The hospitality industry around the world is being slammed as the travel market has seized up in the wake of the global Coronavirus pandemic. And major hotel chains are cutting back on hiring.
Marriott ($MAR) shares are down more than 37% this year, with much of the declines coming in the last two weeks' sell-off. That matches up to a 38% drop in job postings almost overnight, as the hotel operator likely pulled back on staffing plans in the anticipation of falling demand.
Marriott's not alone. Hilton is also slashing global job postings, reducing their postings 38% from 2020 peaks, likely in response to plummeting demand for rooms amid the travel slump. Hilton stock is down more than 30% this year. At Hyatt, job postings are down - but only 16%.
Hotels are far from the only business to feel immediate pain as a result of the Coronavirus epidemic. United job postings plummeted more than 70% as the airline slashed the frequency of some flights and eliminated other routes totally.
Travel booking sites are seeing a different kind of disconnect - companies including Priceline are seeing Facebook Talking About Count, a metric of social media chatter, decline rapidly as consumers' travel plans are being canceled or delayed.
About the Data:
Thinknum tracks companies using the information they post online - jobs, social and web traffic, product sales and app ratings - and creates data sets that measure factors like hiring, revenue and foot traffic. Data sets may not be fully comprehensive (they only account for what is available on the web), but they can be used to gauge performance factors like staffing and sales.
