LATEST NEWS
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CORONAVIRUS
May 6, 2020What’s a Hotel Worth Today?
As U.S. hotels close or dramatically scale back business during the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s difficult to assess the value of a lodging asset that may or may not be able to recover from steep losses in revenue. And some hotel segments, such as economy extended stay, are doing well when compared to their higher priced 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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HUMANS OF LODGING
May 4, 2020‘It was a Blessing’
Cierra Bickel is director of sales at the Holiday Inn Express & Suites Cincinnati NE Redbank. She was behind the front desk in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic when a man, a woman and their son came in to book 26 rooms for two nights. Overjoyed at having unexpected business, Bickel was in read more
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HUMANS OF LODGING
May 4, 2020Stepping Up
Sawan Patel is a second-generation hotelier and managing partner of Unity Hotels Group, a company his father, Hasu, founded in Houston, Texas. His fiancé works in the health care field and Patel heard at the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis in the U.S. how difficult it was for hospitals to obtain personal protection equipment such read more
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HUMANS OF LODGING
May 4, 2020Special Touch
Prakash Saraf was raised in Nepal, India, by parents who taught him the value of caring for the less fortunate. As a hotelier in Baltimore, Saraf sees firsthand how people struggle to survive. The COVID-19 pandemic has made it even harder for the poor and disenfranchised to stay safe. Saraf’s non-profit called Friends of Sparsh read more
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HUMANS OF LODGING
May 4, 2020It’s About Serving Others
Tejal Patel is founder of her own hotel company called Neem Tree Hospitality in Texas. At the beginning of the year, she began to help her family market its Fairfield Inn & Suites under construction in League City, Texas. As the coronavirus crisis took over the industry, Patel switched gears to focus on how best read more
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HUMANS OF LODGING
May 4, 2020Give Them Shelter
Kal Patel is founder and CEO of Crestpoint Companies in Mason, Ohio. He owns and operates hotels in Ohio and Kentucky. Two are under construction and the others are operating at 5 to 10 percent occupancy since the crisis struck in mid-March. A few properties are housing homeless and dislocated residents as well as serving read more
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HUMANS OF LODGING
May 4, 2020A New Balance
Davonne Reaves owns and operates The Vonne Group, a hospitality advisory and consulting venture in Atlanta. A people-person, Reaves has found herself conducting business from home, deploying technology to hold meetings while caring for her 1-year-old son, who can’t attend day care during the COVID-19 crisis. Reaves believes the workplace and expectations of employers and read more
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HUMANS OF LODGING
May 4, 2020Changing Comfort Levels
Lisbeth Ceballos is vice president of housekeeping at G6 Hospitality. A native of Venezuela, Ceballos came to the U.S. at the age of 17 with a plan to build a career in the hospitality industry. As a trailblazer, Ceballos is used to navigating through uncomfortable situations, but she’s never faced anything as complex and uncertain 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, 2020Hospitality workforce to shape shift in post-COVID-19 industry, experts say
Joel Carver is founder and CEO of the Carver Cos., which recruits and trains industry employees from executives to rank-and-file to temporary workers. Carver’s worked through various economic crises but he’s never seen the likes of the COVID-19 pandemic and how it’s decimated the nation’s hospitality sector. He is among several industry recruiters who anticipate a post-crisis recovery albeit one that unfolds in an altered reality. This report is part of Long Live Lodging’s ongoing special report on the coronavirus and its impact on the hotel industry.
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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, 2020Hotel Owners Dissatisfied With Franchisers’ Crisis Response
The COVID-19 crisis has practically paralyzed the engines that drive the U.S. economy, including the lodging industry. One of the cogs that turn the wheel is the hotel franchising system. While many hotel franchisees have long been dissatisfied with the power franchisers exert over their businesses, the coronavirus crisis has exposed even greater levels of 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, 2020Hoteliers Among Mass Of Businesses Seeking Aid
It was a week of high anxiety for U.S. hotel owners seeking financial relief from the federal government and the CMBS bond market. Hotel owners rushed applications to SBA-approved lenders to qualify for the agency’s Paycheck Protection Program. Some primary lenders such as JP Morgan cut off applications, saying they had met their quota as 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