LATEST NEWS
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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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DIVERSITY
July 1, 2020‘It Has To Be Us, Too’
In recent civic uprisings over racism in America, leaders of hospitality organizations are examining how the hotel industry recruits and promotes Blacks through the ranks. While Black workers overwhelmingly account for the number of front-line workers, there is a dearth of representation in the upper echelons of the industry. Peggy Berg, founder and president of Castell Project, a non-profit dedicated to the advancement of women in leadership in the hospitality industry, decided to collect data on the number of Black men and women directors and senior executives in the hotel industry. What she found – or did not find – shocked her. “It’s one of these things that you know in the back of your mind, but when you actually see the numbers, it’s suddenly real.” This report is part of Long Live Lodging’s ongoing coverage of minority representation in hospitality leadership.
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DIVERSITY
July 1, 2020276 | 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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DIVERSITY
June 24, 2020No More Fear, Says Group Tackling Racism in Hospitality
Hospitality professionals of color say the industry is mired in old ways of addressing the issues racism, diversity and inclusion. In the new social awakening, executive leaders, boards of directors and owners of hotels need to dissolve their affirmative-action mindsets and give minorities seats at the tables in the upper echelons of the industry, says co-founders of Next Generation in Lodging, a new organization for mid-career hospitality professionals. For this report, Long Live Lodging interviewed the co-founders: Davonne Reaves of The Vonne Group, Omari Head of Paramount Lodging Advisors and Christopher Henry of Majestic Hospitality Group. Through their online social networks the three have stepped up to highlight how the hotel industry is failing to effectively solve the problems of racism, diversity and inclusion and how they plan to help change that.
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DIVERSITY
June 24, 2020275 | ‘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
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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
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CORONAVIRUS
May 27, 2020‘Not everybody is getting the message’
Memorial Day weekend enticed many Americans to travel to destinations such as beach towns, mountain resorts and amusement parks as states are in the midst of lifting shelter-in-place directives and reopening their economies. Many hotels in these markets reported occupancies similar to pre-COVID-19 days. As the industry gets back to business, it will be anything but normal as owners and operators adapt to new health and safety protocols. In this report, Long Live Lodging looks at what brands, owners and advisors are doing to help the industry adjust to doing business amidst the coronavirus threat. This is part of an ongoing report about the coronavirus and its impact on the hotel industry.
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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, 2020‘Stay True to Your Hotel’s Brand’
Easing your hotel back into business is tricky as many Americans remain reluctant to travel despite states taking steps to re-open their economies. Hotel marketing experts say it’s smart business to target domestic leisure travelers with promotional messages. But easy does it. To start off, look in your so-called backyard for prospective business because those who’ve stayed at your hotel before will be more willing to stay again post-COVID-19 pandemic. This report is part Long Live Lodging’s ongoing special coverage of the coronavirus crisis and its impact on the hotel industry.