Dan Peltier

Nothing speaks to TripAdvisor's ascendance than travel operators literally begging for the service to allow users to review their products.

Hotels say they're supportive of graduate education and offer tuition benefits for employees, but not having a head count of how many hold advanced degrees says something about how they actually track professional development. Ultimately, like most other industries, seniority is the biggest factor for climbing the ladder.

Adventure travelers say they would use travel agents and tour operators for their experience in knowing what destinations offer, but these findings question whether these travelers think travel agents and tour operators know exactly what they're looking for: an experience that is all their own.

The keyless entry system has been long-awaited for the industry. With a successful beta test, let's hope Starwood's system continues impressing guests. It will also be interesting to see how many guests bypass reception completely upon arriving at hotels and how many still stop to notify the hotel that they've arrived.

Hyatt's making some smart investments, especially as extended stay hotels grow in popularity for travelers looking to go beyond the standard guest experience.

A startup can create an entire new brand around a name. Hint, hint. But, if your startup's name is off-putting, misleading or doesn't sound appealing to a traveler's ears, you're setting yourself up for a loss.

It's great to see employees getting involved and showing community spirit around their brand. Marriott could also make the campaign more easily accessible and visible than it currently is on its site.

Hertz is innovating standard GPS technology to give travelers the experience they're looking for on a long car ride. The app provides an experience that breathes life into GPS coordinates that will benefit destinations and hotels, as well.

Some of these changes are more obvious, but bringing PR into paid advertising is an interesting insight that other destinations likely see happening too.

It's understandable that companies want employees to keep business as the focus of a business trip, but if these trips make employees more worldly, help them relax and incorporate family time, employees will likely be more productive in the office and companies can't keep ignoring discussing their policies.