The Canary Islands, Netherlands, Thailand, Norway Norway: Hardrock Cafe ----- Color line (Ferry) Nordic Choice Hotels: Director of Profit Cluster finding the right price at the right time for the right people. “Pre-Corona, historic data, a huge amount of data, was key to success to predict future travel patterns and price accordingly. At the moment, everything is useless.” According to the World Tourism Organisation, international arrivals dropped by 74% during 2020.  Safety and flexibility are going to be the prerequisite in this industry… and you’re gonna have advanced contactless room controls, robotic servers, pop-up dining areas.” Hospitality and Finance Airlines using crowdsourcing to ask customers how much they want to pay for their flights. Asian markets as an early indicator that the crisis was going to impact dramatically. (-50-60% travel to Asian countries was already being predicted in Feb. 2020) Pivot and focus on in-country travelers. 2009 financial crisis only saw a reduction of international arrivals of 4%. It took the industry 4-5 years to achieve price level recovery. It also was followed by the rise of websites like Expedia and booking.com, which now lead the industry. Aigner believes that this crisis will likely give rise to something new as well. Inter-Nordic travelers make up the largest portion of hotel stays in the Nordic countries. This means that they will likely see their market recover faster than markets that rely heavily on international travelers such as France. The main focus is now on health and wellness of guests and making them feel safe when being in the hotel. The smaller you are, the tougher it is at the moment...especially as many of these had a very exposed financial situation before the pandemic and are now having to invest even more to comply with new regulations and attract back guests. The key to surviving is “finding your niche and attracting the right customers” it doesn’t matter the size of your business. We’ve seen the emergence of boutique hotels and larger chains creating smaller boutique brands to cater to audiences and offer more variety. Small details that make the experience unique and authentic are what allow smaller hotels to charge more. While it may be popular at the moment, the trend of hotel advertising targeting multi-generational families vacationing together is not a trend that Aigner sees carrying on into the future. Sustainability: increase in use in more sustainable forms of travel (trains) or decrease in overall business travel. Banning of as much disposable plastic as possible. Other measures being taken to reduce the overall carbon footprint. 1:56  - What he likes about all the different regions he works in 8:04 - Stephan’s move to Norway and his work with Nordic Choice Hotels 14:43 - How Nordic Choice Hotels reacted to the arrival of the pandemic and COVID’s impact on the travel and hospitality industry 29:48 - A hotel customer’s journey 46:03 - Sustainability 50:41 - Wrap Up