Deanna Ting

At a time when most hotel loyalty programs are so highly coveted and promoted by hospitality companies, but also increasingly complicated in some cases, it's interesting to see how Wyndham's easy-to-understand approach is working to help attract new customers and reward them.

Hyatt is the latest U.S. hotel company to enter the direct booking wars, hoping to entice more consumers to book direct instead of booking on sites like Expedia and Booking.com.

Airbnb is doing all it can to become legalized in cities like New York and Los Angeles by saying it'll pay occupancy taxes, just like hotels do. But if you look at the math and the overall economic impact, is that money really enough to have a positive net impact on those cities?

More travel and hospitality brands are trying to find novel ways to monetize Instagram and although the platform has evolved to try to accommodate more of marketers' needs, its abilities as a hotel booking channel remain somewhat limited. Still, Starwood's Tribute Portfolio is betting that user-generated content from influential fashion stars on Instagram can help them boost bookings at two of their Parisian properties.

To say that Newark comes to this fight as the weaker party is an understatement. If the city wants to do more than just collect taxes and begin regulating short-term rentals, however, it might want to take a good look at a recent San Francisco city report that shows just how complicated that endeavor can be.

Does regulating short-term rental platforms like Airbnb really work? Well if Airbnb and its peers would cooperate instead of passing the buck to taxpayers regulation could have a fighting chance.

Being a digital savvy hotel brand goes beyond just having a social media account. Brands that truly understand digital brand strategy in all its forms, from mobile and SEO to social and e-commerce, have the upper hand as more and more consumers demand these platforms and services.

Anbang, who? We thought this day might never come, but here we are: Marriott and Starwood are now just a few months away from becoming the world's largest hotel company.

Interestingly, the Starwood Preferred Guest program, beloved among frequent travelers, ranked near the bottom, and it's never fared well in past J.D. Powers' reports. So, why is it so admired, and why does Marriott want it so badly?

Although his company has made it a mission to tell customers to book direct, Hilton CEO Christopher Nassetta knows he can't afford to overlook other distribution channels, including online travel agencies and travel agents.