LATEST NEWS
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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, 2020‘A World of Hurt’
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. In today’s episode, Staton shares his 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
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CORONAVIRUS
March 18, 2020Hotels Fight Job Cuts
Debbie Brown worked in human resources at Four Seasons Hotels for 40 years. Now an independent hospitality consultant, Brown said hotel owners and operators are faced with having to reduce their workforces as the new coronavirus cripples the travel and tourism industry. Meantime, hotel CEOs on Tuesday met with President Trump to lobby for $150B in aid.
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CORONAVIRUS
March 18, 2020255 | Workforce Woes: Hotels try to avoid layoffs
Seemingly overnight, the new coronavirus pandemic has dramatically curbed travel in the U.S. Hotels are feeling the pain as occupancies dropped to historic lows, in some cases down by 80 percent. The American Hotel and Lodging Association on Monday reported major hotel managers said they’ve laid off or furloughed one million employees. Long Live Lodging read more
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CORONAVIRUS
March 16, 2020Discounting Rate Can Go Viral
The U.S. hotel industry is undergoing an unprecedented drop in business as the new coronavirus or COVID-19 grows more and more real every day. The slowdown is fueled by various responses to the COVID-19 outbreak in the U.S. including White House bans on international visitors; a slowdown in domestic air travel; a pullback on business travel by corporations; and event cancellations. Currently, there is no ban on domestic travel. Hotels can take steps to prop up rate and avoid unnecessary discounting. They can also use this time to prepare for an upswing in business when the coronavirus outbreak levels off and the health threat is diminished.
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CORONAVIRUS
March 16, 2020254 | High Cancellations and Low Demand: Hotel pricing in a steep downturn
The U.S. hotel industry is undergoing an unprecedented experience as the new coronavirus or COVID-19 grows more and more real every day. Long Live Lodging and its Lodging Leaders podcast has decided to put a temporary hold on its usual programing from one report a week and move to providing updates throughout the week with read more
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FRANCHISING
March 11, 2020253 | Franchising Report Part 1 – Power Struggle: New hotelier organization lobbies for franchisee protection
Fair franchising. It’s a phrase that’s been used countless times in negotiations with brands, at industry conferences and among associations formed to ensure a balance of power between franchisers and franchisees. As the hotel industry in the U.S. celebrates nearly a decade of growth, leaner times are ahead, say forecasters. Owner operators are cutting as read more
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BHARAT SHAH LEADERSHIP SPEAKER SERIES
March 4, 2020252 | The BulletInn #2: Coronavirus and group business; Sara Blakely of Spanx at Hunter conference; and short-term rental’s surprising shift
Welcome to the second edition of BulletInn, a news report of Long Live Lodging and its Lodging Leaders podcast. In this episode, we cover three topics: The spread of the new coronavirus and its impact on travel and the legalities around cancelling group meetings in the U.S. Surprises in a report by CBRE Americas Hotels read more
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LODGING LEADERS
February 26, 2020251 | Channel Mix: Hotels balance costs of guest acquisition, OTAs and overall business opportunities
Online travel agencies. Hoteliers love them. Hoteliers hate them. Brand.com, GDS, call centers, travel agents, groups and so on. There are many types of business in every market. In this episode, Lodging Leaders explores how hotel owners and operators can learn to use third-party platforms such as OTAs and when to tap other resources for read more
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LODGING LEADERS
February 19, 2020250 | Cold Calls or Warm Greetings: How to meet people and build a network
Do you love to mingle and meet new people or would you rather sit home and watch paint dry than subject yourself to a crowd of strangers? Today’s hospitality environment practically demands you attend conferences and other people-focused events if you’re going to be successful in business. But how do you: Make events work in read more
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DIVERSITY, INCLUSION AND EQUALITY
February 12, 2020The BulletInn: ALIS 2020 news updates
News continued to unfold during and right after the 2020 Americas Lodging Investment Summit in Los Angeles. STR downgraded the industry’s expected business performance while many wondered about the size of the impact of the evolving coronavirus. Meantime, women took the spotlight in several circumstances, including a report that shows advancement in some areas of leadership but not enough to celebrate. In our inaugural BulletInn, Long Live Lodging opens its reporter’s notebook to share what we learned during the summit.
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F&B
February 5, 2020Recipe for Success: Hotel F&B gets a redo
Food and beverage can make or break a guest’s positive view of your hotel. But the industry is still searching for the pièce de résistance as travelers’ tastes, needs and expectations continue to evolve. Full-service is altering its F&B design and delivery methods while limited service is expanding beyond free breakfast to include more throughout the day. We interviewed several experts in F&B design and programming and share the latest finds of a newly released culinary travel study.
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ART
January 28, 2020Artistic Moments: Art can paint your hotel’s story
Every hotel has a story. Thoughtfully curated art work can help the hotel share its narrative with guests and other visitors. Art curators advise hotels to look in their own backyards for creatives who can visualize the heart and soul of the communities that surround the hotels and give them their unique identity. The Hotel Chicago West Loop is an example of a property that has dramatically used art to tell the hotel’s story and help guests connect with the neighborhood. And an art curator from Austin, Texas, advises hotels on how to use creative works to define a hotel’s personality and set itself apart from the competition.
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LODGING LEADERS
January 22, 2020246 | Transitional Transactions: Hotel brokers, investors prepare for a new normal
Hunter Hotel Advisors brokered the sales of more hotels in 2019 than in any year in its history. Sellers and buyers that generated $1.2 billion under Hunter’s guidance were a mixed bag and included institutional firms, private investment groups and hotel companies. Many hotel brokers expect to tally similar results, making 2019 one of the read more
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AAHOA
January 15, 2020245 | Win-Win: Women of AAHOA step up to the leadership plate
This is the second of a two-part update about people, campaigns and programs that are furthering the mission to promote more women into leadership roles in the hospitality industry. In this episode we touch base with Jagruti Panwala and Rachel Humphrey who are in top leadership roles at AAHOA, the world’s largest hotel owners association read more