Expedia’s Resort Fee Fix and 9 Other Hospitality Trends This Week

Expedia Group Rules Out Charging Commissions on Hotel Resort Fees: Hotels charging resort fees now have the choice of paying higher commissions to Booking.com and/or seeing their properties fall in Expedia’s sort order. The other change that many don’t want to make is to simply — and painfully — stop charging anti-consumer resort fees.

Marriott Exec: We Want to Be Involved in Travel Beyond 4 Walls of a Hotel: Marriott’s strategy for becoming part of a customer’s entire travel journey, from booking to checkout, is tied heavily to its Bonvoy loyalty program. The more kinds of products the company offers, the more likely it will get what it wants.

Expedia to Connect Travelers With Hotels When Their Flights Are Delayed: Expedia wants help put customers in touch with hotels to sort out travel complications. That seems like it would be a complicated dance because Expedia doesn’t readily share much customer information with hotels, a longtime grievance in the lodging industry.

Severe Water Crisis in Indian City Chennai Cripples Hospitality Sector: A water shortage of epic proportions in Chennai, capital of Tamil Nadu, the second most visited state in India by foreign tourists, serves as a reminder to the global hotel industry to ask if it’s doing enough to conserve water.

TWA Hotel Looks to Stabilize After Rocky Takeoff: The mixed reviews of the TWA hotel on social media are not uncommon for a property that –– let’s face it –– opened too early. What will keep customers coming, however, is the chance to experience a nostalgic hotel design that will hit home with travelers.

Hilton to Build Tech-Driven Meeting and Event Spaces for Biz Travelers: Hotel companies are always looking for the next big trend. It’s pretty hard to ignore business travelers’ desire to meet in refreshed spaces and get some work done outside the guest room.

Hilton Invests in Tech-Forward Future of Events: Hotel operators need to invest in new concepts to stand out as sites for meetings and business conferences. Hilton thinks its new ideas will resonate with franchisees, but time will tell if they are willing to make the investment.

New Accor and Air France-KLM Loyalty Partnership Raises Bar for Targeting Biz Travelers: Like a similar program now in place between American and Hyatt, the partnership between Accor and Air France-KLM aims to share customers between similar target markets. Unlike its American cousin though, this partnership is open to all loyalty tiers.

Why Etraveli’s Airline Tech Deal Could Catch Airbnb’s Eye: We don’t know much about Airbnb’s thinking about launching a flights product, but an unrelated acquisition by Etraveli Group shines a light on some of the business issues Airbnb needs to consider as it crafts a strategy.

Airbnb’s Around-the-World Trip Promotion Gets Off to a Rocky Start: This promotional tour from Airbnb to tout Airbnb Adventures clearly backfired because of traveler outrage and difficulties in booking and paying for the one-time trip. It’s not an opportune start for Airbnb’s tour initiative, which may be a tad more complex than Airbnb anticipates.