Skift Originals

A number of hotel industry publications, like Attractions Management and HotelsMag.com, ran with this story today as if it was a real one.

It looks like Southwest's controversially tame advertising campaign will need some major tweaks next year when the airline starts flying internationally.

Fiscal hawks in Congress have put Brand USA under a microscope. At least Brand USA will now have a strong ally in the Commerce Department's presumed next secretary.

TripAdvisor's acquisition of CruiseWise is great news for TripAdvisor subsidiary Cruise Critic, which is a leading cruise news and cruise-information site, but is hampered by an outdated user interface and bulletin-like forum technology. This acqui-hire will enable TripAdvisor to finally modernize Cruise Critic, a project that's probably been on the agenda for years.

Hackathons beat sitting around and brainstorming, and Hertz is smart to tap the wisdom of the coders as mobile becomes even more important in the car-rental industry.

A special welcome sign in the window isn’t necessary; hotels and businesses that show respect and serve all clients without bias will see a boost in profits and visitors regardless of where they're located.

It's a beautiful thing to see so many foreign tourism boards, whose interests lie elsewhere, express their support to the City of Boston as travel is the great uniter.

It won't be across-the-board, allowing for variations in this city-pair or that, but you can expect similar pricing dynamics when the American Airlines-US Airways merger goes through. Here again, there aren't a lot of legacy carriers left for additional mergers in the future.

Given new chess moves such as Emirates' new relationship with Qantas, some would argue that the importance of global airline alliances are diminishing. El Al's best options, however, remain with the global alliances, but they are turning a deaf ear.