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CORONAVIRUS
May 27, 2020271 | Clean Breaks: Hotels face new expectations of health and safety in the age of COVID-19
The U.S. hotel industry has begun its comeback as all states are reopening their economies. The numbers show that occupancy is slowly but steadily increasing as hotels get back to business. But, to be sure, it is not business as usual. Relatively few hotels completely closed during the coronavirus pandemic. More than 80 percent remained read more
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CORONAVIRUS
May 20, 2020270 | Critical Messages: Hotel marketing in the wake of COVID-19
With more than half of the states in America reopening their economies, owners and operators of lodging accommodations might be tempted to return to business as usual. That includes sales and marketing strategies that management was deploying before the coronavirus pandemic paralyzed the hospitality industry. But hotel marketing experts we interviewed say business will be read more
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CORONAVIRUS
May 13, 2020269 | Rays of Light: Hotels are guiding beacons as states reopen economies
The COVID-19 crisis is far from over. How long the crisis remains is still an unknown. As many states are taking steps to reopen their marketplaces, government leaders and business owners may want to look to the hotel industry for some best practices. While nearly 20 percent of the nation’s 57,000 hotels have closed, according read more
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CORONAVIRUS
May 6, 2020268 | Peaks and Valleys: COVID-19 crisis cuts hotel values and creates opportunity
Suzanne Mellen, senior managing director and practice leader at HVS, has been in the hotel valuation business for 40 years. She’s witnessed a lot of ups and downs. She’s also noticed how investors are eager to talk about their hotel’s market value during the good times but reluctant to face the truth in a downturn. read more
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CORONAVIRUS
April 27, 2020267 | Comeback Opportunity: LodgingStream digital conference looks toward a post-COVID-19 future
This episode features sound bites from previous podcast reports covering the coronavirus pandemic and its impact on the hospitality industry. The voices belong to Lily Mockerman, Dave Shah, Darshan Patel, Andressa Chapman, Jamie Lane and Ron Mitchell. They have all been featured in our special news project that’s focused on the crisis. So far, we’ve read more
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CORONAVIRUS
April 22, 2020266 | Return Policies: Hotel industry works out rehiring plans
As the recognized COVID-19 infection rate began to gain strength in the U.S. in mid-March, lodging industry analysts said they expected at least half of the nation’s 4 million hotel employees would be laid off. It’s a startling number when you consider that six weeks ago, most hospitality jobs were firmly intact. In fact, in read more
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CORONAVIRUS
April 15, 2020265 | Franchising In Deconstruction: COVID-19 crisis amplifies problems in brand licensing
Earlier this year, a large group of hotel owners began to organize and create a comprehensive push back at the hotel franchising model. Fair Franchising Initiative held its launch conference on March 5, a little more than a week before President Trump declared a national emergency as the new coronavirus pandemic spread to the U.S. read more
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CORONAVIRUS
April 10, 2020264 | Seeking Signs of Relief: Hoteliers wade through financial aid programs and proposals
As the recognized COVID-19 outbreak in the U.S. and the nation’s subsequent shutdown approaches its fifth week, hotels and other small businesses are seeing some relief ahead. Federal financial aid is coming in the form of loans and grants from the Small Business Administration. In the past week, hundreds of thousands hotel owners have filed read more
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CORONAVIRUS
April 8, 2020263 | Risk Adjustment: Hotel tech platforms face their own COVID-19 crisis
Last week, Zoom, a video-conferencing program, was prime bait for hackers who infiltrated conversations taking place among people working from home during the coronavirus pandemic. As if Zoom bombers weren’t bad enough, a day or two later, the internet-based program crashed because it could not handle the surge of users from businesses, schools and friends read more
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CORONAVIRUS
April 3, 2020262 | Strongest Link: Hotel procurement specialists keep supply chain connected
The coronavirus pandemic has disrupted the global supply chain. With most whole goods and components coming from China, the U.S. hospitality industry began to scramble in January to keep the supplies coming. Manufacturing has resumed in China as the crisis has reportedly eased there, but the outbreak has yet to reach its peak in the read more
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CORONAVIRUS
April 1, 2020261 | Let’s Make a Deal: Coronavirus crisis alters hotel transaction landscape
The U.S. hotel industry has practically grinded to a halt in the wake of the coronavirus crisis. As Lodging Leaders shared in our previous report, Episode 260, hotel business performance has declined to unprecedented levels. Another area of the industry that the COVID-19 pandemic is impacting is hotel transactions. Properties remain on the market, but read more
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CORONAVIRUS
March 30, 2020260 | Startling Statistics: Industry analysts stunned at depth of downturn
Last week, several hospitality-focused analytical companies released data that specifically show how the coronavirus pandemic is decimating the U.S. hotel industry. The picture they paint is grim. And – though experts say they believe the industry will eventually resurge – the months ahead will be hard. In this report we review reports from STR, CBRE read more
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CORONAVIRUS
March 27, 2020259 | Trust Factor: Hotels can channel the right message during the coronavirus crisis
While many of the country’s 57,000 hotels have closed during the coronavirus pandemic, owners and operators are spending limited resources and a whole lot of time on retooling their property systems and deep cleaning rooms and public areas. They want to be ready when the nation starts traveling again. And that’s a message that needs read more
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CORONAVIRUS
March 25, 2020258 | Cash in a Crisis: SBA launches COVID-19 loan program, but experts urge caution
Dave Shah grew up in his family’s hotel and watched his parents and other hoteliers struggle to stay in business during the Great Recession. He thinks the economic situation for hoteliers during the COVID-19 crisis is growing worse than that time. Shah founded Pineapple Capital Group five years ago to help hotels and other small read more
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CORONAVIRUS
March 23, 2020257 | Hotels Become Hospitals: Government takeover of lodging leaves big questions for owners
As hotels in the U.S. are forced to dramatically scale back operations or close altogether because of the new coronavirus pandemic, government officials are looking to use the empty rooms to fight the spread of the virus or help patients recover. Meantime, hotel operators are taking a fresh look at cleaning procedures to assure guests read more
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CORONAVIRUS
March 20, 2020256 | What’s a Hotelier To Do? AAHOA’s Cecil Staton on the industry’s ‘dark times’
Cecil Staton has had his hands full to say the least. He has been at the helm of AAHOA, the world’s largest hotel owners association, for just four months. The new coronavirus outbreak and its devastating effect on the travel industry has hotel owners turning to him for solutions. This is the third installment of read more
Straight Talk About Hot Trends
An award-winning weekly podcast that examines trends and issues impacting the hospitality industry, shared through engaging stories told by co-hosts Jon Albano and Judy Maxwell, and amplified by interviews with experts and other thought leaders.