TODAY: Consumer law investigation into hotel booking sites, AccorHotels now available on Google Assistant and Tourist expenditure in Japan on track to break record.

Monday, 30th October 2017
The Competition and Markets Authority is concerned about the clarity, accuracy and presentation of information on sites, which could mislead people, stop them finding the best deal and potentially break consumer law. Its investigation will examine several practices, including: search results, pressure selling, discount claims and hidden charges >>

​AccorHotels now available on Google Assistant
30 Oct 2017 : AccorHotels counts among the first apps available in France on the Actions on Google platform, which lets brands create applications – known as 'Actions' – for Google Assistant, so since October 26, it has therefore been possible to interact with Phil, the AccorHotels bot, using Google Assistant >>

Tourist expenditure in Japan on track to break record
29 Oct 2017 : Statistics released by Japan Tourism Agency for year-to-date September 2017 indicate that both tourist arrivals and expenditure are expected to set a new record in 2017 >>

News from around the EMEA region
30 Oct 2017 : Hotel industry and travel news from around Europe and the Middle East & African regions: W Amsterdam sold, Oryx Invest targets several locations in Finland, Autograph opens fourth in Germany and more >>

Aman New York – Opening in 2020
29 Oct 2017 : Situated in the heart of Manhattan at the crossroads of Fifth Avenue and 57th Street, overlooking Central Park, Aman New York will occupy the iconic Crown Building >>

HIGHLIGHT ARTICLE

11 Hottest Food and Beverage Trends in Restaurant and Hotel Dining for 2018
Monday, 30th October 2017

Plant-based dining 2018's trend of the year: it has gone mainstream, three ethnic cuisines getting hotter, technology takes over: Voice ordering, cashless restaurants, facial recognition and its privacy issues, why avocado isn't toast and how Google is trying to change your eating habits >>

Excuses are For Losers
Leadership involves pressure and personal sacrifice: Behind every failed leader is an excuse and in our experience studying and working with global leadership in the hospitality industry, successful leaders consistently tell us in one way or another that excuses were for 'losers' whereas 'winners' find solutions to tough challenges, or at least look at failed initiatives with a winning attitude and use the situation to adopt key learnings to apply to future scenarios >>

The Courage to be Coached
I remember getting the results of my 360-feedback survey: I must admit that some of the comments made me feel uncomfortable, I was a senior manager at the time and was feeling good about what I had accomplished to that point, however, as I look back, my confidence was based on my subject matter (i.e. marketing and communications) knowledge and experience. By contrast, the constructive feedback I received was focused on my soft skills such as conflict management, listening and empathy. >>

IN THE SPOTLIGHT

Facebook Marketing for Hotels (Infographic)
Facebook recently released figures indicating that there are over 2 billion active monthly users which makes it the most lucrative platform to be on in terms of audience awareness of your hotel; Here's some advice on how to ge the most from facebook marketing for your hotel >>