Linchi Kwok, Ph.D.

When the pandemic hit the global economy in March, business travel was estimated to lose $820 billion in revenue. Under the best scenario, businesses were expected to reopen in late spring or early summer . As we entered into the summer, indicators showed travel and hospitality businesses were picking up, but we all knew travel recovery would not occur until people are taking business trips again. “ Travel, as we knew it, is over ,” concluded by Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky. Now in October, we still have not contained the coronavirus. To make it worse, new COVID-19 cases now surge again across the US and Europe. More companies let employees work from home permanently Many states and countries have already lifted the stay-at-home orders in May. Schools and companies are taking a different stand, however. For example, Twitter was the first U.S. major company that announced its permanent work-from-home plan in May. Pinterest canceled a lease in an unbuilt project in San Francisco with a...

COVID-19 has created an unprecedented scenario for many American industries, and the restaurant industry is no different. With restaurants being forced to close their in-person dining across the country, many restaurants saw a downturn in business. Now, six months after the pandemic first hit America, restaurants across multiple states are only allowed to serve customers outside. This has raised the question, will outdoor dining become the norm in places where it can be utilized? COVID-19 Impact on the Restaurant Industry When the COVID-19 pandemic first started back in March 2020, many restaurants were forced to close their in-person dining. OpenTable reported a 42% drop in reservations by mid-March and grocery delivery apps saw a 215% increase by mid-March, showing the drastic shift from eating out to cooking at home. Restaurants then saw a 54% decline in revenue, creating a huge hit to many small, independent restaurants. By mid-May, most states had released guidelines for partial o...

Amazon recently introduced a  new biometric payment device , Amazon One, in two of its Go stores in Seattle. Shoppers can now enter and pay at cashier-free  Amazon Go  stores by scanning their palms. The company opened its first Amazon Go store in Seattle to the public in  January 2018 . Currently, Amazon operates  21 Go stores  in Chicago, New York, San Francisco, and Seattle, with five temporarily closed. Unlike a typical grocery store, Amazon Go offers grab-and-go, ready-to-eat snacks, breakfast, and lunch options for shoppers. Shopping at Amazon Go can be as easy as walking in and out of the store. After consumers download the Amazon Go app and link the account with a form of payment, they can: Walk into the store by scanning the Amazon Go app. Grab the items wanted. Walk out of the store. Be charged through the Amazon Go app. How Amazon One works Amazon One  works similarly to the Amazon Go app. To  sign up , shoppers will need a credit card...

There is no doubt that COVID-19 has had  an unprecedented impact  on the travel and tourism industry. With massive layoffs and  closures , many hospitality professionals have noted that they had never seen such a detrimental event to the industry in their careers. Nobody knows when the  recovery  will take place. Yet, there is at least one exception. The home-sharing sector has already rebounded. Airbnb booking is up and ready for an IPO When the pandemic hit, Airbnb reported  a 90% drop in booking, or a $400 million adjusted loss  in the second quarter. Then, Airbnb  laid off 7,500 employees, or 25% of its workforce , and  cut its marketing budget by 14%  from the last year. Now, when hotels are still struggling and running at  a below 50% occupancy , Airbnb booking has already bounced back. For example, During the weekend of June 5-7, Airbnb’s gross booking value recorded  positive year-to-year growth  for the first time...

COVID-19 has put many restaurants and hotels out of business. A recent example is the permanent closure of the iconic Hilton Times Square Hotel .   Several restaurant chains recently rolled out new store designs to embrace the contactless self-service and delivery trends demanded by customers. Additionally, when more schools and businesses are reopening , the restaurant industry has already shown signs of recovery. There was a 2% increase in spending year-over-year in the week ending August 30. The outlook for hotels, however, is not as optimistic.   The hotel industry is still struggling.   According to the latest U.S. hotel performance results for the week ending August 29,   ·       The occupancy was 48.2%, a slight decline from the 50% level two weeks ago. ·       The weekend occupancy of August 28 and August 29 was 54.7%. ·       Luxury and upper-upscale hotels continued having a...

The new COVID-19 cases finally showed signs of declines across the U.S., but definitely, we should still take cautionary measures to avoid another wave of infections. Now, some people have already claimed that this pandemic would forever change the travel industry .   Because the coronavirus is primarily transmitted through direct or indirect close contact with infected people via mouth or nose secretions, social distancing and frequent sanitation are highly recommended. It is not surprising to see consumers demand services with minimum human contact, which in turn promotes contactless self-services. Restaurants Mobile ordering , for example, has been introduced to the market way before COVID-19 hit, but all of a sudden, it became the safest method of payment during the pandemic as it requires little or no human contact. A recent analysis of 100,000 reviews in Apple’s App Store revealed that there was a 36% year-to-year increase in the number of reviewers saying that it was th...

Jill Filipovic argued in her new book - OK Boomers, Let’s Talk: How My Generation Got Left Behind - that millennials have been going through tougher economic circumstances than any other generations since the Great Depression. I am neither a millennial nor a Boomer, but the media coverage about Jill’s arguments got my attention. The fact is no matter if we are in the position of supporting or challenging Jill’s propositions, we cannot deny that we need Boomers to boost post-pandemic consumption . Besides millennials and Gen Zers , Baby Boomers also deserve big attention from businesses. Boomers have time and money   Boomers, now aged between 56 and 74 (or 77, depending on which cutoff point we are using), composed of 71.6 million of the U.S. population, according to the July 2019 data from the U.S. Census Bureau and the Pew Research Center . Boomers are now behind the millennials, whose population had reached 72.1 million.    While the COVID-19 has pushed more people t...