2016 › November

The newest event tech is getting better at connecting attendees, establishing the business case for events, and sourcing more creative venues. But CMOs still don't have any really good platforms to track the entire attendee journey to help them develop solid one-to-one marketing messaging.

There's no doubt China's economy is going through a downturn, but western travel brands can't blame all of their shortcomings on that point. Much of foreign travel brands' failures or missteps in China -- such as Airbnb or Uber for example -- are probably more likely because they couldn't execute strategies that fit the Chinese market.

Read on for our takes on all 13 of Hilton's brands.

Direct booking is not really a war where one side must lose. Both the large hotel chains and online travel agencies could wind up better off if they act rationally on pricing.

Forget what you think you thought you knew about hostels. Today's hostels are still budget-friendly, but also incredibly design-forward and sophisticated.

Google is using its Google Flights capability to power its new Artificial Intelligence-filled Assistant to respond intelligently to queries about travel. The service's inability to respond to queries about your existing travel itineraries, however, is a huge missed opportunity for now.

New heavy-content social networks are beloved among the younger generation. Whilst travel's adoption of these networks has been slow, the networks themselves have been in constant growing.

In most cases, airlines have the technology to give passengers more control over their journey. Carriers should take advantage of this, and they should start by making their mobile apps a lot more useful than they are today.

While kudos should be rightly given to Airbnb for wanting to take a step toward fighting discrimination and bias on its platform, there don't seem to be many changes on its site that would make those efforts even stronger. And the new terms of service make it even clearer that should you be discriminated against on Airbnb by one of its other users, the company does not assume any legal liability.

We knew this was coming, but it's still tough to take the news in. What will be interesting to continue watching is how and when Marriott eventually moves to its new HQ building in Maryland, and how many Starwood employees will want to transfer to Maryland from Connecticut.