Updates from the Director


The Center for Hospitality Research publishes updates from its director a few times each year. You can see all of CHR’s news, features, and research recaps on BusinessFeed.

Linda Canina

Linda Canina

Academic director of the Center for Hospitality Research and professor of finance 607.255.8051

July 2020

It has been almost eight months since the pandemic first hit Asia, six months in Europe and five months in the US. The path to recovery varies by geographical region due to differences in population density, government restrictions and support, and the capabilities of local health and medical facilities for testing and care. The virus has impacted the global macroeconomy, industries to varying extents and consumers across the income distribution differently. As a result, the recovery path for the hospitality industry is very uncertain. In fact, some believe that it is almost impossible to predict with any degree of accuracy. However, this has not stopped us from trying.

In conjunction with our other Centers and Institutes (C&I’s), C&I board members and faculty, the CHR has maintained a COVID-19 industry resource webpage on behalf of the School of Hotel Administration since March. The webpage has been used to showcase relevant thought leadership and content from our faculty and board member companies, along with a series of original webinars produced in partnership with eCornell. Through these webinars, our faculty and board members have been sharing ideas about HR issues related to employment laws, priorities and operational implications, and pivoting a hospitality career; current market dynamics and recovery scenarios, initiatives to bring guests back to hotels; possible solutions to the challenges faced by operators, employees and guests in the restaurant and foodservice industry; real estate and finance issues like loan restructuring, hotel transactions, capital markets, and short- and long-term strategies from both borrowers’ and lenders’ perspectives; and we have more in the pipeline. Click here to see a full list of upcoming webinars, and click here to see recordings of past webinars. The response from our board members, alumni, students, and other industry professionals has been outstanding, with some webinars garnering up to 11,600 total views. We plan to continue these webinars for the foreseeable future, along with creating other virtual events. Many, many thanks to all of our board members who have participated or will be participating in a webinar for sharing their knowledge and expertise with all of us. Hearing from leaders like you during this unprecedented time has been inspiring—thank you.

We’ve also created three surveys—the Industry Impact Pulse Survey, designed to take the pulse of the hospitality industry during COVID-19; the Data & Decision-Making Survey, to learn about the kinds of data that industry leaders are using to inform their decision-making during this unprecedented time; and the Future Travel Preferences Survey, our most comprehensive survey that looks at past and future travel behavior and preferences. If you have not already taken these surveys, we invite you to participate. Data collection for the Future Travel Preferences Survey will wrap up in the next month, and we look forward to reporting the major trends to you in the near future.

Until our next newsletter, keep yourself and all of yours safe.

Warm regards,

Linda


Previous Director's Updates from CHR

Below are previous messages from directors at the Center for Hospitality Research.

Linda Canina, director of CHR and professor of finance


Chris Anderson, former director of CHR


Michael Sturman, former director of CHR