TODAY: Hyatt and Small Luxury Hotels form strategic alliance, Agoda releases findings from its global 'Annoying Travel Habits' survey and Why Offering Experiences Is A Huge Revenue Opportunity.

Hyatt and Small Luxury Hotels form strategic alliance
Thursday, 2nd August 2018

Hyatt Hotels Corporation and Small Luxury Hotels of the World™ announced plans to bring World of Hyatt members opportunities to enjoy loyalty benefits in many more places >>

Travel irritants revealed
2 Aug 2018 : Agoda releases findings from its global 'Annoying Travel Habits' survey and urges travellers to get off their phones and 'pay attention' >>

Introducing VACAYA - A bold new player in LGBT travel
2 Aug 2018 : Created by award-winning tourism and travel executives with nearly 100 years of combined experience in entertainment, hospitality, and travel, VACAYA offers LGBT+ travelers a new choice – one with an unprecedented and maniacal guest focus >>

All-inclusive, bleisure demand strong in Mexico
2 Aug 2018 : Like many other countries, Mexico’s travel economy differs greatly depending on which region of the country you’re discussing and regions like the Yucatan Peninsula bring in heavy leisure demand, while other markets such as Mexico City are more business focused >>

HIGHLIGHT ARTICLE

Why Offering Experiences Is A Huge Revenue Opportunity
Thursday, 2nd August 2018

Background: Offering local tours and activities is a multibillion-dollar business, with the OTAs having shown a growing interest in this sector, Expedia alone is looking to grow its local tours and activities sales fivefold – from approximately $400 million a year to over $2 billion.

Yet, in spite of all the industry buzz and its huge potential, less than 20% of tours, experiences, and attractions are bookable online. Why is that? There are two main reasons: the highly fragmented nature of this sector and travel consumer preferences >>

Computer Says Yes: Why Hotels Are Employing Digital Concierges
'Alexa, where can I get good sushi around here?' Digital concierges have arrived, bringing hotel guests unprecedented levels of personalization and control and as the technology driving AI and recommendation engines continues to evolve, hotels are starting to embrace the power of digital concierges to provide a customized and on-demand service >>

Impending Crisis No Longer
For years now, we have been forecasting a significant uptick in employee turnover, with unemployment worldwide at some of the lowest levels in years, employees are jumping ship in record numbers---because they can find other positions without difficulty >>

Hospitality Industry Amateur Hour: Hotel & Resort Fees
Hotel and resort fees do help us to cover the ever-increasing cost of doing business, without decreasing bookings (hello, low price!) but they will not work in your favor in the long-run; in fact, they will ruin your property’s reputation and decrease your occupancy – and profits – over time.

So, how can we, the hotel industry, ensure that we are covering our costs, without making our customers think that we are scheming, lying, money grubbers? >>