Sean O'Neill

Granted, this crisis is unprecedented. Yet hotels worldwide can learn lessons from how hotels have faced regional shutdowns, such as in Asia-Pacific in recent months, in Las Vegas after the shooting rampage, and elsewhere after hurricanes and financial crises. Managing room rates and marketing offers is critical to making the most of a rebound in demand.

This week, travel startups Bimble and Pruvo announced they had raised more than $1 million each in funding, despite the coronavirus crisis. Keep hope alive.

From short-term rentals to tours and activities to corporate travel, here are pockets of the travel tech startup sector to follow closely in the weeks ahead.

Cloudbeds' ability to raise $82 million validates both its strategy and the broader hospitality tech sector. Other notable fundings this week include Checkfront, which helps tours-and-activities operators handle bookings and payments, and SuitePad, which supplies digital tablets to hotel guest rooms.

By itself, the coronavirus scare needn't be like kryptonite to Samsonite, which has high gross margins. But the long-term double whammy of supply shocks (due to factory closings) and demand shocks (due to travelers pulling back on spending) may reduce the company's ability to pay interest on its heavy debts.

Expedia in December promoted Ariane Gorin to become boss of Expedia Business Services. Gorin had led a team that had recently won major enterprise accounts, like Marriott's exclusive redistribution deal. Opportunity abounds for the company to expand its business-to-business partnerships.

This is a highly unusual action. It's unclear why the U.S. government would believe a company would compromise the sensitive personal data of U.S. citizens just because it's based in China.

An upside for cities like Berlin that tighten short-term rental supply through regulation is that they're less prone to price and occupancy shocks when something like the trade fair ITB Berlin cancels at the last minute.

Yonder, Airside, GogoBus, and TPConnects announced investments this week, showing that startup funding continued despite the recent global coronavirus crisis.

Coronavirus has caused turmoil in the global financial markets, which has devalued several key currencies and made foreign trips costlier. But devaluation may also make potential acquisition targets cheaper for Despegar, the region's largest online travel agency.