Coronavirus Travel News

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

In our coronavirus in travel coverage this week, marketers will have to throw out the playbook post-crisis, Booking Holdings mulled dire financial scenarios, a devalued Airbnb secured new financing at unattractive terms, Flight Centre closed 800 travel agencies, and Carnival Corp. took a controversial investment from the Saudi government.

Antibody testing could defy travel analyst expectations and cause business travel to return before leisure, but the theory hinges on the success of the testing.

A new world order for travel lies ahead. How quickly travelers adapt, and more importantly how quickly travel companies adapt to the changing behaviors, will be key.

Sabre's arguments that UK regulators would merely fall in line if a U.S. court backed Sabre's merger with Farelogix were naive. The UK ruling was essentially correct about the proposed deal stifling innovation, and somewhere airlines are quietly celebrating the ruling.

The online travel industry is marginally better positioned to deal with this current outbreak than many of their suppliers in the hotel and airline industry. Still, the damage will get worse — and be severe and long-lasting.