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CORONAVIRUS
August 19, 2020Workers Yearn to Be Free of Fear, Uncertainty
Both human resource and mental health professionals are seeing increases in levels of worker anxiety and stress as employees in the customer-centric hospitality industry struggle to cope with an altered workplace in the age of COVID-19. So much has changed over the past six months, including expectations of owners, managers and guests. Long Live Lodging explores the impact the coronavirus crisis is having on workplace mental health and what resources are available to help employers and employees navigate the new emotional reality. This report is part of Long Live Lodging’s ongoing coverage of the coronavirus crisis and its impact on the hospitality industry.
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CORONAVIRUS
August 19, 2020282 | ‘People Have Changed’: Hospitality industry deals with workers’ mental health in the age of COVID-19
The coronavirus crisis has put unprecedented amounts of stress not only on health care systems and economies but on workers’ mental health. That’s the first and bottom line of a recent study by the Society of Human Resource Managers. The professional association surveyed more than a thousand workers in mid-April and found that nearly half read more
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CORONAVIRUS
August 12, 2020Private Equity Poised to Take Advantage of Hotel Business Distress
Hotel businesses struggling to stay afloat during the industry’s unprecedented downturn might be able to get a financial boost from private equity lenders awash in capital. But it’s borrower beware as some investors might turn out to be sharks eager to capitalize on an owner’s distress. Long Live Lodging explores how some investment funds are positioning themselves to help hotel owners emerge from the storm with their businesses and investments intact. Meantime, asset managers advise on how to prepare your business to qualify for financial aid that goes beyond conventional lending. This report is part of Long Live Lodging’s special coverage of the coronavirus crisis and its impact on the hotel industry.
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CORONAVIRUS
August 12, 2020281 | 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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CORONAVIRUS
August 5, 2020Business Interruption Lawsuits Spread With Virus
Hundreds of hotel owners have filed or are considering filing lawsuits against their property insurers to recover tens of millions of dollars in lost business revenue during the coronavirus pandemic. Long Live Lodging’s report features a hotel owner, lawyers and a researcher on risk and uncertainty and explores what’s happening with unsatisfied business interruption insurance claims and government legislative proposals seeking to resolve the problem. This report is part of Long Live Lodging’s ongoing coverage of the coronavirus crisis and its impact on the hotel industry.
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CORONAVIRUS
August 5, 2020280 | 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
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CORONAVIRUS
July 22, 2020‘Phenomenal’ number of hotels behind on CMBS loan payments
Thousands of hotels in the U.S. are financed through commercial mortgage backed securities or CMBS, a unique and complex loan structure that works well when the economy is healthy but has created a quagmire of challenges and uncertainty for hotel businesses fighting for their lives amid the economic downturn caused by the coronavirus pandemic. This multimedia report explores the current state of the CMBS loan market and recommendations on how the federal government can help rescue thousands of hotels in CMBS distress. It is the latest installment of Long Live Lodging’s special report on the coronavirus crisis and its impact on the hotel industry.
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CORONAVIRUS
July 22, 2020278 | CMBS Distress: Thousands of hotel owners seek relief from billions of dollars in debt
Since the beginning of March, the hotel industry has lost more than $40 billion in room revenue. Hotels continue to lose $400 million every day, according to STR and Tourism Economics. The historic loss of income caused by the coronavirus pandemic is rendering hotel owners unable to pay their property mortgages. While many have worked read more
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CORONAVIRUS
July 8, 2020Designing Hotels For Life
Hotel developers and designers are faced with unique challenges in the age of COVID-19. Ron Swidler, chief innovation officer at The Gettys Group in Chicago, said the company relaunched its Hotel of Tomorrow initiative to collaborate with experts worldwide to come up with short-term and long-term solutions in hotel design and technology to keep hospitality teams and guests safe and healthy in an environment that is literally life or death to many. The Gettys Group is among hospitality design firms addressing evolving demands by guests who want to feel comfortable and assured in an uncertain time. This report is part of Long Live Lodging’s special report on the coronavirus crisis and its impact on the hotel industry.
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CORONAVIRUS
July 8, 2020277 | Contagious Ideas: Hospitality brand and design experts search for creative solutions in the age of COVID-19
In the introduction of his book, “Hotel, an American History,” A.K. Sandoval-Strausz writes: “The hotel as we know it today did not evolve randomly or naturally, nor did it develop as some sort of automatic response to structural needs. Rather, it was the deliberate creation of an identifiable group of people who lived in a read more
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CONSTRUCTION
June 17, 2020Hotel construction eases up on completion timelines
Commercial construction starts dramatically plummeted in April because of the coronavirus crisis, reports Dodge Data & Analytics. In May, commercial starts saw a slight uptick. Hotels under construction when the pandemic hit continue to move forward but contractors are challenged with the unexpected costs of providing workers with personal protection equipment and complying with OSHA’s newly minted health and safety standards. Hotel developers, meantime, are not in a hurry to see projects across the finish line as demand in travel remains low. Long Live Lodging reports about the state of hotel construction as part of our ongoing special report on the coronavirus crisis and its impact on the hotel industry.
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CONSTRUCTION
June 17, 2020274 | Construction in a Pandemic: Hotel builders face unexpected challenges
In the first quarter of this year, more than 140 new hotels opened in the U.S., reported Lodging Econometrics. In March, the U.S. had 150,000 rooms under construction, said STR. It’s the highest end-of-month total the company has reported. Jan Freitag, senior vice president of lodging insights at STR, said he expects hotel construction to read more
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CORONAVIRUS
June 10, 2020Hotel Meetings Redefine Face-Time in COVID-19 age
Hotels hoping to recapture meetings and events business need to design new sales and marketing strategies while taking stock of the property’s space and infrastructure to accommodate a hybrid of in-person and remote gatherings, say experts. Oxford Tourism Economics recently reported that 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. Industry veterans anticipate meeting sizes will be smaller than before the pandemic and the first businesses to book will be local. This report is part of Long Live Lodging’s ongoing series exploring the impact of the coronavirus crisis on the hotel industry.
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CORONAVIRUS
June 10, 2020273 | Digital Divides: Technology builds a hybrid of meetings and events in age of COVID-19
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 read more
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CORONAVIRUS
June 3, 2020Hotel tech hits fast-forward button
We all know the coronavirus crisis has dramatically impacted the hotel industry. As the U.S. lodging sector begins to reopen, technology solutions will move from nice-to-have to must-have in many hoteliers’ comeback strategies. The American Hotel & Lodging Association includes contactless service in its advisory on how to keep guests safe and secure in the age of COVID-19, and providers of guest-facing as well as back-office programs are poised to deliver solutions. This episode of Lodging Leaders explores the role technology is playing in the hotel industry’s comeback.
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CORONAVIRUS
June 3, 2020272 | A New Digital Reality: Hotels turn to technology to redefine guest engagement
As the U.S. lodging sector begins to get back to business amid the coronavirus crisis, technology will play a much bigger role in operations than before the outbreak paralyzed the industry. Technological solutions in operations and guest management were emerging in hotels before the COVID-19 pandemic. But experts say the next generation of tech is read more