05 May
Travel

Hotels in Asia Revise Renovation Designs to Suit Post-Covid World

Wharf Hotels

Artist impression of Marco Polo Prince Hotel’s Club Lounge: Note the more spacious layout, plus private sections. Wharf Hotels

Skift Take: It’s clear there’s going to be a new normal when guests start traveling again. Hotels in Asia that are renovating in times of Covid-19 are altering designs, although some things don’t change.

— Raini Hamdi

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05 May
Travel

UK Hotels Threaten Legal Fight Over Rejected Insurance Claims

Kokky92 / Wikimedia

Britain’s hospitality sector is threatening a wave of lawsuits against insurance firms like AXA over rejected business interruption claims stemming from coronavirus. Kokky92 / Wikimedia

Skift Take: British lawsuits could set a global precedent for how insurance firms perceive a global pandemic in terms of business interruption coverage.

— Cameron Sperance

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05 May
Travel

Travel Agency Flight Centre to Shutter 800 Storefronts as Part of $1.2 Billion Savings Effort

Flight Centre’s retail footprint will be reduce by half in the new measures proposed.

Skift Take: This cost-cutting package could be one of the largest we’ll see in this crisis. On paper, the cuts look like they’ll be enough, but there will be collateral damage to its brand with so many shop closures.

— Matthew Parsons

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05 May
Travel

South Korea’s Mirae Asset Scraps $6 Billion U.S. Hotel Deal With China’s Anbang

Thomas Peter / Reuters

A general view shows the headquarters of Anbang Insurance Group in Beijing, China, February 23, 2018. Mirae Asset scraps $5.8 billion deal to buy U.S. hotels from China’s Anbang. Thomas Peter / Reuters

Skift Take: Mirae is probably experiencing a bad case of buyer’s remorse as the coronavirus pandemic takes a huge bite out of Anbang’s asset values. Such disputes over deals made in a pre-Covid era are not the first, and they won’t be the last.

— Xinyi Liang-Pholsena

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05 May
Travel

Luxury Hotel Group Caves to Pressure, Returns $59 Million in Relief Funds

Josh Hallett / Flickr

The Ritz-Carlton Sarasota (pictured) was among the recipients of the Ashford Group of Companies’ PPP funding. Josh Hallett / Flickr

Skift Take: Bigger companies are returning PPP funds, but that doesn’t mean small hotel operators are having an easier time getting relief from the downturn in travel.

— Cameron Sperance

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05 May
Travel

A Recovery Timeline and 25 Other Top Cororonavirus Stories This Week

Walks

Girl on a Mobike bike in the line for street food shops in Wuhan China. Walks

Skift Take: In travel-related coronavirus stories this week, Skift covered potential recovery timelines, layoffs at Tripadvisor and Kayak, Aribnb’s vision of an era of travel redistribution, lessons for hoteliers from 9/11 and SARS, and Hilton’s partnership to enhance its cleaning protocols, among many other topics.

— Dennis Schaal

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05 May
Travel

U.S. Hotel Profits Per Room Cratered to Losses in March

Fred Hsu / Wikimedia

Down 203 percent, New York City saw the steepest decline in hotel gross operating profits in March. The U.S. average was a 102 percent decline. Fred Hsu / Wikimedia

Skift Take: Gross operating profits tanked in March, and it could take until 2021 for them to get to levels where owners can satisfy operational costs and mortgage payments.

— Cameron Sperance

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