LODGING LEADERS
273 | Digital Divides: Technology builds a hybrid of meetings and events in age of COVID-19
LODGING LEADERS
The U.S. hospitality industry is slowly getting back to business.
Leisure travelers are responsible for occupancy boosts in late May, especially Memorial Day weekend, STR reports.
Leisure travelers will continue to drive demand as the coronavirus crisis begins to ease, experts say.
Meanwhile, Oxford Tourism Economics reports that business transient and group bookings are not expected to return to pre-COVID-19 levels until 2023.
What meetings will look like in the near term is anyone’s guess in the age of social distancing. Will groups be smaller? Will they include overnight stays? Will they be a mix of remote and in-person attendees and presenters?
In this episode of Lodging Leaders, we talk with Jeff Loether of Electro-Media Design about the audiovisual tools hotels will have to consider using if they want to attract meeting and event business. We also hear from Kristi White of Knowland, which helps hotels find meeting and group business.
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LODGING LEADERS
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281 | Rescue Capital: Hotel financiers seek opportunities to invest in distressed assets
In June, Watermark Lodging Trust, a Chicago REIT, sold its Hutton Hotel in Nashville for $70 million. The price is $7 million less than what the REIT said it paid to acquire and upgrade the hotel seven years ago. A month later, Watermark said it signed a deal in which it sold shares worth $200 read more
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280 | Premium Letdown: Hotels challenge property insurers’ refusal to cover COVID-19 revenue loss
As the hospitality industry struggles to mitigate the massive loss of revenue caused by the coronavirus pandemic, hundreds of hotel owners are filing lawsuits to force their property insurance providers to cover their financial casualties. Meantime, state and federal lawmakers are considering legislation that would mandate U.S. insurance companies pay for business losses related to read more