2013 Archives

Bill Gates' Cascade Investment already plays a role in managing a hotel, and now it will go full circle and own it, too. Seller Host Hotels, meanwhile, wants to reduce its ample presence in Atlanta.

Are these companies' well-timed announcements a marketing ploy to drive attention to their own travel ventures? Probably, but it is also the start of a trend that other companies will follow -- for however long the bubble blooms.

The success of Priceline and Booking.com isn't all about business models and search-engine marketing spend. A good part of the winning formula pertains to a company that eschews PowerPoints, worries about often-overlooked things such as the "cost of coordination" among its brands, and puts effort into maintaining the culture that got it here.

Room 77 will keep innovating and has a great product. In the big picture it won't face the thankless task of competing against the big brands forever because one of those huge players will undoubtedly end up acquiring it. Hipmunk has similar challenges, and prospects.

The winning hotel designs at the 2013 European Hotel Design Awards focus as much on user experience and social interaction as they do aesthetic whimsy -- throughout the rate scale.

Hotels are in the business of sleep, except very few of them help travelers understand the personal and economic costs of sleep deprivation and poor sleeping habits.

KLM is the first airline to put a live wait time on its social media pages, but its a feature that airlines serious about social customer service will quickly copy. Hopefully the competition means faster social responses for all flyers.