There are countless ways to describe the meaning of hospitality - the very foundation of our industry. When one considers taking the definition of hospitality and adding that to design as an approach for interior design, architecture and development, good things can happen. It is not just the ability to provide an aesthetic environment that appeals to visitors, quality products that stand the test of time, meeting furniture, fixtures and equipment ("FF&E") and construction budgets. Hospitality design is about the feeling the spaces evoke, the emotionality the interiors create for the guests and the comfort level the surroundings provide. READ MORE

When new online technologies such as web-conferencing and Skype first came on the scene, the international meetings industry's first reaction was to view them more as a threat than an opportunity. Some research companies and 'experts' even happily predicted the total demise of the face-to-face meetings industry within 10 years, given that such technologies appeared to offer a compelling business case backed by significant cost savings compared to 'live' meetings. READ MORE

In the same way that Strategic Meetings Management and online technology transformed the buying process for corporate meetings and events during the past decade, a transformation is now taking place on the supplier side as we enter a new phase of online group lead management. Online group lead technology and processes have continued to mature while online channels have proliferated. Those sales managers who know how to utilize these resources to their utmost will be successful in shifting share from their competitors and increasing revenues. READ MORE

Rohit Talwar is a futurist for the global travel industry and author of the Hotels 2020 study commissioned by Amadeus. In this article, Rohit draws on the study findings to explore how customer behaviors might evolve, discusses how technology could transform the future travel experience and explores the strategic implications for the branded hotel sector. READ MORE

In pricing and revenue management, hedging your bets with a tried-and-true process may actually be riskier than taking a chance on something different. It sounds counterintuitive, but the fact is that the conservative route to pricing practices is costing big hospitality firms millions in revenue, risking their future viability. Over the past few decades most hotel chains have adopted some form of automated revenue management (RM) system. But there are still some medium and large chains that have not. Worse yet, as some of these chains churned through acquisitions and ownership changes, their RM systems were abandoned or shut down. During the last decade's brand consolidations, industry realignment and ownership changes, business intelligence (BI) tools were growing in maturity and sophistication. READ MORE