Lifestyle Hotels: Gotta Have Soul - By Daniel Edward Craig

Now that luxury is a bad word, hotels everywhere are scrambling to find ways to reinvent themselves without spending a whack of money. The quick fix? Simply delete all references to 'luxury' in marketing materials and replace them with 'lifestyle'. ...more

New Retail Study Finds Not All 'Great Shopping' Experiences Drive Shopper Loyalty

Only certain 'WOW' shopping experiences will bring customers back ...more

TravelCLICK Ranks 35 on Crain's Fast Fifty

14,000 customers worldwide leverage award-winning solutions; hotels get major ROI lift when combining strategies ...more

Road Warriors Receive New Weapon with Tripware

Tripware, a new travel service launched last month, offers business travelers the ability to book trips directly in Microsoft Outlook via an innovative plug-in dubbed Tripware OutBook. Tripware OutBook allows travelers to plan, book, and manage their own business trips directly in Outlook 2007 without the need to surf websites, reenter preferences, or talk to a travel agent. ...more

HSMAI Announces 2009 Adrian Awards Call for Entries

Entry Submission Opens July 15 in Competition Honoring Travel Marketing Excellence ...more

Wyndham Rewards Enhances Offerings with PAYBACK Program and Promotion

Wyndham Rewards, the world's largest lodging loyalty program based on the number of participating hotels, has announced the launch of a 'stay twice and earn a free night' promotion for members in the Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific regions. It also announced that it has added PAYBACK, the leading German loyalty program, to its network. ...more

British Airways Executive Club and Global Hotel Alliance Sign Partnership Agreement

Effective today, British Airways Executive Club Members can now earn 500 Executive Club Miles per stay across all participating Global Hotel Alliance hotels. ...more

Hilton Names Andrew Flack as VP of Global Brand Marketing

Hilton Hotels Corporation (Hilton) today announced that Andrew Flack has been promoted to Vice President of Global Brand Marketing for the Hilton brand. ...more

Online Travel Agencies (OTAs): Will They Survive the Removal of Airline Ticket Booking Fees? - By Max Starkov

Online Travel Agencies (OTAs) have traditionally charged airline ticket booking fees ($5-$7 per ticket). Recently the top 3 U.S. OTAs (Expedia-43% market share, Orbitz-26%, Travelocity-22%) followed Priceline's example and removed these booking fees permanently. When Priceline removed these fees back in 2008, they quickly gained market share: from 7% in 2007 to 9% in 2008 (PhoCusWright). ...more

'No Idea is a Bad Idea in this Economy' Hilton Hotels on Incremental Business and Price Integrity

Hotel revenue managers have been struggling with how best to manage declining demand and the pressures to reduce rate. ...more

Founders of Hotels.com Launch New Hotel Booking Site

Bob Diener and David Litman, the founders of Hotels.com and pioneers of the online hotel industry, announced today the launch of getaroom.com (www.getaroom.com). ...more

Wyndham Hotels and Resorts Expands in Latin America

Wyndham Hotels and Resorts today announced its continued expansion in Latin America with the grand opening of the Wyndham(R) Garden Hotel Mexico City - Polanco. ...more

Four Seasons Resort Maui at Wailea Makes a Big Splash With Debut of New Infinity-Edged Swimming Pool

Four Seasons Resort Maui at Wailea has announced the launch of a much anticipated $9 million Serenity Pool, scheduled to open on July 13, 2009. ...more

PTAC MAGIC Now Offering Free Disposal of Working Air-Conditioning Units

PTAC MAGIC, which specializes in the installation and recycling of Packaged Terminal Air-Conditioning (PTAC) units for hotels and resort properties, announced that it is now offering free pickup of working PTACs to hoteliers across the United States. ...more

Cleaning Website Helps Others Save Money and Stay Clean

In hard economic times, one young site finds ways for others to save money on everyday items. ...more