1. U.K. under tough COVID-19 restrictions: As of 6 January, the United Kingdom will be placed in tough lockdown restrictions similar to those seen at the beginning of the pandemic, CNN reports.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said restrictions would remain in England until mid-February. Citizens have been ordered to stay at home except for emergencies and exercise.

In addition to business rates relief and employment furlough scheme having been extended until the end of April, Financial Times reports the government announced a package of aid worth £4.6 billion ($6.2 billion) to further help businesses affected by the pandemic, with new grants worth up to £9,000 ($12,234) per property.

Kate Nicholls, CEO of UKHospitality, said in a release that “while this announcement is most welcome, make no mistake that this is only a sticking plaster for immediate ills. It is not enough to even cover the costs of many businesses and certainly will not underpin longer-term business viability for our sector. To address the inevitable and existential challenges that hospitality faces, we need confirmation of extensions to the business rates holiday and of the 5% (value-added tax) rate.”

2. How forecasting has shifted amid pandemic: At the onset of 2020, forecasts projected moderate growth for the hotel industry that year, but expectations took a sharp downward turn in March when the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic started to come into focus, which led analysts to respond quickly to changing data, HNN’s Robert McCune writes.

Hotel industry forecast partners STR (parent company of Hotel News Now) and Tourism Economics moved to a monthly, rather than quarterly, forecast schedule because of the pandemic.

“We didn’t really wrestle with it from a forecasting perspective until March … and then in a rush, everything was changing so quickly, we realized we had to put something out,” said Aran Ryan, director of lodging analytics at Tourism Economics.


3. Three groups form luxury investment group: Oaktree, Paris Inn Group and Maison Albar Hotels* have formed a strategic partnership to create a group structure named Centaurus, which has five wholly owned divisions focused on luxury properties, according to a news release.

The five divisions focus on hotel management, majority owners, partially owned assets, lease management and brand. The brand division focuses on those who own and operate Maison Albar Hotels properties.