About half an hour into the redeye flight from Maui to Los Angeles last Wednesday, the cabin lights abruptly flashed on. But that didn't wake me up. It was the captain's announcement that jarred me to alertness. By Christopher Elliott

"The only thing constant in our business today is change. If you do not improve on today's service delivery, someone else will." By John & Kathleen Hogan

Burt Cabañas came to the hospitality industry in 1961 as a 14-year old pool boy, following an unexpected exile in this country from Cuba in the aftermath of Castro's revolution. He become a general manager at 25, ran a multi-unit operation ...

The pictures from Japan are utterly devastating. Destruction on an epic scale and the deaths of thousands of innocent people are hard to fully comprehend. My immediate thoughts go out to the families of loved ones who perished. With this in mind, I a ...

Given that today's revenue strategies and systems are more advanced than ever before, hotel revenue management and marketing executives are not only better able to forecast demand in advance, but also to adjust and change the rates according to u ...

Delta Airlines upgraded its Facebook application "Ticket Counter" and lets travelers now check their flight status, print their boarding pass and buy their tickets over Facebook.

Travelport, the business services provider to the global travel industry, has outlined plans to significantly expand the size of its hospitality team in 2011 as part of a global drive to grow hotel bookings through its two GDS platforms, Galileo and ...

The average cost of a hotel room around the world rose 2% in 2010, according to the Hotels.com. The increase was the first time that the average hotel room price rose year-on-year since 2007.

Technicians at Sabre are looking for the cause of a failure of the SynXis reservation system this week, paralysing 10,000 hotels from taking bookings via the GDS. The fault continued for at least 24 hours before systems returned to normal.

Travelport, the business services provider to the global travel industry, has released new research findings which show that more than half of business customers now use mobile technology when it comes to searching and booking hotels, indicating a ra ...

Smart device apps and mobile-optimized websites are changing the way people travel, from trip planning to boarding an airplane to how they experience destinations. This means new and richer opportunities for marketers to connect with consumers before ...

Hotel industry news in brief.................

It's never a good thing when customers have a bad experience with your product or service. But instead of getting defensive, you can apologize, make it right, AND make them love you more in the process. Here's how... By Ivana Taylor

Hotels in Osaka, the largest city in western Japan, are in high demand as residents and companies leave Tokyo to seek shelter amid concerns over radiation leaks after the nation's worst earthquake. By Kathleen Chu

Travel today, from luggage to laptop, is increasingly high-tech. Yet every hotel room hosts a costly anachronism: a traditional telephone. By Helen Chernikoff

It is hard to imagine when staying at a hotel that it's actually someone's job to warm the bed for guests or read them a good night story. However, Hotels.com, the global hotel booking website, has found that in some hotels around the world, ...

Hotel appraising is done in different markets across the world and valuation experts generally consider three approaches to valuing a hotel asset. What are the pros and cons of each approach and which is more applicable when valuing your property? By ...

The recent events in Japan, resulting from the almost unprecedented 8.9 magnitude earthquake and the tsunami that followed should serve as a wake-up call to hoteliers all over the world. By Dale Dyck

To get an idea of what the hotel bill of the future might look like, take a look at your present bill at the Atlantis in the Bahamas. By Chris Elliott

When it comes to serving others, chances are that you will make mistakes occasionally. Even in the most opulent, 5-star hotels and restaurants, guests are sometimes disappointed. The same goes for hospitals, banks, nursing homes, spas, airlines, and ...