Hotels Navigate Hazy World of Legal Marijuana and 8 Other Top Hospitality Stories This Week

Hotels Are Confused by Rise of Legal Marijuana: Opportunity or Liability? The legalization of marijuana by states is getting murkier in the eyes of the federal government, which has still not legalized pot. Thirty-three states have, meaning that hotels have to deal with it whether they like it or not. Some hotels are embracing certain forms of cannabis. Others don’t want the potential liability. How do they figure out what to do?

Oyo’s Global Downsizing Hits U.S. as One-Third of Staff Is Fired in Biz Model Shift: If the cliché “no pain, no gain” applies to disruptor Oyo, then the chain is clearly in the pain part of that equation. The brand has definitely taken a huge reputation hit that will play out for months. There are certainly positives in Oyo’s renewed value proposition to many properties if the chain doesn’t trip over itself.

5 Takeaways From the Year’s Largest Hotel Industry Conference: The hotel industry is expected to have a slowdown in profits this year, yet companies keep starting new brands and expanding existing ones. Where is this optimism coming from?

China Cancels Group Trips as Coronavirus Control Measures Expand: It’s going to be a long, cold winter for China’s travel industry and for businesses that rely on outbound Chinese tourists, as the novel coronavirus epidemic expands, and people stay put during China’s biggest travel season.

Where the Travel Industry Will Intersect With Wellness in 2020: Wellness trends come and go, but travel companies in 2020 are increasingly looking toward ancient traditions to find practices that are built to last.

Sonder Adds Former Starwood Hotels CEO to Board: Adding someone as experienced as Frits van Paasschen to its board is a sure sign that Sonder is serious about making a big leap forward in 2020.

How the Cloud Is Shaking Up Hotel Property Management Tech: New Skift Research: Technological advancements have allowed for new entrants into the property management systems space to offer a viable alternative to incumbent legacy systems. Those systems might be scrambling for now, but they’ll catch up. All this can only be a good thing for the PMS and hotel tech space in the long run.

Asian Destinations Reel From China’s Outbound Travel Ban: For a string of Asian destinations, China is by far the number one market, so the outbound travel ban that became effective Monday there has shaken tourism businesses even though they know it is for the good.

‘Wave Season’ 2020 Brings More Questions From Cruisers on Environment: This year’s wave season isn’t business as usual for travel advisors. Cruisers are showing a preference for remote destinations, and they are tracking cruise lines’ sustainability records like never before.