Articles tagged “layoffs”

If the dining and travel industries are looking for a bright spot during these dark days, then returning employees are a morsel to hang onto.

There is always the potential of going too far with layoffs during an economic downturn. But coronavirus has upended the travel industry with so much uncertainty that Hilton's sizable layoffs reflect a narrowed corporate focus on near-term health, survival, and reopening.

Sabre's leadership team has been like an endurance runner in its strategy of patching up the security of the company's software, breaking down internal business silos, and moving Sabre's systems to the more stable cloud. This latest restructuring is the next phase.

Kayak, OpenTable, and Agoda have laid off employees. The flagship brand, Booking.com, initially took Dutch government relief money that forestalled downsizing, but has opted not to extend it. Amid other restructuring moves under way, that means layoffs are likely on the agenda as Chairwoman Gillian Tans re-ups.

At first, John Brown cut costs rather than staff, including foregoing his salary for the rest of 2020. But the Agoda CEO now has to take the last measure, citing a deeper and more prolonged recovery than expected.

Welcome to a more focused Airbnb, one that is about homes, and not hotels and luxury properties. This may not bode well for a public offering.

It's hard to see how Trivago survives the pandemic without an asset sale or private equity taking it private perhaps.

The job cuts at Kayak and OpenTable represent the first reported layoffs and furloughs at parent company Booking Holdings growing out of the coronavirus crisis other than for 48 contractors at Booking.com whose agreements weren't renewed. Few travel companies will emerge unscathed so it wouldn't be surprising if more cuts were coming at other Booking brands.

Tripadvisor isn't immune from the coronavirus travel lockdown in many parts of the world, and it is taking difficult steps to survive the pandemic.

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.