Deanna Ting

Don't know if you've noticed it, but we definitely see a trend: Merger or not, Starwood isn't letting up on its brand development investments anytime soon. It'll be interesting to see how much it can differentiate a legacy brand like Le Meridien when positioned against Marriott's Renaissance Hotels or AC Hotels brands.

We've said before that not enough travel brands are taking full advantage of this increasingly popular social media channel. So, kudos to Starwood's SPG loyalty program for delving into it even further than it already has, even if SPG will most likely be rolled into Marriott Rewards in just a few years' time.

Regardless of whether or not you believe the numbers from the American Hotel & Lodging Association or those from Airbnb, Miami's short-term rental situation demonstrates a clear need for better legislation and/or better enforcement to address short-term rentals.

Everyone in travel and hospitality seems to be jumping onto the virtual reality (VR) bandwagon, but does VR really have the power to be as powerful a marketing tool as everyone thinks it is?

Should hotels be as worried about Airbnb and home-sharing as headlines seem to suggest? That depends, suggests a new study from the Pew Research Center.

Despite troubles in Macau, the usual suspects — namely gaming CEOs — took home the most money in 2015, with Wyndham’s CEO grabbing the No. 2 spot.

Lower oil prices may translate to more road trips for leisure travelers, and better margins for airlines, but they tend to have a negative impact on hotels, especially in terms of corporate travel.

TripAdvisor can be a hotel brand's best friend, especially when it comes to search, suggests this new report from L2.

In an age where almost anything can be on-demand and every hotel company says it wants to personalize and customize hotel guest experience, why is it still so hard for us to get the exact room we want to stay in?

Are we guilty of succumbing to these gimmicky PR stunts by writing about them here? Guilty as charged. But as outlandish or strange as some of these things may sound, they do speak to some bigger trends we're seeing in hospitality. Promise.