The rate of change and the standard way of doing things, whether that's conducting business, taking care of our families, or simply getting around our cities, is being turned upside down. As the coronavirus (Covid-19) continues to spread around the world, the economic symptoms are emerging. Business continuity management is well underway at most organizations. Hospitality and travel are among the most impacted and face a unique set of challenges. For most hotel and travel organizations, there would be no resumption of normal business operations or successful recovery at all if IT operations stopped.

The recent global spread of COVID-19 - and the resulting impact on personal and professional lives everywhere - has put crisis management front and center. Hotels face a domino effect triggered by the pandemic: guests are afraid or not allowed to travel, businesses are pausing corporate travel and events of all sizes are being canceled.

As the hospitality industry faces unprecedented challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic, millions of hotel reservations and airline bookings are being cancelled or postponed. It's daunting to imagine that each caller wants to talk to a live person to ensure their transaction is handled correctly. This extraordinary call volume puts unparalleled stress on industry call center operations and your brand at risk. If calls are handled well, you have the chance to minimize revenue loss and grow customer loyalty. If not - you not only lose the short-term booking, but the lifetime value of the guest.

Active COVID-19 cases in China peaked on 17 February. Since then the number of active cases has been reducing rapidly. To assist hotels around the world in forecasts during the crisis we are publishing information of how the Chinese market is rebounding reservations since the peak of the epidemic. We hope this can give some comparison of how the hotel market could pick up in other countries. Some Takeaways:

ASSA ABLOY Global Solutions has announced the implementation of custom-designed VingCard Essence door locks alongside VingCard Signature RFID locks at the Four Seasons Hotel One Dalton Street, Boston. A newly opened and modern 61-story skyscraper that serves as both a hotel and residential building, Four Seasons Hotel One Dalton Street, Boston, sought out the combined expertise of both ASSA ABLOY Global Solutions and ASSA ABLOY Opening Solutions Americas to implement a customized state-of-the-art security access system that could also match the building's exterior design and sleek style.

The novel coronavirus has impacted the global world community in unprecedented ways. The hospitality and travel industry have perhaps been the most hard-hit than others. Hourly workers are the heartbeat of hospitality and potentially facing devastating hardships. Decisions on whether to stay home with their kids who are out of school or go to work, health concerns, drop in pay because of cutting back of hours and in general not having a security net.

In today's connected world, it is more important than ever to react swiftly, but mindfully, to unexpected disruptions in your hotel's demand. Join STR and IDeaS in a joint webinar sharing key regional and global impacts from the Coronavirus, now known as COVID-19.

ALPHARETTA, Ga. - Agilysys, Inc. (Nasdaq: AGYS), a leading global provider of next-generation hospitality software solutions and services, today announced that Vasa Park Resort in Bellevue, Washington has selected Agilysys' rGuest® Stay Property Management System (PMS), rGuest Book reservations and rGuest Pay payment processing to help streamline daily operations, improve the guest journey and increase efficiency from booking to check-out.

Kayla Saldivar, Customer Success Manager for VENZA, was presented with a Bronze Stevie® Award in the "Customer Service Manager of the Year" category in the 14th annual Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service.

Well, here we are with a widespread global emergency on our hands (no hand washing pun intended). While an economic downturn was predicted for this year, an abrupt shut down was not. Everyone is cancelling plans (government-imposed or otherwise), staying home from work, and well... giving up. Giving up the things we're accustomed to enjoying, and, for some, giving up far more. Those in the hospitality industry have to think long and hard about what they'll give up in order to stay afloat during and after this global disruption because it won't be the last. Now is the time to look for less-is-more solutions that will weather the unexpected storms.