Early Check-In

Hotel design can be bland because brands, owners, and lenders aren't incentivized to take risks. Some outside pressure is needed to boost innovation.

European consumer goods brand House of Julius Meinl aims to open 15 Julius apartment hotels in the next few years. The effort is a litmus test for other premium-goods brands seeking diversification.

Hotels use a branding model that is, for the most part, broken. That reality leaves a gap for savvy marketers to exploit. Here's a refresher on tactics to use according to the professor who literally wrote the book on hospitality branding.

We hadn't heard much from Yotel as a hotel chain for a while. Turns out it has recharged its ambitions for world domination. We're intrigued by its pitch that its micro-hotel design matches well for conversions of decades-old office buildings. Boldness or bravado?

A few plausible reasons explain why many investors and brands are checking into the extended-stay hotel category. The bottom line is that they expect to leave with suitcases full of profits for a long time.

Baron Ah Moo works for PKF Hospitality and is a former hotel CEO. So he's well-connected among private equity firms and other dealmakers. Here's what they're telling him now.

Say what you will about Amadeus, it undeniably dreams big, audacious dreams. At a time when many institutions pursue small solutions for trivial problems, the travel tech titan has big hopes for reshaping how hotels operate and sell their themselves online.

Most hotel parent companies, such as IHG, Hyatt, and Hilton, haven't created brands in alternative accommodations. But a report coming this week from real estate services company JLL will spotlight some billion-dollar reasons why that will change.

Highgate's name hasn't been associated with luxury and lifestyle until now. But the company, which is the second-largest hotel manager in the U.S., is making some distinctive moves that will likely broaden its footprint among high-end, full-service properties.

The conventional wisdom of big hotel brands is that buying all-inclusive resorts may be as relaxing as staying at one. But what if big hotel brands are in for a disappointing experience at the buffet bar?