The Great Travel Industry Recovery Debate and 12 Other Coronavirus Stories This Week

What Shape Would the Travel Industry Recovery Look Like?: Depending on how much of an optimist or realist or pessimist you are these days, you can certainly find your travel industry recovery shape in this one slide from McKinsey here.

Is Booking in Better Shape for a Recovery Than Airbnb and Expedia?: The battle between Booking Holdings, Airbnb, and Expedia is not just about which one will emerge with the thickest wad of cash. It is also about business models, revenue stream diversity, and product offerings meshing the best with traveler behavior that may never be the same.

European Governments Weigh If It’s Time to Let Some Airlines Disappear: If the goal is efficient transportation in Europe, politicians may consider only bailing out the five biggest EU airline groups. But many other airlines are expected to receive significant government funds, partly for reasons of national pride.

Singapore Shows What the New Clean Is With Audit Initiative for Hotels: Guests trust hotels to be clean. Post-coronavirus, they want proof. Some will want it even in the contract. One country, Singapore, is helping its hotels nationwide to show proof with a new audit and certification.

Cruise Industry Defies New 100-Day ‘No Sail’ Order: The cruise industry appears to be taking a contrarian stance to U.S. public health officials, a move that’s baffling given the industry’s need to rehabilitate its image.

Comparing Best and Worst Case Scenarios for the Airlines: It will take years for the airline industry to recover from the coronavirus pandemic. That much is a given. But what shape will that recovery take and how long will it last? Skift Airline Weekly debated two scenarios — the optimistic and the pessimistic view. Where the industry goes from here depends on how long it takes for passengers to want to fly, how long the recession lasts, and how robustly governments respond.

Hospitality School 2020 Graduates Confront an Evaporated Hotel Jobs Market: With extraordinarily bleak job prospects for the graduating class of 2020, hospitality students have to persevere and find any available opportunity until the travel industry recovers.

Booking Holdings Applies for European Relief With Substantial Layoffs Possible: Government relief or not, if a substantial coronavirus recovery doesn’t take shape by June, it’s hard to believe that Booking Holdings won’t execute substantial layoffs like everyone else. Perhaps the crisis, too, will spur new discussions about enormous pay gaps between CEOs and their workers.

IHG to Open First New Hotel in China Since Crisis Rebound There: IHG’s planned Regent brand expansion is gearing up in China, but it shouldn’t be seen as a sign of an overall coronavirus recovery for Asian hotels.

Why It’s Time to Reboot the Corporate Travel Agency Business Model: The transaction fee has been the staple of the corporate travel industry for years, but it looks like the crisis has exposed a weakness that needs fixing.

What the Travel Industry Wants From the Next Round of U.S. Government Relief: No shortage of lobbying on the travel industry’s behalf went into the CARES Act. But with another round of financial stimulus on the horizon, the work is far from over.

Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky Was Actively Working on Going Public When Bookings Dried Up: Airbnb’s Chesky undoubtably still has that S-1 document in a laptop somewhere. With the pandemic lowering Airbnb’s valuation by billions, that document will need a total rewrite. And with all that’s going on in the world, it’s difficult to even contemplate an eventual public listing right now.

Marriott Estimates 23 Percent Drop in First Quarter Revenue Per Room: Despite early signs of a hotel recovery in China, Marriott’s negative first quarter outlook is likely just the beginning of weak performance for the global hotel company.