The case for EB-5 funding: The hospitality industry has particularly been hard hit due to the COVID-19 economic downturn. With the EB-5 program needing reauthorization by June 30, the hospitality industry is eagerly looking forward to a continuation of the program. Meanwhile, decreased EB-5 funding has had a significant impact on the hotel industry. “We’ve seen no new hotel projects being brought to market in recent times that are seeking EB-5 funding,” says Vivek Tandon, managing director, Sequence Financial Specialists.
Clarification: Kempinski had extraordinarily terminated the employment contract with Martin R. Smura based on a resolution of the supervisory board of 10 December 2020 and dismissed Martin R. Smura as a member of the executive board with immediate effect.
Scandic says yes to multi-booking: Going along with the theory that consumers are used to buying multiple items in a single online order, Stockholm-based Scandic is launching a customer-facing multi-booking feature that will allow travelers to book up to five hotel stays at one time on the company’s website. Scandic says it has received requests for this kind of a feature from both leisure and business travelers. The feature is now active on the company’s website and can be found under the “Book several hotels” button when booking a stay.
10 ‘post-pandemic’ travel takeaways from China: New insights from hospitality and tourism consulting firm PKF Hotelexperts Group indicates what travel markets could look like in Europe or the United States in the coming months — all from the perspective of China’s current travel situation today. The insights include:
- Demand is elastic post-pandemic, meaning it’s both highly responsive and sensitive to travel advisories and COVID-19
- Recovery came first for tier cities and leisure destinations – after regaining confidence there, travelers then turned to second-tier destinations
- A warning to hotel managers: For 4- to 5-star hotels in key leisure destinations, an increase of over 35% was recorded for Ching Ming versus pre-pandemic levels, but these had a very short booking window of one to three days prior to arrival
Accor has travel hopes in new campaign: Accor has a new global marketing campaign focused firmly on the return to travel (in addition to the joy of doing that while in a great hotel). With travel restrictions easing across many destinations worldwide, along with significant pent-up demand among travelers, the campaign “Unveil the World” indicates Accor’s hopefulness for the return travel (while also hammering the company’s growing focus on leisure).