The future of travel after Covid-19: Part 2

The world is starting to open up again gradually. The travel industry has been devastated with estimates that as many as 100 million jobs could be lost worldwide.

The coronavirus pandemic – and its severe health and economic consequences – will change how we travel … at least in the short term.

In this second part of our feature on what the future of travel might look, we focus on some on the most popular areas of the travel sector.

Will social distancing kill home sharing?

The future of home sharing depends largely on whether travellers see rentals as private, often cheaper, alternatives to hotels or a source of exposure to strangers’ germs. The vagaries of cancellation policies among rentals will also have an impact.

While hotels offered generous cancellation policies as travel restrictions set in, the home-sharing platforms took varying approaches. Before the pandemic, their policies let hosts set their own rules. Airbnb overrode them, offering refunds to travellers who otherwise might have been penalised. VRBO, its main competitor, took the side of the homeowner, although it encouraged refunds and future credits.

Airbnb hosts may dream of defecting to another platform to their own detriment.

“In the US, the majority of short-term rentals are booked via Airbnb,” said Scott Shatford, the chief executive of AirDNA, which measures global home rentals. “They control too much demand for there to be a credible alternative to listing on Airbnb.”

Listings on Airbnb will soon indicate whether hosts are practising stringent new cleaning guidelines, including a minimum 24-hour waiting period between bookings. A new category of listings will indicate no guest has occupied a rental 72 hours before arrival.

Other services are burnishing their custodial practices. Vacasa, which is based in Portland, Oregon, and manages 26,000 rental homes globally, is working on a cleaning badge that will appear on a listing, attesting to newly raised standards.  Beyond hygiene, home-sharing companies are championing privacy.

“Travel will be less urban,” said Brian Chesky, the chief executive of Airbnb, noting that the fastest-growing segment of the service’s guests travel less than 80km from home. “Hotels are in cities; they need a minimum market size. Airbnb is in 100,000 cities and towns.”

His company has laid off a quarter of its workforce – about 1,900 people. Meanwhile, listings are growing as more people look for extra income.

“Over the next six months, we expect more supply, and demand won’t catch up,” Shatford said. “We will see cheaper prices and bigger discounts on monthly rentals.” — Elaine Gulsac

A woman welcomes a couple into her home accommodation for their holiday. Picture: iStock

Is cleaning the new amenity?

When travel restrictions lift and hotels reopen, travellers can expect to see housekeeping front and centre in hotels.

Experts foresee more touchless check-in via apps and expressions of hygiene that go beyond the paper wrap over the toilet seat. “

Transparency and tangible cues will give consumers more comfort,” said Donna QuadriFelitti, director of the hospitality management school at Pennsylvania State University, adding that housekeeping logs may become public. “Robotic cleaning is still novel, but there’s a lot of talk about automation.”

Where hotel lobbies once aimed for warmth, expect a cold but gleaming scene, with custodians frequently circulating with disinfectant. Pens and other knick-knacks likely to be touched by other guests will be replaced with sanitising wipes. Major hotel companies are experimenting with electrostatic spraying to disinfect interiors and ultraviolet light to sanitise room keys.

Hospitality will be faceless and encourage social distancing. Marriott plans to offer contact-free room service through its cellphone app. Hilton rooms will have a seal on the doors, indicating they haven’t been entered since they were last cleaned. — Elaine Gulsac

A cleaner disinfects an elevator during the coronavirus pandemic. Picture: iStock

How private can you get?

With overcrowding now viewed as a health risk, personal space and cleanliness will become paramount.

“One thing that’s loud and clear from our clients [is that] any short-term travel needs to be private,” said Jack Ezon, the founder and managing partner of Embark Beyond, a luxury travel agency. “Finding a ‘hermetically sealed’ option seems to be the most responsible solution.”

At the luxury end, that means increased demand in villas and luxury hotel brands like Aman, known for its remote locations and stand-alone accommodations, and Rosewood, where many properties have residences with private entrances or elevators.

“While in the past privacy could be viewed as a nonessential privilege, today it is considered a key element to sustaining personal safety and security,” said Radha Arora, president of Rosewood Hotels & Resorts.

With hygiene playing an increasingly important role in travel, companies along the entire price spectrum will double-down on efforts to create privacy and health “bubbles”.

A new health and safety certification programme from the Puerto Rico Tourism Co includes wellness checkpoints and social distancing guidelines. Hilton will push (and likely expand) its Digital Key programme, which allows guests to check into their rooms without interacting with anyone.

And Wyndham Hotels & Resorts – which is already seeing increased demand for its properties with exterior corridors from travellers preferring a direct car-to-room connection – will promote social distancing in public spaces in more than 6,000 hotels. — Sarah Firshein

A couple on a tropical beach jetty in the Maldives. Picture: iStock

Is the green wave over?

Will planetary health be as urgent to travellers focused on preserving personal health? In a germophobic world, will single-use plastics make a comeback?

“The work on reduction of plastic is going to take a back seat to the larger quest for the health and security of travellers,” said Megan Epler Wood, the managing director of the Sustainable Tourism Asset Management Programme at Cornell University. “But there are plenty of reasons to find hope.”

Epler Wood points to efforts by tourism organisations and destinations to plan for a return to travel that addresses overtourism. The United Nations World Travel Organisation released recommendations for recovery that call for citizens platforms for local feedback and tourism councils that coordinate public and private sector involvement.

She also called the present situation an opportunity “for our global figures to see if we can build a better set of sustainable procedures”.

Social distancing may naturally ease overtourism, and the global shutdown is poised to drop carbon emissions by 8% in 2020. But while reduced traffic may be good for many places, tourists are sorely missed in others.

In parts of Africa, for example, safaris and park admission fees fund conservation. Without those sources of revenue, poaching has been up in South Africa and Botswana. — Elaine Gulsac

Tourists watch a pride of lions in Nelspruit. Picture: iStock

Will travellers sign up with tour operators?

The logistical ease of group tours comes with a trade-off: travelling with strangers.

“I certainly appreciate the paradox: there is safety in numbers, there is risk in numbers,” said Jennifer Tombaugh, the president of Tauck, a high-end tour and cruise company. One solution, Tombaugh said, will be smaller groups with lower guest-to-guide ratios – a trend that had already been predicted to rise, pre-pandemic, by the US Tour Operators Association.

Debra Asberry, the founder and president of Women Travelling Together, which runs affordably priced small-group tours for women over 50, expects the national parks trips to rebound first – especially in the first half of 2020 – just as they did after 9/11.

After being cooped up for months, tourgoers may gravitate towards wellness experiences.

“If 2020 proves to be a year we spend a lot of time indoors, 2021 will be about getting outdoors and getting active, with tours centred around things like cycling, trekking and mindfulness,” said James Thornton, chief executive of Intrepid Travel, which runs tours on all seven continents.

And overtourism, an industrywide concern, has renewed importance. “Ten years ago, people wanted crowded markets and big, well-known cities,” said Bruce Poon Tip, founder of G Adventures, a community-tourism-focused tour company. “Now there’s a real push for tours in Antarctica, the Galápagos, Mongolia and Tibet — all wide-open spaces.” — Sarah Firshein

A tourist takes photos of frozen landscape in Antarctica. Picture: iStock

Will anyone actually buy travel insurance?

Many travellers were infuriated to learn that their travel insurance was worthless during this pandemic. That aggravation underscored one key truth – buyer beware.

“Travel insurance is typically not a good economic deal. It’s usually way too expensive and filled with caveats and exclusions,” said J Robert Hunter, the director of insurance for the Consumer Federation of America, a consumer-advocacy nonprofit.

If insurance companies are to rebuild consumer confidence – especially with airlines and hotels changing policies to make it easier to cancel – they’ll have little choice but to demystify the fine print. Customers will demand it.

“There’s going to be a lot more focus, rather than ticking a box and moving on,” said Anna Gladman, the chief executive of nib Travel, which owns World Nomads, a travel insurance company. “People are going to be concerned about catching this, so they’ll want to know more about their products.” — Sarah Firshein

For more news your way, download The Citizen’s app for iOS and Android.