Post Pandemic Travel Industry Update
What is happening in the Travel Industry now?
22 September 2021
The last 18 months has been challenging for the hospitality industry, with rail companies effectively re-nationalised, and accommodation and airline operators struggling to remain in business. Across the industry there were over 600,000 redundancies in 2020, and some operators continue to remain closed or provide limited services due to the financial impact of the pandemic, while others closed completely. While staycations will have seen an increase in much needed demand for the industry, this won’t have made up for the revenues lost. Financial pressures remain with hospitality businesses such that employees undertake a broader range of duties than they would have done before the pandemic.
As we head into the last quarter of the year, the industry is in the eye of a perfect storm as business begins to return to whatever the new normal may be. This is having a greater impact in hotels than with Rail and Flights:
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Accommodation supply is reduced. Some properties remain closed while hundreds of larger properties are working with the government to support pandemic and immigration frameworks, so are either closed due to being under exclusive use, or have significantly reduced inventory available.
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Hospitality businesses are short of staff. They are trying to recruit back following mass redundancies which saw experienced employees leave the industry returning home to other countries due to Brexit and the pandemic.
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Instantly bookable online prices require booking offline. With the upcoming VAT change in October there are technical distribution challenges which are causing delays in contracted prices being readily available for instant booking.
We hope these insights help to provide an understanding of what continues to be a challenging time.
PRIORITY has continued to support and provide guidance throughout the last 18 months, and we continue to be driven by providing the very best service for our clients, our focus being to get your business placed, queries resolved, and billing fully verified as we have always done.
We continue to do so by monitoring the open status of hotels and addressing rate loading issues as they arise. Where we have challenges, we will do everything we can to manage your expectations.
We thank you for your continued support and look forward to assisting with your requirements.