News and notes from around the interweb:

• How much less are hotels worth today than in February? The sale of the Renaissance Austin failed to close at $100 million in April with the buyer walking away from a $2 million deposit. The seller called the Renaissance “a legacy asset” that had been pulling lower revenue per room and earning less than their other hotel properties, and that it needs a lot of investment to bring up to par.

  Axton Group has now purchased the hotel by the Arboretum for $70 million, a 30% haircut off the price agreed to by another buyer earlier this year.

• What it was like to live through Vietnam’s Covid-19 lock down. They’ve been free from community transmission for about three months and – aside from international flights and tourism – are largely back to normal.

• American’s “Tell Me Why” is back, on the 737 MAX.
  American Airlines – Internal News · S3E10 – Tell Me Why: “We made improvements not just for American, but for the industry as a whole.”

• American Airlines extends its Mesa Airlines regional jet contract.

  [Mesa] finalized a new contract, which replaces the previous agreement with American Airlines, to operate 40 CRJ-900s for a five-year term beginning January 1, 2021 through December 31, 2025. Under the previous contract 30 CRJ-900 aircraft were set to expire in 2021 with an additional 17 expiring in 2022.

• Qantas is offering an elite status challenge for members of 16 airlines including Delta and United – though to fly Qantas right now you need to be in Australia..

  

• Emirates expects to debut its premium economy product on a new Airbus A380 in December

  

• Delta secures deal with pilots to avoid any furloughs. No government payroll subsidies needed, of course they’ll take your free billions if you want to give it to them!