2020 was a bizarre year, to say the least. We rode the waves of a pandemic, a U.S. presidential election, protests, wildfires, social change marches, travel bans, and more. And while it's easy to remember all the hardships that came with 2020 (and the noticeable lack of travel), the past year was also full of truly good news.
The coronavirus will fundamentally alter the way people travel for and conduct business, even after the pandemic is over, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates said Tuesday.
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates predicts that over 50% of business travel will disappear in the post-coronavirus working world. On top of that, he also predicts that "30% of days in the office will disappear." Gates made his predictions in an interview with Andrew Ross Sorkin during the New York Times' Dealbook conference on Tuesday. He added that from now on there will be a "very high threshold" for traveling to carry out business meetings.
United Airlines says the risk of COVID-19 exposure onboard its aircraft is "virtually non-existent" after a new study finds that when masks are worn there is only a 0.003% chance particles from a passenger can enter the passenger's breathing space who is sitting beside them.
Salivating at the buffet table, eagerly awaiting a sizzling omelet to be done. Cramming into a crowded elevator with a long weekend's worth of luggage in tow. Debating whether to go for the Peanut M&M's or Twix minibar purchase.
In June, Charles Kunz stayed at the Westin Atlanta Airport and found "the largest cockroach I've ever seen" on his bed the next morning. The lawyer from Durham, N.C., a Titanium member of Marriott's Bonvoy loyalty program, said the insect "was the size of my pinkie. I live in the South and I'm no stranger to bugs."
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is set to announce on Monday it will issue an emergency exemption to the state of Texas permitting it to allow American Airlines to use a new surface coating that kills coronaviruses for up to seven days, sources briefed on the matter said.
American Airlines pilot Dennis Tajer has taken several flights during the coronavirus pandemic, both in the cockpit and as a union official, and has noticed something unsettling lately: passengers removing their masks for more than eating or drinking.
After nearly three months of quarantine, millions of Americans are ready to travel -- an overnight trip, a weekend getaway, a summer sojourn. With states reopening, that's now possible, with a caveat. Before coronavirus, few people likely thought twice about staying in a hotel room, rental home or cabin in the woods. But now, we have to factor in the potential for coronavirus exposure. Even if you're OK with the travel risks taking you to your destination -- plane, train or automobile -- what about the risks of the destination spot itself?
Travel in the middle of a global pandemic presents challenges, with each activity carrying its own level of risk for coronavirus.
For guests checking into a high-profile California hotel, they might be staying in rooms that have been sanitized in part by an unusual new staff member: a three-foot-tall robot named Kennedy.
There was a time in the not so far-off past when hotels lived or died by being an out-of-towner's fantasy: the Plaza, the Four Seasons, the St. Regis.
For a travel industry looking for a glimmer of hope, the latest holiday-week statistics offer some encouragement, with hotels seeing an uptick in room occupancy rates and airlines filling more seats.
States are slowly beginning to open back up, but that doesn't mean travelers are free to come and go as they please in most places amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Hotels and resorts are in a state of crisis. As of May 20, seven out of 10 hotel rooms in the US were sitting empty and thousands of hotels are completely closed, according to the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA). Hotels have lost more than $25 billion in room revenue since the start of the pandemic, and 70% of hotel employees have been laid off or furloughed, per the AHLA.
Most people will likely be staying closer to home for any summer travel plans. International travel isn't worth it this summer for many due to travel restrictions. However, some U.S. states are open for travel just in time for a summer road trip.
One of the largest U.S. lodging real estate investment trusts expects leisure travel to bounce back from the coronavirus downturn in travel first, but the company is still banking on business group bookings.
In April 2019, more than 2 million travelers passed through U.S. airports every day.
At a White House meeting with corporate executives on Wednesday, President Donald Trump repeated his conspiratorial suggestion that the media is talking about a lack of coronavirus testing to try to damage him politically.
Seasonal hotels normally would be revving up now in preparation for an onslaught of summer travelers. But this year, there is uncertainty in whether summer travel will be a pent-up rush or a slow trickle.