Both Priceline and Orbitz reported higher revenue and profits than expected in the third quarter, despite a travel industry-wide lull. So, why are the online travel agencies doing well when other aspects of travel are flailing?
Some say it’s because the leisure travel market is recovering faster than business travel, but I also think that an [...]

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Major hotel companies have been unable to break the habits of consumers from visiting OTAs in favor of looking and booking at the brand’s proprietary sites.
The end result is millions upon millions of dollars being funneled away from individual hotels and into the pockets of the smarter, faster and better marketed OTAs.
Now that hotel rates [...]

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User reviews generated anonymously will become obsolete moving forward as consumers seek professional advice backed up by recommendations from friends and family.
Oyster unveiled its service in June and currently provides hotel reviews for major cities in the US as well as Jamaica, Dominican Republic, Hawaii and the Bahamas.
Elie Seidman, co-founder and chief executive of of [...]

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Simon Cooper, who has led Ritz-Carlton for the past eight years, talks with Forbes magazine about what makes Ritz-Carlton, well, the Ritz.
Ritz-Carlton has become a leading brand in luxury lodging by rigorously adhering to its own standards. It is the only service company in America that has won the Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Award twice, [...]

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Hotel operators, who recall past cycles when booming growth came after business downturns “have to get over the idea that things are going to get back to the way they were,” said Lalia Rach, the dean of the hospitality program at the Tisch Center.
Every couple of months, I like to take the temperature of the [...]

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