business

Business travel will never return to pre-pandemic levels, Booking.com CEO says

By Nicola Anelka 2 weeks ago

In an interview with Axios on Monday, Booking.com CEO Glenn Fogel said he believes “the share of business travel will be forever lower than pre-pandemic.”

Why it matters: Business travel has an outsized impact on parts of the travel and leisure industry, which is in the midst of adapting to post-pandemic demand.

  • For example, only about 12% of air travel comes from business passengers, but they represent 75% of an airline’s profits, according to travel software provider Trondent.

What’s happening: Booking.com introduced a new $50 credit for future travel as an incentive to help drive demand for leisure trips —

… read more

Update On Vaccine, Housing, Business, Recreation

By Nicola Anelka 2 weeks ago

By SARA SCOTT
Councilor
Los Alamos County Council

I’d like to start this note with a shout out to all of the community members helping to move us forward through the COVID-19 pandemic by supporting vaccination efforts and by continuing to do the things that are important and easy for us to do every day – wearing our masks, distancing when in public, and minimizing trips and travel.

I am happy to report that as of March 30, more than 55 percent of folks eligible for the vaccine have received at least one dose and almost 80 percent of

… read more

Florida Hotel Guests Kicked Out, Staff Fired Hours After Business Sold

By Nicola Anelka 2 weeks ago

A Florida hotel kicked out nearly 100 guests and fired staff just hours after it learned the business had been sold, forcing a number of disgruntled customers onto the street.

Champions World Resort in Kissimmee, Florida, abruptly shut down on Thursday after it learned that it had been sold to new owners.

The news forced management to inform guests that they had to vacate the property that day, with many being told they had to leave the hotel by 4 p.m, WOFL Fox 35 Orlando reported.

Florida Representative Darren Soto, who represents Kissimmee in the state’s 9th Congressional District, told

… read more

Business class and bureaucracy hell: Surviving global travel during Covid

By Nicola Anelka 2 weeks ago

3. Wait patiently in your room for further instructions.

If you’re undertaking Australian Covid-19 hotel quarantine, the answer is “3.” That was my Monday evening: day four of my military-guarded, $190 a night, two-week stay at what may be the world’s only five-star hotel that doesn’t change the sheets, clean the room … or even let you leave during a fire alarm.

But perhaps I should start at the beginning, five weeks ago.

That’s when my 68-year-old mother received the call to head to St. Vincent’s Hospital, Sydney, to receive a double lung transplant. With early-stage lung cancer and 28

… read more

Vacation business ‘back’ to pre-COVID levels: Diamond Resorts CEO

By Nicola Anelka 2 weeks ago

Diamond Resorts CEO Michael Flaskey on the state of the travel industry.

Diamond Resorts CEO Michael Flaskey told FOX Business’ “Mornings with Maria” Monday that, since mid-February, business has been 17% above 2019 levels.

SANDALS CARIBBEAN RESORTS SEES VACATION BOOKINGS OUTPACE PRE-COVID NUMBERS

MICHAEL FLASKEY: We’re happy to be a part of the Hilton Grand Vacations family. As you know, there are regulatory approvals still going on that we have to get through. But I got to tell you, the vacation business is back, it’s exciting. Since we reopened in May, we have been at 70% of 2019 levels. The

… read more

What Sengupta’s departure means for Google’s payments business

By Nicola Anelka 4 weeks ago

One of Caesar Sengupta’s many projects at Google involved adding over a billion new users to the company’s platform, revealing the scale of his portfolio and the importance of a financial technology arm that will soon be under different management following Sengupta’s departure.

Sengupta will leave Google at the end of April, ending a tenure in which he helped lead Google Pay and ChromeOS. Sengupta announced he’s stepping outside “into a new journey.” Google did not answer questions about how Sengupta’s departure will change Google’s leadership. “After 15 years with Google, Caesar Sengupta has made a personal decision to leave

… read more