Articles tagged “layoffs”

These layoffs at Expedia Group aren't particularly surprising, and were in the offing when travel demand plateaued in many countries starting in July and August. You can expect that Expedia will not be the only company forced into taking another whack at employee payrolls.

Ugh.

Despite the deep job cuts, the proprietary Skift Health Score calculates that Booking Holdings has far greater long-term strength than rivals Expedia Group and Trip.com Group. If you follow Booking.com's logic, the future of travel will be substantially smaller than its past.

Vrbo has been in the right place(s) at the right time, somewhat reversing a very challenged 2019. Is the changed trajectory a momentary blip in the throes of a pandemic, or will it be sustainable?

Oyo's decision to part ways permanently with furloughed U.S. employees is tied to its view that the lodging company's full global recovery wouldn't occur until the second half of 2021. It's a nice gesture to give them stock options, although the jury is out on whether they'll be worth much in the long run.

If the dining and travel industries are looking for a bright spot during these dark days, then returning employees are a morsel to hang onto.

There is always the potential of going too far with layoffs during an economic downturn. But coronavirus has upended the travel industry with so much uncertainty that Hilton's sizable layoffs reflect a narrowed corporate focus on near-term health, survival, and reopening.

Sabre's leadership team has been like an endurance runner in its strategy of patching up the security of the company's software, breaking down internal business silos, and moving Sabre's systems to the more stable cloud. This latest restructuring is the next phase.

Kayak, OpenTable, and Agoda have laid off employees. The flagship brand, Booking.com, initially took Dutch government relief money that forestalled downsizing, but has opted not to extend it. Amid other restructuring moves under way, that means layoffs are likely on the agenda as Chairwoman Gillian Tans re-ups.

At first, John Brown cut costs rather than staff, including foregoing his salary for the rest of 2020. But the Agoda CEO now has to take the last measure, citing a deeper and more prolonged recovery than expected.