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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276 | A Measured Response: Hotel industry hires for diversity but fails with inclusion
Many companies in the hotel industry claim they practice diversity in their hiring practices. When questioned about how many Black people they employ, most companies can back up their hiring outcomes with data. That’s all well and good, but what’s missing in most employment demographics is a measurement of how inclusive the company is not read more
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275 | ‘Inclusion is a Myth’: Next Generation in Lodging challenges industry’s status quo on race and diversity
Imagine holding a conference on racism, diversity and inclusion in Corporate America and seeing your event invaded by outsiders shouting racial epithets and vulgarities while flying both the Nazi and American flags. Actually, there is no need to imagine it because it happened earlier this month during a digital event organized by the founders of read more