303 | Hotel Tech Goes Viral: COVID pandemic forces industry to modernize operations
LATEST NEWS
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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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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, 2020Cybercrime During COVID-19 a Serious Threat to Business
As the U.S. navigates the health and economic threats from the new-coronavirus pandemic, Long Live Lodging / Lodging Leaders podcast is covering the impact of the crisis on the hotel industry. We’re committed to keeping you updated on developments related to the COVID-19 outbreak, which on March 13 the White House declared a national emergency. 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, 2020Global supply chain gangs work to keep hotel goods moving
In a recent report, Deloitte asks if the new-coronavirus pandemic is the black swan event that will force companies to reexamine the global supply chain. The U.S. hotel industry’s procurement specialists are dealing with a mixed bag. Some are scrambling to get supplies to properties that remain open while others see hotel development and renovation 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, 2020Hotel Sales Brokers See Caution Signs
The coronavirus crisis has paralyzed much of the U.S. hospitality industry. One area that also is reflecting the shock is the hotel transaction market. While deals that were financed will probably close as planned, other agreements are put on hold as lenders stop underwriting and both buyers and sellers have a heightened level of caution 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, 2020U.S. Hotel Industry in a ‘Free Fall’
Oxford Economics reported last week that the U.S. economy is in recession. The nation’s travel and tourism industry, hit hard by the global COVID-19 pandemic, is the leading cause of the decline in the nation’s GDP. In this report, the seventh in Long Live Lodging’s Special Coronavirus Report, hotel industry analysts clarify the impact the 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, 2020Marketing to a Captured Audience
As the nation weathers the COVID-19 crisis, hotels can make the most of a bad situation by finding ways to serve their communities. During this time, say hospitality marketing experts, building trust among consumers is more important than ever. By sharing their acts of kindness and compassion hotels can shape a message that reassures the 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, 2020COVID-19 Capital Stack Warning
As hoteliers struggle to keep some remnant of their hotels operating, finance advisers issue a caveat emptor. SBA emergency loans are useful in crisis but only if certain elements are in place, says Dave Shah founder of Pineapple Capital Group. Paul Darrow of PHD Financial reminds prospective small-business borrowers the loans will have to be 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