Panic Buttons and 9 Other Hospitality Trends This Week
Skift Take
Hotel News Weekly Roundup
Throughout the week we post dozens of original stories, connecting the dots across the travel industry, and every weekend we sum it all up. This weekend roundup examines hotels. For all of our weekend roundups, go here.>>Implementation of panic buttons, or employee safety devices, for hotel employees is a good start, but it should just be the beginning of the much broader measures the entire global hospitality industry should take to ensure the safety of every single person who walks through its doors: U.S. Hotel Industry Commits to Giving Panic Buttons to Workers
>>More high-demand nights means more business, but can the trend continue? A Rise in Peak Occupancy Nights This Year Is Helping Hotels
>>Hotel companies love to brag about providing local experiences for their guests, but few actually live up to their billing. One of Ireland’s top hotels created a job to literally help visitors find their place in the destination’s history — a genealogy butler: No DNA Required: Hotel Genealogy Butler Helps Visitors Discover Irish Roots
>>Did Hotels.com co-founders Bob Diener and Dave Litman do it again with Getaroom? Certainly not on the same scale, but Court Square’s acquisition of Getaroom looks like a winner for the duo, who self-funded their latest venture in travel: Getaroom Sold to Private Equity Firm Court Square Capital Partners
>>HotelTonight is no longer a mobile-only company. It’s no longer just for same-day stays, as its name once implied. Investors seem to want no potential income left on the table, even if the brand must lose some of its original distinctiveness: Mobile-First Booking Startup HotelTonight Expands to Desktop
>>Airbnb is going to integrate Airbnb Experiences and curated lists of meeting-appropriate homes into its booking tool. Initial feedback has been strong, so it’s probably only a matter of time until Airbnb builds partnerships in other areas: Airbnb for Work Brings Meeting Spaces and Experiences to Business Travelers
>>Airbnb’s new offerings will prove valuable for companies that don’t want to source and plan their own intricate offsite experiences. A wider push into distributing meeting space, though, isn’t here yet: Airbnb Starts Move Into Meetings
>>Now that Airbnb has integrated its own Experiences product into its business travel platform, it seems like only a matter of time until more options and add-ons are in the stable: How Homesharing Hit the Corporate Travel Mainstream
>>As homesharing becomes more deeply ingrained into the corporate travel ecosystem, exciting new opportunities for improving the business travel experience will emerge: Treating Business Travelers Like Real People
>>Ian Schrager opens up about his history in hospitality, and there’s more to come at Skift Global Forum in New York. Trust us — you don’t want to miss this interview: Skift Global Forum Preview: How Studio 54 Shaped Ian Schrager’s Life in Hospitality