Travel Outlook Offers Complimentary Registration for the Four Pillars of Heartfelt Hospitality Webinar by Kennedy Training Network
Travel Outlook, The Premier Hotel Call Center™ | March 13, 2023
HSMAI Adrian Awards Celebrates the Next Great Chapter
HSMAI | February 24, 2023
Industry Happenings
San Diego Claims Top Event Market and Technology Leads as Industry Driver in February
Knowland | March 8, 2023
Data reveals the return of meetings and events in the technology segment, and smaller markets are realizing the most significant percentage of growth ARLINGTON, Va. — March 8, 2023 — Knowland, the world’s leading provider of data-as-a-service insights on meetings and events for hospitality, announced today that the San Diego market led the U.S. meetings and events industry by volume for February. Second place went to Chicago, with Dallas in third. The leading industry driver for meetings was Technology and Healthcare across four of the top five markets. This data is a subset of Knowland’s pipeline generation platform designed t...
As Students and Families Head to Spring Break, the Hospitality Industry Ramps Up Hiring
PeopleReady | March 7, 2023
TACOMA, Wash., March 7, 2023 -- With spring break underway, hotels, restaurants and resorts across the country are gearing up for an influx of guests. Many experts are seeing a year-over-year increase in spring break-related online searches, with some predicting this season to be busier than pre-pandemic's spring break of 2019. To meet this surge in seasonal demand, many businesses in the hospitality industry are ramping up their hiring efforts to ensure they can continue to provide quality experiences for their guests. A new analysis by staffing giant PeopleReady finds that close to 450,000 hospitality-related jobs were posted in January...
Accor Marks International Women’s Day With Commitment to Equality
Accor | March 7, 2023
In celebration of International Women’s Day (IWD) on 8th March 2023, Accor, the region’s largest international hotel operator, has reiterated its long-standing commitment to ensuring gender equality, wage parity and protecting women’s rights in every aspect of its business. IWD has been marked for over a century, but more work is still required to create a gender equal world, free of bias, stereotypes and discrimination. The theme of this year’s event is #EmbraceEquality – a concept that underscores Accor’s operations and underpins its future strategy and direction. A total of 13,914 Heartists® – Accor’s passionate, ins...
U.S. Travel: Banning Novak Djokovic an ‘Unforced Error’ for America
U.S. Travel Association | March 7, 2023
U.S. Travel Association President and CEO Geoff Freeman issued the following statement on news of the withdrawal of tennis champion Novak Djokovic from participating in an upcoming U.S. tournament in Indian Wells, California: “America’s outdated vaccine policy for international visitors is an unforced error that is contributing to an $80 billion loss in foreign traveler spending. Novak Djokovic is merely one of millions of travelers deterred from visiting the United States due to a well-intended but antiquated policy. It is well past time for the United States to join with its peers in Europe, Australia and elsewhere and remove p...
Meyer Jabara Hotels Outperforming Businesses Inside & Outside Hospitality
Meyer Jabara Hotels | March 7, 2023
2022 marked a record-setting year in the management company’s 45-year history; Zenger Folkman survey ranks MJH in the top percentile for corporate health [Danbury, Conn., March 7, 2023] — Big news was revealed during the Meyer Jabara Hotels Leadership Conference last month. President Justin Jabara reported to representatives of the company’s 31 owned and managed hotels that the company is coming off a record-setting year. “Things feel different this year,” Jabara said to associates. “In the office, things feel different. When I visit our hotels, things feel different. At the airport, things feel different. Travel is ...
Accor Pays Tribute to Co-Founder Gérard Pélisson
March 6, 2023
It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Accor co-founder, Gérard Pélisson, who died on March 6th, 2023 at the age of 91, surrounded by his loved ones. The Group offers its most sincere condolences to his loved ones and more particularly to his nephew, Gilles Pélisson, who has worked for Accor for 17 years, including five years leading the Group. Gérard was an iconic pioneer who, together with co-founder Paul Dubrule, inspired a modern approach to French hospitality at a time when it was poised for fresh ideas. During Les Trente Glorieuses, France’s post-war boom, a new, more modern world emerged, changing the face...
AHLA Opposes the PRO Act
AHLA | March 6, 2023
WASHINGTON (March 6, 2023) – American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA) President & CEO Chip Rogers is speaking out today after lawmakers in the House and Senate introduced the PRO Act of 2023. “The lodging industry has long provided a pathway for fulfilling careers and the means for employees and entrepreneurs to achieve the American Dream. Unfortunately, the PRO Act, reintroduced in Congress this week, would undermine workplace flexibility and upward mobility for workers and create extensive and costly regulatory burdens for small business owners. While every worker has the right to freely join a union, the PRO Act woul...
AHLA Announces Inaugural General Manager Summit
AHLA | March 1, 2023
WASHINGTON (March 1, 2023) – The American Hotel & Lodging Association is hosting the inaugural “General Manager Summit at The Hospitality Show” June 28 at the Venetian Resort Las Vegas. The first-of-its kind event will be held annually and bring together hotel GMs from across the country to hear from expert speakers, share best practices, network and celebrate the industry’s best GMs via an awards ceremony. The event is free for all GMs attending The Hospitality Show, which takes place June 27-29 at The Venetian Las Vegas, but GM summit attendees must register for the event here. The GM summit will feature the winners ...
Hotels on Hiring Spree With Better Wages, Benefits, Flexibility
AHLA | February 27, 2023
79% of surveyed hotels report staffing shortages WASHINGTON (Feb. 27, 2023) – As nearly 80% of hotels experience staffing shortages, hoteliers are offering potential hires a host of incentives to fill vacancies, according to a new survey of hoteliers conducted by the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA). Seventy-one percent of respondents are increasing wages, 64% are offering greater flexibility with hours, and 33% are expanding benefits – but 81% say they are still unable to fill open positions. Seventy-nine percent of survey respondents indicate they are experiencing a staffing shortage, 22% severely so. The most cri...
HSMAI Washington DC Chapter Announces New Board President
HSMAI Washington DC Chapter | February 27, 2023
WASHINGTON (Feb. 27, 2023) – HSMAI Washington DC Chapter, which serves hospitality professionals throughout the Washington metropolitan area, today announced the appointment of Christopher Zindash, Amadeus Hospitality regional vice president, as chapter president. He succeeds Sheila Hession, executive director of sales at MGM National Harbor in Oxon Hill, Maryland, who served as president for four years and continues as a board member. Other board members are J.J. Abuelhawa, director of sales and marketing at the Hyatt Regency Dulles in Virginia; Jake de Boer, area manager at Booking.com in Washington; Linda Caruso, director of sales ...
San Diego Hotels Toast Hospitality Stars at 43rd Annual Gold Keys
the San Diego County Lodging Association | February 24, 2023
400 attendees celebrate 10 winners at gala with mayor, hotel & business leaders SAN DIEGO, Feb. 24, 2023 -- Ten hospitality professionals, who exemplify the very best of San Diego County's hotel community, won Gold Key Awards Thursday night during San Diego County Lodging Association's 43rd annual ceremony before a gala audience of hotel, political and business leaders. "The stories of these dedicated individuals are heart-warming as they exemplify the 'hospitality DNA' so many in our San Diego hotel community bring to their careers every day," said Fred Tayco, SDCLA's Executive Director. "As San Diego's hotels continue to re...
HSMAI Adrian Awards Celebrates the Next Great Chapter
HSMAI | February 24, 2023
The Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association International (HSMAI) celebrated the best in hospitality advertising, digital, PR/communications, and integrated campaigns at the Adrian Awards Celebration on Thursday, February 23, at The JW Marriott L.A. LIVE in Los Angeles, California. Taking place on the West Coast for the very first time, the Adrian Awards celebrated the most creative and successful campaigns in travel marketing and the people behind the work with more than 400 industry and agency executives on hand. “Tonight we recognize the best of the best of our industry’s creative and innovative digital, advertising, and publi...
Belmond, an LVMH Maison, and the Cipriani Family Reach Agreement
Belmond | February 23, 2023
NEW YORK, Feb. 23, 2023-- Belmond, an LVMH Maison, and the Cipriani family announce that they have reached an agreement which puts an end to all litigations between them around intellectual property. These legal issues go back several decades, well before LVMH acquired Belmond. The new agreement establishes once and for all the respective rights of the parties around the Cipriani marks in difference regions of the world. This will allow the development of these formidable brands within a well-defined and clear legal frame. The Hotel Cipriani of Venice, a flagship property of Belmond, will be the only one in the world with that name. ...
Polaris and IHG Hotels & Resorts Host Anti-Human Trafficking Forum to Reveal Insights From Survivor Study
IHG Hotels & Resorts | February 23, 2023
ATLANTA (Feb. 23, 2023) – IHG Hotels & Resorts and its partner Polaris, a leading organization in the fight against human trafficking, hosted a forum in Atlanta, Ga. on Wednesday, February 22 to unveil findings from Polaris’ National Survivor Study (NSS). Survivors of human trafficking shared insights on the conditions that make people vulnerable to trafficking and the barriers to rebuilding their lives. Elected officials and executives from Atlanta’s top companies also discussed what the State of Georgia and the business community are doing to help to support survivors and stop human trafficking. The NSS is a scientifically...
Investment in Young People Is the Future of Tourism
February 23, 2023
Says Sandals Executive Chairman Adam Stewart at the Global Tourism Resilience Conference MONTEGO BAY, JAMAICA, February 23, 2023 – Speaking at the inaugural Global Tourism Resilience Conference at the University of the West Indies (UWI) this weekend, Sandals Resorts International Executive Chairman Adam Stewart called on destinations and members of the hospitality community to invest in young people because the future of tourism depends upon it. “We have faced and triumphed over what was arguably the most challenging moment the global travel and hospitality industry has ever faced, but as we look to the future, it is not pandemic but a...
Leisure Industry Faces Huge Gender Imbalance, Latest Report Finds
WTTC | February 22, 2023
London, UK: New research looking at Publicly listed companies has revealed that the leisure industry is facing a major diversity disparity, with only 7% of the top spots held by women, a stark contrast to the 50-50 gender balance of the overall workforce. The first report of the series, “The numbers behind women in leadership: Leisure”, which was carried out by private advisory firm Aptamind Partners and is supported by the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC),drew on publicly available data from the world’s largest hotel groups, casinos and entertainment companies, shows that the gender gap widens the higher up the career ladde...
Marriott International Joins the Internet Watch Foundation; Deploys Cisco Technology to Combat Online Child Sexual Abuse Material
Marriott International, Inc. | February 22, 2023
Marriott International announced today it has joined forces with UK-based nonprofit Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) to combat online child exploitation by using technology solutions to restrict guest network access to websites with child sexual abuse materials (CSAM) in its hotels. The collaboration will be the first of its kind for the hotel industry and marks the next step in Marriott’s commitment to address a critical human rights issue for the industry. Marriott recently marked a significant milestone in its anti-trafficking efforts, training one million associates at Marriott hotels to recognize and respond to signs of human traffick...
BOLD by Wyndham Hits the Accelerator, Signs Nearly 20 Hotels in Just Over Six Months
Wyndham Hotels & Resorts | February 22, 2023
PARSIPPANY, N.J., Feb. 22, 2023 -- Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, the world's largest hotel franchising company with approximately 9,100 hotels in over 95 countries, today announced the rapid expansion of its groundbreaking BOLDSM by Wyndham program. In just over six months, the program has signed deals for 18 hotels across the U.S., including 10 under its newly launched ECHO SuitesSM Extended Stay by Wyndham brand. Based on data provided by the National Association of Black Hotel Owners, Operators and Developers (NABHOOD), Black employment in the hotel industry represents nearly 20 percent of all team members in the indus...
U.S. Travel Applauds Bipartisan Senate Call to Lower Visa Wait Times
U.S. Travel Association | February 22, 2023
U.S. Travel Association Executive Vice President of Public Affairs and Policy Tori Emerson Barnes issued the following statement on a bipartisan group of senators calling on the Biden administration to take further action to lower interview wait times for first-time visitor visa applicants: “The U.S. travel industry deeply appreciates the work of Senators Klobuchar, Cornyn, Booker, Moran, Rosen and Sullivan to drive progress at the State Department to reduce excessive visitor visa wait times. “While State has made strides in recent weeks, more work is needed to shorten wait times and welcome international visitors—which will help ...
Report: Hotel-Generated State and Local Tax Revenue to Reach New Highs in 2023
AHLA | February 21, 2023
WASHINGTON (Feb. 21, 2023) – Hotel-generated state and local tax revenue will reach new heights nationally ($46.71 billion) and in states across the nation this year, according to state-by-state projections released today by the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA) and Oxford Economics. Average U.S. hotel occupancy is projected to reach 63.8% in 2023 – just shy of 2019’s level of 65.9%. Staffing is expected to remain a challenge for many U.S. hotels in 2023, as the industry continues to grow its workforce back to pre-pandemic levels. “Hotels are making significant strides toward recovery, supporting millions of good-...
Hotels.com Reports Rise in New Trip Type: “Thirst Trips”
Hotels.com | February 21, 2023
DALLAS, Feb. 21, 2023 With nearly 100 days between President's Day and Memorial Day weekend, Americans are entering the longest stretch of the U.S. calendar without a federally sanctioned day off. This 3-day weekend drought leaves people parched for a getaway. New search data from Hotels.com shows a new trip type is quenching our thirst this spring: Thirst Trips, or short weekend stays that satisfy our desire for a day off by the pool. "We've hit a point in the year when there's no 3-day weekend on the office calendar, so many Americans have sort of conditioned themselves to hold out on making travel plans until Memorial Day weekend," sa...
HSMAI Foundation Announces Members of 2023 Board of Directors
HSMAI Foundation | February 21, 2023
McLean, VA (Feb. 21, 2023) The Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International (HSMAI) Foundation is proud to announce the members of its 2023 Board of Directors. HSMAI Foundation leaders have a passion for helping solve the sales, marketing, and revenue talent challenges being faced by many hotel and hospitality companies. The board is composed of senior travel and hospitality executives, led by chair, Michelle Woodley, President, Preferred Travel Group, who is in her second year of a two-year term. “I’m excited to champion another year of initiatives that help to attract, develop, and engage diverse talent in our industry” ...
AAA Unveils Top Diamond Designated Hotels and Restaurants of 2022
AAA | February 20, 2023
AAA unveils the 5-Diamond and 4-Diamond properties of 2022. These hotels and restaurants represent the best of the best in lodging and dining. 5-Diamond properties offer ultimate luxury and leading-edge cuisine. 4-Diamond properties offer upscale amenities and distinctive fine dining. Diamond designations reflect AAA Inspectors’ commitment to quality and consistency in the hospitality industry. Diamond Inspectors are trained professionals who travel across North America to conduct unannounced, independent, in-person property inspections. The 4Cs of AAA Diamonds Cleanliness: AAA hotel inspections include ATP...
Magnuson: Big Hotel Brands Ignoring Calls for Fair Franchise Reform
Magnuson Hotels | February 17, 2023
Asian American Hotel Owners, who own more than 60% of total hotel rooms in the USA, say paying franchise corporations up to 20% of the room sales is not sustainable in today’s economy. The group, which employs 4.2 million US workers and is responsible for 1.7% of the US GDP, states that today’s generation of hotel owners cannot be profitable under the current US hotel franchise pricing and requirement structure, most of which was initiated in the 1990s. This week, Choice Hotels joined Marriott in dropping support of the Asian American Hotel Owners Association, distancing themselves from rising calls for hotel fra...
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