Articles tagged “health”

There's no longer a one-size-fits-all method to meetings. Smart hotels are looking to new ideas -- even if they're very old ideas like yoga -- to offer better options for planners and guests.

With norovirus outbreaks hitting the cruise industry relatively hard in the beginning of 2014, Costa Cruises, still in recovery mode from the Costa Concordia crash, didn't need a suspected measles outbreak among crew on one of its ships. Neither did the passengers who, according to reports, have so far not come down with the virus.

These voyages stand out for the particularly high percentages of ill passengers onboard, but the cases give no further insights into how to stop outbreaks from happening in the future.

The average virus outbreak occurs on a 12-day voyage and causes 6.6 percent of passengers to fall ill. Longer cruises give the virus more time to spread but the factors that lead to an outbreak are the same on every ship.

The cause of a norovirus, whether it's a single passenger or malfunctioning dishwasher, is almost impossible to pinpoint making it tough for the CDC or cruise lines to say when, if ever, the risk will be mitigated.

As hotels learn about what guests respond to and appreciate, their products will innovate and become more integrated in the general hotel experience. This is a trend taking place across the travel industry in airports, airlines, and even destinations' most popular attractions.

Hotels are in the business of sleep, except very few of them help travelers understand the personal and economic costs of sleep deprivation and poor sleeping habits.

Health and wellness is increasingly being incorporated into the mainstream ecosystem of the travel industry, and larger trends are driving that.

Perhaps the EU would have had better luck encouraging foreign airlines to pay their carbon emissions fees if it had reminded travelers that with global warming comes giant stinging jellyfish along their favorite beaches.

Bulgarians may like their cigarettes, but if the Italians can come to terms with smoking restrictions, so can they. It's become a "perk" that travelers expect, even if it inconveniences a few.