For the hotel industry, the struggle in the darkness will continue before dawn. After taking many measures, such as salary reduction and suspension of stock repurchase, Hilton still failed to escape the fate of layoffs, and 2100 people, accounting for 22% of the company's employees, were fired. The fate of the giants is just a microcosm of the industry. Compared with Hilton's deep pockets, those small enterprises that can not support have been submerged in the tide of bankruptcy.
On June 16 local time, Hilton Hotel Holdings announced a layoff plan. Under the plan, Hilton will cut 2100 jobs. At present, Hilton has a total of 9600 employees. By the end of 2019, the total number of its employees in the world was 173000, which means that 22% of the company's positions will be affected in Hilton's layoff.
The layoff is not enough. In addition, Hilton also announced that it plans to extend the previous compulsory leave, working hour cut and salary cut measures for another three months.
As early as the end of March, Hilton began to save herself in a fancy way. On the one hand, Hilton announced that it would suspend all share repurchases and dividends, and on the other hand, it also began to take the way of reducing employees' salaries. According to previous measures, since April 4 this year, some employees of Hilton will be taken a leave of up to 90 days, but still enjoy medical benefits; Employees who do not take leave will be reduced by 20% during the public health crisis.
But whether these measures can "stop the bleeding" is still uncertain. After all, in the first quarter, Hilton's situation is not optimistic. Financial data shows that Hilton's performance in the first quarter of this year suffered a "big decline". From January to March, the company realized an operating income of 1.92 billion US dollars, down 12.89% year on year; The net profit was 18 million US dollars, down 88.61% year on year.
It is worth noting that Hilton's net assets shrank again in the first quarter of this year. By the end of March, the company had total assets of US $15.788 billion, total liabilities of US $16.692 billion, shareholders' equity of US $- 904 million, and asset liability ratio of 105.73%. For the current closing of Hilton Hotel and other self-help measures, the reporter of Beijing Business Daily contacted the relevant person in charge of Hilton Media Contact Center, but as of the press release, no specific reply has been received.
The first quarter was by no means the lowest. After all, in the world, the epidemic began to break out in the second quarter. Travel bans, border blockades, and home orders all over the world have tried their best to contain the spread of the epidemic, but at the same time, the hotel industry has plummeted.
"In Hilton's 101 year history, our industry has never experienced such a global crisis, which has almost brought travel to a standstill," said Christopher Naseta, CEO of Hilton.
Of course, Hilton is by no means alone. The hotel industry giants have suffered a lot. Marriott's revenue in the first quarter was $4.681 billion, down 7% year on year, and its net profit was $31 million, down 92% year on year. Intercontinental Hotel Group is not much better. In the first quarter, the comparable RevPAR (average revenue per rental room) was $53.91, down 24.9% year on year, down 55% in March, and the hotel occupancy rate was only between 20% and 26%.
UBS analysts pointed out that the hotel RevPAR needs to be restored to the level of 2019 by 2024.
Compared with the giants that still have spare power, small enterprises have "weak breath". In Japan, as of May 11, 133 enterprises had gone bankrupt due to the COVID-19 epidemic, of which 33 were hotels and guesthouses with the largest number; Followed by 13 restaurants such as pubs and restaurants.
"In various forms of tourism industry, scenic spots and traffic may recover slightly faster. A large part of scenic spots are open in the open, and indoor traffic can also be restricted. Traffic is essential for travel." Wang Xingbin, former director of the Tourism Research Institute of Beijing International Studies University and tourism expert, pointed out that the hotel industry will recover slowly in comparison, Especially in urban hotel industry, the two major tourist sources are tourists and business type guests. Now the conference can be conducted through the network, which is a disadvantage for the recovery of the hotel industry to some extent. In addition, the recovery of travel agencies will also be difficult. Generally, local tourism does not need to organize a group. Travel agencies are mainly engaged in trans provincial national tourism and transnational international tourism. At present, trans provincial tourism is still very careful, and international tourism is unlikely. Therefore, hotels and travel society are relatively difficult to recover.
But it is not completely hopeless. On the one hand, the border and travel restrictions of countries around the world are gradually being lifted. Since June 15, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, etc. have all released restrictions on the entry of EU tourists, and Slovenia has even lifted restrictions on international road and rail public transport to welcome the arrival of international tourist groups.
On the other hand, governments of all countries have also increased their assistance. Hassett, chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, has said that the tourism and hotel industries are the priority targets of the next round of rescue plan. Le Maire, French Finance Minister, said that the assistance to the tourism and hotel industries would last at least until the end of June.
"For the overall tourism industry, the epidemic has a great impact on business volume on the one hand, and on the other hand, it may force the industry to transform its business model," Wang Xingbin said.
Beijing Business Daily reporter Tao Feng Tang Yitian
