As the spread of the novel coronavirus disrupts the travel industry worldwide, Boston tech darling Lola.com has laid off 34 employees, nearly one-third of its workforce.
Among those laid off were software engineers, account executives and directors of people operations, sales and marketing. One source told BostInno that the entire sales and marketing teams had been let go. That includes chief marketing officer Jeanne Hopkins, who joined the company in October 2018.
CEO Mike Volpe said in an email to BostInno that Lola now has a headcount of 82 full-time employees.
"We made the very hard decision to cut costs so we have a long runway to outlast this crisis given that business travel is so directly impacted," Volpe wrote. "We lost some truly amazing people—any company that is hiring should act fast while they are still available."
A public spreadsheet of former Lola employees now seeking employment is making the rounds.
A spokeswoman told BostInno last week that new bookings through Lola's site were down by 30 percent, while cancellations were up by 500 percent. Lola also published guidance for customers on its company blog after fielding scores of questions about changing and canceling travel.
The global outbreak of the novel coronavirus, which causes the respiratory illness COVID-19, has wreaked havoc on the travel industry. The U.S. Travel Association projected Tuesday that total spending on travel in the U.S., including transportation, lodging, retail, attractions and restaurants, would plunge by $355 billion for the year—and that 4.6 million American jobs would be lost, per the Wall Street Journal. JetBlue CEO Robin Hayes told CBS News that coronavirus' impact on airline demand was "probably worse than" after 9/11.
In a meeting with President Trump on Tuesday, leaders of the hotel and travel industries asked for financial aid totaling $250 billion. U.S. air carriers are also in talks with the Trump administration to secure an additional $50 billion in aid.
"Because of the impact of the coronavirus on business travel, we have seen new company signups decrease significantly," Volpe said. "Given the economic outlook, we do not expect that to change quickly. ... This was the hardest thing I have had to do—my heart pains over it, but my brain knows we had no choice."
