Deanna Ting

While technology specifically designed for meetings and events continues to evolve, planners are, in some cases, struggling to keep up with the fast pace of that evolution.

From direct booking campaigns to the growing popularity of Airbnb, there's a lot to talk about with the most influential decision-makers in hospitality.

As hotels tighten up their revenue management practices, expect more of these cancellation policy changes to take place in the near future.

In some cases, the hotel-online travel agency relationship is still a tense situation, but for most big hotel companies, it's still business as usual.

Well, that happened quickly. But given the fact that Pacious has been with Choice for more than a decade and was already planning on becoming CEO by year’s end, the timing of this doesn’t seem like it’ll be a big deal for the company.

While the number of challenges facing today's meeting planners are numerous, there are plenty of opportunities, too.

The challenges being faced by meeting planners are as wildly divergent as the events they plan. To succeed, they need to be informed, nimble, and tough.

Smart move, Marriott. Given the growth of the middle class worldwide will be led by China, it's incredibly insightful on Marriott's part to be doing all it can to establish loyalty and brand recognition with this crucial market sooner than later.

Expect Hyatt to delve even deeper into more of those adjacent spaces going forward.

Who's looking to buy up some European vacation rental businesses? Our money's on AccorHotels, Airbnb, and HomeAway, among others.