The cost of travel has increased markedly in recent months. This is due to rising jet fuel prices and associated inflationary pressures, which are forcing airlines to consider dramatic fare increases and correspondingly large decreases in the number of flights.
This has already had a major impact on travel patterns. USA Today recently published an article […]

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I visited South Africa for the first time in February when I got married there. The trip began in stunning Cape Town cradled between the mountains and the sea. We were then married in the wine region of Franschhoek before continuing on down the garden route to Port Elizabeth, up to Johannesburg by plane and […]

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While many midscale and budget hotels seem to have heard the message loud and clear regarding guest expectations when it comes to internet access, upscale brands seem to continue rolling out increasingly puzzling initiatives. In our first article on the matter, we gave praise where it was due and questioned the policies of others.
Recently, […]

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China has imposed a new Olympics-related visa crackdown in recent weeks, resulting in sharp declines in inbound visitors. The government has called the move a “temporary measure,” which is intended to allay Olympics-related safety concerns. However, tighter visa controls are having an affect on business and leisure travel and a corresponding impact on […]

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As the travel & tourism industry continues to get its arms around the green movement, it must also consider the impact that environmental awareness will have on corporate travel patterns. Travel involves different degrees of pollution depending on the method used and the distance traveled but nonetheless it is inherently less than green in […]

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The travel and tourism market is changing. A recent article in the Economist, highlights the fact that we are in the travel industry’s third revolution. The first revolution came in the 1960s when cheap air travel and package tours made remote parts of the world more accessible. The second came […]

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As participants of the Global Spa Summit finalise their meeting schedules and begin making their way to New York to attend this second annual conference (taking place from May 18th to the 20th) at The Waldorf-Astoria, attendees are preparing to wrestle with laying the foundations for the future of the spa industry. It […]

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Ehotelier reported that the International Lodging Finance Council (ILFC) had announced the results of its annual survey of 41 active senior and subordinate lenders. Unsurprisingly, surveyed lenders expressed a conservative outlook, with palatable LTV’s dropping from the mid-70s to the low to mid 60s on existing assets, with only certain high leverage lenders […]

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Now that the post mortem on the Sub Prime mess has begun (perhaps prematurely), the finger pointing is increasing. The more we find out, the more it appears that a perfect storm of sorts is revealing itself.  In our recent article, LodgingInsiders pointed to the rating agencies as the enablers of what has […]

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You can’t read a trade magazine or website these days without someone complaining about internet service in hotels. Hotel Chatter has a great article on hotel WiFi. I think several of the interviewees made great points regarding the reasons as to why their internet is complimentary.
Most hotels are run with Telecommunications as a revenue […]

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