Marriott Derides 2021 Work From Home Policies and 10 Other Coronavirus Travel Stories This Week

Marriott CEO Bemoans Work-From-Home Policies Impacting Trajectory of Hotel Recoveries: Marriott may be encouraged by recovery signs around the world, but it also can’t afford for corporate clients to keep in place stay-at-home work policies and meeting bans until the middle of 2021.

Our Columnist Flew to Dubai — This Is What He Learned About a Reopening: Dubai is offering a master class on safety, operational protocols, and reopening to the world. Other countries, including the U.S., need to take note.

Accor and SBE Begin Global Expansion of Delano Hotel Brand Despite the Pandemic: The worst time ever to launch a global expansion of an iconic luxury hotel brand? Maybe not, if you are players like Accor and SBE with enough capital and Delano brand awareness.

Southwest Airlines’ Corp Travel Biz: A Year On, Down But Not Out: The pandemic will have marred the first anniversary celebrations, but this fledgling corporate travel unit should have enough experience behind it to ride out the storm.

Distressed Hotel Asset Sales in Thailand May Turn Into a Gold Mine for International Chains: Covid-19 unearthed hotel vulnerabilities, but Thai asset owners are not retreating. That means more branding opportunities for chains, but how they handle the pandemic will be closely watched.

Barry Diller’s IAC Takes $1 Billion Stake in MGM Resorts With Eye on Online Gaming: Barry Diller’s IAC argues it got great value for its MGM investment at this point in time, and IAC intends to play the long game.

Southwest’s Reduced Schedule Means Its Share-Grab Formula May Not Work This Time Around: Southwest had been among the more bullish U.S. airlines. But this fall, it will shrink considerably. It probably has no other choice.

What Happened to Travel Bubbles?: Remember travel bubbles? Three months ago, they were a buzzword. Now they’re barely talked about. What happened in between?

Gogo in Talks to Sell Its In-Flight Wi-Fi Business: Let’s hope the deal talks will go faster than Wi-Fi aboard a plane.

The Unlikeliest Comeback of This Pandemic Poised to Happen: Airbnb’s Long-Awaited IPO: Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky said last year he could see his company going public in 2020. What he didn’t see was a world turned upside down by a pandemic. If Airbnb ends up trading as a public stock in the coming months, it will be a story for the ages.

IHG Still Signed One New Hotel Deal a Day in the First Half of 2020: If you’re looking for signs of the pandemic’s negative impact on the hotel industry, IHG’s ongoing pace of hotel deals and openings isn’t it.