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1. Pfizer announced its coronavirus vaccine is more than 90% effective, according to an initial review of Phase III trial data.
2. Booking Holdings’ room nights in Q3 were down 43% YoY, versus 82% YoY in Q2. According to the CEO, Glenn Fogel, however, “it will be very challenging for us to reach profitability in Q4.”
3. A similar trend for Tripadvisor: “Our third-quarter results improved versus the second quarter in the midst of what has been an unprecedented period for our industry, and the world,” said Chief Executive Officer Steve Kaufer. …

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1. Tripadvisor is about to launch its subscription-based business intelligence, called Spotlight, in partnership with OTA Insight. Spotlight will enable hotels to compare rates against those of competitors.
2. Mirai published “Getting the most out of Google Hotel Ads: The Top 15 Check-List”, with “15 best practices that hotels should demand their Google Hotel Ads integration partner to provide.” The guide is accessible, for free, here.
3. After laying off about 12% of its workforce, Expedia announced there will be another round of cuts, even though the number of layoffs is unknown. …

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1. Some good news: Last week, the TSA counted more than 1 million people at U.S. airports for the first time since March 16.
2. On the other hand, according to GlobalData, “with iconic cities across Europe re-introducing lockdown measures, closing bars, pubs and attractions, demand for the city break will be further decimated for the remainder of 2020.”
3. Arte channel published China: The Wuhan Paradox, a video showing how, “After a strict lockdown, social life in Wuhan seems to have returned to normal with busy streets, lively restaurants and packed nightclubs.” …

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• Amazon partnered with the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation to sell train tickets.
• Booking.com will discontinue its BookingSuite services
  (WebDirect, BookingButton, RateIntelligence and ChoicePro) starting on November 30 to focus “on growing our core accommodations business.”
• According to an Expedia study, “travelers are 57% more likely to book their travel through an OTA now than before COVID-19.”
• According to a Travel Leaders Group survey, 70% of US and Canadian travelers plan to take a holiday in 2021…
• … On the other hand, a study by YouGov showed that only one in 10 UK adults is planning a trip abroad over the next six months. …

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1. Italy created a National Tourism Fund to invest up to €2 billion to help the hospitality industry.
2. According to Ian Schrager, founder of the Ian Schrager Company, the industry will return to “not a new normal, but the same normal we’ve always had.”
3. Research has found that an old tuberculosis vaccine for newborns could also protect against COVID-19.
4. Radisson and Zoom partnered to offer hybrid online conferences.
5. After 30th September, Google Meet will limit the meeting time to 60 minutes on free plans.
6. Twitter is experimenting with the idea to let people record and send voice direct messages directly in the…

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1. World Travel Market London and Travel Forward will be virtual-only, rather than at the usual location (ExCeL London). The live event will take place from 9–11 November.

2. Marriott is receiving twice as many corporate bookings in the US than it was in April and May. SVP and CFO, Leeny Oberg, stated: “That’s clearly an example where there is more comfort in traveling.”

3. However, 58% of Manhattan room inventory remains closed, at least according to eHotelier.

4. The Peninsula Hotels moved its core operational systems to a platform built by Chinese Goliath, Shiji, replacing Oracle Hospitality as its property management system. …

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1. A 33-year-old man in Hong Kong became the first person confirmed to have gotten COVID-19 twice.
2. eMarketer expects the number of Airbnb users to nearly recover to pre-pandemic levels as soon as 2021
3. According to CNBC’s Jim Cramer, “Thanks to Covid-19, AirBnB is now the safest way to travel, which is why this IPO might end up being the steal of the century.”
4. According to the CDC, a vaccine to at-risk groups and health care workers could be distributed as soon as late October or early November but, according to an NBC News/SurveyMonkey Weekly Tracking Poll, only 44% of Americans say they would get a coronavirus vaccine. …

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1. Airbnb is filing paperwork for its long-anticipated IPO.
2. Coca-Cola is moving its infrastructure into the cloud, thanks to a partnership with IBM. “The selection of IBM’s hybrid cloud architecture with Red Hat OpenShift gives us the flexibility to optimize across different public cloud platforms according to our future needs.”
3. Google rolled out “People Cards” in India. The feature enables users to create a virtual visiting card, and it’s an attempt to become a rival with LinkedIn.
4. Photoshop is adding technology to tag images with metadata to identify deepfakes and image manipulation. …