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Following up on a promise to retaliate against travel restrictions on Chinese nationals, the Chinese embassy in South Korea has suspended issuing short-term visas, Reuters reports. The embassy has said it would reconsider if South Korea lifts its "discriminatory entry restrictions."

Chinese travelers have been the subject of new waves of travel restrictions across the globe as that country copes with outbreaks of COVID-19. CNBC reports that many travelers see the rules as more political than practical, though, and have focused their anger largely on countries such as South Korea and Japan.

Prolonged rainfalls across California have lead to flooding, including in Los Angeles, with more storms expected to disrupt the region today, the New York Times reports. More than 34 million people were under flood watches today, and nearly 220,000 customers were without power.

"Forecasters in Los Angeles warned that the next round of heavy precipitation would tear across the region through much of Tuesday and that some of the passing storms could bring wind gusts up to 60 miles per hour," the newspaper reports. "There were concerns that storms could also bring hail and spawn tornadoes."

Detroit Foundation Hotel General Manager James Dannecker worries about the loss of passion for hospitality suffered both by workers and the traveling public over the past three years, and HNN's Dana Miller reports he's making it mission to bring that passion back.

"I think people [left the industry] out of necessity because wherever they were a barista or server closed because of the circumstance," he said. "If you're going to be successful, you've got to have some type of element of passion to really get to where you want to be. [We need to] show people how impactful it is, not only to the lives of people that they're providing services to but also them internally, how rewarding it was at the end of the day to know they made a positive impact in someone's life."

The Highland Group's latest performance review for extended-stay hotels showed that the segment still managed to grow revenue per available room 7.7% for the month of November, even though that was one of two months in 2022 that saw a demand decrease. Overall, extended-stay hotel demand was down 0.8% for the month, driven by declines in the economy and mid-price segments, while upscale extended-stay hotels saw some demand growth.

“Monthly gains in extended-stay hotel [average daily rate] are still high compared to long-term averages but November’s data is further evidence that near-term RevPAR increases above inflation will be hard to sustain especially at lower price points,” Mark Skinner, partner at The Highland Group, said in a news release.

Washington, D.C.'s Department of Human Services will end its program to house homeless and medically vulnerable residents in hotels, The DCist reports. The program was first launched in April 2020 in hopes of curbing the spread of COVID-19 among those populations.

Officials are planning to phase the program out over the course of the year. There are currently 532 residents in the program, which will no longer receive new referrals. Those currently residing in hotels will continue to receive housing and other support.

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