Evention COVID-19 Analysis & Response

Please stay tuned, as we share our regular updates, analytics, and response via the timeline below. We will continue to evaluate each challenge our customers face to provide the best possible solution for the new COVID-19 reality.

Additionally, we will continue to monitor data to look for signs of recovery by state, country, industry segment, and more.

The entire Evention team wishes you good health and safety. We look forward to collaborating through the recovery together.

March 19, 2021

The Wall Street Journal highlights more hope for the hospitality industry. In this article, WSJ reports pent up tourism and entertainment demand.

According to the article, the demand segment includes the elderly. This travel trend amongst one of COVID-19’s most vulnerable populations indicates a specific consumer confidence. 

Both restaurant and hotel bookings continue to rise.

U.S hotel occupancy hit a 20-week high in March. This according to STR’s hospitality research and reported by WSJ.

March 4, 2021

As we begin March 2021, we cross over a year of COVID-19 affecting hotels. The upcoming months are fraught with a mix of questions and answers. Still, there’s hope on the horizon for hospitality.

Numerous positive signs point towards a recovery in the coming months. This despite the unknowns and challenges ahead.

In the United States, most hotels have reopened. However, group and corporate business remains low. As such, many hotels in cities like Chicago, New York, and San Francisco remain closed, but are slated to reopen in the coming months.

For leisure-focused hotels and resorts, business continues to pick up.  With COVID cases trending down, vaccines distribution underway, and pent up demand growing, hotels will likely see a strong leisure business rebound this summer. 

Obstacles including vaccine rollout delays and the spread of new virus variants loom. Still, overall, the mood is positive for a U.S. recovery.

In Europe, countries including Austria, Switzerland, France, and Germany currently do not allow food and beverage outlets to operate. France faces nationwide curfews along with roughly 222 cases per 100,000 COVID cases currently.

 Nevertheless, there are also positive signs in Europe. In Spain and Italy, restaurants can operate for limited hours, enabling upscale and luxury hotels to also operate.

Further, the United Kingdom just announced dates for reopening. Outdoor dining will begin in April with indoor dining following shortly thereafter. The U.K.’s defined re-opening dates are a hopeful sign.

Further, the U.K. plans to provide an initial vaccine dose to every adult citizen by the end of July. After Prime Minister Boris Johnson made this recent announcement, many U.K.-based hotels saw bookings increase for approaching holidays and the summer.

Anticipating Summer 2021’s strong rebound, hotels continue to navigate the environment working to leverage automation (like cash recycling and credit card reconciliation) to reopen with an optimized workforce. The focus on automation should allow hotels to find a faster return to profitability over 2021 and the years ahead. 

Overall hopeful trends indicate that global hospitality continues to move toward fully reopening. Pent up demand slates hospitality for a more promising 2021.

July 6, 2020:

It is absolutely thrilling to report that POS Transactions in both Europe and the USA have surpassed 25% of their March 2020 peak.  

There is a slight reduction in the trajectory in the US with some states having to reverse course but we at Evention are hoping that a strong and safe recovery can continue worldwide.

More hotel openings are planning in the USA and Europe this month and next so we hope to have more good news to follow in the weeks ahead.

June 4, 2020:

Evention is thrilled to see the very beginnings of a recovery in both the US and Europe!  

As much as this is positive, there is a long way to go for the upper upscale and luxury hotels.  Of the hotels reopening, many have opened fewer outlets and with limited occupancy.

With a low of POS transactions mid-April, the Memorial Day weekend in the US and initial reopening of some states and countries are starting to show positive trends.

Many more hotels are expected to open from June through August so we will monitor and spread the positive news as we see it evolve.

May 5, 2020:

As we enter early May, the Evention team is thrilled to see some hotels beginning to reopen in both the USA and Europe.

Although it is too early in the recovery to see the effect, we are very encouraged to see the positive trends in China continue.  

It is our hope that with reopenings beginning, both the USA and Europe will start to see a similar rise in transactions.

April 24, 2020:

The Evention professional services teams are not sitting idle during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Both the Implementation and Client Success teams have collaborated to enhance Evention’s integrations to multiple systems including Opera, Book4Time, SpaSoft, Simphony, InfoGenesis, OnQ, Infrasys, and many more!

As hotel’s reopen, they will be able to immediately leverage new flexibility and enhancements in Evention’s integrations to the POS and PMS.

April 22, 2020:

As a response to management and ownership companies that are working towards reopening their doors with minimal staff amidst an expected gradual increase is business, Evention launched a new cash management automation program to help hotels manage cash with limited resources.

April 21, 2020:

As we monitor the volumes throughout April, there is a slight decrease in transactions in the United States as more hotels formerly close.  

The true bottom of the shutdown has been reached and we anticipate some improvement in May as some hotels in the upper upscale and luxury segments begin to reopen.

April 13, 2020:

Evention announces its complimentary Shared Service Program for the hospitality industry.

As hotels reopen their doors, the Evention team can manage all aspects of Evention SecureDrop cash reconciliation through this program.

Our goal is to enable a limited accounting staff to focus on working through the recovery while our team is happy to take full ownership of cash reconciliation.

March 31, 2020:

The breadth of the COVID-19’s impact on the hospitality industry becomes fully visible at the end of March.  

By the end of March, most of the cash transactions fell from their peak around March 8th to a flat new low.  In Europe, with a more wide-spread shutdown, the trajectory is even more pronounced.

March 13, 2020:

With the safety of the Evention team as the top concern, Evention closed our physical office space to begin the transition to fully remote ahed of the Illinois shelter-in-place order.

Our entire team was able to quickly transition to a remote environment to fully support our customers starting Monday, March 16th.