 — shared. Four indicators topped their list: 1. CASH FLOW: Renegotiating vendor agreements — “One of the things that we’re looking at doing as a sort of first line of defense to protect cash flows is, every single vendor agreement we have, we’re either renegotiating or we’re asking to suspend payment for 90 days, even if that means suspending ...
Preliminary Mexico Hotel Results for Week Ending 21 March
STR | March 27, 2020
Note: To inform the industry during the COVID-19 pandemic, STR will temporarily publish weekly communication for Mexico based on preliminary data. This preliminary data represents a percentage of STR’s total sample for the region. Once monthly processing is complete, data points will likely appear different. Mexico’s hotel industry showed clear effects of the COVID-19 pandemic with sharp year-over-year declines in the three key performance metrics during the week of 15-21 March 2020, according to preliminary data from STR. In comparison with the week of 17-23 March 2019, Mexico hotels reported the following: Occupancy: -54.2% t...
