Covid

Hotel boom sprouts in Bay Area amid lodging sector’s COVID recovery

By Tina D. Thompson 1 week ago

BERKELEY — A hotel boom has sprouted in the Bay Area, raising hopes that the battered lodging sector has begun to recover from economic woes and business losses unleashed by the coronavirus, a new report shows.

The Bay Area during 2021 added more than twice as many hotel rooms as the nine-county region added during 2020, according to a new report that Irvine-based Atlas Hospitality Group provided to this news organization.

Hotel developers added 2,863 lodging rooms in the Bay Area during 2021, which was an increase of 127% — more than double — the 1,262 rooms they added in

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Traffic light system scrapped as Covid travel rules eased

By Tina D. Thompson 4 months ago

The traffic light system for international travel is to be scrapped in a significant easing of Covid restrictions, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has announced.

From October 4, there will be a single, reduced “red list” of destinations from where passengers arriving in England will be required to quarantine in a Government-supervised hotel.

At the same time, people who are fully vaccinated will no longer need a pre-departure test before returning from non-red list destinations.

And from the end of October, they will be able to replace the day two PCR test with a cheaper lateral flow test.

In contrast,

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Travel stocks decelerate as Covid fears grow but one stock may endure

By Tina D. Thompson 5 months ago

Travel stocks have taken a hit this week as fears over the delta variant grow.

As of Thursday’s close, hotel stocks such as Hyatt, Hilton, Marriott and InterContinental were on track for weekly losses as steep as 4%, far wider than the 1% drop for the S&P 500. Those names were also under pressure after the latest data from travel metrics company STR showed hotel occupancy decline in August after rising in June and July.

One stock could withstand more weakness in travel activity into the fall, though. In an interview with CNBC’s “Trading Nation,” Inside Edge

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Shapps warns of new Covid mutation as Portugal is removed from green travel list

By Tina D. Thompson 8 months ago

Portugal will be removed from the green travel list as Transport Secretary Grant Shapps raised concerns of a new coronavirus mutation and rising cases.

Labour criticised the “chaos” as reports about the travel restrictions dripped out of the Government on Thursday without official confirmation.

Unattributed reports suggested Portugal would be put on the amber list following a meeting between the Westminster and devolved governments, as well as the Joint Biosecurity Centre.

People returning to the UK from amber list countries must self-isolate at home for 10 days as part of coronavirus restrictions.

Meanwhile, seven countries – Afghanistan, Bahrain, Costa Rica,

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